Why can’t Watkins get traction with Capitol Hill?

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering if a significant number of families with pre-K kids left DC during COVID, hence now there are fewer students in K.

[Anonymous]

Or maybe there are more slots because people are staying on the Hill longer and so people with younger kids can't buy inbound to schools like Brent and L-T. Maury recently became a huge school so there may be slots because it's a gigantic school now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tyler needs a sister school that offers K. I think Watkins inbound participation rate is maybe still somewhat close to 50%. But it is a weird boundary where a sizable number of kids end up attending the all of the surrounding schools: Brent, Maury, SWS, Tyler (for Spanish), Ludlow, Payne, CHML.

It’s 37%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just wrapped up Prek4 at Peabody and got into Maury with proxmity preference. If you look at the lottery data, this year on match day, 3 kids got into Maury K who are OOB but have siblings attending, 7 kids got in with proxmity and 2 got in with no preference. That's 12 kids who are not inbound. Last year there were NO kids who got in on match day.

For Ludlow this year for K, 2 kids matched in OOB with sibling attending, 1 OOB with sibling offered, 3 with proximity and 9 with no preference. That's 15 who are OOB. Last year there were 2 OOB with sibling offered, 0 proxmity and 5 with no preference, that's 7 who are OOB.

For Brent this year for K, 10 kids were OOB with sibling attending, 1 proxmity, and 7 no perference (18 OOB). Last year, 1 matched OOB with sibling attending, and that's it, so 1 OOB kid on match day.

Obviously not everyone went so the actual make-up of the class is different but the data tells me two things 1) kids with promixity preference are definitely choosing Maury and Ludlow over other schools this year (not necessarily Peabody maybe? I don't know if there are kids in the Miner or JO zone that have proxmity to Maury and Ludlow respectively) but I do know that of the 7 that matched at Maury, 5 are coming from Peabody (including us). 2) Something is going on with Hill K enrollment overall where there are more slots this year. It's either the schools opened more slots to avoid uncertaintly later on in the year or there are fewer K kids generally. I'm not sure. If this pattern continues though and it's easier for proxmity kids to keep getting into Maury and Ludlow, then Watkins will continue to struggle.

Brent offered a TON of kids off of the K waitlist last year. My kid started in the early 30s and got an offer (which we didn't take). I assume they didn't take anywhere near that many kids and were just running through a bunch of people per slot... I would not be surprised at all if they learned from that experience and therefore offered more slots this year. I know that Ludlow offered more slots in an effort to more aggressively manage its waitlist this year.

I don't believe there is any area from which people have proximity preference to Ludlow other than a chunk of the Watkins zone. With JOW, the schools are too close together (about 3 blocks with the boundary slightly close to Ludlow) for anyone to be close enough to L-T but far enough from JOW.

[Anonymous]

It's funny how Brent used to be impossible to get into and now it's wide open

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The boundary is too big and weirdly shaped. Most people within the boundary are closer to another school on the Hill, so they go there instead. Watkins then becomes a school for Ward 7 and 8.

This. We are zoned for LT, but less than two blocks away, some are zoned for Watkins. A 2nd grader can't walk all the way there!
Also, having siblings in different buildings is awful. They need to redraw the boundaries Pronto.

[Anonymous]

Has the Brent area gotten too expensive for young families? Can't believe it doesn't have a waitlist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has the Brent area gotten too expensive for young families? Can't believe it doesn't have a waitlist.

I don't know what you are talking about. Brent has a waitlist for every grade. Waitlist for K was 103 and they made 22 offers by end of June. That one they'll probably continue to dig into because they expand their roster a lot at K, like most schools (they offered 18 spots for K in the lottery, the only non-PK grade they offered lottery spots for except 5th, and even there they only offered 5 spots.

Brent is still quite hard to get into OOB, even in middle grades, but a proximity preference would make it much easier because certainly people do get in off the waitlist every year, but the school doesn't clear waitlists except for 5th, and that's not because lots of kids leave (some do) it's because so few people try to lottery in at 5th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The boundary is too big and weirdly shaped. Most people within the boundary are closer to another school on the Hill, so they go there instead. Watkins then becomes a school for Ward 7 and 8.

This. We are zoned for LT, but less than two blocks away, some are zoned for Watkins. A 2nd grader can't walk all the way there!
Also, having siblings in different buildings is awful. They need to redraw the boundaries Pronto.

Well having siblings in different buildings is fine if they are near each other, which is why you see quite a few families that lottery into L-T with proximity preference for 1st but their younger sibling may finish out at least PK at Peabody. The commute between those schools is super easy -- it's just a few blocks and one parent could do it within the drop off window, on foot.

That's not possible for Peabody and Watkins, I don't understand why that's ever been tolerated, to be honest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The boundary is too big and weirdly shaped. Most people within the boundary are closer to another school on the Hill, so they go there instead. Watkins then becomes a school for Ward 7 and 8.

This. We are zoned for LT, but less than two blocks away, some are zoned for Watkins. A 2nd grader can't walk all the way there!
Also, having siblings in different buildings is awful. They need to redraw the boundaries Pronto.

Well having siblings in different buildings is fine if they are near each other, which is why you see quite a few families that lottery into L-T with proximity preference for 1st but their younger sibling may finish out at least PK at Peabody. The commute between those schools is super easy -- it's just a few blocks and one parent could do it within the drop off window, on foot.

That's not possible for Peabody and Watkins, I don't understand why that's ever been tolerated, to be honest.

There were buses that ran from each school to the other every morning and afternoon, from the time the Cluster was created to the pandemic. My kids used those buses the entire time we were in the Cluster. It was how my kid at Watkins was able to do aftercare with his sibling at Peabody so I could pick up in one location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The boundary is too big and weirdly shaped. Most people within the boundary are closer to another school on the Hill, so they go there instead. Watkins then becomes a school for Ward 7 and 8.

This. We are zoned for LT, but less than two blocks away, some are zoned for Watkins. A 2nd grader can't walk all the way there!
Also, having siblings in different buildings is awful. They need to redraw the boundaries Pronto.

Well having siblings in different buildings is fine if they are near each other, which is why you see quite a few families that lottery into L-T with proximity preference for 1st but their younger sibling may finish out at least PK at Peabody. The commute between those schools is super easy -- it's just a few blocks and one parent could do it within the drop off window, on foot.

That's not possible for Peabody and Watkins, I don't understand why that's ever been tolerated, to be honest.

There were buses that ran from each school to the other every morning and afternoon, from the time the Cluster was created to the pandemic. My kids used those buses the entire time we were in the Cluster. It was how my kid at Watkins was able to do aftercare with his sibling at Peabody so I could pick up in one location.

Once they killed the bus the Cluster stopped making sense. It’s not possible to do with two kids of close age, or if you live one the edge of the boundary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The boundary is too big and weirdly shaped. Most people within the boundary are closer to another school on the Hill, so they go there instead. Watkins then becomes a school for Ward 7 and 8.

This. We are zoned for LT, but less than two blocks away, some are zoned for Watkins. A 2nd grader can't walk all the way there!
Also, having siblings in different buildings is awful. They need to redraw the boundaries Pronto.

Well having siblings in different buildings is fine if they are near each other, which is why you see quite a few families that lottery into L-T with proximity preference for 1st but their younger sibling may finish out at least PK at Peabody. The commute between those schools is super easy -- it's just a few blocks and one parent could do it within the drop off window, on foot.

That's not possible for Peabody and Watkins, I don't understand why that's ever been tolerated, to be honest.

There were buses that ran from each school to the other every morning and afternoon, from the time the Cluster was created to the pandemic. My kids used those buses the entire time we were in the Cluster. It was how my kid at Watkins was able to do aftercare with his sibling at Peabody so I could pick up in one location.

Once they killed the bus the Cluster stopped making sense. It’s not possible to do with two kids of close age, or if you live one the edge of the boundary.

Why would they get rid of the bus?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The boundary is too big and weirdly shaped. Most people within the boundary are closer to another school on the Hill, so they go there instead. Watkins then becomes a school for Ward 7 and 8.

This. We are zoned for LT, but less than two blocks away, some are zoned for Watkins. A 2nd grader can't walk all the way there!
Also, having siblings in different buildings is awful. They need to redraw the boundaries Pronto.

Well having siblings in different buildings is fine if they are near each other, which is why you see quite a few families that lottery into L-T with proximity preference for 1st but their younger sibling may finish out at least PK at Peabody. The commute between those schools is super easy -- it's just a few blocks and one parent could do it within the drop off window, on foot.

That's not possible for Peabody and Watkins, I don't understand why that's ever been tolerated, to be honest.

There were buses that ran from each school to the other every morning and afternoon, from the time the Cluster was created to the pandemic. My kids used those buses the entire time we were in the Cluster. It was how my kid at Watkins was able to do aftercare with his sibling at Peabody so I could pick up in one location.

Once they killed the bus the Cluster stopped making sense. It’s not possible to do with two kids of close age, or if you live one the edge of the boundary.

Why would they get rid of the bus?

Because the leader of Watkins at the time thought the bus was not equatable because families from ward 7 & 8 didn’t have a bus to school. So why should the families from ward 6 who obviously had the means to get their kids school get one. So she didn’t fight for it or back the PTA who was fighting for it.

SHE WAS THE WORST!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's funny how Brent used to be impossible to get into and now it's wide open

Not really. Real estate values are now so high in the Brent district, and inventory so low for 3-bedroom+ houses below around 1.5 million, that the demographics of the little district have shifted in the last 10 years. There aren't nearly as many families with little kids as there once were. When my kids, middle school students, were small there was such a long line at the SE library story hour that you had to arrive 30 mins early to get in. Turtle Park on E St. was packed with toddlers and babies and their caregivers during the day and you could still buy a good house zoned for Brent for under 800K. High SES families either sent their kids to Brent, Watkins or Two Rivers. All that's in the distant past. Many of us in the Brent district who were very involved in the school a decade ago have teenagers now, even college students. You see a lot more empty nesters buying Brent-zoned houses than just 5 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny how Brent used to be impossible to get into and now it's wide open

Not really. Real estate values are now so high in the Brent district, and inventory so low for 3-bedroom+ houses below around 1.5 million, that the demographics of the little district have shifted in the last 10 years. There aren't nearly as many families with little kids as there once were. When my kids, middle school students, were small there was such a long line at the SE library story hour that you had to arrive 30 mins early to get in. Turtle Park on E St. was packed with toddlers and babies and their caregivers during the day and you could still buy a good house zoned for Brent for under 800K. High SES families either sent their kids to Brent, Watkins or Two Rivers. All that's in the distant past. Many of us in the Brent district who were very involved in the school a decade ago have teenagers now, even college students. You see a lot more empty nesters buying Brent-zoned houses than just 5 years ago.

I guess Brent will soon be entirely OOB. Good news for those in the Watkins boundary.