Waitlist Movement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What schools are you comparing?

Tyler Spanish Immersion and Two Rivers

[Anonymous]

Dorrie wrote:Does this imply that after a certain point, schools no longer maintain their waitlists, and will give up slots to the most persistent parent? I'm just a bit confused by this.

OP here. I would hope not. We were in the top 5 at the lottery back in April. When I called last week, there had been movement on the list, but the school gave no indication they would turn around and call me back the next day, just that we had moved up 1 slot.

We've since received 2 more calls for space availability. I can only guess schools are trying to reach full capacity before the head count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Dorrie wrote:Does this imply that after a certain point, schools no longer maintain their waitlists, and will give up slots to the most persistent parent? I'm just a bit confused by this.

OP here. I would hope not. We were in the top 5 at the lottery back in April. When I called last week, there had been movement on the list, but the school gave no indication they would turn around and call me back the next day, just that we had moved up 1 slot.

We've since received 2 more calls for space availability. I can only guess schools are trying to reach full capacity before the head count.

Schools are now in a tough place, where once they call you and offer a slot in wait list order, they are supposed to wait a certain amount of time before calling the next on the list. Yet, the slots need to be filled by the Oct 4th deadline. So, if you are a persistent parent, willing to show up with your kid the morning of Oct 4th, and the folks on the wait list ahead of you haven't been called, but there is no time to call before the count, I believe the school would likely accept such a child. I'm not a school administrator, but I would probably base my decision in that moment on whether the family was politely interested, sincere, pleasant (accept) or pushy, aggressive, child disruptive (rely on the letter of the law, there are still xx people ahead of you on the wait list. .. ). Particularly with DCPS OOB slots, there is a lot of variation in the school to school wait list approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What schools are you comparing?

Tyler Spanish Immersion and Two Rivers

Two Rivers has A) better scores, B) a solid reputation, C) goes to 8th grade, and D) didn't just lose its principal.

[Anonymous]

17:30, Tyler/TR poster. I completely agree. I wouldn't actually switch from Two Rivers for Tyler.

[Anonymous]

A killer commute, meaning time outside of your community, can be a long term social issue. That said, I'd only switch to Tyler if it's near you and you really want Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Schools definitely are on the 'hunt' - we were in the high 90's for Tyler Spanish Immersion and recently received a call. If you're really interested in a school, you should periodically call/stop by - they do take note (whether or not, they should is a different question). And definitely make your round of calls before the school has its official count taken - the day for the count varies by school so it won't be 10/4 for everybody. After they have their count, there's just no reason to accept OOB kids and in fact it 'hurts' the school because either 1) the OOB child won't be 'funded' (i.e., is an addition to the headcount) or 2) even if the child is replacing a 'funded' child, the school could just not fill that slot but still have those funds to use.

[Anonymous]

23:48, thanks for the info that Tyler Spanish got all the way to the high 90s in the waitlist. Did you take it?

11:00 - I would actually have a tough time with that choice as I really value the Spanish immersion aspect but Two Rivers would be more convenient for me, plus as others said, better scores, history, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools definitely are on the 'hunt' - we were in the high 90's for Tyler Spanish Immersion and recently received a call. If you're really interested in a school, you should periodically call/stop by - they do take note (whether or not, they should is a different question). And definitely make your round of calls before the school has its official count taken - the day for the count varies by school so it won't be 10/4 for everybody. After they have their count, there's just no reason to accept OOB kids and in fact it 'hurts' the school because either 1) the OOB child won't be 'funded' (i.e., is an addition to the headcount) or 2) even if the child is replacing a 'funded' child, the school could just not fill that slot but still have those funds to use.

Why does Haynes continue to take kids off the waitlist beyond the count date? Are charters bound by the same funding rules as DCPS schools? Isn't a child who steps into a funded child's spot still funded? Aren't schools morally obligated to fill their funded spots? I'm not really a Polyana, but with schools with high waitlists, what's the hardship in calling off the list? This doesn't make sense to me. Not doubting your explanation, just confused.