If you could move anywhere in DC for elementary…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wouldn't. And I say that as someone with a kid in DCPS who is doing fine.

But if I had to do it again, I'd have pushed my spouse MUCH harder to move out of DC before our our kid was old enough that it would be hard to do. It's not even that I think schools are so much better elsewhere, it's more that I think DC's public school system is highly dysfunctional and stressful to navigate, and I think I personally would prefer to parent in a district where you just live in the best pyramid you can and then make do. That has it's drawbacks too, but I think I'm better suited to them.

Do you mean another district in the DMV or leave the area entirely?

What dysfunctions stand out?

The demographics of DC combined with the government culture and the lottery create very dysfunctional public school systems. Everyone works at cross purposes. Schools, parents, administrators, teachers, and the district. Plus charters. The lottery is great on a micro level (can help families get access to better schools) but toxic on a macro level (creates a sense of instability in the system and schools, creates a lot of churn, disincentivizes people to have a "make it work" attitude even with more minor challenges).

I think some people have no issues with this and navigate it well. I find it stressful and unsettling. My kid is in middle elementary and we are now figuring out middle school. I thought nothing could ever be as stressful and annoying as PK lotteries. I was incorrect. Stakes are much higher for MS and there are simply not enough spots at decent schools to go around. There's this weird intensity among parents, especially where I am (Capital Hill) but this is countered by an almost apathetic or aggressively neutral attitude among schools, likely just as a self-protective measure because some of the parents are so intense. I simply cannot have another conversation about math tracking. I'm tired of all of it.

I think I'd find a lot of this in the burbs as well which is why I'd rather leave the area altogether, but I think I personally am better suited to deal with the way suburban districts handle these issues better than I deal with DC public schools.

I think the fundamental issue is that voters in DC are liberal Democrats and they reflexively vote for very liberal candidates, without realizing that very liberal Democratic politicians are extremely opposed to raising academic standards and tracking and gifted and talented programs. They think all of that is racist and they will never, ever support it. They think the purpose of schools is to fight inequality. If you voted for different people, you'd get a different result and schools would look different than they do today.

What are you even talking about? Why dont you take a look at Texas where they have tried to privatize education by taking government money away from public schools to shuffle poor and median income kids into substandard "private" institutions. Texas public high schools are also some of the worst in the nation.. and you have Florida right along with them.. https://www.tallahassee.com/story/opinion/2026/02/15/why-is-florida-walking-away-from-public-schools-opinion/88652589007/

And there are endless articles like this https://www.slowboring.com/p/schools-are-getting-worse-in-most

Dont bring that uninformed dumbshit into this thread and forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wouldn't. And I say that as someone with a kid in DCPS who is doing fine.

But if I had to do it again, I'd have pushed my spouse MUCH harder to move out of DC before our our kid was old enough that it would be hard to do. It's not even that I think schools are so much better elsewhere, it's more that I think DC's public school system is highly dysfunctional and stressful to navigate, and I think I personally would prefer to parent in a district where you just live in the best pyramid you can and then make do. That has it's drawbacks too, but I think I'm better suited to them.

Do you mean another district in the DMV or leave the area entirely?

What dysfunctions stand out?

The demographics of DC combined with the government culture and the lottery create very dysfunctional public school systems. Everyone works at cross purposes. Schools, parents, administrators, teachers, and the district. Plus charters. The lottery is great on a micro level (can help families get access to better schools) but toxic on a macro level (creates a sense of instability in the system and schools, creates a lot of churn, disincentivizes people to have a "make it work" attitude even with more minor challenges).

I think some people have no issues with this and navigate it well. I find it stressful and unsettling. My kid is in middle elementary and we are now figuring out middle school. I thought nothing could ever be as stressful and annoying as PK lotteries. I was incorrect. Stakes are much higher for MS and there are simply not enough spots at decent schools to go around. There's this weird intensity among parents, especially where I am (Capital Hill) but this is countered by an almost apathetic or aggressively neutral attitude among schools, likely just as a self-protective measure because some of the parents are so intense. I simply cannot have another conversation about math tracking. I'm tired of all of it.

I think I'd find a lot of this in the burbs as well which is why I'd rather leave the area altogether, but I think I personally am better suited to deal with the way suburban districts handle these issues better than I deal with DC public schools.

I think the fundamental issue is that voters in DC are liberal Democrats and they reflexively vote for very liberal candidates, without realizing that very liberal Democratic politicians are extremely opposed to raising academic standards and tracking and gifted and talented programs. They think all of that is racist and they will never, ever support it. They think the purpose of schools is to fight inequality. If you voted for different people, you'd get a different result and schools would look different than they do today.

The above poster comes on and says this all the time, on many posts where parents are complaining about DCPS.

It happens to be true. You don't have to take anyone's word for it. You can see for yourself. Ask JLG or someone like that if she supports any of the things people on DCUM routinely say they want in schools. They will not say yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wouldn't. And I say that as someone with a kid in DCPS who is doing fine.

But if I had to do it again, I'd have pushed my spouse MUCH harder to move out of DC before our our kid was old enough that it would be hard to do. It's not even that I think schools are so much better elsewhere, it's more that I think DC's public school system is highly dysfunctional and stressful to navigate, and I think I personally would prefer to parent in a district where you just live in the best pyramid you can and then make do. That has it's drawbacks too, but I think I'm better suited to them.

Do you mean another district in the DMV or leave the area entirely?

What dysfunctions stand out?

The demographics of DC combined with the government culture and the lottery create very dysfunctional public school systems. Everyone works at cross purposes. Schools, parents, administrators, teachers, and the district. Plus charters. The lottery is great on a micro level (can help families get access to better schools) but toxic on a macro level (creates a sense of instability in the system and schools, creates a lot of churn, disincentivizes people to have a "make it work" attitude even with more minor challenges).

I think some people have no issues with this and navigate it well. I find it stressful and unsettling. My kid is in middle elementary and we are now figuring out middle school. I thought nothing could ever be as stressful and annoying as PK lotteries. I was incorrect. Stakes are much higher for MS and there are simply not enough spots at decent schools to go around. There's this weird intensity among parents, especially where I am (Capital Hill) but this is countered by an almost apathetic or aggressively neutral attitude among schools, likely just as a self-protective measure because some of the parents are so intense. I simply cannot have another conversation about math tracking. I'm tired of all of it.

I think I'd find a lot of this in the burbs as well which is why I'd rather leave the area altogether, but I think I personally am better suited to deal with the way suburban districts handle these issues better than I deal with DC public schools.

I think the fundamental issue is that voters in DC are liberal Democrats and they reflexively vote for very liberal candidates, without realizing that very liberal Democratic politicians are extremely opposed to raising academic standards and tracking and gifted and talented programs. They think all of that is racist and they will never, ever support it. They think the purpose of schools is to fight inequality. If you voted for different people, you'd get a different result and schools would look different than they do today.

This isn't correct because, just as a for instance, Muriel Bowser is not a far left mayor (definitely to the right of the more leftist council on many issues). And since we don't have a school board, Bowser effectively runs DC schools.

Also Adrian Fenty was a liberal mayor but his education policies were controversial specifically because they don't align with far-left ideology -- his reforms created a lot more school choice in DC and have often really angered the teacher's union.

The real reason for the problems described above is actually described above -- you have a bunch of different factions within the school system itself, and they have really different agendas, and they can't agree on anything. The people who push for equity in DC schools are NOT generally then politicians -- DC has a large, vocal, and very active constituency that who will oppose any educational reform that isn't aimed at equity. That's why a lot of the things that happen in DCPS to help upper income families are done quietly and unofficially, like MS tracking. If you make it official or make it DCPS policy, you will instantly get a bunch of people screaming at you that it's inequitable. And that's coming from parents and families, not some super liberal politician forcing it on people. This is how many people in DC genuinely feel.

Then you also have the teacher's union, which also has its own agenda. Sometimes it aligns with what parents want, sometimes it doesn't. See, e.g., Covid. DC's liberal politics does influence how the teacher's union is handled, because a lot of people in DC don't feel comfortable opposing the teacher's union as they are generally pro union. But that leads to weird crap like during Covid when the union was officially opposed to schools reopening in 2021 and many parents paid lip service to supporting this position so as not to be seen as "MAGA" but then privately would rant about how ridiculous it was that their kid wasn't in a classroom. None of that has anything to do with liberal politicians. It's about real politics and constituencies and individual preferences and how they collide.

And all of this floats above the reality of public education in DC, which is that we are educating a diverse population with a lot of very disparate needs, and it's hard to do it all at once. There are lots of poor kids in the system who absolutely do need extra services, remedial education opportunities, tutoring, social services, etc., and school *must* provide that stuff. It's bare minimum. But for middle class and above families, this often comes at the cost of a lot of opportunities and services that would be considered standard in a suburban district without as many poor kids. That's just the reality.

I genuinely wish we could solve all this by just voting a little different. I don't think we can. A lot of this dysfunction is baked into the system. You either learn to navigate it or you find a way out. If you're rich, maybe that's private school. For everyone else, the lottery and charters offer a bandaid but leaving the city is the only way to truly escape it.

[Anonymous]

^ sorry for typos, I was typing fast and hit submit without reviewing. You get the gist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wouldn't. And I say that as someone with a kid in DCPS who is doing fine.

But if I had to do it again, I'd have pushed my spouse MUCH harder to move out of DC before our our kid was old enough that it would be hard to do. It's not even that I think schools are so much better elsewhere, it's more that I think DC's public school system is highly dysfunctional and stressful to navigate, and I think I personally would prefer to parent in a district where you just live in the best pyramid you can and then make do. That has it's drawbacks too, but I think I'm better suited to them.

Do you mean another district in the DMV or leave the area entirely?

What dysfunctions stand out?

The demographics of DC combined with the government culture and the lottery create very dysfunctional public school systems. Everyone works at cross purposes. Schools, parents, administrators, teachers, and the district. Plus charters. The lottery is great on a micro level (can help families get access to better schools) but toxic on a macro level (creates a sense of instability in the system and schools, creates a lot of churn, disincentivizes people to have a "make it work" attitude even with more minor challenges).

I think some people have no issues with this and navigate it well. I find it stressful and unsettling. My kid is in middle elementary and we are now figuring out middle school. I thought nothing could ever be as stressful and annoying as PK lotteries. I was incorrect. Stakes are much higher for MS and there are simply not enough spots at decent schools to go around. There's this weird intensity among parents, especially where I am (Capital Hill) but this is countered by an almost apathetic or aggressively neutral attitude among schools, likely just as a self-protective measure because some of the parents are so intense. I simply cannot have another conversation about math tracking. I'm tired of all of it.

I think I'd find a lot of this in the burbs as well which is why I'd rather leave the area altogether, but I think I personally am better suited to deal with the way suburban districts handle these issues better than I deal with DC public schools.

I think the fundamental issue is that voters in DC are liberal Democrats and they reflexively vote for very liberal candidates, without realizing that very liberal Democratic politicians are extremely opposed to raising academic standards and tracking and gifted and talented programs. They think all of that is racist and they will never, ever support it. They think the purpose of schools is to fight inequality. If you voted for different people, you'd get a different result and schools would look different than they do today.

This isn't correct because, just as a for instance, Muriel Bowser is not a far left mayor (definitely to the right of the more leftist council on many issues). And since we don't have a school board, Bowser effectively runs DC schools.

Also Adrian Fenty was a liberal mayor but his education policies were controversial specifically because they don't align with far-left ideology -- his reforms created a lot more school choice in DC and have often really angered the teacher's union.

The real reason for the problems described above is actually described above -- you have a bunch of different factions within the school system itself, and they have really different agendas, and they can't agree on anything. The people who push for equity in DC schools are NOT generally then politicians -- DC has a large, vocal, and very active constituency that who will oppose any educational reform that isn't aimed at equity. That's why a lot of the things that happen in DCPS to help upper income families are done quietly and unofficially, like MS tracking. If you make it official or make it DCPS policy, you will instantly get a bunch of people screaming at you that it's inequitable. And that's coming from parents and families, not some super liberal politician forcing it on people. This is how many people in DC genuinely feel.

Then you also have the teacher's union, which also has its own agenda. Sometimes it aligns with what parents want, sometimes it doesn't. See, e.g., Covid. DC's liberal politics does influence how the teacher's union is handled, because a lot of people in DC don't feel comfortable opposing the teacher's union as they are generally pro union. But that leads to weird crap like during Covid when the union was officially opposed to schools reopening in 2021 and many parents paid lip service to supporting this position so as not to be seen as "MAGA" but then privately would rant about how ridiculous it was that their kid wasn't in a classroom. None of that has anything to do with liberal politicians. It's about real politics and constituencies and individual preferences and how they collide.

And all of this floats above the reality of public education in DC, which is that we are educating a diverse population with a lot of very disparate needs, and it's hard to do it all at once. There are lots of poor kids in the system who absolutely do need extra services, remedial education opportunities, tutoring, social services, etc., and school *must* provide that stuff. It's bare minimum. But for middle class and above families, this often comes at the cost of a lot of opportunities and services that would be considered standard in a suburban district without as many poor kids. That's just the reality.

I genuinely wish we could solve all this by just voting a little different. I don't think we can. A lot of this dysfunction is baked into the system. You either learn to navigate it or you find a way out. If you're rich, maybe that's private school. For everyone else, the lottery and charters offer a bandaid but leaving the city is the only way to truly escape it.

I don't think any of the candidates for mayor will make schools better for MC and UMC families. But I definitely think some of them could make it worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wouldn't. And I say that as someone with a kid in DCPS who is doing fine.

But if I had to do it again, I'd have pushed my spouse MUCH harder to move out of DC before our our kid was old enough that it would be hard to do. It's not even that I think schools are so much better elsewhere, it's more that I think DC's public school system is highly dysfunctional and stressful to navigate, and I think I personally would prefer to parent in a district where you just live in the best pyramid you can and then make do. That has it's drawbacks too, but I think I'm better suited to them.

Do you mean another district in the DMV or leave the area entirely?

What dysfunctions stand out?

The demographics of DC combined with the government culture and the lottery create very dysfunctional public school systems. Everyone works at cross purposes. Schools, parents, administrators, teachers, and the district. Plus charters. The lottery is great on a micro level (can help families get access to better schools) but toxic on a macro level (creates a sense of instability in the system and schools, creates a lot of churn, disincentivizes people to have a "make it work" attitude even with more minor challenges).

I think some people have no issues with this and navigate it well. I find it stressful and unsettling. My kid is in middle elementary and we are now figuring out middle school. I thought nothing could ever be as stressful and annoying as PK lotteries. I was incorrect. Stakes are much higher for MS and there are simply not enough spots at decent schools to go around. There's this weird intensity among parents, especially where I am (Capital Hill) but this is countered by an almost apathetic or aggressively neutral attitude among schools, likely just as a self-protective measure because some of the parents are so intense. I simply cannot have another conversation about math tracking. I'm tired of all of it.

I think I'd find a lot of this in the burbs as well which is why I'd rather leave the area altogether, but I think I personally am better suited to deal with the way suburban districts handle these issues better than I deal with DC public schools.

I think the fundamental issue is that voters in DC are liberal Democrats and they reflexively vote for very liberal candidates, without realizing that very liberal Democratic politicians are extremely opposed to raising academic standards and tracking and gifted and talented programs. They think all of that is racist and they will never, ever support it. They think the purpose of schools is to fight inequality. If you voted for different people, you'd get a different result and schools would look different than they do today.

This isn't correct because, just as a for instance, Muriel Bowser is not a far left mayor (definitely to the right of the more leftist council on many issues). And since we don't have a school board, Bowser effectively runs DC schools.

Also Adrian Fenty was a liberal mayor but his education policies were controversial specifically because they don't align with far-left ideology -- his reforms created a lot more school choice in DC and have often really angered the teacher's union.

The real reason for the problems described above is actually described above -- you have a bunch of different factions within the school system itself, and they have really different agendas, and they can't agree on anything. The people who push for equity in DC schools are NOT generally then politicians -- DC has a large, vocal, and very active constituency that who will oppose any educational reform that isn't aimed at equity. That's why a lot of the things that happen in DCPS to help upper income families are done quietly and unofficially, like MS tracking. If you make it official or make it DCPS policy, you will instantly get a bunch of people screaming at you that it's inequitable. And that's coming from parents and families, not some super liberal politician forcing it on people. This is how many people in DC genuinely feel.

Then you also have the teacher's union, which also has its own agenda. Sometimes it aligns with what parents want, sometimes it doesn't. See, e.g., Covid. DC's liberal politics does influence how the teacher's union is handled, because a lot of people in DC don't feel comfortable opposing the teacher's union as they are generally pro union. But that leads to weird crap like during Covid when the union was officially opposed to schools reopening in 2021 and many parents paid lip service to supporting this position so as not to be seen as "MAGA" but then privately would rant about how ridiculous it was that their kid wasn't in a classroom. None of that has anything to do with liberal politicians. It's about real politics and constituencies and individual preferences and how they collide.

And all of this floats above the reality of public education in DC, which is that we are educating a diverse population with a lot of very disparate needs, and it's hard to do it all at once. There are lots of poor kids in the system who absolutely do need extra services, remedial education opportunities, tutoring, social services, etc., and school *must* provide that stuff. It's bare minimum. But for middle class and above families, this often comes at the cost of a lot of opportunities and services that would be considered standard in a suburban district without as many poor kids. That's just the reality.

I genuinely wish we could solve all this by just voting a little different. I don't think we can. A lot of this dysfunction is baked into the system. You either learn to navigate it or you find a way out. If you're rich, maybe that's private school. For everyone else, the lottery and charters offer a bandaid but leaving the city is the only way to truly escape it.

DC is run by the city council, not the mayor. Bowser is an extraordinarily weak mayor. The city council overrides her vetoes all the time (including one yesterday on a non-school issue). The city council is as far left as any city council in the country.

[Anonymous]

Spanish immersion is absolutely great if your kids start early enough and your family is especially committed to it or you can otherwise support it some at home. This simply is not everyone. So you are not going to get great answers about the comparative value for your family specifically on a fairly general one size fits most internet board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wouldn't. And I say that as someone with a kid in DCPS who is doing fine.

But if I had to do it again, I'd have pushed my spouse MUCH harder to move out of DC before our our kid was old enough that it would be hard to do. It's not even that I think schools are so much better elsewhere, it's more that I think DC's public school system is highly dysfunctional and stressful to navigate, and I think I personally would prefer to parent in a district where you just live in the best pyramid you can and then make do. That has it's drawbacks too, but I think I'm better suited to them.

Do you mean another district in the DMV or leave the area entirely?

What dysfunctions stand out?

The demographics of DC combined with the government culture and the lottery create very dysfunctional public school systems. Everyone works at cross purposes. Schools, parents, administrators, teachers, and the district. Plus charters. The lottery is great on a micro level (can help families get access to better schools) but toxic on a macro level (creates a sense of instability in the system and schools, creates a lot of churn, disincentivizes people to have a "make it work" attitude even with more minor challenges).

I think some people have no issues with this and navigate it well. I find it stressful and unsettling. My kid is in middle elementary and we are now figuring out middle school. I thought nothing could ever be as stressful and annoying as PK lotteries. I was incorrect. Stakes are much higher for MS and there are simply not enough spots at decent schools to go around. There's this weird intensity among parents, especially where I am (Capital Hill) but this is countered by an almost apathetic or aggressively neutral attitude among schools, likely just as a self-protective measure because some of the parents are so intense. I simply cannot have another conversation about math tracking. I'm tired of all of it.

I think I'd find a lot of this in the burbs as well which is why I'd rather leave the area altogether, but I think I personally am better suited to deal with the way suburban districts handle these issues better than I deal with DC public schools.

Maybe I am missing something, but OP is saying the family is going to move and just attend the local school...thereby bypassing the school lottery issues.

It's not much different no matter where you live if you don't feed into a strong school district...you can't just decide to go to the awesome schools a mile away because your schools suck. I think if you move to say San Francisco or NYC, then every school is a lottery system (there are no by-right schools...though maybe that's only in HS).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wouldn't. And I say that as someone with a kid in DCPS who is doing fine.

But if I had to do it again, I'd have pushed my spouse MUCH harder to move out of DC before our our kid was old enough that it would be hard to do. It's not even that I think schools are so much better elsewhere, it's more that I think DC's public school system is highly dysfunctional and stressful to navigate, and I think I personally would prefer to parent in a district where you just live in the best pyramid you can and then make do. That has it's drawbacks too, but I think I'm better suited to them.

Do you mean another district in the DMV or leave the area entirely?

What dysfunctions stand out?

The demographics of DC combined with the government culture and the lottery create very dysfunctional public school systems. Everyone works at cross purposes. Schools, parents, administrators, teachers, and the district. Plus charters. The lottery is great on a micro level (can help families get access to better schools) but toxic on a macro level (creates a sense of instability in the system and schools, creates a lot of churn, disincentivizes people to have a "make it work" attitude even with more minor challenges).

I think some people have no issues with this and navigate it well. I find it stressful and unsettling. My kid is in middle elementary and we are now figuring out middle school. I thought nothing could ever be as stressful and annoying as PK lotteries. I was incorrect. Stakes are much higher for MS and there are simply not enough spots at decent schools to go around. There's this weird intensity among parents, especially where I am (Capital Hill) but this is countered by an almost apathetic or aggressively neutral attitude among schools, likely just as a self-protective measure because some of the parents are so intense. I simply cannot have another conversation about math tracking. I'm tired of all of it.

I think I'd find a lot of this in the burbs as well which is why I'd rather leave the area altogether, but I think I personally am better suited to deal with the way suburban districts handle these issues better than I deal with DC public schools.

I could have written this post myself and also live in Capitol Hill. The DCPS middles that the Hill elementary schools feed into are inconsistent and are all (I believe) Title I schools. Some have increasing neighborhood buy in and we will be sending our DS to one next year that we are hopeful about, but many of DS's friends left last year for Latin or BASIS and that was hard on him. Looming on the horizon is the high school question, so we have to throw our hats in the ring with the lottery again, and also will have to apply our kid to private high school as a backstop. The people whose kids "win" the high school or charter lottery are literally winning a thing of significant value: not having to pay for four years of private or parochial high school or not having to move and face all of the financial costs (buying/selling home) and social/emotional costs (uprooting your kids, trying to make new adult friends) etc. And not having to worry about the uncertainty and not knowing where your kid is going to school next. Same with the burbs in a decent pyramid.

You've articulated very well the neutral or indifferent attitude about math tracking and other issues in schools. I wish so badly that DCPS would track kids better, including in subjects other than math. More UMC families with strong students would consider staying. But there have been entire years where it felt like my kid was teaching himself math because he started out the year above grade level and so nobody was worried about him. I feel like we've been gaslighted when we push back or ask questions about what he's up to.

If I had to go back and do it again, I would have at least moved to NW DC into a Deal feeder (or Arlington) before my kids were old enough for switching schools to matter, and before we felt so settled in this community. We love the Hill and don't want to leave but the stress of this crazy school situation takes a toll. I am exhausted.

As a PK parent and longtime-ish CH resident, I am trying to avoid some of this anxiety for however long I can but now that we're enrolled into the school journey, I know it's coming for me. We, too, love this community in many ways. But the school chatter ... damn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regarding tracking, there is also the problem that even if a middle school offers Algebra I (which, yes, all DC middle schools do, at least in name), if a majority of students in the school are below grade level (common in DC middle schools) then that class may not actually compare to a true Algebra I class.

That's why people want tracking. It's not just about getting their kids more advanced material or getting their kids into a class called "Geometry". It's about ensuring their kids will be in a classroom where the focus/expectation will be on grade level or above grade level math, and not actually a remedial course targeted at struggling kids but called "Algebra I" for equity reasons.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wouldn't. And I say that as someone with a kid in DCPS who is doing fine.

But if I had to do it again, I'd have pushed my spouse MUCH harder to move out of DC before our our kid was old enough that it would be hard to do. It's not even that I think schools are so much better elsewhere, it's more that I think DC's public school system is highly dysfunctional and stressful to navigate, and I think I personally would prefer to parent in a district where you just live in the best pyramid you can and then make do. That has it's drawbacks too, but I think I'm better suited to them.

Do you mean another district in the DMV or leave the area entirely?

What dysfunctions stand out?

The demographics of DC combined with the government culture and the lottery create very dysfunctional public school systems. Everyone works at cross purposes. Schools, parents, administrators, teachers, and the district. Plus charters. The lottery is great on a micro level (can help families get access to better schools) but toxic on a macro level (creates a sense of instability in the system and schools, creates a lot of churn, disincentivizes people to have a "make it work" attitude even with more minor challenges).

I think some people have no issues with this and navigate it well. I find it stressful and unsettling. My kid is in middle elementary and we are now figuring out middle school. I thought nothing could ever be as stressful and annoying as PK lotteries. I was incorrect. Stakes are much higher for MS and there are simply not enough spots at decent schools to go around. There's this weird intensity among parents, especially where I am (Capital Hill) but this is countered by an almost apathetic or aggressively neutral attitude among schools, likely just as a self-protective measure because some of the parents are so intense. I simply cannot have another conversation about math tracking. I'm tired of all of it.

I think I'd find a lot of this in the burbs as well which is why I'd rather leave the area altogether, but I think I personally am better suited to deal with the way suburban districts handle these issues better than I deal with DC public schools.

Maybe I am missing something, but OP is saying the family is going to move and just attend the local school...thereby bypassing the school lottery issues.

It's not much different no matter where you live if you don't feed into a strong school district...you can't just decide to go to the awesome schools a mile away because your schools suck. I think if you move to say San Francisco or NYC, then every school is a lottery system (there are no by-right schools...though maybe that's only in HS).

Yes you missed something as this is exactly what's being discussed here, broadly speaking. If a move is happening anyway, why not move near that awesome school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spanish immersion is absolutely great if your kids start early enough and your family is especially committed to it or you can otherwise support it some at home. This simply is not everyone. So you are not going to get great answers about the comparative value for your family specifically on a fairly general one size fits most internet board.

Prompt question isn't about comparing immersion options vs. non-immersion, traditional options. It's two scenarios: comparing options within immersion scenario. And comparing options within English-only scenario.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wouldn't. And I say that as someone with a kid in DCPS who is doing fine.

But if I had to do it again, I'd have pushed my spouse MUCH harder to move out of DC before our our kid was old enough that it would be hard to do. It's not even that I think schools are so much better elsewhere, it's more that I think DC's public school system is highly dysfunctional and stressful to navigate, and I think I personally would prefer to parent in a district where you just live in the best pyramid you can and then make do. That has it's drawbacks too, but I think I'm better suited to them.

Do you mean another district in the DMV or leave the area entirely?

What dysfunctions stand out?

The demographics of DC combined with the government culture and the lottery create very dysfunctional public school systems. Everyone works at cross purposes. Schools, parents, administrators, teachers, and the district. Plus charters. The lottery is great on a micro level (can help families get access to better schools) but toxic on a macro level (creates a sense of instability in the system and schools, creates a lot of churn, disincentivizes people to have a "make it work" attitude even with more minor challenges).

I think some people have no issues with this and navigate it well. I find it stressful and unsettling. My kid is in middle elementary and we are now figuring out middle school. I thought nothing could ever be as stressful and annoying as PK lotteries. I was incorrect. Stakes are much higher for MS and there are simply not enough spots at decent schools to go around. There's this weird intensity among parents, especially where I am (Capital Hill) but this is countered by an almost apathetic or aggressively neutral attitude among schools, likely just as a self-protective measure because some of the parents are so intense. I simply cannot have another conversation about math tracking. I'm tired of all of it.

I think I'd find a lot of this in the burbs as well which is why I'd rather leave the area altogether, but I think I personally am better suited to deal with the way suburban districts handle these issues better than I deal with DC public schools.

Maybe I am missing something, but OP is saying the family is going to move and just attend the local school...thereby bypassing the school lottery issues.

It's not much different no matter where you live if you don't feed into a strong school district...you can't just decide to go to the awesome schools a mile away because your schools suck. I think if you move to say San Francisco or NYC, then every school is a lottery system (there are no by-right schools...though maybe that's only in HS).

Yes you missed something as this is exactly what's being discussed here, broadly speaking. If a move is happening anyway, why not move near that awesome school.

No…PP suggested that by moving away from the DMV, somehow this issue is magically solved.

The reality is it doesn’t matter where you are in nearly the entire US. If you want to attend great public schools you need to move in boundary. Most school districts don’t have lotteries or really any ability to attend anything other the school you are zoned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wouldn't. And I say that as someone with a kid in DCPS who is doing fine.

But if I had to do it again, I'd have pushed my spouse MUCH harder to move out of DC before our our kid was old enough that it would be hard to do. It's not even that I think schools are so much better elsewhere, it's more that I think DC's public school system is highly dysfunctional and stressful to navigate, and I think I personally would prefer to parent in a district where you just live in the best pyramid you can and then make do. That has it's drawbacks too, but I think I'm better suited to them.

Do you mean another district in the DMV or leave the area entirely?

What dysfunctions stand out?

The demographics of DC combined with the government culture and the lottery create very dysfunctional public school systems. Everyone works at cross purposes. Schools, parents, administrators, teachers, and the district. Plus charters. The lottery is great on a micro level (can help families get access to better schools) but toxic on a macro level (creates a sense of instability in the system and schools, creates a lot of churn, disincentivizes people to have a "make it work" attitude even with more minor challenges).

I think some people have no issues with this and navigate it well. I find it stressful and unsettling. My kid is in middle elementary and we are now figuring out middle school. I thought nothing could ever be as stressful and annoying as PK lotteries. I was incorrect. Stakes are much higher for MS and there are simply not enough spots at decent schools to go around. There's this weird intensity among parents, especially where I am (Capital Hill) but this is countered by an almost apathetic or aggressively neutral attitude among schools, likely just as a self-protective measure because some of the parents are so intense. I simply cannot have another conversation about math tracking. I'm tired of all of it.

I think I'd find a lot of this in the burbs as well which is why I'd rather leave the area altogether, but I think I personally am better suited to deal with the way suburban districts handle these issues better than I deal with DC public schools.

I could have written this post myself and also live in Capitol Hill. The DCPS middles that the Hill elementary schools feed into are inconsistent and are all (I believe) Title I schools. Some have increasing neighborhood buy in and we will be sending our DS to one next year that we are hopeful about, but many of DS's friends left last year for Latin or BASIS and that was hard on him. Looming on the horizon is the high school question, so we have to throw our hats in the ring with the lottery again, and also will have to apply our kid to private high school as a backstop. The people whose kids "win" the high school or charter lottery are literally winning a thing of significant value: not having to pay for four years of private or parochial high school or not having to move and face all of the financial costs (buying/selling home) and social/emotional costs (uprooting your kids, trying to make new adult friends) etc. And not having to worry about the uncertainty and not knowing where your kid is going to school next. Same with the burbs in a decent pyramid.

You've articulated very well the neutral or indifferent attitude about math tracking and other issues in schools. I wish so badly that DCPS would track kids better, including in subjects other than math. More UMC families with strong students would consider staying. But there have been entire years where it felt like my kid was teaching himself math because he started out the year above grade level and so nobody was worried about him. I feel like we've been gaslighted when we push back or ask questions about what he's up to.

If I had to go back and do it again, I would have at least moved to NW DC into a Deal feeder (or Arlington) before my kids were old enough for switching schools to matter, and before we felt so settled in this community. We love the Hill and don't want to leave but the stress of this crazy school situation takes a toll. I am exhausted.

As a PK parent and longtime-ish CH resident, I am trying to avoid some of this anxiety for however long I can but now that we're enrolled into the school journey, I know it's coming for me. We, too, love this community in many ways. But the school chatter ... damn

The school chatter is easy to ignore. Just know that most of what is said in the chatter is flat out wrong anyway. Research and choose schools on your own -- it doesn't matter what your neighbor, etc., is doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wouldn't. And I say that as someone with a kid in DCPS who is doing fine.

But if I had to do it again, I'd have pushed my spouse MUCH harder to move out of DC before our our kid was old enough that it would be hard to do. It's not even that I think schools are so much better elsewhere, it's more that I think DC's public school system is highly dysfunctional and stressful to navigate, and I think I personally would prefer to parent in a district where you just live in the best pyramid you can and then make do. That has it's drawbacks too, but I think I'm better suited to them.

Do you mean another district in the DMV or leave the area entirely?

What dysfunctions stand out?

The demographics of DC combined with the government culture and the lottery create very dysfunctional public school systems. Everyone works at cross purposes. Schools, parents, administrators, teachers, and the district. Plus charters. The lottery is great on a micro level (can help families get access to better schools) but toxic on a macro level (creates a sense of instability in the system and schools, creates a lot of churn, disincentivizes people to have a "make it work" attitude even with more minor challenges).

I think some people have no issues with this and navigate it well. I find it stressful and unsettling. My kid is in middle elementary and we are now figuring out middle school. I thought nothing could ever be as stressful and annoying as PK lotteries. I was incorrect. Stakes are much higher for MS and there are simply not enough spots at decent schools to go around. There's this weird intensity among parents, especially where I am (Capital Hill) but this is countered by an almost apathetic or aggressively neutral attitude among schools, likely just as a self-protective measure because some of the parents are so intense. I simply cannot have another conversation about math tracking. I'm tired of all of it.

I think I'd find a lot of this in the burbs as well which is why I'd rather leave the area altogether, but I think I personally am better suited to deal with the way suburban districts handle these issues better than I deal with DC public schools.

I could have written this post myself and also live in Capitol Hill. The DCPS middles that the Hill elementary schools feed into are inconsistent and are all (I believe) Title I schools. Some have increasing neighborhood buy in and we will be sending our DS to one next year that we are hopeful about, but many of DS's friends left last year for Latin or BASIS and that was hard on him. Looming on the horizon is the high school question, so we have to throw our hats in the ring with the lottery again, and also will have to apply our kid to private high school as a backstop. The people whose kids "win" the high school or charter lottery are literally winning a thing of significant value: not having to pay for four years of private or parochial high school or not having to move and face all of the financial costs (buying/selling home) and social/emotional costs (uprooting your kids, trying to make new adult friends) etc. And not having to worry about the uncertainty and not knowing where your kid is going to school next. Same with the burbs in a decent pyramid.

You've articulated very well the neutral or indifferent attitude about math tracking and other issues in schools. I wish so badly that DCPS would track kids better, including in subjects other than math. More UMC families with strong students would consider staying. But there have been entire years where it felt like my kid was teaching himself math because he started out the year above grade level and so nobody was worried about him. I feel like we've been gaslighted when we push back or ask questions about what he's up to.

If I had to go back and do it again, I would have at least moved to NW DC into a Deal feeder (or Arlington) before my kids were old enough for switching schools to matter, and before we felt so settled in this community. We love the Hill and don't want to leave but the stress of this crazy school situation takes a toll. I am exhausted.

As a PK parent and longtime-ish CH resident, I am trying to avoid some of this anxiety for however long I can but now that we're enrolled into the school journey, I know it's coming for me. We, too, love this community in many ways. But the school chatter ... damn

The school chatter is easy to ignore. Just know that most of what is said in the chatter is flat out wrong anyway. Research and choose schools on your own -- it doesn't matter what your neighbor, etc., is doing.

ha ha ha for me "doing my own research" actually nudged more worry and sometimes I wish I could be the kind of "live and let live" parent. A closer look at some of the curricula and content can be depressing. Supposedly "hands-on" Amplify stuff. Game-based apps for "differentiation."