Moving from DCPS to Charter but commute is terrible

[Anonymous]

I think you will get used to it.

My DH fought moving our kid to an OOB school (both for a better elementary and for MS feed) because he thought it would "ruin" our commute situation. It's fine.

I mean, what's your current commute? 20 minutes is not that big of a deal. Unless you currently live next door to your school, I'm guessing your current commute is 10 minutes. This is only marginally worse, in exchange for schools you're happy with through HS. That's worth it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing you may not realize when your kids are very young is that there's tons of good options when it comes to elementary schools, but as the child ages, the options get much, much worse. DCI is a massive improvement over MacFarland and Roosevelt, and a 20 minute commute seems fairly normal. And there's not a huge price difference between living in Petworth and living in Brightwood/Takoma/Shepherd Park, and you could end up moving closer to DCI eventually.

So true. Everyone is fighting for access to OOB schools, not because that school is much better than the neighborhood school, but because the guaranteed Middle is superior. The lottery here is infuriating. Maybe this could be fixed by getting rid of all guaranteed spots and having every middle be lottery.

You're frustrated by your little scramble in elementary school and your solution is to burn down the city.

making all spots in all dcps schools subject to the lottery would be a whole lot fairer than what we do now, where we auction off spaces in the most desirable schools via housing prices while the least desirable schools are half empty. some of these schools are extremely underenrolled.

[Anonymous]

There are kids at our (hyper-desirable) charter who have hourlong commutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are kids at our (hyper-desirable) charter who have hourlong commutes.

Commuting an hour for PK is just sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are kids at our (hyper-desirable) charter who have hourlong commutes.

Commuting an hour for PK is just sad.

It's middle school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing you may not realize when your kids are very young is that there's tons of good options when it comes to elementary schools, but as the child ages, the options get much, much worse. DCI is a massive improvement over MacFarland and Roosevelt, and a 20 minute commute seems fairly normal. And there's not a huge price difference between living in Petworth and living in Brightwood/Takoma/Shepherd Park, and you could end up moving closer to DCI eventually.

So true. Everyone is fighting for access to OOB schools, not because that school is much better than the neighborhood school, but because the guaranteed Middle is superior. The lottery here is infuriating. Maybe this could be fixed by getting rid of all guaranteed spots and having every middle be lottery.

You're frustrated by your little scramble in elementary school and your solution is to burn down the city.

making all spots in all dcps schools subject to the lottery would be a whole lot fairer than what we do now, where we auction off spaces in the most desirable schools via housing prices while the least desirable schools are half empty. some of these schools are extremely underenrolled.

Study what has happened in other cities that tried this. Imagine the knock off effects. Also LMAO at "fairer."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are kids at our (hyper-desirable) charter who have hourlong commutes.

Commuting an hour for PK is just sad.

It's middle school

Then how is this relevant? OP has kids in PK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing you may not realize when your kids are very young is that there's tons of good options when it comes to elementary schools, but as the child ages, the options get much, much worse. DCI is a massive improvement over MacFarland and Roosevelt, and a 20 minute commute seems fairly normal. And there's not a huge price difference between living in Petworth and living in Brightwood/Takoma/Shepherd Park, and you could end up moving closer to DCI eventually.

So true. Everyone is fighting for access to OOB schools, not because that school is much better than the neighborhood school, but because the guaranteed Middle is superior. The lottery here is infuriating. Maybe this could be fixed by getting rid of all guaranteed spots and having every middle be lottery.

You're frustrated by your little scramble in elementary school and your solution is to burn down the city.

making all spots in all dcps schools subject to the lottery would be a whole lot fairer than what we do now, where we auction off spaces in the most desirable schools via housing prices while the least desirable schools are half empty. some of these schools are extremely underenrolled.

Study what has happened in other cities that tried this. Imagine the knock off effects. Also LMAO at "fairer."

+1

The number of families that would leave DCPS would make for very few “desireable” schools. Look what happened to San Francisco when they tried this.

[Anonymous]

You choose the charter so suck it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are kids at our (hyper-desirable) charter who have hourlong commutes.

Which is so funny to me. Some of these parents acting like hamsters on a wheel, sweating to prepare their kids for a world that no longer exists.

[Anonymous]

No it’s really not worth it. You think it is just a 40 minute commute but that is without accidents or waiting in a car line to drop off or pick up. That can easily stretch to an hour each way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No it’s really not worth it. You think it is just a 40 minute commute but that is without accidents or waiting in a car line to drop off or pick up. That can easily stretch to an hour each way.

no 20 min does not stretch to an hour each way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No it’s really not worth it. You think it is just a 40 minute commute but that is without accidents or waiting in a car line to drop off or pick up. That can easily stretch to an hour each way.

I don't know about this. I agree with a poster above -- unless you live right next to the school, 20 minutes is not too bad of a commute. Even when I sent my kids to their IB school, the walk was 15 minutes back and forth.

Just from knowing people who stayed IB for an EOTP elementary school and then struck out for middle school -- OP should probably take this spot. It's a brutal outcome, and knowing you actively gave it up will be painful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No it’s really not worth it. You think it is just a 40 minute commute but that is without accidents or waiting in a car line to drop off or pick up. That can easily stretch to an hour each way.

I don't know about this. I agree with a poster above -- unless you live right next to the school, 20 minutes is not too bad of a commute. Even when I sent my kids to their IB school, the walk was 15 minutes back and forth.

Just from knowing people who stayed IB for an EOTP elementary school and then struck out for middle school -- OP should probably take this spot. It's a brutal outcome, and knowing you actively gave it up will be painful.

+1. OP doesn’t have a 0 commute. Even if she can walk to her IB, that is a 5-10 minute commute there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are kids at our (hyper-desirable) charter who have hourlong commutes.

Which is so funny to me. Some of these parents acting like hamsters on a wheel, sweating to prepare their kids for a world that no longer exists.

Nobody has an hour commute unless they are coming from EOTR and if I lived there, hell yes, I would have my kid do that commute for a good middle/high school.

These families do it all the time who value education and don’t have a lot of options. I suggest you move to EOTP and send your kid to the schools there.