of the dozen(?) top charters, which did you NOT apply to, and why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PK4, skipped:
-YY - no interest in Chinese
-Appletree - toured 2 campuses last year (got into one) and just didn't think it was a good fit for DC. Plus, I want something that has the potential for more than just PK.
-MV - Spanish isn't that important to me
-LAMB - Same

Applied to Meridian and Shining Stars.

Plus IT, Creative Minds, Haynes, 2 Rivers, Cap City, Stokes and Bridges.
Commute wasn't that important to me as I plan on moving this summer anyway and am flexible on location.

Why Stokes? For the French?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would love to have my children get the second language. But not if it means dragging them on an extra hour of a commute a day, since it would probably add another half hour for us each way to go to the new location. Maybe you should start from the position that everyone here is trying to do what's best for their family instead of lashing in out in so much anger.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skipping Two Rivers, EL Haynes, Stokes and Yu Ying because of the commute, but did all the rest. I applied for MV before I knew about the move and would take the spot if for some miracle I got one since they will be on 16th St. next year.

So it's all about the convenience, nothing about the opportunity for a second language. Your myopia is a subject for textbooks.

Hopefully you won't get in; you're a perfect example of casting pearls before swine.

NP here. You know that MV is full immersion in the early years, right? That would mean your child would receive no instruction in English. This is more of an investment than the journey itself as it sets up the child to understand down the line. You child would be disadvantaged by dedicating too much time on a goal that isn't going to be pursued, and another child will be disadvantaged by losing out on the early immersion that helps set them up for elementary education in Spanish. Of course it is up to you, but this seems like a bad plan for a one year commitment. Moreover, the more people that enter with this attitude, the less cohesive the community becomes. We are in it for the long haul, as is most of the community, which is what makes it such a strong place.

This is also why I am strongly in favor of a single lottery. If would be terrible if you took a one-year safety school spot when someone else who really wants in may get your preferred spot instead. There needs to be a way to rank preferences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PK4, skipped:
-YY - no interest in Chinese
-Appletree - toured 2 campuses last year (got into one) and just didn't think it was a good fit for DC. Plus, I want something that has the potential for more than just PK.
-MV - Spanish isn't that important to me
-LAMB - Same

Applied to Meridian and Shining Stars.

Plus IT, Creative Minds, Haynes, 2 Rivers, Cap City, Stokes and Bridges.
Commute wasn't that important to me as I plan on moving this summer anyway and am flexible on location.

Why Stokes? For the French?

Yes. Language immersion isn't that important to me, but I have the most connection to French. If we get in, I could help with French, where I wouldn't be able to with Spanish or Chinese.

Spanish would be great (and more practical), but I didn't think we had a chance at MV or LAMB and frankly between some of the posts here and my impressions of the schools themselves on visits and through phone calls I just wasn't getting a great feeling about them. I applied to DCPS as well, none of my picks were SI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skipping Two Rivers, EL Haynes, Stokes and Yu Ying because of the commute, but did all the rest. I applied for MV before I knew about the move and would take the spot if for some miracle I got one since they will be on 16th St. next year.

So it's all about the convenience, nothing about the opportunity for a second language. Your myopia is a subject for textbooks.

Hopefully you won't get in; you're a perfect example of casting pearls before swine.

NP. And you seem a perfect example of swine, period.

[Anonymous]

Not applying to IT or CM (just not impressed with what I saw at open houses, and we have friends in both that are not thrilled). Not applying to Meridian which is close for us, but the scores are not there yet, and it is not a diverse enough school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to have my children get the second language. But not if it means dragging them on an extra hour of a commute a day, since it would probably add another half hour for us each way to go to the new location. Maybe you should start from the position that everyone here is trying to do what's best for their family instead of lashing in out in so much anger.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skipping Two Rivers, EL Haynes, Stokes and Yu Ying because of the commute, but did all the rest. I applied for MV before I knew about the move and would take the spot if for some miracle I got one since they will be on 16th St. next year.

So it's all about the convenience, nothing about the opportunity for a second language. Your myopia is a subject for textbooks.

Hopefully you won't get in; you're a perfect example of casting pearls before swine.

NP here. You know that MV is full immersion in the early years, right? That would mean your child would receive no instruction in English. This is more of an investment than the journey itself as it sets up the child to understand down the line. You child would be disadvantaged
by dedicating too much time on a goal that isn't going to be pursued, and another child will be disadvantaged by losing out on the early immersion that helps set them up for elementary education in Spanish. Of course it is up to you, but this seems like a bad plan for a one year commitment. Moreover, the more people that enter with this attitude, the less cohesive the community becomes. We are in it for the long haul, as is most of the community, which is what makes it such a strong place.

This is also why I am strongly in favor of a single lottery. If would be terrible if you took a one-year safety school spot when someone else who really wants in may get your preferred spot instead. There needs to be a way to rank preferences.

NP here- please understand that you are not in control of others' decisions. Or more simply put, shaddup already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not applying to IT or CM (just not impressed with what I saw at open houses, and we have friends in both that are not thrilled). Not applying to Meridian which is close for us, but the scores are not there yet, and it is not a diverse enough school.

Strange how opinions on schools can be so divided. Our son is in PK4 at IT and we love it. His PS3 teacher last year was fantastic. Our daughter will be entering PS3 at IT this year and she can't wait!

[Anonymous]

We didn't apply to IT, either. It really is an individual family decision. I really liked the principal at IT, but we want to be at a more diverse school, and languages are important to us. We are in an excellent private nursery, so we can wait a year if we don't get in for pre-K, and our IB school is not awful as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We didn't apply to IT, either. It really is an individual family decision. I really liked the principal at IT, but we want to be at a more diverse school, and languages are important to us. We are in an excellent private nursery, so we can wait a year if we don't get in for pre-K, and our IB school is not awful as well.

.

I think IT is very diverse. What's not diverse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We didn't apply to IT, either. It really is an individual family decision. I really liked the principal at IT, but we want to be at a more diverse school, and languages are important to us. We are in an excellent private nursery, so we can wait a year if we don't get in for pre-K, and our IB school is not awful as well.

That's really odd to hear. I find IT to be extremely diverse and is one of the reasons why we love it. In my kid's class, the makeup is somewhere as far as 50/50 as far as looking at the skin tone as black/white, but a closer look you'll see:

2 Ethiopian students
1 Asian
2 (at least) bi or multi racial
1 French
1 Egyptian
1 Hispanic
2 kids with same-sex families

That's almost half the class that share differences.

Sure we don't have a high percentage of FARMS (I think about 20%), but you will find many truly middle income families as well including many teachers, fire fighters, social workers, police officers etc. If diversity is really important to you, then I urge you to take another look at IT. It really is a good representation of DC overall.

[Anonymous]

IT is 4.4% FARMs. Yep, closer to 4 than 20 and is a pretty light and bright school, let's be real. As a multi-racial family, we didn't get a good vibe when we visited. The principal was fabulous, but it is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IT is 4.4% FARMs. Yep, closer to 4 than 20 and is a pretty light and bright school, let's be real. As a multi-racial family, we didn't get a good vibe when we visited. The principal was fabulous, but it is what it is.

IT is 22% FARMs with 50% black, 38% white, 5% Asian, and 5% Hispanic. Where did you get your stats from?

http://www.dcpubliccharter.com/data/files/Schools/185/081-ITD_AP11-12.pdf

[Anonymous]

Here's what they actually submitted to OSSE in 2012 - 4.4%

http://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/publication/attachments/Inspired%20Teaching%20School.pdf

My guess is that the PCSB inflates the data.

[Anonymous]

Where are you getting your numbers on IT's FARM rate? Their annual report indicates 18% for 2011-2012 and I've never heard of a public charter being below about 10%. Also, annual reports are mostly posted online on the public charter school board's website and can give some pretty good comparison data on demographics and retention rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IT is 4.4% FARMs. Yep, closer to 4 than 20 and is a pretty light and bright school, let's be real. As a multi-racial family, we didn't get a good vibe when we visited. The principal was fabulous, but it is what it is.

I am a multi racial family at IT as well and am very alert to these things. IT is probably one of the most diverse schools you can find in the city. If you didn't get a good vibe, I completely understand and it's your perogative not to apply. I just wanted to make sure what was being said was accurate.