Watkins Parents: How pleased are you? How optimistic?
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Anonymous
You don't consider 77 kids out of ~500 to be a large number? That's almost a fifth of the school. As of 2013/2014, Watkins was 21% in-boundary. That's telling. |
Anonymous
Interesting map. Thanks. The grade breakdown would still be interesting, since it would reveal something about the trend of the schooL. Are more and more Hill residents enrolling or not? iB, IB with proximity, etc. |
Anonymous
how current is this data? It lists Prospect LC in Ward 6, which was closed 2 years ago and SWS is listed "at Logan Annex" |
Anonymous
I'm not saying 77 kids isn't large but the implication struck me as misleading - it isn't an overwhelming number in comparison to other cohorts. Which gets back to my previous snarky question of whether the person asking about OOB means the narrow IB or Hill kids ("who look like us") contingent. Would that PP care if it were 21% IB but the OOB were all kids from L-T, Maury or Brent catchments? That being said, I think the overall reduction of the number of classes at Watkins can only help to keep the flow of IB kids coming from Peabody into 1st grade. I also think that with the overflow of Peabody IB and other nearby schools, there will be some upward movement in IB kids in Watkins. But maybe not enough or early enough for the PP's comfort. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
Let's introduce a dose of reality. I can guarantee that if there are any students from the Brent or Maury districts, the only reason to transfer to Watkins would be to get into SH after spending 5th Grade at Watkins. I've heard that the Cluster principal has tried to sell this as an option but am not aware of anyone who has actually done this. OTOH, I know of a number of families who have moved a few blocks from the Cluster district to the Maury or Brent districts. Further, if you've opted to pass on LT, I can't see why you might think Watkins is a better pathway to SH. So, it's possible that Watkins could be an option for families IB for schools like Miner, Payne or Tyler. I am also aware that Brent is about 50% OOB, and that this is more in the vein of a "Hill kids" who look like us contingent. |
Anonymous
+1. If Watkins is just starting the process of right sizing itself, out of date data doesn't do too much good. |
Anonymous
Not PP, but I would like to know how many first graders are OOB, and that means strictly out of the cluster boundary. There's enough PK demand at Peabody now to cause IB kids to be waitlisted. I'd like to know how the flow from kindergarten to first grade is. As for all the downers, even Brent and Maury had to start from somewhere. |
Anonymous
| Brent & Maury have 2 classes per grade, I think. LT is the same. Watkins had 5, and is artificially down to 4. Size matters. |
Anonymous
| Brent has three classrooms for K-3, and will be adding a third classroom for 4th next year. Only 1 classroom for 5th for the foreseeable future. |
Anonymous
yes -- size does matter. Peabody is turning away IB families for PK3 despite having more IB seats than any other DCPS ECE. If Watkins can better retain those families it is sized appropriately. "Artificially down to 4" makes no sense. Unless class sizes have swollen, there are less children at Watkins than previously. I don't have numbers, but it's supposedly 10% smaller than 2013 (~550) |
Anonymous
Not really. There are 61 spots and 39 on the wait list. Those are 3 year olds. Realistically there will be about 3 classes worth of IB kids by the time they hit 1st grade. Lots of people will move, get into a charter or go private. Watkins should drop down to 3 classes and build some IB grades to encourage more IB families to give it a try. |
Anonymous
I believe 38 inbound families were turned away during round 1 of this year's PS3 lottery. So there are certainly enough inbound kids to fill the grade. |
Anonymous
your math makes no sense. the attrition is largely a product of dissatisfaction with IB options. If those options are more attractive the attrition should not be considered a given. |
Anonymous
"lots of people getting into a charter" also doesn't make sense. The charters most IB people want to get into are waitlisted out the wazoo. I'm optimistic. I've heard that many people from last year's K class are going to Watkins for first, and other parents of this fall's K's class have also told me that they plan to go to Watkins. Of course things may change during as the year goes on, but the only way to make things happen is for the IB class to stay together and go in. |