Schools cause PoP to leave Petworth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if you hadn't gotten into a good charter?

We would have tried again for kindergarten and if we struck out again, moved to N Arlington (where my DH works). But we figured we literally had nothing to lose by sticking it out and lotterying for preschool. First year we struck out, second year we got top choice. But moving in bounds for Janney or to N Arlington before kindergarten seemed pointless when we love our 'hood and won't have access to great public schools for our three year old anywhere else.


I totally don't blame ppl for moving WOTP at any point in their or their kids lives, I just get annoyed when people think they must have more money or pay more in property taxes because they happen to live in Chevy chase dc vs on the green line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn't big or scandalous news. He's a good guy. He started the blog a long time ago when he was younger and his life was different. He has a family now, and let's be honest, he's been talking about other, less-edgy, neighborhoods for a while now so you have to have seen this coming. I barely know him, but even I've talked to him about schools - it's impossible not to be concerned when you're a parent.

I also agree it sounds like the Hearst zone rather than Murch. (Which is much less of a sell out if you ask me.)

oh shut up. What do you know about "selling out"? That's right, nothing, because you're 30 and have either no kids or one infant who's 11 mos. You grew up in the suburbs. You have a curated beard, but this doesn't make you authentic.

Here's a cheat sheet: one more stop to the north on the Red Line isn't a sellout. A brick center hall Colonial in 20015 between Wisc. and Connecticut aves is not more a sell out than a brick center hall colonial in 20008 between Wisc. and Connecticut avenues.

Ok I'll bite back. I'm significantly older than 30, with kids significantly older than 5. By selling-out, I refer to those who choose to send their kids to a tried-and-true as opposed to an up-and-coming (or less than that). Hearst is less tried-and-true than Murch: just look at upper grades and retention. I know of what I speak, seeing as how I haven't made that move. But I don't begrudge those who do because I probably will soon.

Also, where are all the brick center hall colonials toward Van Ness? They're more mostly duplexes or rowhouses or mansions, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup, our rental on CT Ave in the Murch boundary feels like sell out. Have you had to make this choice?

My beautiful, restored 1913 home inbounds for Murch, with a wrap-around porch and lush gardens does not feel a [snicker] "sell out"-- because I haven't compromised my integrity. That would be the definition of sellout, did you know this? I still have a moral compass. I'm not clubbing baby seals.

Living in a less expensive neighborhood doesn't make one a better person of character. Sorry.

Who said EOTP neighborhoods were less expensive? I live in Shaw, send my kids to a charter I'd prefer over Janney or Murch, but at times am tempted to sell my place near U street and buy a larger house WOTP for the price i'd get for my place. A lot of WOTP homes are now cheaper than the sought after EOTP neighborhoods. And the new Whole Foods hasn't even opened (two blocks from me).

eh. Not really. Someone always finds the two or three row houses that list for $930,000 in upper NW and pits these against a 4-story grand dame in Logan Circle to make their point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn't big or scandalous news. He's a good guy. He started the blog a long time ago when he was younger and his life was different. He has a family now, and let's be honest, he's been talking about other, less-edgy, neighborhoods for a while now so you have to have seen this coming. I barely know him, but even I've talked to him about schools - it's impossible not to be concerned when you're a parent.

I also agree it sounds like the Hearst zone rather than Murch. (Which is much less of a sell out if you ask me.)

oh shut up. What do you know about "selling out"? That's right, nothing, because you're 30 and have either no kids or one infant who's 11 mos. You grew up in the suburbs. You have a curated beard, but this doesn't make you authentic.

Here's a cheat sheet: one more stop to the north on the Red Line isn't a sellout. A brick center hall Colonial in 20015 between Wisc. and Connecticut aves is not more a sell out than a brick center hall colonial in 20008 between Wisc. and Connecticut avenues.

Ok I'll bite back. I'm significantly older than 30, with kids significantly older than 5. By selling-out, I refer to those who choose to send their kids to a tried-and-true as opposed to an up-and-coming (or less than that). Hearst is less tried-and-true than Murch: just look at upper grades and retention. I know of what I speak, seeing as how I haven't made that move. But I don't begrudge those who do because I probably will soon.

Also, where are all the brick center hall colonials toward Van Ness? They're more mostly duplexes or rowhouses or mansions, right?

That's not what selling out actually means, though. And youngsters and people without cars especially like to refer to neighborhoods by the name of the metro station. But, I guarantee PoP didn't sell his house to move into the 4 rental apartment buildings adjacent to the Van Ness metro station.

The broader neighborhood isn't "van ness," it's forest hills, wakefield, north cleveland park. and it's brimming with brick center hall colonials, as is much of ward 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup, our rental on CT Ave in the Murch boundary feels like sell out. Have you had to make this choice?

My beautiful, restored 1913 home inbounds for Murch, with a wrap-around porch and lush gardens does not feel a [snicker] "sell out"-- because I haven't compromised my integrity. That would be the definition of sellout, did you know this? I still have a moral compass. I'm not clubbing baby seals.

Living in a less expensive neighborhood doesn't make one a better person of character. Sorry.

Who said EOTP neighborhoods were less expensive? I live in Shaw, send my kids to a charter I'd prefer over Janney or Murch, but at times am tempted to sell my place near U street and buy a larger house WOTP for the price i'd get for my place. A lot of WOTP homes are now cheaper than the sought after EOTP neighborhoods. And the new Whole Foods hasn't even opened (two blocks from me).

eh. Not really. Someone always finds the two or three row houses that list for $930,000 in upper NW and pits these against a 4-story grand dame in Logan Circle to make their point.

I don't know. I think I could sell my $1M house near U street and get something for the same amount in Ward 3 with more square footage. Would it be huge? No - but I would be larger and have a small yard. And for $1.3 million I could certainly get something larger in bounds for Janney than I could with a few blocks of Garrison.

[Anonymous]

Congrats to PoP and family on having found a house they love in a welcoming neighborhood! Schools aside, with two kids under 4 years old it's best to love your house/condo/apartment because you may be spending a lot more time in it than you expected after 5pm. Living in car-optional, pedestrian-accessible parts of the city means you can push that time out to 7pm without needing a babysitter. With luck, PoP's first daughter will get into the PK-4 lottery for their IB school. If not, they have to wait another year until their DD#1 is admitted for kinder with possibly 30 kids in her class. DD#2 will also be guaranteed a spot in a 25+ student kinder class starting at age 5.

There's really no such thing as a "good school" in a relatively small city -- with no county or state resources -- that lacks stability in leadership, clarity of governance, and predictable paths for achievement in public education. Regardless of the school, DCPS is DCPS. Art, PE, and Music are 45 minutes a week (unless there is testing). Recess is 15 minutes a day. The Science standards for elementary are quite good, but DCPS does not include science teachers in staffing plans for elementary.

Any school that offers more than the basics of DCPS is either a Title I school with more than 30% of students from low-income families or WotP with PTAs that raise donations of more than 6-figures annually. Neither model can guarantee sustainable, high-quality resources. Like charters, these schools only offer admission before age 5 by lottery. Don't get me started on special education or dual-immersion.

The District is still very much in an experimental phase of education transformation. The only place with more kids in charter schools is post-Katrina New Orleans, and their superintendent has charter assignment authority.

So while moving IB for a WotP school might feel like a surer bet than lotteries, we must not assume that all of our kids will do well in a small number of schools.

It's all a crap shoot

[Anonymous]

So I suppose he is now the Viscount of Van Ness?

[Anonymous]

or maybe Viceroy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Congrats to PoP and family on having found a house they love in a welcoming neighborhood! Schools aside, with two kids under 4 years old it's best to love your house/condo/apartment because you may be spending a lot more time in it than you expected after 5pm. Living in car-optional, pedestrian-accessible parts of the city means you can push that time out to 7pm without needing a babysitter. With luck, PoP's first daughter will get into the PK-4 lottery for their IB school. If not, they have to wait another year until their DD#1 is admitted for kinder with possibly 30 kids in her class. DD#2 will also be guaranteed a spot in a 25+ student kinder class starting at age 5.

There's really no such thing as a "good school" in a relatively small city -- with no county or state resources -- that lacks stability in leadership, clarity of governance, and predictable paths for achievement in public education. Regardless of the school, DCPS is DCPS. Art, PE, and Music are 45 minutes a week (unless there is testing). Recess is 15 minutes a day. The Science standards for elementary are quite good, but DCPS does not include science teachers in staffing plans for elementary.

Any school that offers more than the basics of DCPS is either a Title I school with more than 30% of students from low-income families or WotP with PTAs that raise donations of more than 6-figures annually. Neither model can guarantee sustainable, high-quality resources. Like charters, these schools only offer admission before age 5 by lottery. Don't get me started on special education or dual-immersion.

The District is still very much in an experimental phase of education transformation. The only place with more kids in charter schools is post-Katrina New Orleans, and their superintendent has charter assignment authority.

So while moving IB for a WotP school might feel like a surer bet than lotteries, we must not assume that all of our kids will do well in a small number of schools.

It's all a crap shoot

Great post, I concur from down here on Cap Hill, where our school funded its own PE and science teachers initially. You nailed some of the most egregious shortcomings.

Foreign languages are also only taught 45 minutes a week in ES, if at all, other than at Janney, where parents pay for them to be taught two hours a week before and after school. Don't get me started on dual-immersion either, the realm where DCPC sees no value in bringing in native speakers as native-speaking communities, and few DCPS ES Spanish immersion programs (the only kind on offer) feed into MS immersion programs. As things stand, most of the immersion kids heading into the International Baccalaureate programs sprouting up like mushrooms in DC public seem unlikely to ace the Higher Level IB exams down the track, as they probably could if long-term immersion were an option.

With Deal forced to accommodate nearly 500 kids more than the building was built for this fall, even as DCPS tosses hundreds of millions of dollars at HS buildings serving under 1000 students, something's gotta give in the next few years. When will voters demand more?

[Anonymous]

Eh. Who knows all the back story. Wish he would have at least tried the lottery before moving to the 'burbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh. Who knows all the back story. Wish he would have at least tried the lottery before moving to the 'burbs.

The lottery is stupid, they should make it scores based like aap

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh. Who knows all the back story. Wish he would have at least tried the lottery before moving to the 'burbs.

So what exactly is the difference between two houses within DC equidistant to downtown that makes one "the burbs"-- number of hipster bars? Percentage of beards? Because I have lived in Petworth and now near Van Ness and I am currently able to walk to more grocery stores and restaurants here than I could at my old apartment. And I have a closer commute to my job in Dupont. So for me, Petworth living was much less practical and accessible and definitely more "suburban."

[Anonymous]

At our EOTP school in Petworth , we are loosing 3 families for WOTP schools--they are staying put though.

[Anonymous]

Getting back to the topic, friends who were zoned out of Powell were zoned into West, which I think is a better school--not necessarily move-worthy. Is it possible he was zoned into Raymond?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Getting back to the topic, friends who were zoned out of Powell were zoned into West, which I think is a better school--not necessarily move-worthy. Is it possible he was zoned into Raymond?

I think he was zoned into Bruce-Monroe.