School Choice => School Chance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been waitlisted for everything for three years in a row. Here's what I think: this is a taste of what poorer people experience ALL THE TIME. You watch other people's kids go to a fancier, nicer, wonderful school that you could have gone to....if not for the fact that you lost the lottery, the lottery being who gets born rich or poor. It seems so unfair. It is unfair. This is how other people -- most of the people around the world -- live all the time.

Very true and wise

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Totally disheartened by a system that gives you the impression of great choices but then dangles them in front of you like candy you can never reach.

This is not how charters are supposed to work, is it? Why can't they expand to absorb the crazy demand?

Sorry, but you sound like a two-year-old

Agree but then again this is Wound Licking Day for many, so I get the knee-jerk "it's not fair" responses.

NP. I get the disappointment, but saying "it's not fair" is still petulant because it usually (especially today) means that someone else got something that you wanted or felt you deserved. Everyone is paying the taxes, and someone always gets in. Be as disappointed as you gotta be, but lose the entitlement. Your kid doesn't deserve that 1 PK3 seat any more than the kid who got it.

[Anonymous]

It is definitely school choice if you get a good lottery number. It sucks if you don't. The problem is that there aren't enough good seats to go around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Totally disheartened by a system that gives you the impression of great choices but then dangles them in front of you like candy you can never reach.

This is not how charters are supposed to work, is it? Why can't they expand to absorb the crazy demand?

Sorry, but you sound like a two-year-old

Agree but then again this is Wound Licking Day for many, so I get the knee-jerk "it's not fair" responses.

NP. I get the disappointment, but saying "it's not fair" is still petulant because it usually (especially today) means that someone else got something that you wanted or felt you deserved. Everyone is paying the taxes, and someone always gets in. Be as disappointed as you gotta be, but lose the entitlement. Your kid doesn't deserve that 1 PK3 seat any more than the kid who got it.

Well... it is inherently unfair. We're all paying taxes and only some of us are getting free pre-k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School choice because if you lived in VA or MoCo your school would have been decided for you - at kindergarten, earliest - based on your address. At least you have a *chance* for something other than your address-based school. Some win, some don't.

OP here: Frankly we'd be okay going to school with our neighbors (middle class, working and poor), but the most motivated of them leave for charters, leaving us with one choice: an Struggling IB that people like me leave ASAP.

I agree that it sucks. It frustrates me that we have created a system where you can live in a neighborhood filled with motivated parents and children, but the IB school sucks because those people are spread out to a bunch of non-neighborhood schools, and some people are shut out of those other options and are stuck with the crap IB school that would be good if those other options didn't exist.

But I think that overall those neighborhood IB schools are improving since charter schools began cropping up and more people began staying in DC. Of course, that is small comfort when your particular IB school is on the lower end of the improvement curve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Totally disheartened by a system that gives you the impression of great choices but then dangles them in front of you like candy you can never reach.

This is not how charters are supposed to work, is it? Why can't they expand to absorb the crazy demand?

Sorry, but you sound like a two-year-old

Agree but then again this is Wound Licking Day for many, so I get the knee-jerk "it's not fair" responses.

NP. I get the disappointment, but saying "it's not fair" is still petulant because it usually (especially today) means that someone else got something that you wanted or felt you deserved. Everyone is paying the taxes, and someone always gets in. Be as disappointed as you gotta be, but lose the entitlement. Your kid doesn't deserve that 1 PK3 seat any more than the kid who got it.

Well... it is inherently unfair. We're all paying taxes and only some of us are getting free pre-k.

Everyone in DC could have free PreK if they want it. If you don't want the school, that's your problem but every year there are Dcps schools that have open spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Totally disheartened by a system that gives you the impression of great choices but then dangles them in front of you like candy you can never reach.

This is not how charters are supposed to work, is it? Why can't they expand to absorb the crazy demand?

Sorry, but you sound like a two-year-old

Agree but then again this is Wound Licking Day for many, so I get the knee-jerk "it's not fair" responses.

NP. I get the disappointment, but saying "it's not fair" is still petulant because it usually (especially today) means that someone else got something that you wanted or felt you deserved. Everyone is paying the taxes, and someone always gets in. Be as disappointed as you gotta be, but lose the entitlement. Your kid doesn't deserve that 1 PK3 seat any more than the kid who got it.

Well... it is inherently unfair. We're all paying taxes and only some of us are getting free pre-k.

Only some of you are getting into the free pre-k that you want. There are ALWAYS spaces available. There are conversations to be had about the overall quality of education in DC, but when those conversations take on the flavor of "I pay my taxes and my kid didn't get into HRCS 1-6 and HRDCPS 7-12" it's not about overall fairness. It's about you not getting what you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Totally disheartened by a system that gives you the impression of great choices but then dangles them in front of you like candy you can never reach.

This is not how charters are supposed to work, is it? Why can't they expand to absorb the crazy demand?

Sorry, but you sound like a two-year-old

Agree but then again this is Wound Licking Day for many, so I get the knee-jerk "it's not fair" responses.

NP. I get the disappointment, but saying "it's not fair" is still petulant because it usually (especially today) means that someone else got something that you wanted or felt you deserved. Everyone is paying the taxes, and someone always gets in. Be as disappointed as you gotta be, but lose the entitlement. Your kid doesn't deserve that 1 PK3 seat any more than the kid who got it.

Well... it is inherently unfair. We're all paying taxes and only some of us are getting free pre-k.

Everyone in DC could have free PreK if they want it. If you don't want the school, that's your problem but every year there are Dcps schools that have open spots.

Oh please. Just because they're a spot at Payne doesn't mean that a person in upper northwest could have it if they want. That's totally unrealistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been waitlisted for everything for three years in a row. Here's what I think: this is a taste of what poorer people experience ALL THE TIME. You watch other people's kids go to a fancier, nicer, wonderful school that you could have gone to....if not for the fact that you lost the lottery, the lottery being who gets born rich or poor. It seems so unfair. It is unfair. This is how other people -- most of the people around the world -- live all the time.

But I'm a white Ivy League-educated American! This doesn't happen to us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a part of me that finds the whole process really unjust, especially for something as important as a child's education. It's left completely to chance. We didn't get shut out completely -- got into our IB school -- but it wasn't one of our top choices because it isn't a viable long term option. So my choices now are either to play this totally random lottery again next year and hope my kid gets lucky, pay for private school, or move. It sucks.

Or go to your neighborhood school. Interesting how you don't list that as a choice.

Did you not read the post? We did list our neighborhood school and that's where we got matched. That doesn't mean I'm happy about it or that it's a good option long-term.

[Anonymous]

Isn't it the case that most school systems don't have PK3 or PK4? Seems you have to think of it as a luxury or should only be for at risk kids. Tax dollars could be used to fund other parts of education process and those that can make other arrangements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School choice because if you lived in VA or MoCo your school would have been decided for you - at kindergarten, earliest - based on your address. At least you have a *chance* for something other than your address-based school. Some win, some don't.

OP here: Frankly we'd be okay going to school with our neighbors (middle class, working and poor), but the most motivated of them leave for charters, leaving us with one choice: an Struggling IB that people like me leave ASAP.

I agree that it sucks. It frustrates me that we have created a system where you can live in a neighborhood filled with motivated parents and children, but the IB school sucks because those people are spread out to a bunch of non-neighborhood schools, and some people are shut out of those other options and are stuck with the crap IB school that would be good if those other options didn't exist.

+1000

Signed,
Happy at our under-the-radar IB DCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it the case that most school systems don't have PK3 or PK4? Seems you have to think of it as a luxury or should only be for at risk kids. Tax dollars could be used to fund other parts of education process and those that can make other arrangements.

DC has almost-universal PK3 and PK4 because the DCPS programs (except for in Ward 3) are funded by Head Start dollars. We wouldn't have it if we didn't have so many low-income families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it the case that most school systems don't have PK3 or PK4? Seems you have to think of it as a luxury or should only be for at risk kids. Tax dollars could be used to fund other parts of education process and those that can make other arrangements.

DC has almost-universal PK3 and PK4 because the DCPS programs (except for in Ward 3) are funded by Head Start dollars. We wouldn't have it if we didn't have so many low-income families.

Sometimes I think they should make pre-K income-based... I probably wouldn't qualify but that just seems more fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it the case that most school systems don't have PK3 or PK4? Seems you have to think of it as a luxury or should only be for at risk kids. Tax dollars could be used to fund other parts of education process and those that can make other arrangements.

DC has almost-universal PK3 and PK4 because the DCPS programs (except for in Ward 3) are funded by Head Start dollars. We wouldn't have it if we didn't have so many low-income families.

Sometimes I think they should make pre-K income-based... I probably wouldn't qualify but that just seems more fair.

It's moving that way already. At least a dozen schools serving some of the poorest parts of the city have auto acceptances for all IB PK3 and PK4 students. It's called the early access program http://dcps.dc.gov/page/pre-kindergarten-pk3-and-pk4