is this how all the charters operate?

[Anonymous]

No school in the common lottery can set an enrollment deadline before May 2nd for those who are offered seats in the lottery. After May 2nd, they can put whatever deadline they want, reasonable or not. But before then, they have to give people until May 2nd.

I agree with others, OP - I would call MSDC.

[Anonymous]

OP -

A school is not required to let you tour/visit before enrolling. It's nice if they do but they don't have to.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I think you are right to feel a little rushed and certainly surprised. However, I do agree with the previous poster who said this is par for the course with public schools. There are many things that feel last minute or inconvenient. Most employers are used to parents who have to be a little flexible sometimes around school stuff (conferences, late starts due to weather, etc) and hopefully yours will be the same way.

[Anonymous]

Which school, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So we got a pre-k lottery spot (school is irrelevant-its a low demand one so don't jump all over me), and got a letter indicating we had about 7 business days (last day tomorrow) to get all of our paperwork in, including health status, which means scheduling a visit to the doc. We had the option to register on 4 different dates, none of which give adequate time to take care of documentation (ie first option was 3rd day after the letter went out. I called the school and said we couldn't make it in the allocated times and the administrative aide talked to me like I'm a 2 year old, scolding me for not taking care of this in a timely way. Timely? I'm a working mother with multiple children and I sign up for this with the understanding I have a month to take care of something and suddenly I have a few days? Plus they said we can't even come to observe before we register.

When we signed up for the lottery, we did so with the idea that we'd go observe wherever we got accepted before making any decisions, as we are currently in private day care. Between the limited time allotted to take care of paperwork, the inability to observe prior to accepting, and the utterly rude and unprofessional behavior of the administrative aide, I've completely lost any excitement for this process.

I know, I know, be grateful I got a spot. Is anyone else experiencing anything like this?

1) School doesn't work the way that daycare works. Expect it to be inconvenient, because it will be, a lot of the time. The process is not designed for people who work banker's hours, between the 3pm dismissal and the many days off that do not correspond with federal holidays. This is something that you can know conceptually going in and still by annoyed by every time.

2) What you're describing is probably either being communicated badly or against the rules. You have until May 2 to enroll. If you are missing a piece of paperwork, take the rest of the paperwork to the school, tell them "Larlita will have her health form complete in May, when she turns 3, and I will bring it by then" and move on. If they give you grief about it, tell them that this is against the rules per MySchoolDC and that you have until May 2.

3) The admin person in the front office has probably spoken to several parents before you who are trying to get out of something she was told is a requirement. Everyone gets frustrated at work, particularly if you're doing a frustrating job jockeying people's paperwork (or attendance records, or whatever) for $30k a year. One thing that I have observed in 4 enrollment seasons in DC is that you are almost certainly not speaking to the admin person at her best time. She may be a lovely person during the rest of the year, but enrollment season is the worst. They get a lot of questions on the phone that could be easily answered by the caller doing a little bit of research independently, as well as people saying "I can't make any of the 4 times you gave me to bring my by paperwork." To you, it's a logical excuse with reasoning behind it. To her, it's one more person who is making her job difficult.

[Anonymous]

SSMA?

[Anonymous]

Just want to be supportive to OP: ridiculous deadline, it's completely reasonable to expect even stressed administrative staff to be cordial and not speak to you like you're two, and yeah, it STINKS for working parents.

To the haters: seriously? We can all be more organized and more on top of things. let's be helpful instead of shaming. My 'helpful?' tip: I keep scanned copies of my kids medical forms on my phone and email, so I can access easily for camp forms and school stuff, since my charter has somehow lost both of my kids medical forms during the year and I've had to re-send. Lots of doctors' offices won't fax them or mail them b/c of HIPPA laws. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just want to be supportive to OP: ridiculous deadline, it's completely reasonable to expect even stressed administrative staff to be cordial and not speak to you like you're two, and yeah, it STINKS for working parents.

To the haters: seriously? We can all be more organized and more on top of things. let's be helpful instead of shaming. My 'helpful?' tip: I keep scanned copies of my kids medical forms on my phone and email, so I can access easily for camp forms and school stuff, since my charter has somehow lost both of my kids medical forms during the year and I've had to re-send. Lots of doctors' offices won't fax them or mail them b/c of HIPPA laws. Good luck!

Love that tip. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just want to be supportive to OP: ridiculous deadline, it's completely reasonable to expect even stressed administrative staff to be cordial and not speak to you like you're two, and yeah, it STINKS for working parents.

To the haters: seriously? We can all be more organized and more on top of things. let's be helpful instead of shaming. My 'helpful?' tip: I keep scanned copies of my kids medical forms on my phone and email, so I can access easily for camp forms and school stuff, since my charter has somehow lost both of my kids medical forms during the year and I've had to re-send. Lots of doctors' offices won't fax them or mail them b/c of HIPPA laws. Good luck!

Love that tip. Thanks!

I actually take photos of them with my phone- EVEN EASIER!