No open houses until winter time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all seem so entitled to tell someone to move to a better school district. Why do you assume that everyone is able to? My in boundary is Turner Elementary. Have you even heard of it? Have you even been on THAT side of the river? Do you have any idea how good or bad the school and ECE programs are over there? And do you really think all residents of Congress Heights can just move to a better school district if they feel like it? Stop being judgemental on this often awful forum and stop making someone feel bad for wanting to lottery into a better school. Even for preschool.

Yes, I've heard of it, know where it is, have been to THAT side of the river. No, I don't think that people can just move easily. The point is that it is increasingly difficult to simply lottery into a better school and that if your in bounds school is categorically not an option for you, then it's probably a good idea to put as much energy into figuring out where you can move that has schools you would send your children to as you would into constructing a dream lottery list that likely won't result in your kid going anywhere other than you IB school.

It's very privlidged to tell someone just to move. And do not come back with "if you care about your child's education" or "if you have high expectations for your child". Every single parent I've seen in my child's ward 8 school wants a good education for their children. They can't just up and move so it's really rude to flippantly tell people here to do it. There are some people here without the means to do it. Yes we are here and yes we care about our kids education.

NP here, but you're missing the point of the person above you. She was saying that one should not depend on the lottery to escape a poor-performing IB school. Simple as that. The numbers are just NOT in your favor. Then, if you (or anyone) maintain that your IB school is "really bad" and you would never send your DC there, then you have a quandry. You cannot expect anything from the lottery, and you are saying you won't go to your IB. So what other options do you have other than moving? You could go private. Or you could homeschool. Those are your choices. Don't be mad at the PP for just going through the process of elimination.

I'm the PP. This was completely my point.

OP, I know that it's privileged to suggest that someone move. I said nothing about whether you care about your child's education or have high standards. My child attends a school with fairly awful test scores EOTP. I am familiar with the challenges of schools in that performance band, both at the PK level and in higher elementary grades. We have considered moving as well, but as you say, it's not always possible to just up and move.

My point was that if you truly, truly do not believe that the only sure bet you have is an option you are willing to use, it makes sense to consider ALL other options - those being the lottery (agree with suggestion to go to EdFest and get a feel for what schools nearer to you might be a good fit), private school (often as out of reach as moving), and moving. My personal opinion is that if you have no other options, most of the ECE programs in the city are solid enough to use while figuring out your next move. It might not be the best school year your kid ever has, but it's also preschool and if the year is terrible academically, it's not the end of the world. If your concerns are more oriented toward safety, then that's a different story, and my advice would be to rearrange whatever you need to in your life to keep your child in a safe environment, even if that means staying home with you and not going to preschool anywhere.

If you thought my tone was harsh, consider the tone of the post I was responding to, which assumed that no one here could possibly understand your situation and called us all judgmental. Consider perhaps that you were also being judgmental and were not open to the idea that you're not the first person ever to experience your situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are more charter schools in Ward 8 than anywhere else in the city, because the DCPS options are not good.

OP has options close to home, especially for PK3-Pk4. Te 2 Appletree campuses should definitely be on your list.

http://www.dcpcsb.org/find-a-school?field_school_tier_value=All&field_ward_value=8&title=&field_grade_value=PK-3&combine=

There are more and better charters in most of DC because the DCPS options are not good. Ward 3 is the only ward without charters. DCPS has been failing families for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are more charter schools in Ward 8 than anywhere else in the city, because the DCPS options are not good.

OP has options close to home, especially for PK3-Pk4. Te 2 Appletree campuses should definitely be on your list.

http://www.dcpcsb.org/find-a-school?field_school_tier_value=All&field_ward_value=8&title=&field_grade_value=PK-3&combine=

There are more and better charters in most of DC because the DCPS options are not good. Ward 3 is the only ward without charters. DCPS has been failing families for decades.

You're basically saying: DCPS is failing because it has had to teach the victims of generation poverty for decades. That will continue to be the case when those families who are better informed segregate themselves to charter or whatever DCPS neighborhood schools they can discourage the poor from attending.