Seeking advice for PreK4 next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend's kid goes to the daycare/preschool at the Dept. of Commerce, and they are really happy there. Her kid is 3 (post Sept. 30), and they will stay there next year if they don't have good luck in the PK3 lottery. They have trouble filling their PK classrooms. I would check it out.

We recently had a good experience at Commerce, too. One nice thing about the daycare PK programs is that the ratios tend to be better than they are in schools, because they are often underenrolled. And the good downtown ones do lots of museum trips, so they take advantage of the location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Thanks for all of the additional responses! I work in a federal building but am not very impressed with the daycare here, so have not been considering it as an option. We will definitely look into Amidon-Bowen and Apple Tree (though it looks like the Southwest location does not have a building secured for next year). We are considering both public and private, but many of the private school admissions deadlines have passed. Happy to take any other recommendations!

We are not waitlisted at the current school because of anything we have done. We are waitlisted because they expanded the number of PK3 age classes this year, but did not expand the number of PK4 classes for next year to accommodate the increased number of kids. There are multiple current families, like us, who are waitlisted for next year. I think they are anticipating that a significant number of kids will drop out once the lottery results are released, but who knows.

Honestly, that is appalling. Good grief I would be livid.

I am surprised that they did not give some type of priority for the PreK4 slots to families that had been enrolled longer. I assume they think they will clear all of the spots. It is had making daycares / preschools profitable in DC. Over the last few years with more programs having free PreK programs - getting the right balance is really hard. I served on the board for a church based program - there is not a lot of cushion. The administration probably needed to open that PreK3 program to help cover some of the fixed costs. It is a really delicate balance between age in the classroom, staff ratios, and being able to provide the care that everyone here expects. [DC minimum wage, teachers having the required certifications per OSSE]

[Anonymous]

Proud Amidon-Bowen parent, here!!!

"Look past the STARs" They reflect socio-economic profiles, not the quality of the education.

I speak for many families in Southwest when I say that we love Amidon-Bowen. The staff and community in and around the school are great. Teachers are nurturing, experienced, and kind. They stay at Amidon and so do families. The DC Teacher of the Year is at Amidon - and she's one of 4 finalists for National Teacher of the Year. She gets the attention, but rightly praises the work of her colleagues because the principal is holding together a great team.

The PTA is working to keep DCPS and the city accountable for systemic inequities and also advocate for our particular school.

Test scores are up.
Fundraising is up.
In-bound attendance is up, and
you should visit the school!

[Anonymous]

Proud Amidon-Bowen parent, here!!!

"Look past the STARs" They reflect socio-economic profiles, not the quality of the education.

I speak for many families in Southwest when I say that we love Amidon-Bowen. The staff and community in and around the school are great. Teachers are nurturing, experienced, and kind. They stay at Amidon and so do families. The DC Teacher of the Year is at Amidon - and she's one of 4 finalists for National Teacher of the Year. She gets the attention, but rightly praises the work of her colleagues because the principal is holding together a great team.

The PTA is working to keep DCPS and the city accountable for systemic inequities and also advocate for our particular school.

Test scores are up.
Fundraising is up.
In-bound attendance is up, and
you should visit the school!

[Anonymous]

CommuniKids Language Immersion Preschool is the largest provider of Free Prek 3 and 4 in DC and is NAEYC accredited.
They are private preschool but are a Community Based Organization meaning that through OSSE's Enhancement and expansion program they are able to offer Free Prek like the Charter School and DCPS.
They have 5 locations in Ward 3 and are adding new classrooms next year to help families in the community find spots.

They run their own lottery so I applied on their website at communikids.com.

[Anonymous]

im guessing your child presently attends some sort of private preschool program. the dc schools lottery lets you list something like 11-12 schools. people like amidon. actually people seem to generally tend to like preK nearly across the board at dcps schools.

[Anonymous]

This thread is from 2019. I am guessing that OP's kid had a different PK4 experience than anyone planned, given covid. But he or she is now in 2nd grade so it probably worked out!