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DC Public and Public Charter Schools
Have you ever been to the actual Lottery?
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Anonymous
| So I visited a PCS today where I would love my DS to go to. They have a lottery. Last year over 150 applications for 44 slots. With DC being a city that is big on "hook ups" and who you know....is it possible that the process is truly transparent with no preference? I plan to attend the lottery and see for myself. But with the exception of sibling preference...the claim is be completely fair and random in the selectrion process. Have you actually been to a lottery? I would love to hear your thoughts. |
Anonymous
| I attended lotteries at Tweo Rivers and ELHaynes last year. Both were on the up and up |
Anonymous
Did you get in either? It just seems like the chances are impossible. |
Anonymous
| Not PP but we got a spot at Two Rivers for preK. I had never even been to the school and just registered online last minute in a panic in case we didn't get a spot in our local preK. So it's definitely possible!! |
Anonymous
| 9:12 here. We applied to Three schools. Way down the list in two schools. Waitlisted in the low teens at the third school and we got in! I belive there were 22 spots and close to 200 applicants. Wishing you luck |
Anonymous
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1st year I applied to 3 charters, and got into none. I actually attended 2 of the lotteries...FYI, and they are legit!
This year I applied to 2 charters, DIDN'T go to the lottery, and was lucky enough to get a spot. It can and does happen. Keep the faith, and GOOD LUCK! |
Anonymous
|
Attended 3 lotteries last year. It's literally pulling names of applicants on slips of paper from a box. Shoe box, toy box, etc. Pulled names are put into their slots on a visible list, like post-its, and recorded on a laptop. It's like watching Powerball but no blinking lights.
Some schools do give priority on waitlists based on how early you sent your application. But that's about the only edge I can imagine. Most people don't attend lotteries. The parents who do attend keep a pretty close eye on things like a dropped post-it or misspelled name. Way more oversight than an accounting firm. Unlike regular DCPS, charters have no real incentive to give advantages to "connected" applicants. They could lose their certification. So should Fentys leave private school, they'd probably have their pick of DCPS schools, but they'd have to get in line at Cap City like everybody else. 
No way to fudge lotteries (and get away with it) unless you stuff the box. |
Anonymous
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It's worth mentioning that the charters (like regular DCPS schools) have sibling preference. That means if there are 40 slots, 5-10 of them may be filled by the younger siblings of current students knocking the truly open number of placements down to 35 or 30.
This is why it is to your benefit to attend several open houses and apply to more than one school. |
Anonymous
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but why would you not get a spot in your local pre-K? In-boundary students are the highest-priority for spots except, I think, for siblings of current students. |
Anonymous
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At the more in-demand schools, there are far more in-boundary preK applicants than there are preK spots. Once those siblings -- both in- and out-of-boundary, btw -- get their slots, there aren't so many openings and lots of kids get waitlisted.
And since preK attendance is optional, not mandatory, DCPS doesn't just expand the class size. |
Anonymous
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to 17:51:
I believe Janney had 9 Pre-K spots last year - as you might imagine there are a lot mor than 9 in-boundary pre-kers (Three might be more than 9 on my block). We will be applying to a bunch of DCPCs as we expect we will not win the lottery for in-bounds school. |