DC Lottery Results

[Anonymous]

Thank you both! We will await our fate with bated breath!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think your chances are Seaton are good, because the impending swing space puts people off. But Claude wouldnt know that.

This. The renovation is 26-27, so your PK4 and K year would be in the swing space. Claude is also not considering how insanely different DC is this year because of everything else going on... some people are moving and some people are staying put due to job stuff, so I have a feeling the historic waitlist data won't be as predictive as it usually is.

[Anonymous]

Basically AI is for people too lazy to do their own work.

[Anonymous]

Anyone have predictions re: kindergarten waitlists at DC Bilingual and LAMB? We got a pretty good number this year but not good enough to get an outright match.

Looking at the past two years of historic data, looks like we'd have a chance at DC Bilingual, but then in '22-'23 it looks like they only offered a single seat off the waitlist. Did they add a class or something the past two years that accounts for the bigger jump?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

I'm sure it's just blind luck that *two* members of the city council (Trayon, Nadeau) have children at LAMB, which has probably the longest waitlist of any school in the city.

LAMB may be a special case. There have always been rumors about the lottery there. They were also the last school to join the unified lottery.

There's a long history of DC officials jumping to the front of school waitlists. The education chancellor had to resign a few years ago when it came out that he skipped the line to get his daughter in somewhere.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-public-schools-leader-to-resign-after-skirting-school-assignment-rules/2018/02/20/9b372230-1662-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html

No, there isn't. In fact the story you point to isn't even an example of this. At the time this occurred the process inexplicably permitted discretion by Niles to make assignments based on individual circumstances. The Chancellor went through the formal process - he had his wife make the approach in some silly BS argument that he wasn't involved. She allowed it. Clearly the system should not have allowed this discretion, but he actually worked within the then in effect rules.

I am aware of no examples of evidence that any official or other person has been able to skirt the lottery rules. If you know of one and not tin foil hat conspiracies I am all ears.

P.S. I am not defending the Chancellor. It was a bonehead move and the fact that he had his wife make the approach is proof he knew it should not have been done. But I can't sit back and watch crazy people impugn the lottery process which is one of the best run city programs.

Fente TWICE
Snow

these are just two I can throw out off the top of my head

Good Lord, wasn't Fenty pre-lottery?

Not the second time. Post lottery, post divorce and his kids still got the "be someone or know someone" preference.

You are not making the point you think you are making. At the time Fenty and others applied for and were granted special consideration from Henderson the rules actually granted the authority for her to place at her sole discretion. It was insane that such authority was granted but no one broke rules or gamed the lottery. In the case of Fenty, he didn't get what he wanted in the lottery so he applied for special consideration through the official process. That authority no longer exists.

As I said, there is ZERO evidence of any official or anyone else "gaming" the lottery or getting preferential treatment in the lottery The accusations that this is happening are without merit. People like you are conflating bad design used by insiders (as allowed) and people cheating. And you are ignoring that the loophole has since been closed.

As I said, show me an example of the lottery being gamed or abused. It has not happened.

I know for a fact that schools have the ability to look at the waitlist and pull off whoever they want. Not going to name the schools but I've been around as a parent and nosy person for a decade and have heard it multiple times (from DCPS staffers)

Nope. But it is clear your opinion is informed by dated information. In the early days of the common lottery under MSDC, only the initial lottery pull was managed by MSCD. From there waitlists were handed off to schools to manage on their own. Under that regime there were certainly allegations of preferential treatment. It has been years (@2015 or 16 I think) since waitlists were handed off to schools. Under the current process there is zero facility or ability for a school to work a waitlist out of order.

You don't "know this for a fact" because that cannot be done. Even if it could be done, MSDC would have perfect visibility and be able to immediately act. Stop making things up.

I'm not PP, but this happened to my kid in a year that was after 2016. The circumstances were as undramatic as you can get, since my kid jumped one other child who I'm sure was offered admission shortly after, but it did happen.

Well that would be a feat since there was an audit of the lottery process and ZERO irregularities were found. That's actually where the details on Fenty and Henderson's favoritism (permitted by rule at the time) was discovered.

So we'll agree to disagree. I'll rely on the audit and its public findings. You can continue to tell your story about what you secretly know that was hidden from the audit. LOL

If I were going to make something up I'd make something up that actually affected something. Also, I said it was in some year after 2016.

I was also told by multiple staff members at two different schools, in 2022, about pulling kids they wanted off the waitlist. Not revealing the schools because don't want to create a scandal. But if it's happening there, it's happening elsewhere.

There is a mechanism for schools to move kids up and down the waitlist at their discretion -- that's how they move siblings around and stuff. So I'm sure there a way to manipulate the waitlist that doesn't show up on an audit.

Schools don't move kids up and down lists. Preference is maintained and applied by MSDC. You people are worse than MTG Republicans who just keep making stuff up!

I think after the lottery is announced, the control of the waitlist goes to the schools because they are the ones who call down the list offering spots. Not saying I know any examples of wrong doing, but could it be possible they skip calling student who is number 10 on the waitlist and call/enroll student number 11 instead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

I'm sure it's just blind luck that *two* members of the city council (Trayon, Nadeau) have children at LAMB, which has probably the longest waitlist of any school in the city.

LAMB may be a special case. There have always been rumors about the lottery there. They were also the last school to join the unified lottery.

There's a long history of DC officials jumping to the front of school waitlists. The education chancellor had to resign a few years ago when it came out that he skipped the line to get his daughter in somewhere.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-public-schools-leader-to-resign-after-skirting-school-assignment-rules/2018/02/20/9b372230-1662-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html

No, there isn't. In fact the story you point to isn't even an example of this. At the time this occurred the process inexplicably permitted discretion by Niles to make assignments based on individual circumstances. The Chancellor went through the formal process - he had his wife make the approach in some silly BS argument that he wasn't involved. She allowed it. Clearly the system should not have allowed this discretion, but he actually worked within the then in effect rules.

I am aware of no examples of evidence that any official or other person has been able to skirt the lottery rules. If you know of one and not tin foil hat conspiracies I am all ears.

P.S. I am not defending the Chancellor. It was a bonehead move and the fact that he had his wife make the approach is proof he knew it should not have been done. But I can't sit back and watch crazy people impugn the lottery process which is one of the best run city programs.

Fente TWICE
Snow

these are just two I can throw out off the top of my head

Good Lord, wasn't Fenty pre-lottery?

Not the second time. Post lottery, post divorce and his kids still got the "be someone or know someone" preference.

You are not making the point you think you are making. At the time Fenty and others applied for and were granted special consideration from Henderson the rules actually granted the authority for her to place at her sole discretion. It was insane that such authority was granted but no one broke rules or gamed the lottery. In the case of Fenty, he didn't get what he wanted in the lottery so he applied for special consideration through the official process. That authority no longer exists.

As I said, there is ZERO evidence of any official or anyone else "gaming" the lottery or getting preferential treatment in the lottery The accusations that this is happening are without merit. People like you are conflating bad design used by insiders (as allowed) and people cheating. And you are ignoring that the loophole has since been closed.

As I said, show me an example of the lottery being gamed or abused. It has not happened.

I know for a fact that schools have the ability to look at the waitlist and pull off whoever they want. Not going to name the schools but I've been around as a parent and nosy person for a decade and have heard it multiple times (from DCPS staffers)

Nope. But it is clear your opinion is informed by dated information. In the early days of the common lottery under MSDC, only the initial lottery pull was managed by MSCD. From there waitlists were handed off to schools to manage on their own. Under that regime there were certainly allegations of preferential treatment. It has been years (@2015 or 16 I think) since waitlists were handed off to schools. Under the current process there is zero facility or ability for a school to work a waitlist out of order.

You don't "know this for a fact" because that cannot be done. Even if it could be done, MSDC would have perfect visibility and be able to immediately act. Stop making things up.

I'm not PP, but this happened to my kid in a year that was after 2016. The circumstances were as undramatic as you can get, since my kid jumped one other child who I'm sure was offered admission shortly after, but it did happen.

Well that would be a feat since there was an audit of the lottery process and ZERO irregularities were found. That's actually where the details on Fenty and Henderson's favoritism (permitted by rule at the time) was discovered.

So we'll agree to disagree. I'll rely on the audit and its public findings. You can continue to tell your story about what you secretly know that was hidden from the audit. LOL

If I were going to make something up I'd make something up that actually affected something. Also, I said it was in some year after 2016.

I was also told by multiple staff members at two different schools, in 2022, about pulling kids they wanted off the waitlist. Not revealing the schools because don't want to create a scandal. But if it's happening there, it's happening elsewhere.

There is a mechanism for schools to move kids up and down the waitlist at their discretion -- that's how they move siblings around and stuff. So I'm sure there a way to manipulate the waitlist that doesn't show up on an audit.

Schools don't move kids up and down lists. Preference is maintained and applied by MSDC. You people are worse than MTG Republicans who just keep making stuff up!

I think after the lottery is announced, the control of the waitlist goes to the schools because they are the ones who call down the list offering spots. Not saying I know any examples of wrong doing, but could it be possible they skip calling student who is number 10 on the waitlist and call/enroll student number 11 instead?

Schools a lot of power once the lottery is announced. For example, one school offered took a sibling off of the waitlist as soon as the sibling got in; another school just moved the sibling to waitlist spot #1 once the sibling got in. That makes me think that schools can actually do what they want with the waitlist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

I'm sure it's just blind luck that *two* members of the city council (Trayon, Nadeau) have children at LAMB, which has probably the longest waitlist of any school in the city.

LAMB may be a special case. There have always been rumors about the lottery there. They were also the last school to join the unified lottery.

There's a long history of DC officials jumping to the front of school waitlists. The education chancellor had to resign a few years ago when it came out that he skipped the line to get his daughter in somewhere.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-public-schools-leader-to-resign-after-skirting-school-assignment-rules/2018/02/20/9b372230-1662-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html

No, there isn't. In fact the story you point to isn't even an example of this. At the time this occurred the process inexplicably permitted discretion by Niles to make assignments based on individual circumstances. The Chancellor went through the formal process - he had his wife make the approach in some silly BS argument that he wasn't involved. She allowed it. Clearly the system should not have allowed this discretion, but he actually worked within the then in effect rules.

I am aware of no examples of evidence that any official or other person has been able to skirt the lottery rules. If you know of one and not tin foil hat conspiracies I am all ears.

P.S. I am not defending the Chancellor. It was a bonehead move and the fact that he had his wife make the approach is proof he knew it should not have been done. But I can't sit back and watch crazy people impugn the lottery process which is one of the best run city programs.

Fente TWICE
Snow

these are just two I can throw out off the top of my head

Good Lord, wasn't Fenty pre-lottery?

Not the second time. Post lottery, post divorce and his kids still got the "be someone or know someone" preference.

You are not making the point you think you are making. At the time Fenty and others applied for and were granted special consideration from Henderson the rules actually granted the authority for her to place at her sole discretion. It was insane that such authority was granted but no one broke rules or gamed the lottery. In the case of Fenty, he didn't get what he wanted in the lottery so he applied for special consideration through the official process. That authority no longer exists.

As I said, there is ZERO evidence of any official or anyone else "gaming" the lottery or getting preferential treatment in the lottery The accusations that this is happening are without merit. People like you are conflating bad design used by insiders (as allowed) and people cheating. And you are ignoring that the loophole has since been closed.

As I said, show me an example of the lottery being gamed or abused. It has not happened.

I know for a fact that schools have the ability to look at the waitlist and pull off whoever they want. Not going to name the schools but I've been around as a parent and nosy person for a decade and have heard it multiple times (from DCPS staffers)

Nope. But it is clear your opinion is informed by dated information. In the early days of the common lottery under MSDC, only the initial lottery pull was managed by MSCD. From there waitlists were handed off to schools to manage on their own. Under that regime there were certainly allegations of preferential treatment. It has been years (@2015 or 16 I think) since waitlists were handed off to schools. Under the current process there is zero facility or ability for a school to work a waitlist out of order.

You don't "know this for a fact" because that cannot be done. Even if it could be done, MSDC would have perfect visibility and be able to immediately act. Stop making things up.

I'm not PP, but this happened to my kid in a year that was after 2016. The circumstances were as undramatic as you can get, since my kid jumped one other child who I'm sure was offered admission shortly after, but it did happen.

Well that would be a feat since there was an audit of the lottery process and ZERO irregularities were found. That's actually where the details on Fenty and Henderson's favoritism (permitted by rule at the time) was discovered.

So we'll agree to disagree. I'll rely on the audit and its public findings. You can continue to tell your story about what you secretly know that was hidden from the audit. LOL

If I were going to make something up I'd make something up that actually affected something. Also, I said it was in some year after 2016.

I was also told by multiple staff members at two different schools, in 2022, about pulling kids they wanted off the waitlist. Not revealing the schools because don't want to create a scandal. But if it's happening there, it's happening elsewhere.

There is a mechanism for schools to move kids up and down the waitlist at their discretion -- that's how they move siblings around and stuff. So I'm sure there a way to manipulate the waitlist that doesn't show up on an audit.

Schools don't move kids up and down lists. Preference is maintained and applied by MSDC. You people are worse than MTG Republicans who just keep making stuff up!

I think after the lottery is announced, the control of the waitlist goes to the schools because they are the ones who call down the list offering spots. Not saying I know any examples of wrong doing, but could it be possible they skip calling student who is number 10 on the waitlist and call/enroll student number 11 instead?

That's not correct. After lottery matching is done, the control that schools have is to say what number of additional seats they are offering. Those seats are offered through the My School DC system/waitlist. You can't skip number 10 to go to number 11. If you offer 5 more seats, they go in order through the My School DC waitlist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

I'm sure it's just blind luck that *two* members of the city council (Trayon, Nadeau) have children at LAMB, which has probably the longest waitlist of any school in the city.

LAMB may be a special case. There have always been rumors about the lottery there. They were also the last school to join the unified lottery.

There's a long history of DC officials jumping to the front of school waitlists. The education chancellor had to resign a few years ago when it came out that he skipped the line to get his daughter in somewhere.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-public-schools-leader-to-resign-after-skirting-school-assignment-rules/2018/02/20/9b372230-1662-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html

No, there isn't. In fact the story you point to isn't even an example of this. At the time this occurred the process inexplicably permitted discretion by Niles to make assignments based on individual circumstances. The Chancellor went through the formal process - he had his wife make the approach in some silly BS argument that he wasn't involved. She allowed it. Clearly the system should not have allowed this discretion, but he actually worked within the then in effect rules.

I am aware of no examples of evidence that any official or other person has been able to skirt the lottery rules. If you know of one and not tin foil hat conspiracies I am all ears.

P.S. I am not defending the Chancellor. It was a bonehead move and the fact that he had his wife make the approach is proof he knew it should not have been done. But I can't sit back and watch crazy people impugn the lottery process which is one of the best run city programs.

Fente TWICE
Snow

these are just two I can throw out off the top of my head

Good Lord, wasn't Fenty pre-lottery?

Not the second time. Post lottery, post divorce and his kids still got the "be someone or know someone" preference.

You are not making the point you think you are making. At the time Fenty and others applied for and were granted special consideration from Henderson the rules actually granted the authority for her to place at her sole discretion. It was insane that such authority was granted but no one broke rules or gamed the lottery. In the case of Fenty, he didn't get what he wanted in the lottery so he applied for special consideration through the official process. That authority no longer exists.

As I said, there is ZERO evidence of any official or anyone else "gaming" the lottery or getting preferential treatment in the lottery The accusations that this is happening are without merit. People like you are conflating bad design used by insiders (as allowed) and people cheating. And you are ignoring that the loophole has since been closed.

As I said, show me an example of the lottery being gamed or abused. It has not happened.

I know for a fact that schools have the ability to look at the waitlist and pull off whoever they want. Not going to name the schools but I've been around as a parent and nosy person for a decade and have heard it multiple times (from DCPS staffers)

Nope. But it is clear your opinion is informed by dated information. In the early days of the common lottery under MSDC, only the initial lottery pull was managed by MSCD. From there waitlists were handed off to schools to manage on their own. Under that regime there were certainly allegations of preferential treatment. It has been years (@2015 or 16 I think) since waitlists were handed off to schools. Under the current process there is zero facility or ability for a school to work a waitlist out of order.

You don't "know this for a fact" because that cannot be done. Even if it could be done, MSDC would have perfect visibility and be able to immediately act. Stop making things up.

I'm not PP, but this happened to my kid in a year that was after 2016. The circumstances were as undramatic as you can get, since my kid jumped one other child who I'm sure was offered admission shortly after, but it did happen.

Well that would be a feat since there was an audit of the lottery process and ZERO irregularities were found. That's actually where the details on Fenty and Henderson's favoritism (permitted by rule at the time) was discovered.

So we'll agree to disagree. I'll rely on the audit and its public findings. You can continue to tell your story about what you secretly know that was hidden from the audit. LOL

If I were going to make something up I'd make something up that actually affected something. Also, I said it was in some year after 2016.

I was also told by multiple staff members at two different schools, in 2022, about pulling kids they wanted off the waitlist. Not revealing the schools because don't want to create a scandal. But if it's happening there, it's happening elsewhere.

There is a mechanism for schools to move kids up and down the waitlist at their discretion -- that's how they move siblings around and stuff. So I'm sure there a way to manipulate the waitlist that doesn't show up on an audit.

Schools don't move kids up and down lists. Preference is maintained and applied by MSDC. You people are worse than MTG Republicans who just keep making stuff up!

I think after the lottery is announced, the control of the waitlist goes to the schools because they are the ones who call down the list offering spots. Not saying I know any examples of wrong doing, but could it be possible they skip calling student who is number 10 on the waitlist and call/enroll student number 11 instead?

Schools a lot of power once the lottery is announced. For example, one school offered took a sibling off of the waitlist as soon as the sibling got in; another school just moved the sibling to waitlist spot #1 once the sibling got in. That makes me think that schools can actually do what they want with the waitlist.

Also not how it works. Once a child accepts a seat, their sibling then has preference.

This is spelled out on the My School DC website. There is a section "sibling enrolled preference" and "sibling offered preference."

From the My School DC Website:
Sibling offered preference
Preference for a student whose sibling is matched in the lottery or offered a seat from the waitlist. Please note that at most schools, this preference is meant to allow siblings to attend the same school at the same time. If the sibling who was offered a space at the school does not enroll at that school or later enrolls at another school, the “sibling offered” preference may be removed for all siblings that applied to that same school. This may result in the siblings losing their match, or moving down on the waitlist at that school. The siblings will remain on the school’s waitlist but will be assigned a new waitlist position based on their random lottery number or post-lottery submission date and any other preference they qualified for. If the sibling who was offered a space does enroll at the school, the preference remains as “sibling offered” for all siblings that applied to that same school; it does not change to “sibling attending.” The definition of "sibling" may vary by school. Please contact the school directly for this information. DCPS's sibling information can be found in their Enrollment and Lottery Handbook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

I'm sure it's just blind luck that *two* members of the city council (Trayon, Nadeau) have children at LAMB, which has probably the longest waitlist of any school in the city.

LAMB may be a special case. There have always been rumors about the lottery there. They were also the last school to join the unified lottery.

There's a long history of DC officials jumping to the front of school waitlists. The education chancellor had to resign a few years ago when it came out that he skipped the line to get his daughter in somewhere.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-public-schools-leader-to-resign-after-skirting-school-assignment-rules/2018/02/20/9b372230-1662-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html

No, there isn't. In fact the story you point to isn't even an example of this. At the time this occurred the process inexplicably permitted discretion by Niles to make assignments based on individual circumstances. The Chancellor went through the formal process - he had his wife make the approach in some silly BS argument that he wasn't involved. She allowed it. Clearly the system should not have allowed this discretion, but he actually worked within the then in effect rules.

I am aware of no examples of evidence that any official or other person has been able to skirt the lottery rules. If you know of one and not tin foil hat conspiracies I am all ears.

P.S. I am not defending the Chancellor. It was a bonehead move and the fact that he had his wife make the approach is proof he knew it should not have been done. But I can't sit back and watch crazy people impugn the lottery process which is one of the best run city programs.

Fente TWICE
Snow

these are just two I can throw out off the top of my head

Good Lord, wasn't Fenty pre-lottery?

Not the second time. Post lottery, post divorce and his kids still got the "be someone or know someone" preference.

You are not making the point you think you are making. At the time Fenty and others applied for and were granted special consideration from Henderson the rules actually granted the authority for her to place at her sole discretion. It was insane that such authority was granted but no one broke rules or gamed the lottery. In the case of Fenty, he didn't get what he wanted in the lottery so he applied for special consideration through the official process. That authority no longer exists.

As I said, there is ZERO evidence of any official or anyone else "gaming" the lottery or getting preferential treatment in the lottery The accusations that this is happening are without merit. People like you are conflating bad design used by insiders (as allowed) and people cheating. And you are ignoring that the loophole has since been closed.

As I said, show me an example of the lottery being gamed or abused. It has not happened.

I know for a fact that schools have the ability to look at the waitlist and pull off whoever they want. Not going to name the schools but I've been around as a parent and nosy person for a decade and have heard it multiple times (from DCPS staffers)

Nope. But it is clear your opinion is informed by dated information. In the early days of the common lottery under MSDC, only the initial lottery pull was managed by MSCD. From there waitlists were handed off to schools to manage on their own. Under that regime there were certainly allegations of preferential treatment. It has been years (@2015 or 16 I think) since waitlists were handed off to schools. Under the current process there is zero facility or ability for a school to work a waitlist out of order.

You don't "know this for a fact" because that cannot be done. Even if it could be done, MSDC would have perfect visibility and be able to immediately act. Stop making things up.

I'm not PP, but this happened to my kid in a year that was after 2016. The circumstances were as undramatic as you can get, since my kid jumped one other child who I'm sure was offered admission shortly after, but it did happen.

Well that would be a feat since there was an audit of the lottery process and ZERO irregularities were found. That's actually where the details on Fenty and Henderson's favoritism (permitted by rule at the time) was discovered.

So we'll agree to disagree. I'll rely on the audit and its public findings. You can continue to tell your story about what you secretly know that was hidden from the audit. LOL

If I were going to make something up I'd make something up that actually affected something. Also, I said it was in some year after 2016.

I was also told by multiple staff members at two different schools, in 2022, about pulling kids they wanted off the waitlist. Not revealing the schools because don't want to create a scandal. But if it's happening there, it's happening elsewhere.

There is a mechanism for schools to move kids up and down the waitlist at their discretion -- that's how they move siblings around and stuff. So I'm sure there a way to manipulate the waitlist that doesn't show up on an audit.

Schools don't move kids up and down lists. Preference is maintained and applied by MSDC. You people are worse than MTG Republicans who just keep making stuff up!

I think after the lottery is announced, the control of the waitlist goes to the schools because they are the ones who call down the list offering spots. Not saying I know any examples of wrong doing, but could it be possible they skip calling student who is number 10 on the waitlist and call/enroll student number 11 instead?

Schools a lot of power once the lottery is announced. For example, one school offered took a sibling off of the waitlist as soon as the sibling got in; another school just moved the sibling to waitlist spot #1 once the sibling got in. That makes me think that schools can actually do what they want with the waitlist.

Also not how it works. Once a child accepts a seat, their sibling then has preference.

This is spelled out on the My School DC website. There is a section "sibling enrolled preference" and "sibling offered preference."

From the My School DC Website:
Sibling offered preference
Preference for a student whose sibling is matched in the lottery or offered a seat from the waitlist. Please note that at most schools, this preference is meant to allow siblings to attend the same school at the same time. If the sibling who was offered a space at the school does not enroll at that school or later enrolls at another school, the “sibling offered” preference may be removed for all siblings that applied to that same school. This may result in the siblings losing their match, or moving down on the waitlist at that school. The siblings will remain on the school’s waitlist but will be assigned a new waitlist position based on their random lottery number or post-lottery submission date and any other preference they qualified for. If the sibling who was offered a space does enroll at the school, the preference remains as “sibling offered” for all siblings that applied to that same school; it does not change to “sibling attending.” The definition of "sibling" may vary by school. Please contact the school directly for this information. DCPS's sibling information can be found in their Enrollment and Lottery Handbook.

I'm getting ready to disengage with the skeptics here, but I'm telling you that this actually happened to our family -- at School A, one child was offered a seat and his sibling was immediately taken off the waitlist and offered a seat, as well. at School B, one child was offered a seat and his sibling was moved to the top of the waitlist in spot #1, but not offered a seat.

The schools clearly made different choices. Ergo, schools have some degree of freedom with their waitlists.

I also has a school administrator tell me "kids from this school get into X middle school, and it's not due to luck."

[Anonymous]

That just means that there was *another* sibling with a higher base number at the second school, as compared to your second child. Not that there was something sketchy going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

I'm sure it's just blind luck that *two* members of the city council (Trayon, Nadeau) have children at LAMB, which has probably the longest waitlist of any school in the city.

LAMB may be a special case. There have always been rumors about the lottery there. They were also the last school to join the unified lottery.

There's a long history of DC officials jumping to the front of school waitlists. The education chancellor had to resign a few years ago when it came out that he skipped the line to get his daughter in somewhere.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-public-schools-leader-to-resign-after-skirting-school-assignment-rules/2018/02/20/9b372230-1662-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html

No, there isn't. In fact the story you point to isn't even an example of this. At the time this occurred the process inexplicably permitted discretion by Niles to make assignments based on individual circumstances. The Chancellor went through the formal process - he had his wife make the approach in some silly BS argument that he wasn't involved. She allowed it. Clearly the system should not have allowed this discretion, but he actually worked within the then in effect rules.

I am aware of no examples of evidence that any official or other person has been able to skirt the lottery rules. If you know of one and not tin foil hat conspiracies I am all ears.

P.S. I am not defending the Chancellor. It was a bonehead move and the fact that he had his wife make the approach is proof he knew it should not have been done. But I can't sit back and watch crazy people impugn the lottery process which is one of the best run city programs.

Fente TWICE
Snow

these are just two I can throw out off the top of my head

Good Lord, wasn't Fenty pre-lottery?

Not the second time. Post lottery, post divorce and his kids still got the "be someone or know someone" preference.

You are not making the point you think you are making. At the time Fenty and others applied for and were granted special consideration from Henderson the rules actually granted the authority for her to place at her sole discretion. It was insane that such authority was granted but no one broke rules or gamed the lottery. In the case of Fenty, he didn't get what he wanted in the lottery so he applied for special consideration through the official process. That authority no longer exists.

As I said, there is ZERO evidence of any official or anyone else "gaming" the lottery or getting preferential treatment in the lottery The accusations that this is happening are without merit. People like you are conflating bad design used by insiders (as allowed) and people cheating. And you are ignoring that the loophole has since been closed.

As I said, show me an example of the lottery being gamed or abused. It has not happened.

I know for a fact that schools have the ability to look at the waitlist and pull off whoever they want. Not going to name the schools but I've been around as a parent and nosy person for a decade and have heard it multiple times (from DCPS staffers)

Nope. But it is clear your opinion is informed by dated information. In the early days of the common lottery under MSDC, only the initial lottery pull was managed by MSCD. From there waitlists were handed off to schools to manage on their own. Under that regime there were certainly allegations of preferential treatment. It has been years (@2015 or 16 I think) since waitlists were handed off to schools. Under the current process there is zero facility or ability for a school to work a waitlist out of order.

You don't "know this for a fact" because that cannot be done. Even if it could be done, MSDC would have perfect visibility and be able to immediately act. Stop making things up.

I'm not PP, but this happened to my kid in a year that was after 2016. The circumstances were as undramatic as you can get, since my kid jumped one other child who I'm sure was offered admission shortly after, but it did happen.

Well that would be a feat since there was an audit of the lottery process and ZERO irregularities were found. That's actually where the details on Fenty and Henderson's favoritism (permitted by rule at the time) was discovered.

So we'll agree to disagree. I'll rely on the audit and its public findings. You can continue to tell your story about what you secretly know that was hidden from the audit. LOL

If I were going to make something up I'd make something up that actually affected something. Also, I said it was in some year after 2016.

I was also told by multiple staff members at two different schools, in 2022, about pulling kids they wanted off the waitlist. Not revealing the schools because don't want to create a scandal. But if it's happening there, it's happening elsewhere.

There is a mechanism for schools to move kids up and down the waitlist at their discretion -- that's how they move siblings around and stuff. So I'm sure there a way to manipulate the waitlist that doesn't show up on an audit.

Schools don't move kids up and down lists. Preference is maintained and applied by MSDC. You people are worse than MTG Republicans who just keep making stuff up!

I think after the lottery is announced, the control of the waitlist goes to the schools because they are the ones who call down the list offering spots. Not saying I know any examples of wrong doing, but could it be possible they skip calling student who is number 10 on the waitlist and call/enroll student number 11 instead?

Schools a lot of power once the lottery is announced. For example, one school offered took a sibling off of the waitlist as soon as the sibling got in; another school just moved the sibling to waitlist spot #1 once the sibling got in. That makes me think that schools can actually do what they want with the waitlist.

Also not how it works. Once a child accepts a seat, their sibling then has preference.

This is spelled out on the My School DC website. There is a section "sibling enrolled preference" and "sibling offered preference."

From the My School DC Website:
Sibling offered preference
Preference for a student whose sibling is matched in the lottery or offered a seat from the waitlist. Please note that at most schools, this preference is meant to allow siblings to attend the same school at the same time. If the sibling who was offered a space at the school does not enroll at that school or later enrolls at another school, the “sibling offered” preference may be removed for all siblings that applied to that same school. This may result in the siblings losing their match, or moving down on the waitlist at that school. The siblings will remain on the school’s waitlist but will be assigned a new waitlist position based on their random lottery number or post-lottery submission date and any other preference they qualified for. If the sibling who was offered a space does enroll at the school, the preference remains as “sibling offered” for all siblings that applied to that same school; it does not change to “sibling attending.” The definition of "sibling" may vary by school. Please contact the school directly for this information. DCPS's sibling information can be found in their Enrollment and Lottery Handbook.

I'm getting ready to disengage with the skeptics here, but I'm telling you that this actually happened to our family -- at School A, one child was offered a seat and his sibling was immediately taken off the waitlist and offered a seat, as well. at School B, one child was offered a seat and his sibling was moved to the top of the waitlist in spot #1, but not offered a seat.

The schools clearly made different choices. Ergo, schools have some degree of freedom with their waitlists.

I also has a school administrator tell me "kids from this school get into X middle school, and it's not due to luck."

That means they sent out the first offer, caused the sibling to be in the Sibling Offered category which happened to place them at the top, and then sent out the second offer. If you werent logged in right at that moment, you wouldn't see it.

Understand at this time of year schools are sending out many offers at a time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

I'm sure it's just blind luck that *two* members of the city council (Trayon, Nadeau) have children at LAMB, which has probably the longest waitlist of any school in the city.

LAMB may be a special case. There have always been rumors about the lottery there. They were also the last school to join the unified lottery.

There's a long history of DC officials jumping to the front of school waitlists. The education chancellor had to resign a few years ago when it came out that he skipped the line to get his daughter in somewhere.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-public-schools-leader-to-resign-after-skirting-school-assignment-rules/2018/02/20/9b372230-1662-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html

No, there isn't. In fact the story you point to isn't even an example of this. At the time this occurred the process inexplicably permitted discretion by Niles to make assignments based on individual circumstances. The Chancellor went through the formal process - he had his wife make the approach in some silly BS argument that he wasn't involved. She allowed it. Clearly the system should not have allowed this discretion, but he actually worked within the then in effect rules.

I am aware of no examples of evidence that any official or other person has been able to skirt the lottery rules. If you know of one and not tin foil hat conspiracies I am all ears.

P.S. I am not defending the Chancellor. It was a bonehead move and the fact that he had his wife make the approach is proof he knew it should not have been done. But I can't sit back and watch crazy people impugn the lottery process which is one of the best run city programs.

Fente TWICE
Snow

these are just two I can throw out off the top of my head

Good Lord, wasn't Fenty pre-lottery?

Not the second time. Post lottery, post divorce and his kids still got the "be someone or know someone" preference.

You are not making the point you think you are making. At the time Fenty and others applied for and were granted special consideration from Henderson the rules actually granted the authority for her to place at her sole discretion. It was insane that such authority was granted but no one broke rules or gamed the lottery. In the case of Fenty, he didn't get what he wanted in the lottery so he applied for special consideration through the official process. That authority no longer exists.

As I said, there is ZERO evidence of any official or anyone else "gaming" the lottery or getting preferential treatment in the lottery The accusations that this is happening are without merit. People like you are conflating bad design used by insiders (as allowed) and people cheating. And you are ignoring that the loophole has since been closed.

As I said, show me an example of the lottery being gamed or abused. It has not happened.

I know for a fact that schools have the ability to look at the waitlist and pull off whoever they want. Not going to name the schools but I've been around as a parent and nosy person for a decade and have heard it multiple times (from DCPS staffers)

Nope. But it is clear your opinion is informed by dated information. In the early days of the common lottery under MSDC, only the initial lottery pull was managed by MSCD. From there waitlists were handed off to schools to manage on their own. Under that regime there were certainly allegations of preferential treatment. It has been years (@2015 or 16 I think) since waitlists were handed off to schools. Under the current process there is zero facility or ability for a school to work a waitlist out of order.

You don't "know this for a fact" because that cannot be done. Even if it could be done, MSDC would have perfect visibility and be able to immediately act. Stop making things up.

I'm not PP, but this happened to my kid in a year that was after 2016. The circumstances were as undramatic as you can get, since my kid jumped one other child who I'm sure was offered admission shortly after, but it did happen.

Well that would be a feat since there was an audit of the lottery process and ZERO irregularities were found. That's actually where the details on Fenty and Henderson's favoritism (permitted by rule at the time) was discovered.

So we'll agree to disagree. I'll rely on the audit and its public findings. You can continue to tell your story about what you secretly know that was hidden from the audit. LOL

If I were going to make something up I'd make something up that actually affected something. Also, I said it was in some year after 2016.

I was also told by multiple staff members at two different schools, in 2022, about pulling kids they wanted off the waitlist. Not revealing the schools because don't want to create a scandal. But if it's happening there, it's happening elsewhere.

There is a mechanism for schools to move kids up and down the waitlist at their discretion -- that's how they move siblings around and stuff. So I'm sure there a way to manipulate the waitlist that doesn't show up on an audit.

Schools don't move kids up and down lists. Preference is maintained and applied by MSDC. You people are worse than MTG Republicans who just keep making stuff up!

I think after the lottery is announced, the control of the waitlist goes to the schools because they are the ones who call down the list offering spots. Not saying I know any examples of wrong doing, but could it be possible they skip calling student who is number 10 on the waitlist and call/enroll student number 11 instead?

Schools a lot of power once the lottery is announced. For example, one school offered took a sibling off of the waitlist as soon as the sibling got in; another school just moved the sibling to waitlist spot #1 once the sibling got in. That makes me think that schools can actually do what they want with the waitlist.

Also not how it works. Once a child accepts a seat, their sibling then has preference.

This is spelled out on the My School DC website. There is a section "sibling enrolled preference" and "sibling offered preference."

From the My School DC Website:
Sibling offered preference
Preference for a student whose sibling is matched in the lottery or offered a seat from the waitlist. Please note that at most schools, this preference is meant to allow siblings to attend the same school at the same time. If the sibling who was offered a space at the school does not enroll at that school or later enrolls at another school, the “sibling offered” preference may be removed for all siblings that applied to that same school. This may result in the siblings losing their match, or moving down on the waitlist at that school. The siblings will remain on the school’s waitlist but will be assigned a new waitlist position based on their random lottery number or post-lottery submission date and any other preference they qualified for. If the sibling who was offered a space does enroll at the school, the preference remains as “sibling offered” for all siblings that applied to that same school; it does not change to “sibling attending.” The definition of "sibling" may vary by school. Please contact the school directly for this information. DCPS's sibling information can be found in their Enrollment and Lottery Handbook.

I'm getting ready to disengage with the skeptics here, but I'm telling you that this actually happened to our family -- at School A, one child was offered a seat and his sibling was immediately taken off the waitlist and offered a seat, as well. at School B, one child was offered a seat and his sibling was moved to the top of the waitlist in spot #1, but not offered a seat.

The schools clearly made different choices. Ergo, schools have some degree of freedom with their waitlists.

I also has a school administrator tell me "kids from this school get into X middle school, and it's not due to luck."

That means they sent out the first offer, caused the sibling to be in the Sibling Offered category which happened to place them at the top, and then sent out the second offer. If you werent logged in right at that moment, you wouldn't see it.

Understand at this time of year schools are sending out many offers at a time.

I will say that after they have filled their initial quota of seats, it is up to the school whether to extend the additional offer to the sibling at the top of the list. *This year* we got an offer from a school for our 4th grader when she jumped to the top of the list when our 2nd grader was admitted. We turned down both offers as we decided not to move our kids from our IB. Later we saw that no lottery spots had been filled by that school in 4th grade. So the school made an offer to us that we didn't take, but then NEVER made another one. Maybe they just did it to be nice to siblings (I support that) since they had flexibility to take one additional 4th grader or not or maybe we demographically appealed to them (we have a UMC sounding name & local-to-the school UMC address)... but they 100% made us an offer and then never filled that seat (even though they have a WL over 100 for that grade).

[Anonymous]

Interesting to hear from the parents who moved and felt like MoCo or FCPS were about the same as DCPS. Would be curious what grades were the transition for y'all.
We expect we will have to move for 9th, because application high schools aren't an option for special ed/not academically achieving kiddo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

I'm sure it's just blind luck that *two* members of the city council (Trayon, Nadeau) have children at LAMB, which has probably the longest waitlist of any school in the city.

LAMB may be a special case. There have always been rumors about the lottery there. They were also the last school to join the unified lottery.

There's a long history of DC officials jumping to the front of school waitlists. The education chancellor had to resign a few years ago when it came out that he skipped the line to get his daughter in somewhere.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-public-schools-leader-to-resign-after-skirting-school-assignment-rules/2018/02/20/9b372230-1662-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html

No, there isn't. In fact the story you point to isn't even an example of this. At the time this occurred the process inexplicably permitted discretion by Niles to make assignments based on individual circumstances. The Chancellor went through the formal process - he had his wife make the approach in some silly BS argument that he wasn't involved. She allowed it. Clearly the system should not have allowed this discretion, but he actually worked within the then in effect rules.

I am aware of no examples of evidence that any official or other person has been able to skirt the lottery rules. If you know of one and not tin foil hat conspiracies I am all ears.

P.S. I am not defending the Chancellor. It was a bonehead move and the fact that he had his wife make the approach is proof he knew it should not have been done. But I can't sit back and watch crazy people impugn the lottery process which is one of the best run city programs.

Fente TWICE
Snow

these are just two I can throw out off the top of my head

Good Lord, wasn't Fenty pre-lottery?

Not the second time. Post lottery, post divorce and his kids still got the "be someone or know someone" preference.

You are not making the point you think you are making. At the time Fenty and others applied for and were granted special consideration from Henderson the rules actually granted the authority for her to place at her sole discretion. It was insane that such authority was granted but no one broke rules or gamed the lottery. In the case of Fenty, he didn't get what he wanted in the lottery so he applied for special consideration through the official process. That authority no longer exists.

As I said, there is ZERO evidence of any official or anyone else "gaming" the lottery or getting preferential treatment in the lottery The accusations that this is happening are without merit. People like you are conflating bad design used by insiders (as allowed) and people cheating. And you are ignoring that the loophole has since been closed.

As I said, show me an example of the lottery being gamed or abused. It has not happened.

I know for a fact that schools have the ability to look at the waitlist and pull off whoever they want. Not going to name the schools but I've been around as a parent and nosy person for a decade and have heard it multiple times (from DCPS staffers)

Nope. But it is clear your opinion is informed by dated information. In the early days of the common lottery under MSDC, only the initial lottery pull was managed by MSCD. From there waitlists were handed off to schools to manage on their own. Under that regime there were certainly allegations of preferential treatment. It has been years (@2015 or 16 I think) since waitlists were handed off to schools. Under the current process there is zero facility or ability for a school to work a waitlist out of order.

You don't "know this for a fact" because that cannot be done. Even if it could be done, MSDC would have perfect visibility and be able to immediately act. Stop making things up.

I'm not PP, but this happened to my kid in a year that was after 2016. The circumstances were as undramatic as you can get, since my kid jumped one other child who I'm sure was offered admission shortly after, but it did happen.

Well that would be a feat since there was an audit of the lottery process and ZERO irregularities were found. That's actually where the details on Fenty and Henderson's favoritism (permitted by rule at the time) was discovered.

So we'll agree to disagree. I'll rely on the audit and its public findings. You can continue to tell your story about what you secretly know that was hidden from the audit. LOL

If I were going to make something up I'd make something up that actually affected something. Also, I said it was in some year after 2016.

I was also told by multiple staff members at two different schools, in 2022, about pulling kids they wanted off the waitlist. Not revealing the schools because don't want to create a scandal. But if it's happening there, it's happening elsewhere.

There is a mechanism for schools to move kids up and down the waitlist at their discretion -- that's how they move siblings around and stuff. So I'm sure there a way to manipulate the waitlist that doesn't show up on an audit.

Schools don't move kids up and down lists. Preference is maintained and applied by MSDC. You people are worse than MTG Republicans who just keep making stuff up!

I think after the lottery is announced, the control of the waitlist goes to the schools because they are the ones who call down the list offering spots. Not saying I know any examples of wrong doing, but could it be possible they skip calling student who is number 10 on the waitlist and call/enroll student number 11 instead?

Schools a lot of power once the lottery is announced. For example, one school offered took a sibling off of the waitlist as soon as the sibling got in; another school just moved the sibling to waitlist spot #1 once the sibling got in. That makes me think that schools can actually do what they want with the waitlist.

Also not how it works. Once a child accepts a seat, their sibling then has preference.

This is spelled out on the My School DC website. There is a section "sibling enrolled preference" and "sibling offered preference."

From the My School DC Website:
Sibling offered preference
Preference for a student whose sibling is matched in the lottery or offered a seat from the waitlist. Please note that at most schools, this preference is meant to allow siblings to attend the same school at the same time. If the sibling who was offered a space at the school does not enroll at that school or later enrolls at another school, the “sibling offered” preference may be removed for all siblings that applied to that same school. This may result in the siblings losing their match, or moving down on the waitlist at that school. The siblings will remain on the school’s waitlist but will be assigned a new waitlist position based on their random lottery number or post-lottery submission date and any other preference they qualified for. If the sibling who was offered a space does enroll at the school, the preference remains as “sibling offered” for all siblings that applied to that same school; it does not change to “sibling attending.” The definition of "sibling" may vary by school. Please contact the school directly for this information. DCPS's sibling information can be found in their Enrollment and Lottery Handbook.

I'm getting ready to disengage with the skeptics here, but I'm telling you that this actually happened to our family -- at School A, one child was offered a seat and his sibling was immediately taken off the waitlist and offered a seat, as well. at School B, one child was offered a seat and his sibling was moved to the top of the waitlist in spot #1, but not offered a seat.

The schools clearly made different choices. Ergo, schools have some degree of freedom with their waitlists.

I also has a school administrator tell me "kids from this school get into X middle school, and it's not due to luck."

That means they sent out the first offer, caused the sibling to be in the Sibling Offered category which happened to place them at the top, and then sent out the second offer. If you werent logged in right at that moment, you wouldn't see it.

Understand at this time of year schools are sending out many offers at a time.

I will say that after they have filled their initial quota of seats, it is up to the school whether to extend the additional offer to the sibling at the top of the list. *This year* we got an offer from a school for our 4th grader when she jumped to the top of the list when our 2nd grader was admitted. We turned down both offers as we decided not to move our kids from our IB. Later we saw that no lottery spots had been filled by that school in 4th grade. So the school made an offer to us that we didn't take, but then NEVER made another one. Maybe they just did it to be nice to siblings (I support that) since they had flexibility to take one additional 4th grader or not or maybe we demographically appealed to them (we have a UMC sounding name & local-to-the school UMC address)... but they 100% made us an offer and then never filled that seat (even though they have a WL over 100 for that grade).

Or they may have continued extending offers until count day but nobody accepted. Or someone accepted "that seat" but a different kid left.

[Anonymous]

If I accept a wait list offer, do I still have the opportunity to get offered a spot at a school that I ranked higher or do you only have one bite at your waitlisted options?