Roll call: Who plans to send their kids to DCPS through graduation?

[Anonymous]

Not looking to debate the merits of DCPS, just trying to get a sense of who intends to go public through 12th grade. It's understood, of course, that predictions are not guarantees of actual outcomes, so just looking for intentions here.

Provide number of kids, their ages, and your neighborhood schools (or the OOB schools you send/hope to send your kids to).

I'll start.

2 kids, 3 yo and almost 1 yo
Murch/Deal/Wilson

[Anonymous]

Our family's current intentions:

2 kids, 2 year old and one due in 5 months
Murch, Deal, Wilson or School without Walls

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this post. It will be helpful to see some perspective.

2 kids, preschool/pre-k

Oyster (in boundary), Deal but maybe a charter? for middle, and School without Walls - or Banneker if one turns out to be a math genius. We're in boundary for Wilson, but it just seems really big and they've got the school within school stuff to work.

Ideally bilingual through high school would work best for us. We're already Spanish-English and currently the only option is private Washington Int'l. Unless Oyster goes all the way. sigh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oyster (in boundary), Deal but maybe a charter? for middle

correction, I meant Oyster first. But would consider Deal or a charter for middle school.

[Anonymous]

2 kids currently in 1st and 3rd
Elementary - attending Lafayette (in boundary)
Middle - probably Deal - new bldg and established IB program almost make it a no-brainer but will look at charters
High School - unless something dramatic happens at Wilson - Banneker, Walls or charter

Parents with children under 5 you probably have an excellent shot at going all the way - I think Wilson will be completely different by the time you get there - plus there will probably be more high school options as some of the charters expand, like Capital City

[Anonymous]

2 kids currently at Eaton, Deal/Hardy, Wilson/Ellington.

[Anonymous]

oyster, then hopefully banneker or walls...

[Anonymous]

2 kids.

1 at Lafayette (very happy)

1 at Deal (very happy)

Wilson or Walls

[Anonymous]

What are the chances of getting into Walls, the number of applicants to acceptances? I hear of lots of people who are applying, but I don't have a sense of whether it's a given that everybody will get in.

[Anonymous]

1 kid at Oyster, then Wilson or Walls unless Latin (PCS) suggests a better alternative.

[Anonymous]

3 kids all at Murch
Plan to send oldest to Deal next year.
Then Wilson or School without Walls (I went) or Ellington (husband went)

[Anonymous]

1 child at Oyster

will send to Deal

then Wilson/ Walls/ or Private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the chances of getting into Walls, the number of applicants to acceptances? I hear of lots of people who are applying, but I don't have a sense of whether it's a given that everybody will get in.

I can't answer that definitively but I will tell you that a couple of years ago when dd was applying to magnet schools, she made it through the Walls selection process until she took the test, which she blew badly. They put her on the waiting list. She was not very interested in Walls so it wasn't an issue for her but we were a bit worried about whether she would get into a magnet school given that our in-bounds high school is not very good. Way down the road in the spring, Walls called her for an interview and accepted her. They also accepted a friend of hers off the waiting list who was not a top student by any means. DD had been having a rough year in 8th grade (the pressure of applying to schools did not help) and her grades had slipped from 7th grade. We were already contemplating the possibility she wouldn't get into any program and perhaps we might have to rent a room in-boundaries for Wilson.

Well it turned out dd got into 3 of the 4 schools she applied to so things worked out after all. And apparently enough people turned down Walls that they were reaching down the waiting list. However, an important caveat -- this was also the year that Walls was undergoing renovation so the school moved into swing space over by Union Station. I don't know how much difference that made in terms of their enrollment. With the school renovated, I imagine it will get harder to get in. Also with the economy being what it is, more people may forgo private or decide not to move to the burbs.

Don't base your hopes of getting into Walls on my dd's story -- but it turned out to be not as hard as I thought it would

[Anonymous]

Murch is amazing.

I'm a student (American), so I don't really think I could afford private school. I might be able to in a few years though.

I'm just glad that I chose to live in an apartment close to AU. It's in a *really* good area for schools.

I think in a few years though that we might go charter instead of Deal and Wilson. Both do not appease me.

My dd is four though. But Murch has so much for her. Extended care from 7:30-6:30, language classes, art classes, and for the older kids basketball and cheerleading.

Not to mention the academics and the teachers... I'm very happy with Murch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for this post. It will be helpful to see some perspective.

2 kids, preschool/pre-k

Oyster (in boundary), Deal but maybe a charter? for middle, and School without Walls - or Banneker if one turns out to be a math genius. We're in boundary for Wilson, but it just seems really big and they've got the school within school stuff to work.

Ideally bilingual through high school would work best for us. We're already Spanish-English and currently the only option is private Washington Int'l. Unless Oyster goes all the way. sigh

Hi there-- are we going to by class parents together and are we already neigbhors? Oyster boundary is pretty compact.

One DD-- Oyster K (in boundaries) next year. Plan is Oyster-Adams through 8 or Deal 6-8, Then School Without Walls (DD already dances to her own drum), Wilson Academies, Banneker, or Ellington for high school. This depends upon what kind of learner she turns out to be, but I think that she'll learn anywhere. She loves any book she can get her hands are. Psyched for Spanish, and would consider WIS or Maret if she really wanted it, but we're pretty committed to DCPS on the way into the process.