Brightwood Schools
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Anonymous
| I don’t know about Brightwood first hand but have been very happy at Takoma and am optimistic about Ida B Wells in a few years. I doubt Takoma’s boundary would move south because my understanding is the new housing at Walter Reed will be zoned for Takoma. |
Anonymous
| NP. For those PPs with kids in middle to upper elementary in Brightwood/Takoma DCPS (not charters) can you speak more to what the experience has been like for your family? We've heard good things from folks in ECE at these schools but not sure how things go in the upper grades. Thanks so much, and it's so good to see so many neighborhood families on here! |
Anonymous
|
OP here. The house we were going to look at was taken down for some reason. It’s on Underwood. Thinking it’ll come back online. Maybe they are taking new photos.
Based on this thread which is a smalllll data point, we won’t be sending to Brightwood (she is 2 right now, birthday in Sept) so we will be lottery first timers in five months. So it looks like, if we move to the area (inventory is low, there is a smaller townhouse on Rittenhouse too) or the new townhomes (but we want a SFH) on Aspen, we will try lottery: Takoma Whittier And sprinkle in a few charters. I’ve done the waitlist data research. Shepherd won’t happen. But there is a “coming soon” house on 12th in Shepherd. But it’s a little more than our budget. Ugh. This thread has been a massive help for our family. Thank you. And I didn’t feel any snark. Clearly we know WOTP is a completely different situation. So are the suburbs. |
Anonymous
This is a good question. As the OP I should have asked this, too. Focused on ECE but how is Takoma/Whittier with 2nd grade, 3rd grade.. |
Anonymous
| Have been impressed with both our K and 1st grade teacher. Nothing flashy but a caring environment and one in which my on or somewhat above grade level child and lower performing students both seem to be progressing. |
Anonymous
Which school? |
Anonymous
My son "graduated" from Whittier year before last. The end of 3rd and half of 4th grade were virtual but they worked very hard to get kids back into school who needed it (I sent him back in December 2020). I will join the chorus of praise for Principal Johnson, who is incredible (and has been at the school for well over a dozen years in various roles). I felt the academics were strong for my son and there is lots of room for creativity--if you're above grade level, they keep you challenged with leadership roles in the classroom and pull-out enrichment activities. He loved being on the recycling club at lunch and learning to design his own board game. Lots of field trips. Experiences with school musicals were so popular they converted special arts subjects into a comprehensive performing arts program. They also have DC Scores, Girls on the Run, and a variety of other afterschool activities for upper elementary. My son is in 7th grade at Wells now and doing well in accelerated math and accelerated ELA, plus DCIAA soccer. Most of his close Whittier friends are also at Wells and he's made a bunch of new friends too. Even more field trips now, and he's earning a high school credit in his digital arts class. |
Anonymous
Takoma |
Anonymous
| Op, unless you are planning to move again in the next 5 years, do not move to Brightwood. Your kid is already 2, you will be worried about middle school sooner rather than later. |
Anonymous
|
OP again.
Ugh. Talked to my husband and sort of changed everything based on what I keep hearing about MS/HS. Why can’t EOTP get that figured out? We could still try and lottery every year while at Brightwood (or Takoma, Whittier), into DCB or try for Latin 5th grade. Talk about a risk. We wanted to stay in DC but this one came online today: https://redf.in/sMl1Ph |
Anonymous
OP- If you want to stay in DC I truly believe that Ida B Wells is already and will continue to be a perfectly decent middle school option and there are various charter options as well. For HS choices open up more due to application high schools. If your student is a very strong student Walls and Banneker become strong options. There is also an early college application program that just started at Coolidge that may be an option. If your student is an average to above average student (B student in middle school) with any interest in science, engineering, digital media or computer science then McKinley Tech is an option that is not too hard to get into. Ellington is an option for talented arts loving students. I know you will hear a lot of people advising you to run to to the suburbs now but if you like the idea of staying in DC please know it is not all bad. |
Anonymous
+1 Shout out to Principal Johnson! She is phenomenal! |
Anonymous
+1. DCUM is full of Ward 3 parents that have lots of opinions and no experience with EOTP schools. Our middle is MacFarland, which is not on as promising of a trajectory as Wells, but we’re watching Wells closely and may consider it when the time comes. We’re very happy in our Title 1 EOTP elementary, and don’t plan on moving. Middle school will work out somehow, and high school has many more options for strong students. That said, if you’re going to stress every year about the lottery or let other people’s opinions (and there are opinions IRL!) get to you, then yes, I’d look to MD. It’s really not as different as it seems when you’re at your stage of home buying/parenting. There are a lot of pros to MCPS and you don’t even need BCC to get a good education. |
Anonymous
People who “may consider” Up & Coming Middle School down the road invariably never do. |
Anonymous
| People on DCUM are not representative of all parents in DC. By a long shot. |