SY25-26 Short Waitlists tool is up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is Truth? Lots of hype when it first opened about it being another middle school option in DC. No waitlist at all this year.

There were a few positive comments on this thread. PP mentioned that they opened up more seats because the high school is moving to the new building. So this might be the only year they go through so many seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is Truth? Lots of hype when it first opened about it being another middle school option in DC. No waitlist at all this year.

There were a few positive comments on this thread. PP mentioned that they opened up more seats because the high school is moving to the new building. So this might be the only year they go through so many seats.

Yes, they took in fewer kids than usual last year because both the middle and high school were stuck in the same building. Now that the high school is moving to its own building they want to make up for all the students they didn't take last year. I expect this happens to be a particularly good year for getting into Truth and next year will be different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is Truth? Lots of hype when it first opened about it being another middle school option in DC. No waitlist at all this year.

There were a few positive comments on this thread. PP mentioned that they opened up more seats because the high school is moving to the new building. So this might be the only year they go through so many seats.

Yes, they took in fewer kids than usual last year because both the middle and high school were stuck in the same building. Now that the high school is moving to its own building they want to make up for all the students they didn't take last year. I expect this happens to be a particularly good year for getting into Truth and next year will be different.

I would bet next year will be another good year. Gotta increase students to pay for two buildings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can pretty much get into any DCPS elementary school past ECE except Hill schools.

Burroughs, Seaton, Garrison, Langley, Langdon, Miner, JOW, etc…and all the bilingual DCPS schools also.

Or J-R feeders. Though I noticed Bancroft on the list for 1st (which I wouldn't expect a lot of movement from anyways) and some other schools not (Whittier for instance isn't on the short waitlist for 1st or 2nd).

Whittier is has what I would argue is the best principal in DCPS. She’s fantastic and it draws teachers and families to thr school.

Principal Johnson is amazing. It's an incredible testament to her and the staff that they're growing significantly, and keeping staff, despite the impending renovation.

How are the upper grades doing? Wondering if folks will stick around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can pretty much get into any DCPS elementary school past ECE except Hill schools.

Burroughs, Seaton, Garrison, Langley, Langdon, Miner, JOW, etc…and all the bilingual DCPS schools also.

Or J-R feeders. Though I noticed Bancroft on the list for 1st (which I wouldn't expect a lot of movement from anyways) and some other schools not (Whittier for instance isn't on the short waitlist for 1st or 2nd).

Whittier is has what I would argue is the best principal in DCPS. She’s fantastic and it draws teachers and families to thr school.

Principal Johnson is amazing. It's an incredible testament to her and the staff that they're growing significantly, and keeping staff, despite the impending renovation.

How are the upper grades doing? Wondering if folks will stick around.

There has been some attrition at the upper grades but it seems like there's less each year with more buy in to Wells. That's anecdotal but it does seem to be establishing more of a solid 3-5 foothold in the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is Truth? Lots of hype when it first opened about it being another middle school option in DC. No waitlist at all this year.

There were a few positive comments on this thread. PP mentioned that they opened up more seats because the high school is moving to the new building. So this might be the only year they go through so many seats.

Yes, they took in fewer kids than usual last year because both the middle and high school were stuck in the same building. Now that the high school is moving to its own building they want to make up for all the students they didn't take last year. I expect this happens to be a particularly good year for getting into Truth and next year will be different.

I would bet next year will be another good year. Gotta increase students to pay for two buildings.

Are the buildings close? I only see one address on their website. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is Truth? Lots of hype when it first opened about it being another middle school option in DC. No waitlist at all this year.

There were a few positive comments on this thread. PP mentioned that they opened up more seats because the high school is moving to the new building. So this might be the only year they go through so many seats.

Yes, they took in fewer kids than usual last year because both the middle and high school were stuck in the same building. Now that the high school is moving to its own building they want to make up for all the students they didn't take last year. I expect this happens to be a particularly good year for getting into Truth and next year will be different.

I would bet next year will be another good year. Gotta increase students to pay for two buildings.

Are the buildings close? I only see one address on their website. . .

It is close. They bought that old church on Monroe. Maybe 16th and Monroe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is Truth? Lots of hype when it first opened about it being another middle school option in DC. No waitlist at all this year.

There were a few positive comments on this thread. PP mentioned that they opened up more seats because the high school is moving to the new building. So this might be the only year they go through so many seats.

Yes, they took in fewer kids than usual last year because both the middle and high school were stuck in the same building. Now that the high school is moving to its own building they want to make up for all the students they didn't take last year. I expect this happens to be a particularly good year for getting into Truth and next year will be different.

I would bet next year will be another good year. Gotta increase students to pay for two buildings.

Are the buildings close? I only see one address on their website. . .

It is close. They bought that old church on Monroe. Maybe 16th and Monroe.

Yep - Middle School is staying in the Perry St building (Perry and South Dakota) and High School is moving to the renovated church at 16th and Monroe. So...half a mile-ish? About 6 blocks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is Truth? Lots of hype when it first opened about it being another middle school option in DC. No waitlist at all this year.

There were a few positive comments on this thread. PP mentioned that they opened up more seats because the high school is moving to the new building. So this might be the only year they go through so many seats.

Yes, they took in fewer kids than usual last year because both the middle and high school were stuck in the same building. Now that the high school is moving to its own building they want to make up for all the students they didn't take last year. I expect this happens to be a particularly good year for getting into Truth and next year will be different.

I would bet next year will be another good year. Gotta increase students to pay for two buildings.

Are the buildings close? I only see one address on their website. . .

It is close. They bought that old church on Monroe. Maybe 16th and Monroe.

Yep - Middle School is staying in the Perry St building (Perry and South Dakota) and High School is moving to the renovated church at 16th and Monroe. So...half a mile-ish? About 6 blocks.

That's a big project! Just drove by last weekend. Exciting for them to have such a great presence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ouch Seaton is on the list. Too bad.

Roots and Sela are in trouble. Rocketship is very much in trouble.

Sigh. I know there is a non-trivial number of humans on this board rooting hard for Sela to collapse, but: sorry...it's not "in trouble" - it just has the obvious, chronic retention challenges any school located outside NW and the Capitol Hill area without a junior high feeder would have, but is managing to do far better on any objective metric (test scores and re-enrollment in the lower grades not affected by feeder panic, parent survey satisfaction, measured student progress, etc) than any other school in the city facing the same hurdles. If they could get a decent feeder, their biggest headaches would more or less evaporate tomorrow.

Now, could politics and bigotry prevent that from ever happening? Sure! It may not be worth it to any junior high to invite the avalanche of haterade associating with (gasp!) Hebrew speakers would invite in this world, which is why I'd be shocked if Sela ever nabs any feeder at all. But all that does - along with, yes, the location and the relatively niche language appeal - is artificially suppress what could otherwise be one of the top-performing charters in the city. The bottom line is that Sela will always have a core group of parents - some small but enduring percentage of an educated, progressive and motivated demographic that disproportionately supports public schools - who have a cultural connection, and are prepared to endure the commute to enroll their kids for at least a few years... and another group of smart, engaged local parents happy to send their kids to a well-run school to learn and practice language acquisition of any kind alongside the first group, even if they don't have the same exact connection to the culture.

So - apologies again to people rooting hard for its demise - it's not in imminent danger of collapse - it's actually doing remarkably well under the circumstances. (ha...I guess in that way it IS kind of like Israel, after all! Go figure)

There is nobody on the waitlist for any grade including PK. That's not politics. That's a fact. They aren't even drawing kids from one of the largest growing areas of the city nearby.

I'm not going to get into the rest of your bait but that's a big concern and I'm not sure how anyone could hand waive it away and just haters.

There a bunch of other schools with zero waitlist or 1-2 for a 1-3 grades…what’s the relevance that this particular school is zero? I’m confused why people care, no waitlist doesn’t mean it’s in danger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ouch Seaton is on the list. Too bad.

Roots and Sela are in trouble. Rocketship is very much in trouble.

Sigh. I know there is a non-trivial number of humans on this board rooting hard for Sela to collapse, but: sorry...it's not "in trouble" - it just has the obvious, chronic retention challenges any school located outside NW and the Capitol Hill area without a junior high feeder would have, but is managing to do far better on any objective metric (test scores and re-enrollment in the lower grades not affected by feeder panic, parent survey satisfaction, measured student progress, etc) than any other school in the city facing the same hurdles. If they could get a decent feeder, their biggest headaches would more or less evaporate tomorrow.

Now, could politics and bigotry prevent that from ever happening? Sure! It may not be worth it to any junior high to invite the avalanche of haterade associating with (gasp!) Hebrew speakers would invite in this world, which is why I'd be shocked if Sela ever nabs any feeder at all. But all that does - along with, yes, the location and the relatively niche language appeal - is artificially suppress what could otherwise be one of the top-performing charters in the city. The bottom line is that Sela will always have a core group of parents - some small but enduring percentage of an educated, progressive and motivated demographic that disproportionately supports public schools - who have a cultural connection, and are prepared to endure the commute to enroll their kids for at least a few years... and another group of smart, engaged local parents happy to send their kids to a well-run school to learn and practice language acquisition of any kind alongside the first group, even if they don't have the same exact connection to the culture.

So - apologies again to people rooting hard for its demise - it's not in imminent danger of collapse - it's actually doing remarkably well under the circumstances. (ha...I guess in that way it IS kind of like Israel, after all! Go figure)

There is nobody on the waitlist for any grade including PK. That's not politics. That's a fact. They aren't even drawing kids from one of the largest growing areas of the city nearby.

I'm not going to get into the rest of your bait but that's a big concern and I'm not sure how anyone could hand waive it away and just haters.

There a bunch of other schools with zero waitlist or 1-2 for a 1-3 grades…what’s the relevance that this particular school is zero? I’m confused why people care, no waitlist doesn’t mean it’s in danger.

Personally I don't think it's actually in danger. But this is the lowest waitlist it's had in years. And the lowest number of PK3 matches it's had in any year in the data set. Those are both red flags.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ouch Seaton is on the list. Too bad.

Roots and Sela are in trouble. Rocketship is very much in trouble.

Sigh. I know there is a non-trivial number of humans on this board rooting hard for Sela to collapse, but: sorry...it's not "in trouble" - it just has the obvious, chronic retention challenges any school located outside NW and the Capitol Hill area without a junior high feeder would have, but is managing to do far better on any objective metric (test scores and re-enrollment in the lower grades not affected by feeder panic, parent survey satisfaction, measured student progress, etc) than any other school in the city facing the same hurdles. If they could get a decent feeder, their biggest headaches would more or less evaporate tomorrow.

Now, could politics and bigotry prevent that from ever happening? Sure! It may not be worth it to any junior high to invite the avalanche of haterade associating with (gasp!) Hebrew speakers would invite in this world, which is why I'd be shocked if Sela ever nabs any feeder at all. But all that does - along with, yes, the location and the relatively niche language appeal - is artificially suppress what could otherwise be one of the top-performing charters in the city. The bottom line is that Sela will always have a core group of parents - some small but enduring percentage of an educated, progressive and motivated demographic that disproportionately supports public schools - who have a cultural connection, and are prepared to endure the commute to enroll their kids for at least a few years... and another group of smart, engaged local parents happy to send their kids to a well-run school to learn and practice language acquisition of any kind alongside the first group, even if they don't have the same exact connection to the culture.

So - apologies again to people rooting hard for its demise - it's not in imminent danger of collapse - it's actually doing remarkably well under the circumstances. (ha...I guess in that way it IS kind of like Israel, after all! Go figure)

There is nobody on the waitlist for any grade including PK. That's not politics. That's a fact. They aren't even drawing kids from one of the largest growing areas of the city nearby.

I'm not going to get into the rest of your bait but that's a big concern and I'm not sure how anyone could hand waive it away and just haters.

There a bunch of other schools with zero waitlist or 1-2 for a 1-3 grades…what’s the relevance that this particular school is zero? I’m confused why people care, no waitlist doesn’t mean it’s in danger.

Personally I don't think it's actually in danger. But this is the lowest waitlist it's had in years. And the lowest number of PK3 matches it's had in any year in the data set. Those are both red flags.

Regardless of how one feels about the school it's weird that's people seem to think it's unfair to point out that having no one the wait-list and few PK matches are red flags.

[Anonymous]

It's true that schools can survive indefinitely with not much of a waitlist. Sometimes that's just the result of a choice to make an ample number of initial lottery offers, to match everyone who might be interested right away. Sometime schools habitually fill up by having strong summer recruitment. That's fine too. In the case of Sela, it's the downward trend that's concerning. But Sela has a competent administration and a motivated community so I think they'll recruit some kids, or adapt to a smaller enrollment. It's fine.