Commuter nightmare- any options that you would consider?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When would your younger be going to DCI? Can you find out from DCI whether the older one can transfer in, at that time, or will it be too late?

2 years so oldest would be in 12th and at that point I likely wouldn’t move her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mostly this problem is because Hillcrest is not at all a convenient location to most of the schools on your list. It's on the edge of the city, and over the river. It's only convenient to the Hill, which is not a great option for a high schooler.

MacArthur and Stokes and fine schools. If you can get your younger kid into Hyde, even better.

I would seriously consider moving. A LOT of homes are going to come on the market soon.

She bought a home. The transaction costs would make this a bad idea.

[Anonymous]

OP, here’s an out of the box idea.
Templeton Academy - which is right by Gallery Place, downtown. Private. Very commutable.
It’s the lowest priced private around ($24,000-ish all in) and/but depending on your income u could be eligible for $10,000 voucher and additional school financial aid right off the bat. Maybe leaving you with very little cost.
My kid is exceptionally happy there. Nice kids. Great teachers. Everyone takes transit. Checkout their FB, they have their college admits listed from this past graduating class if that is something u care about.
I know they have 10th grade space because I know someone just gave up their spot. Reach out to the admissions director, Bret.

[Anonymous]

(specifically: drop your HS kid at Naylor Rd, Metro, or maybe they walk there. The. they take Green Line the whole way to Archives/Navy Memorial. Templeton is like a block from there.)

[Anonymous]

Stick with MacArthur, put your younger on all the waitlists for Hill schools not too far off the highway (Watkins/Payne/Chisholm/Brent (which has its own bus to swing space this year)) and then have your younger attend whichever school they get off the waitlist for on the Hill or near MacArthur. Then you could do both dropoffs if you had to. Doesn’t Watkins exhaust its waitlist usually? And you’d get the Stuart Hobson feed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stick with MacArthur, put your younger on all the waitlists for Hill schools not too far off the highway (Watkins/Payne/Chisholm/Brent (which has its own bus to swing space this year)) and then have your younger attend whichever school they get off the waitlist for on the Hill or near MacArthur. Then you could do both dropoffs if you had to. Doesn’t Watkins exhaust its waitlist usually? And you’d get the Stuart Hobson feed.

So you want the 10th grader to have a 3 hour commute roundtrip a day to a poorly performing high school. Makes a lot of sense…….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stick with MacArthur, put your younger on all the waitlists for Hill schools not too far off the highway (Watkins/Payne/Chisholm/Brent (which has its own bus to swing space this year)) and then have your younger attend whichever school they get off the waitlist for on the Hill or near MacArthur. Then you could do both dropoffs if you had to. Doesn’t Watkins exhaust its waitlist usually? And you’d get the Stuart Hobson feed.

So you want the 10th grader to have a 3 hour commute roundtrip a day to a poorly performing high school. Makes a lot of sense…….

The drive isn't too bad (from Hillcrest to MacArthur) but the public transit is awful. Takes like 3x as long. So if OP can figure out how to drop off, it might work. But she needs to get her younger kid into a school on the way.

[Anonymous]

Much shorter by car. I do that drive or similar all the time from the Hill, even during prime times. It’s not that bad. MacArthur is the best high school they got into. OP has requested suggestions other than moving.

[Anonymous]

Hence the suggestion to get their kid in a school near MacArthur or near 695 on the Hill. Driving that would be doable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stick with MacArthur, put your younger on all the waitlists for Hill schools not too far off the highway (Watkins/Payne/Chisholm/Brent (which has its own bus to swing space this year)) and then have your younger attend whichever school they get off the waitlist for on the Hill or near MacArthur. Then you could do both dropoffs if you had to. Doesn’t Watkins exhaust its waitlist usually? And you’d get the Stuart Hobson feed.

So you want the 10th grader to have a 3 hour commute roundtrip a day to a poorly performing high school. Makes a lot of sense…….

OP here... aren't you just a peach... If you took the time to read through this thread before making dumb comments, you would have noticed that we are waitlisted for several other schools. Do you have an alternative suggestion that would be a viable consideration or ........

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stick with MacArthur, put your younger on all the waitlists for Hill schools not too far off the highway (Watkins/Payne/Chisholm/Brent (which has its own bus to swing space this year)) and then have your younger attend whichever school they get off the waitlist for on the Hill or near MacArthur. Then you could do both dropoffs if you had to. Doesn’t Watkins exhaust its waitlist usually? And you’d get the Stuart Hobson feed.

We are on the waitlist for Hyde (single digits) Payne, Brent, and Watkins all in the teens. I am not sure how hopeful I should be that they will move any over the next month. Our Hyde number hasn't changed since we got our lottery results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stick with MacArthur, put your younger on all the waitlists for Hill schools not too far off the highway (Watkins/Payne/Chisholm/Brent (which has its own bus to swing space this year)) and then have your younger attend whichever school they get off the waitlist for on the Hill or near MacArthur. Then you could do both dropoffs if you had to. Doesn’t Watkins exhaust its waitlist usually? And you’d get the Stuart Hobson feed.

So you want the 10th grader to have a 3 hour commute roundtrip a day to a poorly performing high school. Makes a lot of sense…….

OP here... aren't you just a peach... If you took the time to read through this thread before making dumb comments, you would have noticed that we are waitlisted for several other schools. Do you have an alternative suggestion that would be a viable consideration or ........

The reality is you made a very poor decision to buy in Hillcrest after you made your lottery list. You made a dumb decision.

You should have rented in the JR boundary so your kid could go to a decent school for the last 2 years of high school. It’s bad enough to have to move to a new school. It’s even worst to have to do an awful commute to a not good schools.

[Anonymous]

I think your older child’s best and only option is McArthur. Ignore the haters, it’s a fine school. My daughter will likely end up there and I am happy with it (our IB is Eastern and would not consider that an option at least in comparison). So you’ll do best to design the rest of your commute to be as close to that as possible so your child isn’t floating around the city for 3 hours a day on transit.

I agree Hyde would be ideal but rarely has lottery spots after 3rd grade. It’s a great school so I hope I’m wrong, as that would be the best option location wise. Go ahead and call their office and ask if they think they may pull any 4th graders. Mention that you have a McA student you’re trying to align commutes. Worst they can do is confirm 4th grade is full and no plans to pull from waitlist. Best is they check and maybe decide to pull a few ahead of you and maybe those all turn it down til it gets to you (many people do Hyde as a backup but change their mind due to the location when actually getting a spot - my family did that in a previous year, but we took a spot last year and turns out we don’t mind the commute at all). If you do get in, there are other Hillcrest and Ward 7/8 families so you may luck into a carpool.

I agree with the PP that adding a post lottery choice of Thomson for the younger (the D94 bus picks up nearby, might be able to time it right to drop the older child so they are at least just doing one bus in the morning) and Stevens EC as well. Chisholm is another good idea to at least be on some kind of home to McArthur path (it’s close to 395).

If you work from home and are flexible enough that you can work early before the commute and in the evenings after, you can make this work for a school year then try for something closer to McArthur for the younger child next year.

Good luck and I wish the best for you and your kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stick with MacArthur, put your younger on all the waitlists for Hill schools not too far off the highway (Watkins/Payne/Chisholm/Brent (which has its own bus to swing space this year)) and then have your younger attend whichever school they get off the waitlist for on the Hill or near MacArthur. Then you could do both dropoffs if you had to. Doesn’t Watkins exhaust its waitlist usually? And you’d get the Stuart Hobson feed.

So you want the 10th grader to have a 3 hour commute roundtrip a day to a poorly performing high school. Makes a lot of sense…….

OP here... aren't you just a peach... If you took the time to read through this thread before making dumb comments, you would have noticed that we are waitlisted for several other schools. Do you have an alternative suggestion that would be a viable consideration or ........

The reality is you made a very poor decision to buy in Hillcrest after you made your lottery list. You made a dumb decision.

You should have rented in the JR boundary so your kid could go to a decent school for the last 2 years of high school. It’s bad enough to have to move to a new school. It’s even worst to have to do an awful commute to a not good schools.

The audacity to come on here and tell someone what they should have done is absolutely insane. Stop projecting all your issues in this thread… she has 3 years at a new school and will be fine.
Here’s a thought… stop hiding behind anonymity being a bully. Nothing about this thread warranted your response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think your older child’s best and only option is McArthur. Ignore the haters, it’s a fine school. My daughter will likely end up there and I am happy with it (our IB is Eastern and would not consider that an option at least in comparison). So you’ll do best to design the rest of your commute to be as close to that as possible so your child isn’t floating around the city for 3 hours a day on transit.

I agree Hyde would be ideal but rarely has lottery spots after 3rd grade. It’s a great school so I hope I’m wrong, as that would be the best option location wise. Go ahead and call their office and ask if they think they may pull any 4th graders. Mention that you have a McA student you’re trying to align commutes. Worst they can do is confirm 4th grade is full and no plans to pull from waitlist. Best is they check and maybe decide to pull a few ahead of you and maybe those all turn it down til it gets to you (many people do Hyde as a backup but change their mind due to the location when actually getting a spot - my family did that in a previous year, but we took a spot last year and turns out we don’t mind the commute at all). If you do get in, there are other Hillcrest and Ward 7/8 families so you may luck into a carpool.

I agree with the PP that adding a post lottery choice of Thomson for the younger (the D94 bus picks up nearby, might be able to time it right to drop the older child so they are at least just doing one bus in the morning) and Stevens EC as well. Chisholm is another good idea to at least be on some kind of home to McArthur path (it’s close to 395).

If you work from home and are flexible enough that you can work early before the commute and in the evenings after, you can make this work for a school year then try for something closer to McArthur for the younger child next year.

Good luck and I wish the best for you and your kids!

Thank you for this. I added Thomson and have a very low number, I appreciate you mentioning the nearby bus as well.