pre-K in PG County & University Park Elementary

[Anonymous]

My family is moving to the DC area temporarily, and we have a lead on a place in University Park that looks OK. It is a couple of blocks from University Park Elementary School, so I am guessing that would be the school we could send our kids to.

I have a couple of questions:

Any feedback on University Park? Since we'll only be there for half of an academic year, I'm not too concerned with academics: I just want to make sure that my children feel safe and happy, and it would be good to keep their skills up. My older daughter will be in first grade, while my younger daughter will be pre-K aged... which brings me to my second question:

What is the deal with pre-K in PG county? Is it by lottery, like in DC? If we live inbound (or whatever they call it) for UP, are we likely to get my daughter into pre-K halfway through the year?

I'm coming from a west coast city where public pre-K is just a dream... we only have it for special ed & maybe low income (i'm not sure).

Failing pre-K, we'll be looking for some kind of preschool option. Maybe just part time.

[Anonymous]

You pay for pre-k in Maryland unless your income is very low and you qualify for headstart.

[Anonymous]

Can you pay for public school pre-K, or is that only available to low income?

Also I just realized that there's a separate PG County schools forum- I'll post over there- admins feel free to delete this if I'm breaking a rule.

[Anonymous]

I've heard good things about University Park Elementary, but don't have personal experience.

PP is right about preschool, but there are a couple of options up there. I just saw a post that listed some of the preschools. I'll see if I can find it again and post it below.