PK4 - what do you think of this list?

[Anonymous]

We live right above Stanton Park. Commute is a priority because we have younger children and our nanny will need to pick our child up with a stroller on some days (but we might be able to figure out a parent mid-day pickup for the right school). IB is Peabody. I realize Brent and probably Maury are pointless but I have extra spots. Thoughts?

1 School-Within-School
2 Capitol Hill Montessori School @ Logan
3 Brent Elementary School
4 Maury Elementary School
5 Two Rivers PCS at 4th Street
6 Mundo Verde Bilingual PCS
7 Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School
8 Peabody Elementary School

[Anonymous]

I should also add that we have her in a preschool that we love and can keep her in for next year, so getting into a PK4 is not mandatory (this is why we don't have all the hill schools on the list). We would pull her only for a school that we could potentially send her to past K.

-OP

[Anonymous]

Any interest in Appletree Lincoln Park?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any interest in Appletree Lincoln Park?

The feedback I've gotten from parents is that it's more academic and less play based. I don't think that would be a good match for my kid. But thank you for the suggestion!

[Anonymous]

So you'd rather attend L-T than Peabody?

In your shoes and if commute is a priority, I'd move Peabody to the #5 slot and shift the other schools down. If there is a particular reason that you don't want to attend Peabody, that would be helpful to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you'd rather attend L-T than Peabody?

In your shoes and if commute is a priority, I'd move Peabody to the #5 slot and shift the other schools down. If there is a particular reason that you don't want to attend Peabody, that would be helpful to know.

Mac and Two Rivers seem like better long term options than Watkins (which Peabody feeds to) and we might be willing to put up with an annoying mid-day pickup for those schools. Thinking long term, the difference between Watkins and LT seems negligible at best and LT is a lot closer to our house. This was my thinking when putting Peabody at the bottom. But I want to double check to make sure I'm not being crazy.

[Anonymous]

*MV not Mac

[Anonymous]

Also Watkins is really far from our house. -OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also Watkins is really far from our house. -OP

There is a bus that goes directly between Peabody to Watkins. Many children take it between the schools.

[Anonymous]

NP in your neighborhood with older kids -- is LT your inbound? If so, I would put Peabody above it.

Thinking longer term, many families are happy with Watkins (your eldest could take the bus back to Peabody when your younger children attend) and LT is still a work in progress in the upper grades. I am yet to meet one family who makes it to 4th grade at Logan or Two Rivers who isn't desperate to get out. Maury or Brent would be better as older grade transfers (and Maury is farther away than it seems). I have no opinion on MV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP in your neighborhood with older kids -- is LT your inbound? If so, I would put Peabody above it.

Thinking longer term, many families are happy with Watkins (your eldest could take the bus back to Peabody when your younger children attend) and LT is still a work in progress in the upper grades. I am yet to meet one family who makes it to 4th grade at Logan or Two Rivers who isn't desperate to get out. Maury or Brent would be better as older grade transfers (and Maury is farther away than it seems). I have no opinion on MV.

Thank you for the feedback! Peabody is our in-bound school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP in your neighborhood with older kids -- is LT your inbound? If so, I would put Peabody above it.

Thinking longer term, many families are happy with Watkins (your eldest could take the bus back to Peabody when your younger children attend) and LT is still a work in progress in the upper grades. I am yet to meet one family who makes it to 4th grade at Logan or Two Rivers who isn't desperate to get out. Maury or Brent would be better as older grade transfers (and Maury is farther away than it seems). I have no opinion on MV.

Thank you for the feedback! Peabody is our in-bound school.

PP -- since Peabody is your IB, I would move LT below Brent and Maury.

[Anonymous]

There was a very large waitlist for PK3 at Peabody this past fall (somewhere around 38 kids). I know the PK4 class is bigger than the PK3 class, but I'm not sure getting into Peabody is a guarantee if you're IB this year.

[Anonymous]

However Pesboday has more classrooms than SWS, Maury or Brent, so there are more new PK4 slots, siblings notwithstanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP in your neighborhood with older kids -- is LT your inbound? If so, I would put Peabody above it.

Thinking longer term, many families are happy with Watkins (your eldest could take the bus back to Peabody when your younger children attend) and LT is still a work in progress in the upper grades. I am yet to meet one family who makes it to 4th grade at Logan or Two Rivers who isn't desperate to get out. Maury or Brent would be better as older grade transfers (and Maury is farther away than it seems). I have no opinion on MV.

Thank you for the feedback! Peabody is our in-bound school.

PP -- since Peabody is your IB, I would move LT below Brent and Maury.

This advice is plain stupid. The only reason governing your rankings should be your preference for each of the school. Whether a school is your IB school should have absolutely no bearing on where on the list you place that school. Putting it at the bottom or at the top has no impact on your chances to get into any other school but it will impact whether you are or not taken off the list of schools in case you do get matched.

With all of this in mind, you're essentially asking us to weigh in on your selection and preferences.
- Preferences: How could we without knowing your criteria to establish those? It sounds like proximity is one so make sure you bring that to bear on your rankings. Take all of your criteria and "grade" each option according to them, weigh criteria you find very important higher (e.g. doubling the relevant score), then add up and rank accordingly.
- Selection: My impression is that you're playing the lottery for only the most popular choices (in and around Capitol Hill). You don't seem to be, but if you were desperate to get in somewhere, I would encourage you to swap out some "impossible" choices for some that are more likely to happen.