Post-lottery applications and preferences

[Anonymous]

We have a good (<5) waitlist number at our inbound PK (no sibling), but have been bumped down several spots by kids with older siblings at the school entering the lottery in the post-lottery period and jumping to the top of the waitlist. In other words, their parents missed the lottery deadline. I'm curious about whether there has been any discussion of whether this is fair? I understand that this is how it works, but I'm just throwing this out there to see if others have thought through the reasons it works that way (as opposed to an approach where if you miss the deadline you are at the bottom of the list).

[Anonymous]

Why? Because DCPS is a residency based, by-right system so children K and above can register at any time. It would not work if families who just moved to DC in June were completely shut out, for example.

Only the seats for OPTIONAL years - PK3 or PK4 - are allocated by lottery, with priority given to students who live in-bounds AND have a sibling already in the school.

[Anonymous]

How do you know they missed the deadline? maybe they just had a number worse that yours and then jumped up as a sibling. unless they told you they missed the deadline, how can you tell the difference?

[Anonymous]

To clarify, I was not referring to older grades (K and up) where there is of course a right to attend, but only to the optional years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you know they missed the deadline? maybe they just had a number worse that yours and then jumped up as a sibling. unless they told you they missed the deadline, how can you tell the difference?

By speaking to the registrar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To clarify, I was not referring to older grades (K and up) where there is of course a right to attend, but only to the optional years.

The school system, and most others, recognizes a benefit to keeping families together in a school as long as possible.

That's why siblings, even those whose parents are tardy or who move into the boundary after the deadline, have more right to attend the optional years than your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a good (<5) waitlist number at our inbound PK (no sibling), but have been bumped down several spots by kids with older siblings at the school entering the lottery in the post-lottery period and jumping to the top of the waitlist. In other words, their parents missed the lottery deadline. I'm curious about whether there has been any discussion of whether this is fair? I understand that this is how it works, but I'm just throwing this out there to see if others have thought through the reasons it works that way (as opposed to an approach where if you miss the deadline you are at the bottom of the list).

fair? you sound really childish. there is a hierarchy of preferences, and if somebody else meets those preferences now or anytime after school has started, whether due to a move or change in mind about where an IB family wants to send their child, they get the spot. period.

[Anonymous]

The rules are the rules and they make sense, but it is not fair to refer to an honest question asked by the OP as childish.

Assuming kids without siblings matched at the school for the optional years, the system does not work completely in terms of preferences, and the deadline does have some meaning.

[Anonymous]

fair is a childish concept. most of us were taught that life isn't fair. it absolutely grates on my nerves when adults use the word "fair."

[Anonymous]

My IB school is Title I and many kids are unprepared for kindergarten. It benefits the whole school if a kid who will be attending there K-5 gets the advantage of PK, even if their parent missed the deadline for the lottery. Maybe especially if their parent missed the deadline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a good (<5) waitlist number at our inbound PK (no sibling), but have been bumped down several spots by kids with older siblings at the school entering the lottery in the post-lottery period and jumping to the top of the waitlist. In other words, their parents missed the lottery deadline. I'm curious about whether there has been any discussion of whether this is fair? I understand that this is how it works, but I'm just throwing this out there to see if others have thought through the reasons it works that way (as opposed to an approach where if you miss the deadline you are at the bottom of the list).

It is not necessarily parents missing the lottery. I played the lottery, for example, but did not invoke sibling preference, as we were not sure that our oldest would attend the same school as we wanted for our youngest. Now that we have decided, we added the preference. We were entitled to it in the first place, and would have taken a spot with a double preference (in bound plus sibling enrolled) vs merely wait listed with a single preference (inbound). I don't really see it as "unfair" to add a preference that we were always entitled to.

[Anonymous]

And I have an only child, not destined to ever have a sibling. Wish DC had same chance to attend as PS3 or PK4. The system is prejudicial against families like mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I have an only child, not destined to ever have a sibling. Wish DC had same chance to attend as PS3 or PK4. The system is prejudicial against families like mine.

Every child with a sibling had a cycle or two without when their oldest had no preferences. Some secured PK spots, others didn't. All firstborns have the same odds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I have an only child, not destined to ever have a sibling. Wish DC had same chance to attend as PS3 or PK4. The system is prejudicial against families like mine.

Check yourself, PP, because you sound like an idiot. Every family has to enter the lottery at one point with no sibling preference.