Resentful and annoyed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I can't move. My housing costs are $1200 a month for a family of 4. Tell me where in the city I could get somewhere to live for that price and a good school? I have lived here since long before I had children so it was not a consideration when I saw single.

People who throw around "can't you move" have no understanding of the reality of normal people who don't have incomes into six figures.

OP, there are affordable set aside apartments in buildings in desirable neighborhoods. You have to do your research to find which ones have available units. My niece, who is working and in grad school, got one on Connecticut Ave. near Murch and Deal. She doesn't have kids so school is irrelevant to her now. So, yes, you can actually move if you research and plan. You need to change the negative thinking and get past your frustration.

Thanks. I really can't reiterate more that moving is NOT an option. There are other considerations that I don't wan to go to here but it simply will not work. Even if it was a possibility I doubt my marriage would do well in a one bed apartment for the four of us and my kids having both parents happy and together is more important than the school they go to.

OP, I'm the poster way, way up thread who commiserated at the options for families in DC. I was not suggesting that you move. I haven't moved. I pay an ungodly amount of rent to live in the area that works best for our family. The only ways that it doesn't work is that the IB school isn't stellar and the housing costs are high. I am not moving because school is not the only thing I care about. There are other areas of our lives that are also important.

I will say that you do sound very resentful and annoyed. Your friends have every right to make their own deliberations about what works best for their family. Everyone absolutely loves Mundo Verde (on this board and every playground conversation I've had that involves school), but if we got in, we would have to really think about how that would actually work for our family. The commute would be bad news for us and I'm not sure that Spanish immersion is so important to me that I would want to completely wreck the rest of our routine to facilitate it. If you have family reasons that moving to Silver Spring isn't an option, please allow that your friend probably has reasons that keeping her kid in private preschool might be better for their family.

You came here to bitch, and I get that and it's valid. People are going to try to give you solutions to your problem. Those solutions are predictable (move, IB, less desirable OOB schools). There are schools that will move through significant parts of their waitlists, and whether people want to admit it or not, it's also possible to get off the waitlist when it's not your turn yet by calling at the right time. This almost happened to us last year at Bancroft, and I know that we were far enough down the list that we should not have been even pre-offered a spot. Either way, quit being defensive when people suggest things that are obvious. You have a right to be annoyed that you're not as lucky as your friends. Your friends have a right to do their own math regarding their school choice. If you don't want to talk to them about it, you can just avoid them. They'll probably figure out why pretty fast and in a few months, none of this will be as present in your mind anyway.

I am not the OP, but I wanted to thank this poster for providing reasoned and sympathetic discussion to this forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love that people's advice is to move and change jobs. What planet are people on?

People move for school all the time. I agree that changing jobs is a little bit extreme, but if the IB option is so unworkable, it isn't unreasonable to suggest that there are long term changes that could be made, including that one.

[Anonymous]

OP, have you considered renting out your place and using the rental income plus your $1200 to rent elsewhere that is IB for something more desirable? Moving IS an option according to what you've shared (tell us more if you seem to think it isn't). You could also rent a pretty large home in VA or MD if you go that route and you know what your school will be in any of these cases.

It's a choice people make. Yes, some people get lucky in the lottery. Others don't. I don't complain every time I buy a powerball ticket and don't match any numbers. You have an IB school you are just choosing not to go there. If we hadn't gotten in to a charter school in PK3 a few years ago, we'd be at our local IB or we'd move. Those are the options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I can't move. My housing costs are $1200 a month for a family of 4. Tell me where in the city I could get somewhere to live for that price and a good school? I have lived here since long before I had children so it was not a consideration when I saw single.

People who throw around "can't you move" have no understanding of the reality of normal people who don't have incomes into six figures.

If you have lived there for so long then WHY did you have multiple kids when you didn't have a viable school option the entire time?
Most of us made the housing decisions years ago based on the knowledge that we would have kids someday. We scrimped and saved and bought in areas we didn't want to live in based on our future school needs. AND we only had one child. we didn't have a second because we couldn't afford to.
I kind of feel like you made your bed and now you want to complain about it.

This is so insensitive. You obviously have no idea that housing cost in this city are out of reach for many who "scrimp" and "save" only to meet their daily needs. OP, please look into what options might exist for you in the second round lottery. I was completely shut out last year. I know it can be very discouraging to have absolutely no choice in this "school choice" environment. Perhaps you can provide us with your children's ages and we can provide you with some second round lottery suggestions. Best of luck to you and your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, have you considered renting out your place and using the rental income plus your $1200 to rent elsewhere that is IB for something more desirable? Moving IS an option according to what you've shared (tell us more if you seem to think it isn't). You could also rent a pretty large home in VA or MD if you go that route and you know what your school will be in any of these cases.

It's a choice people make. Yes, some people get lucky in the lottery. Others don't. I don't complain every time I buy a powerball ticket and don't match any numbers. You have an IB school you are just choosing not to go there. If we hadn't gotten in to a charter school in PK3 a few years ago, we'd be at our local IB or we'd move. Those are the options.

Thanks. Again, moving isn't an option for reasons I really don't want to get in to here. Anyway, I want to clarify something (I'm pretty sure I said this upthread). I am not choosing not to send my child to the IB school. I'd rather not, but it's the only possibility so of course she will go there. She needs to go to kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Also, OP again, we won't be doing round 2 of the lottery. There aren't any schools that we'd consider that may have spaces that would be worth driving for when we can walk to our undesirable in-bound.

[Anonymous]

But if you are not willing/ able to move, why are you mad at, blaming others who purposefully moved into good school zones? Seems a little misguided. You posted on this forum, so you will get some of this feedback. $1200 can most definitely get you a fantastic school zone in the wider DC metro area, it is just about tradeoffs.

[Anonymous]

On the solutions end: One thing I don't see readily mentioned is the "make it work for you" option. The answers here are almost all premised on the idea that schools "are" ("unacceptable", whatever). If there is a place anywhere that proves that schools "aren't" static, the DC is it. Almost anyone can make any school what they want it to be. Get on it, get engaged! Approach people and be approachable. It's really not that difficult. And your kids and family stand to gain from it immensely on all fronts.

That's your 13th option and YOU are letting yourself be shut out if you don't put that on your list, sorry to say. And I speak from experience doing just that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the solutions end: One thing I don't see readily mentioned is the "make it work for you" option. The answers here are almost all premised on the idea that schools "are" ("unacceptable", whatever). If there is a place anywhere that proves that schools "aren't" static, the DC is it. Almost anyone can make any school what they want it to be. Get on it, get engaged! Approach people and be approachable. It's really not that difficult. And your kids and family stand to gain from it immensely on all fronts.

That's your 13th option and YOU are letting yourself be shut out if you don't put that on your list, sorry to say. And I speak from experience doing just that.

Can you share which school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the solutions end: One thing I don't see readily mentioned is the "make it work for you" option. The answers here are almost all premised on the idea that schools "are" ("unacceptable", whatever). If there is a place anywhere that proves that schools "aren't" static, the DC is it. Almost anyone can make any school what they want it to be. Get on it, get engaged! Approach people and be approachable. It's really not that difficult. And your kids and family stand to gain from it immensely on all fronts.

That's your 13th option and YOU are letting yourself be shut out if you don't put that on your list, sorry to say. And I speak from experience doing just that.

Can you share which school?

Could be any number of schools that you now feel "shut out" from but take Maury ES, Capitol Hill, 2007. In 2014, this city is literally studded with 'Maury 2007'. In fact, I'll bet you that most of them are today more acceptable than 'Maury 2007'.

[Anonymous]

OP, what is your general WL number at the schools you want (Haynes, for example)?

I think there might be more movement in K than you might think. Lots apply to charters but end up going IB or private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, what is your general WL number at the schools you want (Haynes, for example)?

I think there might be more movement in K than you might think. Lots apply to charters but end up going IB or private.

60s for IT and EL Haynes. Low hundreds for Mundo Verde and Two Rivers. Teens for Lee and Bridges. Most of those schools have 0-3 spots for K so no chance. Lee is really our only possibility, but given the way the lottery worked this year I'm only slightly hopeful of seeing much movement there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what is your general WL number at the schools you want (Haynes, for example)?

I think there might be more movement in K than you might think. Lots apply to charters but end up going IB or private.

60s for IT and EL Haynes. Low hundreds for Mundo Verde and Two Rivers. Teens for Lee and Bridges. Most of those schools have 0-3 spots for K so no chance. Lee is really our only possibility, but given the way the lottery worked this year I'm only slightly hopeful of seeing much movement there.

You will probably get into Lee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what is your general WL number at the schools you want (Haynes, for example)?

I think there might be more movement in K than you might think. Lots apply to charters but end up going IB or private.

60s for IT and EL Haynes. Low hundreds for Mundo Verde and Two Rivers. Teens for Lee and Bridges. Most of those schools have 0-3 spots for K so no chance. Lee is really our only possibility, but given the way the lottery worked this year I'm only slightly hopeful of seeing much movement there.

You will probably get into Lee.

+1 Agree there will probably be a lot of movement at Lee. I know a handful of people who are giving up K slots at desirable charters, including me, so things do move some for K.

[Anonymous]

SILVER SPRING