Does anyone ever turn down YY, MV, CMI, or ITS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Turned down CMI and stayed at IB school. Commute and disruption were not worth it. Kids are thriving and happy, right decision.

We also turned down a PRE-K3 spot at CMI and went to our IB school. The commute was the main reason, particularly with smaller children and without a car. Didn't regret it through this cold winter! We have been happy with our local school.

Why did you apply in the first place?

CMI wasn't common lottery last year. We weren't sure that we would even get a spot through the common lottery process when we applied. We would have gone if we didn't get into our IB school. It would have been really tough though, especially at the proposed new location. We were lucky to have two choices last year. We were able to weigh our priorities.

[Anonymous]

Aren't most of these posts somewhat irrelevant to the current lottery system? Pretty much everything is in the common lottery, so other than getting a call off the wait list and saying no, moving or going private, you can't really "turn down" a school anymore right? But in order for the wait lists to move, someone with phenomenal lottery numbers has to either move or go private, so that there is a trickle down effect for the rest of us.

I suppose someone who's already in a higher grade could lottery for a school on a whim, get in, and then ultimately decide to stick with their current school. But then why did they lottery at all?

Point is, these long stories from years ago about getting into 3 awesome charters and turning them all down was really only relevant when you had to apply to each school separately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aren't most of these posts somewhat irrelevant to the current lottery system? Pretty much everything is in the common lottery, so other than getting a call off the wait list and saying no, moving or going private, you can't really "turn down" a school anymore right? But in order for the wait lists to move, someone with phenomenal lottery numbers has to either move or go private, so that there is a trickle down effect for the rest of us.

I suppose someone who's already in a higher grade could lottery for a school on a whim, get in, and then ultimately decide to stick with their current school. But then why did they lottery at all?

Point is, these long stories from years ago about getting into 3 awesome charters and turning them all down was really only relevant when you had to apply to each school separately.

Agreed. I turned down LAMB, 2Rivers, and our IB school back in the day, but I think when you look at how it works now - it's different. I would only count the past year and ask the question.

Turning down CMI because you applied to "hedge your bets" is not the same. That poster is the exact person we developed the common lottery for.

[Anonymous]

Actually if you get a good, but not perfect lottery number, you will have good WL numbers at a number of sought after schools. So you will have the opportunity to decide again and again as you get calls from each of them. You just can't enroll at all of them like you could before the common lottery.

[Anonymous]

Turned down IT, later got into CMI. Like PP, we were not wowed as we expected to be, and new location would not have worked for us. However I have good friend who attends IT and loves it.

To the Bancroft parents raving about cheap aftercare: I have been to the Bancroft playground when aftercare was in session. I will gladly pay extra for after care at my charter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Turned down--wait for it--LAMB for Bancroft. We wanted a neighborhood school.

I think that's awesome! How is Bancroft working out?

New poster. We also chose Bancroft over LAMB. It's working out great.

Not sure what the other PP's point was about visiting the playground during aftercare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Turned down MV two years in a row to stay at Bancroft. It may not be a MV, but we like being at our neighborhood school that is part of our community, we like having school friends who live nearby, and we love our 2 block walk to school. I watch those MV families hurrying to catch their school buses at Lamont St. park at 7:20 am in the morning and think, so glad we stayed put! Plus they are paying $125/month or something for bus and $450/month for aftercare, while we have no commuting costs and pay less than half that for aftercare. Think about it hard if you are debating between the two!

How did you get in to MV twice? And why did you apply a second time when you already turned it down?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Turned down--wait for it--LAMB for Bancroft. We wanted a neighborhood school.

I think that's awesome! How is Bancroft working out?

New poster. We also chose Bancroft over LAMB. It's working out great.

Not sure what the other PP's point was about visiting the playground during aftercare.

I know what the point is; I've also been to that playground during aftercare. You get what you pay for -- cheap aftercare. Kids are unsupervised, throwing bottles, acting badly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Turned down MV two years in a row to stay at Bancroft. It may not be a MV, but we like being at our neighborhood school that is part of our community, we like having school friends who live nearby, and we love our 2 block walk to school. I watch those MV families hurrying to catch their school buses at Lamont St. park at 7:20 am in the morning and think, so glad we stayed put! Plus they are paying $125/month or something for bus and $450/month for aftercare, while we have no commuting costs and pay less than half that for aftercare. Think about it hard if you are debating between the two!

How did you get in to MV twice? And why did you apply a second time when you already turned it down?

Applied two years in a row (did not take spot first time), got lucky both times.

Applied because Bancroft is not perfect (what school is?), the lottery is free, it's easy, takes about 5 minutes to sign up. This is part of the craziness of DC's lottery system--it's so easy to apply (especially now with common application), if you have even the slightest doubts about where you are, there's little incentive not do to throw in your ticket.

But last year after spending a few days agonizing about whether to move our kid (for the second time), I decided I had finally had enough. No lottery for us this year, we are staying put.

[Anonymous]

That's freaking nuts. And completely utterly unfair. Do you play the real lottery too? With luck like that you must be due to win the mega millions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's freaking nuts. And completely utterly unfair. Do you play the real lottery too? With luck like that you must be due to win the mega millions.

Different poster, I understand what you're saying, but at least the PP you're addressing didn't waste the spot further by actually taking it for awhile and then bailing out. At least they declined both times from the beginning so someone either got in or moved up the waitlist.

It's unfair but it's even more unfair when people take the spot knowing they're going to bail in 1 or 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Turned down--wait for it--LAMB for Bancroft. We wanted a neighborhood school.

I think that's awesome! How is Bancroft working out?

New poster. We also chose Bancroft over LAMB. It's working out great.

Not sure what the other PP's point was about visiting the playground during aftercare.

I know what the point is; I've also been to that playground during aftercare. You get what you pay for -- cheap aftercare. Kids are unsupervised, throwing bottles, acting badly.

This is untrue. Are you a Mt P resident at a charter? If so, maybe someone (not me) ruffled your feathers up thread by making a comparison that you didn't like. That's not a reason to say mean and untrue things about your neighborhood school. I do have to set the record staight and say that I haven't seen this scene you describe. Sure, aftercare can always be better and the school is working on adding more enrichment options. But there are already some good options, and the kids are supervised and well taken care of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Turned down--wait for it--LAMB for Bancroft. We wanted a neighborhood school.

I think that's awesome! How is Bancroft working out?

New poster. We also chose Bancroft over LAMB. It's working out great.

Not sure what the other PP's point was about visiting the playground during aftercare.

I know what the point is; I've also been to that playground during aftercare. You get what you pay for -- cheap aftercare. Kids are unsupervised, throwing bottles, acting badly.

This is untrue. Are you a Mt P resident at a charter? If so, maybe someone (not me) ruffled your feathers up thread by making a comparison that you didn't like. That's not a reason to say mean and untrue things about your neighborhood school. I do have to set the record staight and say that I haven't seen this scene you describe. Sure, aftercare can always be better and the school is working on adding more enrichment options. But there are already some good options, and the kids are supervised and well taken care of.

I don't want this to be a DCPS vs charter thing.... but I have not witnessed anything like this. I am with my boys on the playground after school frequently and it is a pretty good group of kids and parents - the kids play well together (the odd disagreement but...they are kids!) and they even look out for each other. My boys are sometimes in aftercare and although it isn't a fancy program, I think that there is enough supervision - they have fun. Parents, the school and the community are working together to add programs after school - there is momentum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Turned down--wait for it--LAMB for Bancroft. We wanted a neighborhood school.

I think that's awesome! How is Bancroft working out?

New poster. We also chose Bancroft over LAMB. It's working out great.

Not sure what the other PP's point was about visiting the playground during aftercare.

I know what the point is; I've also been to that playground during aftercare. You get what you pay for -- cheap aftercare. Kids are unsupervised, throwing bottles, acting badly.

This is untrue. Are you a Mt P resident at a charter? If so, maybe someone (not me) ruffled your feathers up thread by making a comparison that you didn't like. That's not a reason to say mean and untrue things about your neighborhood school. I do have to set the record staight and say that I haven't seen this scene you describe. Sure, aftercare can always be better and the school is working on adding more enrichment options. But there are already some good options, and the kids are supervised and well taken care of.

I don't want this to be a DCPS vs charter thing.... but I have not witnessed anything like this. I am with my boys on the playground after school frequently and it is a pretty good group of kids and parents - the kids play well together (the odd disagreement but...they are kids!) and they even look out for each other. My boys are sometimes in aftercare and although it isn't a fancy program, I think that there is enough supervision - they have fun. Parents, the school and the community are working together to add programs after school - there is momentum.

Yes, you are right. I take back my charter comment, sorry. I just wanted to set the record straight. Thanks for your post. I agree!

[Anonymous]

I think with the current system in place there won't be many people turning down LAMB, Yu Ying, Mundo, etc. depressing.