What's your plan if you don't get into a good charter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the people who are like, 'oh, you'll be fine!' Listen - I live in NE and we lost the charter lottery many, many times. Ended up at Tyler for two years, which was a NIGHTMARE. Now homeschooling for a year while we prepare for a move to MoCo.

It's very unusual to strike out this badly. Everyone I know got into somewhere acceptable by K.

OP, I know it sucks to pay for private preschool, but that's what people in lots of other places have to do. I wouldn't pull up and leave a home and neighborhood you like over just one or two years of private. Start saving now if you're that concerned.

Everyone's got a story. Absolutely none of my friends (about 10) who played the lottery this year got in anywhere acceptable. And the chances of getting in after PK3 are far less. I don't know where this attitude of "you'll get in somewhere" comes from because I have only seen that very infrequently.

Don't believe this until I see all ten of their list of 12 they consider "acceptable"

+1. Some people are unreasonable, or fail to create a strategic list.

Look, you cannot have your "affordable" rowhouse, walkable neighborhood, proximity to downtown, and eat your suburban school district cake too. The iffy school is the reason you could afford your home! People act so put-upon, but these things are connected.

We got lucky-- at the time we bought in Edgewood, the school was pretty questionable. Didn't have kids then. Now that we have a child almost age, the school is ok, and every year we can try for a charter, and flip the house in a few years if we have to. Our gamble paid off. OP, you are also in the sweet spot to win here. You have the benefit of a lower housing cost because of Noyes having issues. But you'll probably be able to get into another school that's ok, and maybe a charter that's great.

+1000 (although you left out suburban school district that you can walk to). Don't expect it all, people, we live in a city. If you want a decent school and the lottery doesn't work out for you, AND you still want to live in the city, you may have to go private. And in terms of the HRCS, there really are so, so few available spots.

[Anonymous]

Relax and stay put for a few more years. As someone else noted, if you move to the burbs now, you'll definitely pay for preschool. DC has lots of good ECE options in NE. Even Noyes would be fine for PK3 and PK4 (we are in bound, and not attending, but would if we didn't have other options). Reassess in 3 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something that's great about NE is that's where so many desirable charters are located. So you actually have a lot of options without a horrible commute.

I live in NE too, and while I know a few families who left DC I know many more pleasantly surprised by where they ended up for PK3 and also lots who were not super excited by first school but lotteried into top choices in PK4, K and even 1st.

OP here- this may be a stupid question and probably one I can answer through googling, but if folks get into the best charter for PK3, do they leave for PK4 and those spots open up? In other words, why should I expect spots to open up for PK4 - wouldnt PK4 be full because people get into PK3?

Another concern of mine is that even if my daughter gets into a good elementary school, will we really want to separate her from her friends to go to a different middle or high school? It just seems like a lot of uncertainty through all of the schooling years. I am sorry for the pessimism and really appreciate the replies so far, as hearing from other people helps ease my mind on this!

We are at a much loved charter and we deal with the issue of friends like everyone else at that school - we made the choice to leave our neighborhood school so now we need to help our kids get together outside of school. It does suck to have few neighborhood friends like what I remember growing up, but if they participate in sports or clubs it makes it less of a problem.

[Anonymous]

If you want a decent school and the lottery doesn't work out for you, AND you still want to live in the city, you may have to go private. And in terms of the HRCS, there really are so, so few available spots.

Really hard to get in, hard to do commute from deep NE DC, and harder still to come up with $38 - $80,000 every single year after taxes.

Or did you mean "parochial" when you airly suggested that going private is such a simple option?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, has anyone told you to ignore the test scores? They only test the older kids and you will be long gone by then. Focus on the preschool program and quality of teaching and leadership. Test scores don't matter in this situation.

Op here - not yet, but good advice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the people who are like, 'oh, you'll be fine!' Listen - I live in NE and we lost the charter lottery many, many times. Ended up at Tyler for two years, which was a NIGHTMARE. Now homeschooling for a year while we prepare for a move to MoCo.

Tyler Traditional or Spanish Immersion? Which grades? Really, a nightmare? I know lots of people who like the SI program.

Tyler Traditional. K and 1. People like SI in the early years because the school actively keeps out "the riff raff" - many kids with behavior problems and IEPs from the program. (my friend's kid got kicked out of spanish immersion for bullshit reasons. she supsected it was because of the child's disability - and the Dept Of Education, Civil Rights Division agreed and found that Tyler violated the law).

But so few kids stay even in SI in the later years - they barely had a 5th grade SI class when we left - so in that respect, it's the same as other schools: people find it acceptable for a bit, then bail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in NE DC and really love our neighborhood, but our in boundary school is terrible and won't improve enough for us to even consider sending our DC when she turns five (she is 18 months right now). I periodically "freak out" a little when I think about the school situation and whether we made a mistake moving to NE and instead should have pushed our budget to be in a good in boundary school in upper NW or should have sucked it up and moved to VA (which my DH would hate).

Does anyone else have these freak out moments? What do others plan to do if they don't get into a good charter? Private school? Move to the suburbs? Try to find a "walkable" area with good schools in MD or VA?

To be totally honest, you should just cut your losses and move. If you are the type of person to be worried about middle school already, and periodically 'freak out,' and are so scared of your neighbors' toddlers that you won't even consider sending your daughter to school with them ...

OP here - this is insulting to say that I am "scared" of my neighbors toddlers that I wont send my child to school with them. I WANT my local schools to be great and I WANT my child to go to a diverse school with people of mixed SES. However, that ideal does not always match up with reality.

You're basing that on what you read here? Don't. It can totally match up with reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're hoping for a good draw in the lottery but in the meantime bought a nice house in an excellent school district as a backup/move there for middle school.

Gotta ask: if you're so well off that you can afford to buy two houses in the District of Columbia in the last several years (really?) ... why cannot you afford tuition at an excellent DC preschool and then independent?

Your monthly nut x 2 is, what, $10,000 every month?

I rent out the backup house. It's an investment, both in real estate and the kids' education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something that's great about NE is that's where so many desirable charters are located. So you actually have a lot of options without a horrible commute.

I live in NE too, and while I know a few families who left DC I know many more pleasantly surprised by where they ended up for PK3 and also lots who were not super excited by first school but lotteried into top choices in PK4, K and even 1st.

OP here- this may be a stupid question and probably one I can answer through googling, but if folks get into the best charter for PK3, do they leave for PK4 and those spots open up? In other words, why should I expect spots to open up for PK4 - wouldnt PK4 be full because people get into PK3?

Another concern of mine is that even if my daughter gets into a good elementary school, will we really want to separate her from her friends to go to a different middle or high school? It just seems like a lot of uncertainty through all of the schooling years. I am sorry for the pessimism and really appreciate the replies so far, as hearing from other people helps ease my mind on this!

There are more spots because the class size goes up. And some schools don't offer pk3 but do offer pk4.

You will likely get into a better school or move before middle school so I wouldn't sweat that issue.

Some schools (like MV and YY) have more slots for 4 year olds vs 3 year olds. and since most of the 3 year old slots are taken up by siblings and, the 4 year old slots are mainly open to non-siblings. Plus, many fewer people do the lottery for PK4 - so there are more slots for some highly sought after schools and fewer people applying for them. Win, win!

Class sizes don't really increase at most of the so-called HRCs between PK3/PK4 and K.

They do in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

^^ because DCPS cannot cap (in bound) enrollment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think NE DC is both blessed and cursed by the number of good charters nearby. OTOH, most of the good charters nearby are doable commutes. OTOH, it's been a disaster for the local in boundary schools which are only just starting to gentrify in the lower grades, if at all. This dynamic really only applies in the area between Shaw and the Hill.

Seems like charters were necessary in DC's recent history to get educated families to stay in DC instead of heading to the 'burbs. I wonder if now we're approaching a stage where the proliferation of charters is doing more harm than good, in terms of undermining buy-in for DCPS neighborhood schools.

I definitely think there's a role for a few, "boutique" charters that offer things that DCPS does not/cannot offer in great numbers--immersion, Montessori, etc. Any more than that, and it seems it just leads to educated families bypassing the schools in their neighborhoods in a scramble to get into charters. Not to mention all the traffic it creates, even if some charters are just 2-3 miles away from home.

If you care about traffic so much, eliminate the OOB lottery and force everyone to go to the neighborhood school (right now only 20% of kids in DC do)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the people who are like, 'oh, you'll be fine!' Listen - I live in NE and we lost the charter lottery many, many times. Ended up at Tyler for two years, which was a NIGHTMARE. Now homeschooling for a year while we prepare for a move to MoCo.

It's very unusual to strike out this badly. Everyone I know got into somewhere acceptable by K.

OP, I know it sucks to pay for private preschool, but that's what people in lots of other places have to do. I wouldn't pull up and leave a home and neighborhood you like over just one or two years of private. Start saving now if you're that concerned.

Everyone's got a story. Absolutely none of my friends (about 10) who played the lottery this year got in anywhere acceptable. And the chances of getting in after PK3 are far less. I don't know where this attitude of "you'll get in somewhere" comes from because I have only seen that very infrequently.

Don't believe this until I see all ten of their list of 12 they consider "acceptable"

+1. Some people are unreasonable, or fail to create a strategic list.

Look, you cannot have your "affordable" rowhouse, walkable neighborhood, proximity to downtown, and eat your suburban school district cake too. The iffy school is the reason you could afford your home! People act so put-upon, but these things are connected.

We got lucky-- at the time we bought in Edgewood, the school was pretty questionable. Didn't have kids then. Now that we have a child almost age, the school is ok, and every year we can try for a charter, and flip the house in a few years if we have to. Our gamble paid off. OP, you are also in the sweet spot to win here. You have the benefit of a lower housing cost because of Noyes having issues. But you'll probably be able to get into another school that's ok, and maybe a charter that's great.

I know! Imagine how horrible to think we have the right to affordable housing AND good schools. How dare we. Many families who have been living in Shaw for generations didn't just move here, should we say..."move to Virginia" or just accept bad schools because we shouldn't get the right to good schools and proximity to downtown?

Your attitude is exactly why we have charters to begin with. No one is going to improve DCPS as long as people like you are around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're hoping for a good draw in the lottery but in the meantime bought a nice house in an excellent school district as a backup/move there for middle school.

Gotta ask: if you're so well off that you can afford to buy two houses in the District of Columbia in the last several years (really?) ... why cannot you afford tuition at an excellent DC preschool and then independent?

Your monthly nut x 2 is, what, $10,000 every month?

I rent out the backup house. It's an investment, both in real estate and the kids' education.

Backup house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think NE DC is both blessed and cursed by the number of good charters nearby. OTOH, most of the good charters nearby are doable commutes. OTOH, it's been a disaster for the local in boundary schools which are only just starting to gentrify in the lower grades, if at all. This dynamic really only applies in the area between Shaw and the Hill.

Seems like charters were necessary in DC's recent history to get educated families to stay in DC instead of heading to the 'burbs. I wonder if now we're approaching a stage where the proliferation of charters is doing more harm than good, in terms of undermining buy-in for DCPS neighborhood schools.

I definitely think there's a role for a few, "boutique" charters that offer things that DCPS does not/cannot offer in great numbers--immersion, Montessori, etc. Any more than that, and it seems it just leads to educated families bypassing the schools in their neighborhoods in a scramble to get into charters. Not to mention all the traffic it creates, even if some charters are just 2-3 miles away from home.

Sorry to be so blunt, but there has never been a time when charters were not undermining DCPS neighborhood schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the people who are like, 'oh, you'll be fine!' Listen - I live in NE and we lost the charter lottery many, many times. Ended up at Tyler for two years, which was a NIGHTMARE. Now homeschooling for a year while we prepare for a move to MoCo.

It's very unusual to strike out this badly. Everyone I know got into somewhere acceptable by K.

OP, I know it sucks to pay for private preschool, but that's what people in lots of other places have to do. I wouldn't pull up and leave a home and neighborhood you like over just one or two years of private. Start saving now if you're that concerned.

Everyone's got a story. Absolutely none of my friends (about 10) who played the lottery this year got in anywhere acceptable. And the chances of getting in after PK3 are far less. I don't know where this attitude of "you'll get in somewhere" comes from because I have only seen that very infrequently.

Don't believe this until I see all ten of their list of 12 they consider "acceptable"

+1. Some people are unreasonable, or fail to create a strategic list.

Look, you cannot have your "affordable" rowhouse, walkable neighborhood, proximity to downtown, and eat your suburban school district cake too. The iffy school is the reason you could afford your home! People act so put-upon, but these things are connected.

We got lucky-- at the time we bought in Edgewood, the school was pretty questionable. Didn't have kids then. Now that we have a child almost age, the school is ok, and every year we can try for a charter, and flip the house in a few years if we have to. Our gamble paid off. OP, you are also in the sweet spot to win here. You have the benefit of a lower housing cost because of Noyes having issues. But you'll probably be able to get into another school that's ok, and maybe a charter that's great.

I know! Imagine how horrible to think we have the right to affordable housing AND good schools. How dare we. Many families who have been living in Shaw for generations didn't just move here, should we say..."move to Virginia" or just accept bad schools because we shouldn't get the right to good schools and proximity to downtown?

Your attitude is exactly why we have charters to begin with. No one is going to improve DCPS as long as people like you are around.

Little do you know, I have been volunteering at our IB sinc e before DD was born. Nobody has to accept bad schools. But to buy a house and then start panicking about it makes no sense. OP should have done more research, and should understand that her housing cost reflects a tradeoff on school quality.