OOB and Charter Lotteries

[Anonymous]

What are the chances of getting into a good OOB or charter? I've heard of long wait list numbers. What's realistic?

[Anonymous]

Dunno. It varies by grade, and more importantly, by school.

So which grade and which schools do you care about?

[Anonymous]

The number of applicants varies from school to school, sometimes there are hundreds. How bad is your neighborhood school?

[Anonymous]

Everyone I know got into something (PreK / K).
It may have been late in the process that they were notified (Aug or Sept) - and it also depends on what schools you are considering. If you are only looking at Mann and Key - I would recommend that you have a back up plan. If you are including Hyde and Eaton on your list - much better chances.

[Anonymous]

To the 8:45 poster: I was on 5 charter lists and have yet to get in anywhere. So it doesn't always work out.

[Anonymous]

to 9:33, what grade were you trying for on the charter lists? where did your child(ren) end up?

I had two children on 4 charter lists and 5 OOB lists for 2009-10. K and 2nd. Got offers for one or both from Yu Ying (2nd), Stokes (K), Haynes (K). No offers from Cap City (big surprise) where they were each something like #120 out of 300.

Also had offer from Janney (2nd only). But no other offers from OOB (applied to Mann, Murch, Janney, Eaton, Lafayette). My experience with OOB is that you have to call the schools every couple of weeks to inquire about status.

I'm not saying it works out for everyone. My kids had some lucky lottery numbers (#3 for Janney) and some underenrolled schools with fewer kids in lottery for the number of spaces (there were a lot of spaces for 2nd grade at YuYing -- everyone eventually offered a space for 2nd at Yu Ying and they still have 1 or 2 openings, fewer kids wanted French at Stokes).

You need to have a backup plan. Mine was to stay at the previous year's DCPS school which was pretty good. Got into that school by picking an less popular (aka east of park) OOB school to apply to when oldest was in preK.

You need to be willing to split kids in 2 locations as you wait for a sibling preference to kick in.

You need to be willing to move your kids after the beginning of the school year if you get a call from a more desired school. The K class at Yu Ying had a new kid start last week, I think they worked pretty far down their preK and K wait lists after school started.

You need to try to keep your sanity! And not rethink bridges that you've already crossed. . . .

It's rough, but doable.

[Anonymous]

you should put Ross elementary on your list. we got a call about two weeks into the year. i can't quite remember where we were on the list, but it was pretty far down. i was surprised to get the call. we were already in charter and wanted to stay there, but Ross is a good option too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:to 9:33, what grade were you trying for on the charter lists? where did your child(ren) end up?

I had two children on 4 charter lists and 5 OOB lists for 2009-10. K and 2nd. Got offers for one or both from Yu Ying (2nd), Stokes (K), Haynes (K). No offers from Cap City (big surprise) where they were each something like #120 out of 300.

Also had offer from Janney (2nd only). But no other offers from OOB (applied to Mann, Murch, Janney, Eaton, Lafayette). My experience with OOB is that you have to call the schools every couple of weeks to inquire about status.

I'm not saying it works out for everyone. My kids had some lucky lottery numbers (#3 for Janney) and some underenrolled schools with fewer kids in lottery for the number of spaces (there were a lot of spaces for 2nd grade at YuYing -- everyone eventually offered a space for 2nd at Yu Ying and they still have 1 or 2 openings, fewer kids wanted French at Stokes).

You need to have a backup plan. Mine was to stay at the previous year's DCPS school which was pretty good. Got into that school by picking an less popular (aka east of park) OOB school to apply to when oldest was in preK.

You need to be willing to split kids in 2 locations as you wait for a sibling preference to kick in.

You need to be willing to move your kids after the beginning of the school year if you get a call from a more desired school. The K class at Yu Ying had a new kid start last week, I think they worked pretty far down their preK and K wait lists after school started.

You need to try to keep your sanity! And not rethink bridges that you've already crossed. . . .

It's rough, but doable.

Thanks PP, I think that's key - that you may have to spend a year driving between two different schools. Sibling preference rarely gets you both children into the same school the first time around, especially at the popular schools.

[Anonymous]

We hope to get in Ross OOB. Anyone know how difficult this is?

[Anonymous]

13:08, for what grade? For example, for next year's 2nd grade. Find out how many sections of 1st grade, how many kids enrolled in 1st grade, how many sections of 2nd they are likely to have.

If the current 1st grades have 25+ per class, unlikely to get in, unless adding a new section of 2nd. ~20 per class, and the same number of sections, likely to get in.

For pre-K, you need to find out how many kids applied prior year. Also helpful to know how many of prior year's applicants were in bounds versus OOB.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

We applied to OOB, and charters for our son pre-k lat year...and got into our top charter, (EL Haynes), and some other smaller preshcools.
Something always works out.

Good Luck

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks. For next school year, we are looking at PK-3 spots at the charters. The year after we want PK-4 (one kid). Our neighborhood school isn't very good. We would be happy at Key, Mann, Janney, Stoddert, Hyde, Ross, Murch, Hearst, Lafayette, Eaton, Yu Ying, Haynes, Cap City. What other OOB schools are worth considering?

[Anonymous]

I would add to your list for PK3 charters Bridges and Appletree, which are PreK only schools with good reps and might buy you a couple of years.

Other charters that start at PreK 3 / PreK 4 and go up to consider LAMB, Three Rivers, EL Haynes, Elsie Stokes

For West of Park OOB, historically, not worth your time to apply for PreK 4 to schools where in boundary demand exceeds available slots. That is most of West of Park DCPS schools. This past year you got 5 OOB picks. The PreK 3 DCPS program is evolving, don't know which schools will teach at that level next year. Consider West (might have preK 3?), Shepherd (no preK 3), Hearst (no preK 3, typically lost of OOB spaces for preK 4), as "safer" schools in the OOB lotteries.

Cooke in Adams Morgan is one to watch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would add to your list for PK3 charters Bridges and Appletree, which are PreK only schools with good reps and might buy you a couple of years.

Other charters that start at PreK 3 / PreK 4 and go up to consider LAMB, Three Rivers, EL Haynes, Elsie Stokes

For West of Park OOB, historically, not worth your time to apply for PreK 4 to schools where in boundary demand exceeds available slots. That is most of West of Park DCPS schools. This past year you got 5 OOB picks. The PreK 3 DCPS program is evolving, don't know which schools will teach at that level next year. Consider West (might have preK 3?), Shepherd (no preK 3), Hearst (no preK 3, typically lost of OOB spaces for preK 4), as "safer" schools in the OOB lotteries.

Cooke in Adams Morgan is one to watch.

I think you mean Two Rivers. Three Rivers is a stadium in Pittsburgh.

[Anonymous]

second the appletree and bridges suggestions. cap city does not have pre-k 3. cooke in adams morgan does and there is a big push for involvement in the school by neighborhood parents.