Single dad moving to DC with 3 year old - recommendations for where to move and preK 3?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My info on PK3 is a bit dated, but usually the "better" elementary schools west of the park don't offer PK3. Do you mean you are trying to find a good place for PK4?

For a commute to Columbia Heights, I recommend just west of the park in the Eaton or Murch districts. Much more convenient than Stoddard.

Some buildings are Kennedy Warren or Quebec House or McLean Gardens (you can shoot down Porter to Adams Mill then through Mt P to Columbia Heights). You can also check Zillow or Hotpads for rentals that are condos.

If you want bilingual, rent for the Oyster School District. There are several building on that block. Just get out at Woodley Park Metro and walk down the street - I think it's Calvert? There is a Gables building right next to Oyster.

I am not sure how easy it is to get into PK4 at these schools.

If you're looking for PK3, don't shoot for Oyster. You have zero chance of getting a slot for Oyster PK3 for 2024-2025, whether you're English or Spanish dominant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Petworth. IB school is Bruce Monroe, which is good and you can always try to lottery for better. Tons of playgrounds and parks, farmers market, very close to your job.

This is not good advice. You won't get into Bruce Monroe PK3 with a post-lottery application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, as PP — Brookland is very nice, super family oriented, but also is charter school focused … the charters are crazy hard to access in the lottery, though someone mentioned Shining Stars Montessori which you can get into but which has also fallen down post pandemic. It is less dense with activities for kids, more SFH than apartments. It has a more hipster Brooklyn vibe than Upper Northwest if that’s you. But easily finding a community of kids activities and families etc will likely be easier in Upper NW.

Our family lives east of Rock Creek Park…we work on Capitol Hill and live that life east of the park, but allllll our kid stuff is west of the park.

Brookland and hipster Brooklyn vibe should never be used in the same sentence. Just because the both start with Brook doesn’t make the vibe similar. smh. It’s an ok neighborhood, but Brooklyn isn’t not. Just relatively cheap houses with yards. Not even a real grocery store.

[Anonymous]

The advice throughout this thread has been so uniformly uninformed and terrible that I'm doubting this forum could ever be a resource for DC schools.

[Anonymous]

Get on waiting list for Sela. Rent in Takoma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My info on PK3 is a bit dated, but usually the "better" elementary schools west of the park don't offer PK3. Do you mean you are trying to find a good place for PK4?

For a commute to Columbia Heights, I recommend just west of the park in the Eaton or Murch districts. Much more convenient than Stoddard.

Some buildings are Kennedy Warren or Quebec House or McLean Gardens (you can shoot down Porter to Adams Mill then through Mt P to Columbia Heights). You can also check Zillow or Hotpads for rentals that are condos.

If you want bilingual, rent for the Oyster School District. There are several building on that block. Just get out at Woodley Park Metro and walk down the street - I think it's Calvert? There is a Gables building right next to Oyster.

I am not sure how easy it is to get into PK4 at these schools.

You can't get into Oyster before K unless you are a native Spanish speaker.

[Anonymous]

PP who used the Brooklyn reference here…. I did not say it was Brooklyn.

But if we are comparing neighborhoods.. NW DC is the UWS and Cleveland Park near St Albans is the UES and I don’t know where Brooklyn is because don’t have it but the closest I can think of is Brookland with its more spacious housing stock, charter school concentration and low key bar and restaurant scene?

It’s a cultural thing. OP has said field and parental status but not much about what he wants in terms of the environment for his daughter… so it seems fine to distinguish places this way? Glover Park has lots of more small c conservatives, same with McLean Gardens. Columbia Heights, Petworth, Brightwood, Brookland… progressive, less status oriented, etc.

[Anonymous]

Amending Spring Valley, Kalorama, Cleveland Park SFH are UES

[Anonymous]

And to not confuse OP…I mean St Albans School, not the daycare/preschool that is nearby, when I say CP is UES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The advice throughout this thread has been so uniformly uninformed and terrible that I'm doubting this forum could ever be a resource for DC schools.

+1. 99% of schools are perfectly good for pre-k and K. Pick the closest schools to your job that clear their prek waitlists, and add those as a Post lottery application. Then see where you get offers, and check back here to make sure there are no red flags with that school. Then enjoy your cheaper than Ward 3 rent and your free ECE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Petworth. IB school is Bruce Monroe, which is good and you can always try to lottery for better. Tons of playgrounds and parks, farmers market, very close to your job.

This is not good advice. You won't get into Bruce Monroe PK3 with a post-lottery application.

Set yourself up for success for pk4

[Anonymous]

Live downtown and send your kid to Thomson. Always on short waitlists for preK 3, you’ll get in. Plenty of rentals in your price range here, with pools and gyms, plus you can spend weekends at the Smithsonian. It’s a school of choice for families whose inbound doesn’t have preK-3. (My kids ECE class has families who will attend Maury, Ross, Stoddert, etc.)

Thomson is also great after ECE too, of course but perfect for your purposes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The advice throughout this thread has been so uniformly uninformed and terrible that I'm doubting this forum could ever be a resource for DC schools.

+1. 99% of schools are perfectly good for pre-k and K. Pick the closest schools to your job that clear their prek waitlists, and add those as a Post lottery application. Then see where you get offers, and check back here to make sure there are no red flags with that school. Then enjoy your cheaper than Ward 3 rent and your free ECE.

OP, please ignore everything else said (people mocking typos; the dozens of comments urging you to move near schools that don’t offer prek3), and just do this.

[Anonymous]

He doesn't sound like he's hurting for money. Are there no private PK3's he could send his child to?

[Anonymous]

I would recommend moving in-bounds for Francis Stevens, Garrison, or Cooke, all of which have PK3 and are reasonably close to Columbia Heights. If you are open to private for a year or two, the JCC has a good program. You could try for Ross for PK4.