Brent v Maury v Capitol Hill Day for 26-27

[Anonymous]

this IB percentage stuff has become a somewhat strange pro-ludlow argument. ludlow seems like a good option. maury and payne would both be equally good options for 1st grade (less walkable to the house or senate offices but still a short commute). watkins or van ness would probably both also be fine for first grade.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Maury is not welcoming to new kids. It is good academically, but for one year, your kid have a much better experience at L-T. Don’t overcount test scores that don’t even come from the grades your kid would be attending.

Ridiculous

Sorry, but I think this is true. It’s not that the kids or families at Maury are mean, they’re not at all. But Maury gets very few new kids after K and this isn’t a situation where the family will know some Maury families already from DC Way or Studio One or whatever. That means that most friendship groups — including parents — are already pretty established and there’s not a culture of welcoming new kids/families every year. Of course her kid could get lucky, but it could also be an uphill climb. Maury is a very good school and if she was staying long-term, sure it could be worth it. But for one first grade year, going to a school that has similar test scores for demographics (slightly worse overall, but almost entirely drive by demographic differences & still good, especially in ELA) but a culture of kids coming in every year is going to be a much easier nut to crack. Ask a Maury family what year the kids at their kids’ birthday party started at the school and I guarantee you the answer is overwhelmingly PK3-K; the same thing simply isn’t true at L-T where more lottery movement means that new kids are integrated into friendship groups every year.

You have no idea what you are talking about. maury gets a lot of new kids in the older grades and a steady stream of turn over every year. And although I guess some parents have weird hang ups and insecurities, the vast majority of kids don’t and make friends readily. This is about the dumbest discourse on Hill schools I have read recently and that is saying a lot. My guess is that if you approach *first grade* as a “nut to crack,” you are the one with the problem, not the other parents.

The fact that you think Maury gets a lot of new kids in older grades compared to almost any DCPS in the city shows how out of touch you are. Last year, Maury offered 0 seats from 1st upwards in the initial lottery. They filled approx 5 seats across those grades from the WL. The year before they also offered zero slots, but filled more from the WL. The other schools were talking about offer 5-15 seats per grade initially. Last year, Ludlow had 9 1st grade lottery seats, so at least than many new 1st graders.

That’s definitely not true for 3-5th.

Not sure what you’re saying isn’t true. It is 100% true and confirmable on the lottery results page that Maury hasn’t offered a seat in the initial lottery in 1st grade or up since at least 2019, so any new kids in a particular grade are very hit or miss (they have often offered some seats via the WL; it’s hard to know how many seats v offers). That’s very different than Ludlow (and most other Hill schools) that routinely offer 5-15 spots a year, so there are reliably new kids in every grade. That’s not an insult to Maury; it’s a sign of its popularity. But it’s also a reason it might be harder to be a new kid there.

You realize kids can come in not without the lottery. My DC is in 4th at Maury and I can count 15 kids who have left and other 12 new ones who have replaced them since she started in K. (We were an Apple Tree family). People move to NW, overseas, back to the midwest, kids go to St Peter's etc etc.

Of course they can... Just like OP would do. But it's very hit or miss whether you get 0 or 2 in your kid's class in a particular year; at a school that has 9 lottery spots and has kids coming, every class is going to have 3-4 new kids. It changes the school culture. I have been at both types of schools (though not Maury) and the vibe is quite different.

4th and 5th always have a lot of turnover. The principle can make offers to fill out the class and sometimes Central Office transfers kids for safety reasons. Also military members can usually choose whatever school they want.

The lottery numbers don't bear this out, but of course a lot of kids could be moving IB, I don't know. That said, we're talking about 1st grade. No one has claimed Maury has a lot of new families in 1st grade.

Whatever data you are looking at is wrong. And as was explained to you, people come in and out through routes other than the lottery. A lot goes on under the hood in DCPS that you don’t know about. But all Hill schools have a lot of attrition in the upper grades and fill that in.

[Anonymous]

some schools like maury are larger so they 5th grade with middle school departures just drop a class (from 4 to 3). that doesnt directly have very much to do with 1st grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brent would have been the most obvious recommendation -- strong academics, teachers, community (welcoming in the younger grades, cliquey in the upper grades), and new school in 1.5 years, but with the busing, not worth it.

The other Hill schools are fine in 1st grade so just find a house that works for you (although I hear the most negative feedback about Watkins).

The Hill is a wonderful place to live and if you are here for only a year, then it is the perfect spot coming from NYC (walkable, safe, and homey). Halloween is the best!

We left Brent two years ago after a 10-year stint. If the academics were indeed strong we wouldn't have been at Mathnasium from 3rd-5th grades or hired a writing tutor. My kids weren't pushed at Brent, not remotely. Brent is just OK. What's strong at Brent is the friendly atmosphere and the specials: art, music, PE. If I could do it over again, we'd have gone for Ludlow or Maury.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Maury is not welcoming to new kids. It is good academically, but for one year, your kid have a much better experience at L-T. Don’t overcount test scores that don’t even come from the grades your kid would be attending.

Ridiculous

Sorry, but I think this is true. It’s not that the kids or families at Maury are mean, they’re not at all. But Maury gets very few new kids after K and this isn’t a situation where the family will know some Maury families already from DC Way or Studio One or whatever. That means that most friendship groups — including parents — are already pretty established and there’s not a culture of welcoming new kids/families every year. Of course her kid could get lucky, but it could also be an uphill climb. Maury is a very good school and if she was staying long-term, sure it could be worth it. But for one first grade year, going to a school that has similar test scores for demographics (slightly worse overall, but almost entirely drive by demographic differences & still good, especially in ELA) but a culture of kids coming in every year is going to be a much easier nut to crack. Ask a Maury family what year the kids at their kids’ birthday party started at the school and I guarantee you the answer is overwhelmingly PK3-K; the same thing simply isn’t true at L-T where more lottery movement means that new kids are integrated into friendship groups every year.

You have no idea what you are talking about. maury gets a lot of new kids in the older grades and a steady stream of turn over every year. And although I guess some parents have weird hang ups and insecurities, the vast majority of kids don’t and make friends readily. This is about the dumbest discourse on Hill schools I have read recently and that is saying a lot. My guess is that if you approach *first grade* as a “nut to crack,” you are the one with the problem, not the other parents.

The fact that you think Maury gets a lot of new kids in older grades compared to almost any DCPS in the city shows how out of touch you are. Last year, Maury offered 0 seats from 1st upwards in the initial lottery. They filled approx 5 seats across those grades from the WL. The year before they also offered zero slots, but filled more from the WL. The other schools were talking about offer 5-15 seats per grade initially. Last year, Ludlow had 9 1st grade lottery seats, so at least than many new 1st graders.

That’s definitely not true for 3-5th.

Not sure what you’re saying isn’t true. It is 100% true and confirmable on the lottery results page that Maury hasn’t offered a seat in the initial lottery in 1st grade or up since at least 2019, so any new kids in a particular grade are very hit or miss (they have often offered some seats via the WL; it’s hard to know how many seats v offers). That’s very different than Ludlow (and most other Hill schools) that routinely offer 5-15 spots a year, so there are reliably new kids in every grade. That’s not an insult to Maury; it’s a sign of its popularity. But it’s also a reason it might be harder to be a new kid there.

You realize kids can come in not without the lottery. My DC is in 4th at Maury and I can count 15 kids who have left and other 12 new ones who have replaced them since she started in K. (We were an Apple Tree family). People move to NW, overseas, back to the midwest, kids go to St Peter's etc etc.

NP who hasn't posted regarding this Maury thing.

What you don't realize is that is very low turnover for a Hill elementary in upper grades. And most of the new students coming in are people moving into the zone, not coming in via lottery. I am sure it seems like a lot to families within the school, especially at a school most people like and where it is sad to lose families to private school or moving away. But even at L-T and Brent you see more turn over than that and both schools admit more students via lottery in earlier grades as a result. It's basically impossible to get a lottery spot at Maury until 5th (when a larger group of students leave to head to charters or private middle schools), whereas there are a handful of lottery families every year at even other in-demand Hill schools. L-T and Brent both lose more IB families regularly in part because they attract a lot of people who, like OP, are working on the Hill, which has a ton of natural turnover, so you have people moving in and out of the zones more and this results in more lottery spots and more movement. Brent has also had more movement in recent years due to their swing space move, which inevitably results in some people deciding to lottery elsewhere to avoid it -- Maury's renovation now predates most families at the school so you won't have experienced that in your time there.

I understand your defensiveness but people are not wrong. Parents at Maury don't realize they are outliers because the vast majority of Maury parents live IB and, like you, their only experience at another school was for PK. At other Hill elementaries, there is just more churn in general and that leads to greater awareness of enrollment trends at various schools. That's why you are getting pushback here -- Maury families tend to be out of the loop because of the lack of churn at the school.

Wait til 4th and 5th. 3rd also has a lot of turnover.

Maury is 83% IB. It always offers zero lottery spots for grades 1-5. Brent and Ludlow are between 55 and 60% IB. They routinely offer 5, 10 or even 15 lottery spots in each grade. The culture is just totally different when it comes to accommodating new kids. Also the way you keep harping on the amount of turnover in grades 3-5, clearly seeing it as a bad thing, is symptomatic of that.

Maury's IB boundary is huge compared to LT and Brent, so there are often lots of new IB kids joining every year.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Brent would have been the most obvious recommendation -- strong academics, teachers, community (welcoming in the younger grades, cliquey in the upper grades), and new school in 1.5 years, but with the busing, not worth it.

The other Hill schools are fine in 1st grade so just find a house that works for you (although I hear the most negative feedback about Watkins).

The Hill is a wonderful place to live and if you are here for only a year, then it is the perfect spot coming from NYC (walkable, safe, and homey). Halloween is the best!

We left Brent two years ago after a 10-year stint. If the academics were indeed strong we wouldn't have been at Mathnasium from 3rd-5th grades or hired a writing tutor. My kids weren't pushed at Brent, not remotely. Brent is just OK. What's strong at Brent is the friendly atmosphere and the specials: art, music, PE. If I could do it over again, we'd have gone for Ludlow or Maury.

I think it is the same at all DCPS post-Covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brent would have been the most obvious recommendation -- strong academics, teachers, community (welcoming in the younger grades, cliquey in the upper grades), and new school in 1.5 years, but with the busing, not worth it.

The other Hill schools are fine in 1st grade so just find a house that works for you (although I hear the most negative feedback about Watkins).

The Hill is a wonderful place to live and if you are here for only a year, then it is the perfect spot coming from NYC (walkable, safe, and homey). Halloween is the best!

We left Brent two years ago after a 10-year stint. If the academics were indeed strong we wouldn't have been at Mathnasium from 3rd-5th grades or hired a writing tutor. My kids weren't pushed at Brent, not remotely. Brent is just OK. What's strong at Brent is the friendly atmosphere and the specials: art, music, PE. If I could do it over again, we'd have gone for Ludlow or Maury.

I think it is the same at all DCPS post-Covid.

Maybe? I know I enrolled my younger at Mathnasium towards the end of COVID bc they had not had in person math instruction in a long time, and was a bit behind. But when things finally got back moving again, the teacher told us to stop and save the money, which we did - and that teacher pushed our kids/caught them up and scores across the grade shot up. I do think it varies school by school, and even teacher by teacher. My kids went to Payne, and we were very impressed with the math and ELA in upper grades.
I think your kid will be fine at any of the Cap Hill schools - it may be your only chance to live in DC, find a house/neighborhood you like on the Hill, and it will all be OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brent would have been the most obvious recommendation -- strong academics, teachers, community (welcoming in the younger grades, cliquey in the upper grades), and new school in 1.5 years, but with the busing, not worth it.

The other Hill schools are fine in 1st grade so just find a house that works for you (although I hear the most negative feedback about Watkins).

The Hill is a wonderful place to live and if you are here for only a year, then it is the perfect spot coming from NYC (walkable, safe, and homey). Halloween is the best!

We left Brent two years ago after a 10-year stint. If the academics were indeed strong we wouldn't have been at Mathnasium from 3rd-5th grades or hired a writing tutor. My kids weren't pushed at Brent, not remotely. Brent is just OK. What's strong at Brent is the friendly atmosphere and the specials: art, music, PE. If I could do it over again, we'd have gone for Ludlow or Maury.

I think it is the same at all DCPS post-Covid.

Maybe? I know I enrolled my younger at Mathnasium towards the end of COVID bc they had not had in person math instruction in a long time, and was a bit behind. But when things finally got back moving again, the teacher told us to stop and save the money, which we did - and that teacher pushed our kids/caught them up and scores across the grade shot up. I do think it varies school by school, and even teacher by teacher. My kids went to Payne, and we were very impressed with the math and ELA in upper grades.
I think your kid will be fine at any of the Cap Hill schools - it may be your only chance to live in DC, find a house/neighborhood you like on the Hill, and it will all be OK.

Me again - also could help to think about what else your family likes to do. There is a great place for arts/music lessons called CHAW (Capitol Hill Arts Workshop) near Eastern Market, a library at Eastern Market and also a library on 7th and Maryland NE. An outdoor pool/rec center further east (Rosedale), also The Fields (behind what was formerly RFK Stadium) - with playgrounds, soccer fields, etc is further east so near Maury, Payne and Miner boundaries. Lincoln Park in the middle has great green space and playgrounds - and touches boundaries for Maury, Payne, and I think Watkins? If you want to be able to walk to restaurants quickly, the H St corridor is near Ludlow and JO Wilson boundaries -- Eastern Market is near Brent, Watkins, and near-ish to Payne. Several grocery stores on H St, a Trader Joes near Eastern Market, and a Safeway on the border of Payne/Watkins boundary. But nothing is too far from anything, and the whole neighborhood is very bike/scooter/metro/walk accessible

[Anonymous]

My kids went to CHDS and we loved it, but I don't think it's the right place for a 1 year stint. And the NW DC privates will be impossible to get into for a 1 year stint unless you are a VIP.

[Anonymous]

I think the best advice here is that your child will be well served by any of the schools near the House or Senate for 1st grade, and I wouldn’t overly stress about that piece. Finding a house that has a few similarly aged kids on the block might have a bigger impact on your general experience here for the year. Or pick a living option that is fun or unique since it’s only a year. Welcome to DC!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the best advice here is that your child will be well served by any of the schools near the House or Senate for 1st grade, and I wouldn’t overly stress about that piece. Finding a house that has a few similarly aged kids on the block might have a bigger impact on your general experience here for the year. Or pick a living option that is fun or unique since it’s only a year. Welcome to DC!

+1. Any of the schools will be fine for 1st grade. The more important thing is finding a location that you enjoy. ideally, you will be able to walk to the school you choose from that location, and many kids near you will also go to that same school.

[Anonymous]

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And Maury is a great school but if you don’t acknowledge it can be a little cliquey, that’s really not fair to OP. You’ve got moms that went through PACE groups together so have been in contact daily about kids and life for six+ years by 1st. (And that’s wonderful for them!)

Can you say more about this? Why does Maury have more PACE moms that have stuck together than say L-T?

[Anonymous]

Why would Maury in particular have more PACE moms that stuck together? Just curious about this as a PACE mom whose group fizzled out. Also didn't know this reputation about Maury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is he working on the House or Senate side? I would not do Brent either way. Van Ness, Maury, or Ludlow Taylor would be my suggestions; maybe JO Wilson if Senate side since the location is convenient and they will have a new building. If you will have a lease by May 1, you can also do the lottery for school within school.

Wouldn’t Peabody be the closest to the Senate offices?

There is no 1st grade at Peabody.

[Anonymous]

We are very happy at Maury and it seems like it would be a good fit for what you’re looking for. (Spouse is on the Hill and commute is great). 1st grade is still early on and I don’t think it would be as hard to acclimate as some are suggesting. But you would also be fine with L-T. I’d look at houses in both, take a look at the schools, and see what works.