Just keep playing the lottery and eventually it will work out...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe all of you should actually send your kids to your neighborhood public schools and then invest the time and effort to make those schools better rather than undermining that effort and adding to traffic congestion and global warming by racing all over town?

There is a good reason some people hate gentrifiers - if Shaw is good enough to live in it should be good enough for your kids to go to school with the children of color of long time residents.

First of all, many parents do this.

Secondly, what magical skills do you think we white policy analysts and non profit employees have to make our neighborhood schools better? The idea that parents putting in the time to be involved is what turns a school around is magical thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe all of you should actually send your kids to your neighborhood public schools and then invest the time and effort to make those schools better rather than undermining that effort and adding to traffic congestion and global warming by racing all over town?

There is a good reason some people hate gentrifiers - if Shaw is good enough to live in it should be good enough for your kids to go to school with the children of color of long time residents.

First of all, many parents do this.

Secondly, what magical skills do you think we white policy analysts and non profit employees have to make our neighborhood schools better? The idea that parents putting in the time to be involved is what turns a school around is magical thinking.

I'm a person of color and when I moved in 10 years ago, the long-time residents on my block let me know that they had their children in charters and I should play the lottery too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe all of you should actually send your kids to your neighborhood public schools and then invest the time and effort to make those schools better rather than undermining that effort and adding to traffic congestion and global warming by racing all over town?

There is a good reason some people hate gentrifiers - if Shaw is good enough to live in it should be good enough for your kids to go to school with the children of color of long time residents.

First of all, many parents do this.

Secondly, what magical skills do you think we white policy analysts and non profit employees have to make our neighborhood schools better? The idea that parents putting in the time to be involved is what turns a school around is magical thinking.

I'm a person of color and when I moved in 10 years ago, the long-time residents on my block let me know that they had their children in charters and I should play the lottery too.

This, exactly. And I sent them to Seaton anyway, and we only left to get on track for a better middle school. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe all of you should actually send your kids to your neighborhood public schools and then invest the time and effort to make those schools better rather than undermining that effort and adding to traffic congestion and global warming by racing all over town?

There is a good reason some people hate gentrifiers - if Shaw is good enough to live in it should be good enough for your kids to go to school with the children of color of long time residents.

First of all, many parents do this.

Secondly, what magical skills do you think we white policy analysts and non profit employees have to make our neighborhood schools better? The idea that parents putting in the time to be involved is what turns a school around is magical thinking.

I'm a person of color and when I moved in 10 years ago, the long-time residents on my block let me know that they had their children in charters and I should play the lottery too.

This, exactly. And I sent them to Seaton anyway, and we only left to get on track for a better middle school. Sigh.

OP here. Yep, no long time middle class DC residents I live near or work with send their kids to their neighborhood schools. Everyone sent their kids to charters, OOB, or parochial schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe all of you should actually send your kids to your neighborhood public schools and then invest the time and effort to make those schools better rather than undermining that effort and adding to traffic congestion and global warming by racing all over town?

There is a good reason some people hate gentrifiers - if Shaw is good enough to live in it should be good enough for your kids to go to school with the children of color of long time residents.

First of all, many parents do this.

Secondly, what magical skills do you think we white policy analysts and non profit employees have to make our neighborhood schools better? The idea that parents putting in the time to be involved is what turns a school around is magical thinking.

I'm a person of color and when I moved in 10 years ago, the long-time residents on my block let me know that they had their children in charters and I should play the lottery too.

This, exactly. And I sent them to Seaton anyway, and we only left to get on track for a better middle school. Sigh.

This why that *Larry David voice* "if it's good enough to live in blah blah blah" phrase always exposes the person who says it as not even knowing about the neighborhood they're speaking of.



OP here. Yep, no long time middle class DC residents I live near or work with send their kids to their neighborhood schools. Everyone sent their kids to charters, OOB, or parochial schools.

[Anonymous]

I love how often these two sentiments are expressed as common sense:

"If the neighborhood is good enough for you to live in, the school must be good enough for your kid."

and

"If you wanted to send your kid to a better school, you should have worked hard enough to live somewhere with good schools."

You can't have it both ways. People live where they can afford to live. All kids deserve to go to a school that is safe and conducive to learning, regardless of where their parents chose to live. I have misgivings about charters on a systemic level, but I'm never going to judge a parent for just trying to make sure their kid can get a good education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have struck out 4 years in a row. Not even close, other than getting into our 6th choice of DCPS PK3, we have never had a waitlist lower than 40.

Let us help you with your strategy!

Strategy: List the schools in the true order you want to attend and include your IB somewhere on that list (in its true position).

This! There is no strategy to be deployed.

Most people I know striking out many years in a row have only children. After getting into a school their first year, the subsequent years are only wish list schools. No reason to move schools for a small improvement.

People with more than one kid playing have better odds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe all of you should actually send your kids to your neighborhood public schools and then invest the time and effort to make those schools better rather than undermining that effort and adding to traffic congestion and global warming by racing all over town?

There is a good reason some people hate gentrifiers - if Shaw is good enough to live in it should be good enough for your kids to go to school with the children of color of long time residents.

First of all, many parents do this.

Secondly, what magical skills do you think we white policy analysts and non profit employees have to make our neighborhood schools better? The idea that parents putting in the time to be involved is what turns a school around is magical thinking.

+1. Parents do send their kids to their neighborhood schools initially.

But then reality sets in by 1st or 2nd grade that the achievement gap is too big and DCPS doesn’t care about the higher performing kids. It’s all about bringing the bottom up and meeting the lowest common denominator. There is no tracking and your concerns fall on deaf ears. Your kid is bored. On top of that discipline issues become more prevalent.

PP is correct. There is no way for parents to turn around a poor performing school when it comes from the top down that higher performing kids will be “fine” and in which their needs are not meant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe all of you should actually send your kids to your neighborhood public schools and then invest the time and effort to make those schools better rather than undermining that effort and adding to traffic congestion and global warming by racing all over town?

There is a good reason some people hate gentrifiers - if Shaw is good enough to live in it should be good enough for your kids to go to school with the children of color of long time residents.

First of all, many parents do this.

Secondly, what magical skills do you think we white policy analysts and non profit employees have to make our neighborhood schools better? The idea that parents putting in the time to be involved is what turns a school around is magical thinking.

+1. Parents do send their kids to their neighborhood schools initially.

But then reality sets in by 1st or 2nd grade that the achievement gap is too big and DCPS doesn’t care about the higher performing kids. It’s all about bringing the bottom up and meeting the lowest common denominator. There is no tracking and your concerns fall on deaf ears. Your kid is bored. On top of that discipline issues become more prevalent.

PP is correct. There is no way for parents to turn around a poor performing school when it comes from the top down that higher performing kids will be “fine” and in which their needs are not meant.

Typo meant met

[Anonymous]

make schools better, How long do you think childhood is? How many meh years in school can a child of high expectations wait for a fully encompassing education? Life is too short, seek out quality to start and let other people rehab the schools, house and streets that need the work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have struck out 4 years in a row. Not even close, other than getting into our 6th choice of DCPS PK3, we have never had a waitlist lower than 40.

Let us help you with your strategy!

Strategy: List the schools in the true order you want to attend and include your IB somewhere on that list (in its true position).

This! There is no strategy to be deployed.

Most people I know striking out many years in a row have only children. After getting into a school their first year, the subsequent years are only wish list schools. No reason to move schools for a small improvement.

People with more than one kid playing have better odds.

OP here. Yes, I'm realizing how the sibling preference really disadvantages families with one child or a big age gap. I was aware that in demand schools fill most slots with siblings (DCB, etc.), but am now seeing how friends with a close in age second child are getting two rolls of the dice per year and my child will never get that. It's very disheartening.