Looking on the Hill - curious for reviews of area elementary schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh? The Hill elementary schools that are majority in-boundary, UMC and white have taken 10 or 15 years to become that way. Nobody has argued otherwise on this thread. The problem with Watkins is that it never changes, never gets on track to become a real neighborhood school. OP may not mind, but should know this.

Actually, Watkins has been changing. When I bought IB for the Cluster 10 years ago, its was 20% IB. Now it is 37% IB, which is HUGE considering that it doesn't include PK3, PK4, or K.

Don't agree that the change in the Cluster is huge. You sound mired in relativism.

10 years ago, Maury was around 20% in-boundary. Now it's roughly 70%. Brent was around 25%. Now it's over 80%.

Also, the thing to keep in mind with the Cluster is that 15 years ago, it was the farthest along Hill school. Up and down progress over time, but never just steady gains. Also, some of the change is the last few years is because they finally stopped just dumping in a bunch of new, by definition OOB kids, in 1st because Watkins was structured around having much bigger classes than the IB could support. That trend is finally changing from my understanding.

I've heard the claim "the trend is finally changing" at Watkins too many times to count in the last 15 years. So glad we sold our in-boundary Cluster house a decade back and bought one in the Brent District. If it's not one problem at Watkins (school too big), it's another (principal sucks, quits or fired, equally problematic head takes over).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh? The Hill elementary schools that are majority in-boundary, UMC and white have taken 10 or 15 years to become that way. Nobody has argued otherwise on this thread. The problem with Watkins is that it never changes, never gets on track to become a real neighborhood school. OP may not mind, but should know this.

Actually, Watkins has been changing. When I bought IB for the Cluster 10 years ago, its was 20% IB. Now it is 37% IB, which is HUGE considering that it doesn't include PK3, PK4, or K.

Don't agree that the change in the Cluster is huge. You sound mired in relativism.

10 years ago, Maury was around 20% in-boundary. Now it's roughly 70%. Brent was around 25%. Now it's over 80%.

Also, the thing to keep in mind with the Cluster is that 15 years ago, it was the farthest along Hill school. Up and down progress over time, but never just steady gains. Also, some of the change is the last few years is because they finally stopped just dumping in a bunch of new, by definition OOB kids, in 1st because Watkins was structured around having much bigger classes than the IB could support. That trend is finally changing from my understanding.

I've heard the claim "the trend is finally changing" at Watkins too many times to count in the last 15 years. So glad we sold our in-boundary Cluster house a decade back and bought one in the Brent District. If it's not one problem at Watkins (school too big), it's another (principal sucks, quits or fired, equally problematic head takes over).

Is the new principal problematic? How would you know if you are not at the school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh? The Hill elementary schools that are majority in-boundary, UMC and white have taken 10 or 15 years to become that way. Nobody has argued otherwise on this thread. The problem with Watkins is that it never changes, never gets on track to become a real neighborhood school. OP may not mind, but should know this.

Actually, Watkins has been changing. When I bought IB for the Cluster 10 years ago, its was 20% IB. Now it is 37% IB, which is HUGE considering that it doesn't include PK3, PK4, or K.

Don't agree that the change in the Cluster is huge. You sound mired in relativism.

10 years ago, Maury was around 20% in-boundary. Now it's roughly 70%. Brent was around 25%. Now it's over 80%.

Also, the thing to keep in mind with the Cluster is that 15 years ago, it was the farthest along Hill school. Up and down progress over time, but never just steady gains. Also, some of the change is the last few years is because they finally stopped just dumping in a bunch of new, by definition OOB kids, in 1st because Watkins was structured around having much bigger classes than the IB could support. That trend is finally changing from my understanding.

I've heard the claim "the trend is finally changing" at Watkins too many times to count in the last 15 years. So glad we sold our in-boundary Cluster house a decade back and bought one in the Brent District. If it's not one problem at Watkins (school too big), it's another (principal sucks, quits or fired, equally problematic head takes over).

Is the new principal problematic? How would you know if you are not at the school?

Ask around. We've lived in the Cluster area since the 90s, but lotteried into a different DCPS for K for our eldest (we've been at that school for 6 years).

We have many longtime neighbors who've had kids at Watkins at one point or another. Most lotteried out along the way, but not all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh? The Hill elementary schools that are majority in-boundary, UMC and white have taken 10 or 15 years to become that way. Nobody has argued otherwise on this thread. The problem with Watkins is that it never changes, never gets on track to become a real neighborhood school. OP may not mind, but should know this.

Actually, Watkins has been changing. When I bought IB for the Cluster 10 years ago, its was 20% IB. Now it is 37% IB, which is HUGE considering that it doesn't include PK3, PK4, or K.

Don't agree that the change in the Cluster is huge. You sound mired in relativism.

10 years ago, Maury was around 20% in-boundary. Now it's roughly 70%. Brent was around 25%. Now it's over 80%.

Also, the thing to keep in mind with the Cluster is that 15 years ago, it was the farthest along Hill school. Up and down progress over time, but never just steady gains. Also, some of the change is the last few years is because they finally stopped just dumping in a bunch of new, by definition OOB kids, in 1st because Watkins was structured around having much bigger classes than the IB could support. That trend is finally changing from my understanding.

I've heard the claim "the trend is finally changing" at Watkins too many times to count in the last 15 years. So glad we sold our in-boundary Cluster house a decade back and bought one in the Brent District. If it's not one problem at Watkins (school too big), it's another (principal sucks, quits or fired, equally problematic head takes over).

Is the new principal problematic? How would you know if you are not at the school?

Ask around. We've lived in the Cluster area since the 90s, but lotteried into a different DCPS for K for our eldest (we've been at that school for 6 years).

We have many longtime neighbors who've had kids at Watkins at one point or another. Most lotteried out along the way, but not all.

Ok, but it would just be helpful and a lot more productive if people stuck to commenting on schools they have firsthand knowledge about. If your children go to Brent, comment on Brent. Leave the commenting on Peabody/Watkins to people whose children actually go/went there.

[Anonymous]

When in-boundary parents avoid or flee their by-right ES in sizeable numbers year after year, asking why seems reasonable.

Peabody is fine and we'd be thrilled if Watkins finally stopped driving most IB parents away by the upper grades. In that case, our property value might go up.

[Anonymous]

I went through this exercise this summer with a 3 year old and a baby. We also couldn't afford Brent. We ended up inbound for Ludlow Taylor. OP if the market is still as crazy as it was this summer and you really want a house on the hill i would not focus on just one hill school. ie Watkins vs Maury and which one is better. You will be looking for a long time and experience a lot of frustration along the way. Crazy COVID housing bubble! My advice would be to get comfortable with a few of the schools on the hill and buy the house that suits your needs.

FWIW - almost every house on my block has toddlers. I'm really looking forward to DC having friends so close by. As others have mentioned LT boundary is really small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh? The Hill elementary schools that are majority in-boundary, UMC and white have taken 10 or 15 years to become that way. Nobody has argued otherwise on this thread. The problem with Watkins is that it never changes, never gets on track to become a real neighborhood school. OP may not mind, but should know this.

Actually, Watkins has been changing. When I bought IB for the Cluster 10 years ago, its was 20% IB. Now it is 37% IB, which is HUGE considering that it doesn't include PK3, PK4, or K.

Don't agree that the change in the Cluster is huge. You sound mired in relativism.

10 years ago, Maury was around 20% in-boundary. Now it's roughly 70%. Brent was around 25%. Now it's over 80%.

Also, the thing to keep in mind with the Cluster is that 15 years ago, it was the farthest along Hill school. Up and down progress over time, but never just steady gains. Also, some of the change is the last few years is because they finally stopped just dumping in a bunch of new, by definition OOB kids, in 1st because Watkins was structured around having much bigger classes than the IB could support. That trend is finally changing from my understanding.

I've heard the claim "the trend is finally changing" at Watkins too many times to count in the last 15 years. So glad we sold our in-boundary Cluster house a decade back and bought one in the Brent District. If it's not one problem at Watkins (school too big), it's another (principal sucks, quits or fired, equally problematic head takes over).

Is the new principal problematic? How would you know if you are not at the school?

Ask around. We've lived in the Cluster area since the 90s, but lotteried into a different DCPS for K for our eldest (we've been at that school for 6 years).

We have many longtime neighbors who've had kids at Watkins at one point or another. Most lotteried out along the way, but not all.

Ok, but it would just be helpful and a lot more productive if people stuck to commenting on schools they have firsthand knowledge about. If your children go to Brent, comment on Brent. Leave the commenting on Peabody/Watkins to people whose children actually go/went there.

Hahahaha. Can you please post this on every thread? Have you been here before? Hahaha.