Overwhelmed Mom - Need advice on Pre K choices

[kandrews]

Hi All. I'm an African American mom and fairly new to DC trying to find the best place to send my daughter next fall. She will be 4yrs old. I'm overwhelmed by all the private school, public school and charter school choices. She's in a private school now that I like, but I just can't see paying $20K PLUS for the next school year (especially since I will also have a 2yr old in childcare). If I want my child to have quality education in a diverse setting, is my only choice staying in private school? Are there any catholic or charter school options that are much more affordable that you can recommend?

[Anonymous]

What neighborhood(s) would be convenient for you? What state? Accredited Montessori Schools are great and usually not too expensive. Let us know your desired location.

[Anonymous]

the information on this site could be helpful

http://www.fightforchildren.org/

[Anonymous]

Charter Schools are Free. They are funded through DC Public Schools, with possibly additional external revenue sources.

Each Charter has a separate application process. You need to reach out to each charter that you are interested in to see what the application, selection process is. Most will have a lottery some time in the March / April time frame.

[Anonymous]

It all depends, in part on where you live. There are no guaranteed spaces in DC public schools for pre-K, but if you get in to your in bounds school, some of the programs are excellent. We were delighted with the pre-K program at Murch and it is extremely diverse (may be one of the most diverse schools in DC and many kids are multiracial). We could not be happier with the K program this year. There are some out of bounds kids in the K class, can't remember if that was the case for pre-K.

I think you need to go and look at a variety of schools so you have a frame of reference. I had written off DC publics entirely until I went and looked, there are some gems, at least for the early grades. It also depends on your daughter's personality and learning style, I think there are public pre-Ks on the Hill that offer Montessori and Regio Emmilio (sp?).

[Anonymous]

Check out Hearst....My son is a Pre-k student there and love it....very diverse student body in a tiny school which enjoys Fillmore Arts Center weekly...

[Anonymous]

kandrews wrote:Hi All. I'm an African American mom and fairly new to DC trying to find the best place to send my daughter next fall. She will be 4yrs old. I'm overwhelmed by all the private school, public school and charter school choices. She's in a private school now that I like, but I just can't see paying $20K PLUS for the next school year (especially since I will also have a 2yr old in childcare). If I want my child to have quality education in a diverse setting, is my only choice staying in private school? Are there any catholic or charter school options that are much more affordable that you can recommend?

As others have stated it depends on where you live, we (black family in DC for almost 2.5 years) are at Janney and while the K and PK classes are not as racially diverse as we would like, the program is very good, the parents are very involved and we will likely stay there until 4th grade. I have heard the same about the elementary school in Montgomery County. If you are comparing privates with the Ward 3/Mo Co publics, then you will likely see more ethnic diversity in the privates (because they select their students and can fix ratios), but you will see less socio-economic diversity.

[Anonymous]

There are several good charter schools for prek 4 yo that are ethnically/racially diverse. In no particular order: Capital City, AppleTree Columbia Heights, EL Haynes, Bridges, Yu Ying, Two Rivers, LAMB, Elsie Whitlow Stokes.

http://www.dcpubliccharter.com/

[Anonymous]

Check out Murch too - my daughter's pre K class is pretty diverse with Asians, Latinos and African-Americans. We are very happy with the school and her teacher so far. And she loves it.