fewer spots available for next year?

[Anonymous]

We are a GDS family who lives further out and takes the buses daily. Even though we have a waiver to drive our child in, we have never done so as it would be really inconvenient for our lifestyle. The vast majority of his friends live within the zones that are not allowed for single child dropoff yet pretty much every single one of his peers' families break the rules and do either school or neighborhood dropoff. I am really shocked that a school that leans so hard into treating people right can't be inconvenienced to follow the rules that they sign off on upon re-enrollment contracts. I feel badly for the school but if they want to course correct then they are going to have to come down way harder on families in violation of this rule. Like HEFTY fines. Make up for the smaller enrollment by penalizing families who break the rules. Truthfully, it's only the rich ones that live close-in that are breaking the rules so hit them where it hurts and let the fines benefit the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this is the reality of living in a city. mixed use. maybe instead there should be vehicle restrictions like other schools (potomac and field come to mind) rather than on enrollment.

Aren’t there also vehicle restrictions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they're over their enrollment cap, can they admit any kids?
I'm confused.

The class of 2025 is huge at GDS and other privates as well. That was the first Covid year. I think NCS corrected last year by limiting acceptances to the class of 2026. It effect may drag on for a few more years.

I wonder if the city audited the numbers at GDS which led to this email. If that is the case, I bet they audited the rest too.

It rolls because they also graduate kids every year. Typically a Senior class is larger than a prek K or K class.

Basically, they messed up predicting yeild. Some schools were a lot more conservative over the last two years and had bigger wait lists, knowing it would be an odd year to predict yield. I would expect to see more WL students this year across all schools and very conservative yield assumptions.

[Anonymous]

GDS should plan to have a typical sized 9th grade class (whatever that number was pre-covid) because you need the athletes and the super smart kids and connected kids to ensure college placement / reputation says strong. Obviously you plan for much higher yield and accept fewer students and make more use of the waitlist.

For the other grades you accept siblings and any stand outs / children of DC royalty that you need to accept and that's it. Maybe a few extras to make sure you have at least 12 in pre-k and 2 small kindergarten classes. You can always back fill the classes in future years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The city probably cut them some slack over Covid. But now things are getting back to normal, including full-time in-person school with GDS parents and family staff dropping kids off all over the surrounding neighborhood in violation of the school’s agreement, they are requiring the school to comply

It’s not normal or business as usual. Applicants multiplied, acceptance yields spiked and open private schools in the dmv blew out their numbers.

We were shocked how various communities here handled Covid and didn’t put children first, but here we go again. More of the same. What a community.

We have families in other states that had significantly more hours per week of in person school than here those days, in public and private schools. Parents working remotely even subbed in various classes. Can do attitude and made it happen.

Here people were zooming in to teach kids a couple hours a day and staying home. Politicians trying to shut any type of school down.

Not all schools here acted that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do other schools have these caps?

Is there a way to find out what they are?

Every non-public school does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gds is approximately 50 students over their enrollment cap.

Wow, that's a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard of other schools having fewer spots? If so, which ones? It seems like many schools are still accepting late applications (for second round). I would think if they had less spots, they wouldn't be accepting late applications.

You mean Sidwell? I thought they always accepted late applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS should plan to have a typical sized 9th grade class (whatever that number was pre-covid) because you need the athletes and the super smart kids and connected kids to ensure college placement / reputation says strong. Obviously you plan for much higher yield and accept fewer students and make more use of the waitlist.

For the other grades you accept siblings and any stand outs / children of DC royalty that you need to accept and that's it. Maybe a few extras to make sure you have at least 12 in pre-k and 2 small kindergarten classes. You can always back fill the classes in future years.

This makes the most sense. When (if) they are granted a waiver to enlarge the school they can fill in the younger years classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do other schools have these caps?

Is there a way to find out what they are?

Every non-public school does.

They all do but I believe it's up to the local ANC to enforce it. It's not something that gets audited (to a person) each year.
It appears that schools are given grace unless they 1)grossly exceed the agreed upon enrollment AND/OR 2)tick off the neighbors enough that they really complain

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do other schools have these caps?

Is there a way to find out what they are?

Every non-public school does.

They all do but I believe it's up to the local ANC to enforce it. It's not something that gets audited (to a person) each year.
It appears that schools are given grace unless they 1)grossly exceed the agreed upon enrollment AND/OR 2)tick off the neighbors enough that they really complain

The ANC can monitor and report but ANCs really have no power. They are advisory.

But yes, behavior by the school community as described above will get you negative attention. As it should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this is the reality of living in a city. mixed use. maybe instead there should be vehicle restrictions like other schools (potomac and field come to mind) rather than on enrollment.

The school should just comply with the terms they agree to in the contract they signed. Some of these ANC restrictions are very stupid and hurt the larger community - like the restrictions on using fields.

This one does is not. This is totally on the school and their incompetency. If the agreement was the school had to pay the ANC 50k for every student over a certain number this would not have happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard of other schools having fewer spots? If so, which ones? It seems like many schools are still accepting late applications (for second round). I would think if they had less spots, they wouldn't be accepting late applications.

I know what you are asking, but in reality, no one has fewer spots; they all still have the same legal caps they always had. Think of it as, GDS filled 50 of this years' spots last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard of other schools having fewer spots? If so, which ones? It seems like many schools are still accepting late applications (for second round). I would think if they had less spots, they wouldn't be accepting late applications.

You mean Sidwell? I thought they always accepted late applications.

Most schools will take late or rolling applications, as they are always looking for the best possible pool of applicants. They don't want to turn away a kid who is a great fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do other schools have these caps?

Is there a way to find out what they are?

Every non-public school does.

They all do but I believe it's up to the local ANC to enforce it. It's not something that gets audited (to a person) each year.
It appears that schools are given grace unless they 1)grossly exceed the agreed upon enrollment AND/OR 2)tick off the neighbors enough that they really complain

The ANC can monitor and report but ANCs really have no power. They are advisory.

But yes, behavior by the school community as described above will get you negative attention. As it should.

True, our school regularly sends our reminders about expected behavior (parking, drop off location, etc) based on agreements with the neighborhood.