DCI didn't offer any non-preference seats for 6th grade Chinese or Spanish - What gives?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:6 pages of this thread with people obsessing about non-feeder spots.

It’s not going to happen so move on and make other plans. Even if there are a few spots, your chance is going to be basically in the single digits.

So make other plans and worry less about things that are totally out of your control.

Honestly, I would just move to the burbs, be done with it, and have a sure middle and high school track.

The earlier you do that, the better for your kid. Very disruptive to move in later elementary or middle school.

Characterize this discussion however you want to. This thread has unveiled information that we didn't know when we ranked 6th grade spots for our current 5th grader.

We wouldn't have wasted our top three spots on DCI non-feeder spots if we'd known that feeder school sibling preference and slots moved from one language to another make it effectively impossible to get a non-feeder spot. Maybe even worse than the chances of getting a match at other high-demand schools like Latin or BASIS. Heck, we wouldn't have wasted our evening going to the Open House if we'd known this information, or we would have asked administrators more directly about it.

Sounds like we're not alone or unusual.

This information will definitely inform how we rank 6th grade spots for our current 2nd grader. Thank you to the parents who have explained it so clearly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

No, they would be ranked according to their master lottery number with everyone else. The preference only applies to the feeder school's seats. That's according to the My School DC rep - please call and confirm if you're curious. I would love to know if someone else gets the same answer that I did!

I called MSDC and asked (among other things) about whether sibling preference could be stacked with feeder preference and was told that DCI has not yet decided the answer to this question. Essentially, the language in the charter is ambiguous and DCI has never had to make a decision, and so while DCI is aware that they need to make a decision, the current answer is "we don't know whether students will be able to stack feeder preference with sibling preference."

The logic for stacking preferences really doesn't hold at the middle and high school level. Without a school bus system, it makes sense to prioritize having elementary siblings in one location. But by middle and high school, they can commute on their own and stacking preferences makes it much more inequitable for students that don't have an older sibling already. Stacking preferences means that kids with siblings are guaranteed a seat and everyone else has MUCH lower odds. How is that fair to the school community as a whole?

Except I'm pretty sure all other middle schools (Latin, BASIS, DCPS, etc) provide sibling preference. I hear what you're saying, but not stacking the preferences would make DCI the outlier.

But people haven’t been planning on a specific middle and high school pathway for those other schools. You spend 8 years at a feeder only to realize your non-preference odds are 20%, then how would you feel? How disruptive would that be to the upper grades of the feeder schools when families start bailing for the suburbs because they’re odds suck?

That's already happening. It's part of why MV upper grades are struggling so much.

Huh? Aren’t you tired of repeating the same with no data to prove your point?

Mundo Verde is a chicken and egg situation. DCI is still a guarantee for now, but families are leaving in elementary grades because of the instability in the school. Which makes the school more unstable in those grades.

Can you point me to the data?

You can see retention and re-enrollment data here.
https://osse.dc.gov/dcschoolreportcard/schoolsnapshot

When people's oldest child is not doing well because the upper grades are a mess, and their youngest child might not get into DCI anyway, why stay?

NP, don’t know which campus MV parent is at above but we are in upper grade at 8th St and agree are having a very good experience.

Data doesn’t lie and the re-enrollment at MV aligns with the other immersion charters ranging in 86-91% so no families are not leaving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:6 pages of this thread with people obsessing about non-feeder spots.

It’s not going to happen so move on and make other plans. Even if there are a few spots, your chance is going to be basically in the single digits.

So make other plans and worry less about things that are totally out of your control.

Honestly, I would just move to the burbs, be done with it, and have a sure middle and high school track.

The earlier you do that, the better for your kid. Very disruptive to move in later elementary or middle school.

Characterize this discussion however you want to. This thread has unveiled information that we didn't know when we ranked 6th grade spots for our current 5th grader.

We wouldn't have wasted our top three spots on DCI non-feeder spots if we'd known that feeder school sibling preference and slots moved from one language to another make it effectively impossible to get a non-feeder spot. Maybe even worse than the chances of getting a match at other high-demand schools like Latin or BASIS. Heck, we wouldn't have wasted our evening going to the Open House if we'd known this information, or we would have asked administrators more directly about it.

Sounds like we're not alone or unusual.

This information will definitely inform how we rank 6th grade spots for our current 2nd grader. Thank you to the parents who have explained it so clearly.

Doesn’t sound like you know how the lottery works. You did not waste your top 3 spots because you can still get Latin or Basis which you ranked below DCI.

In addition, I doubt you even filled out all 12 possible spots in the lottery because let’s be real, there are not 12 acceptable middle schools in the city. Acceptable as defined in critical number of kids at grade level and above.

You need to face reality that chances of getting a 7th grade spot, if you don’t match this year, will be even lower than 6th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

No, they would be ranked according to their master lottery number with everyone else. The preference only applies to the feeder school's seats. That's according to the My School DC rep - please call and confirm if you're curious. I would love to know if someone else gets the same answer that I did!

I called MSDC and asked (among other things) about whether sibling preference could be stacked with feeder preference and was told that DCI has not yet decided the answer to this question. Essentially, the language in the charter is ambiguous and DCI has never had to make a decision, and so while DCI is aware that they need to make a decision, the current answer is "we don't know whether students will be able to stack feeder preference with sibling preference."

The logic for stacking preferences really doesn't hold at the middle and high school level. Without a school bus system, it makes sense to prioritize having elementary siblings in one location. But by middle and high school, they can commute on their own and stacking preferences makes it much more inequitable for students that don't have an older sibling already. Stacking preferences means that kids with siblings are guaranteed a seat and everyone else has MUCH lower odds. How is that fair to the school community as a whole?

Because people have to move if one kid doesn’t get into dci. This is actually making dci slightly less attractive to my family because of my younger kids. If my younger kids don’t get into dci, we are pulling the entire family and moving to the suburbs. This is much worse for the community as a whole. Other kids know their risk going in- you have from April of the year prior to move. Dci families will be uprooted or dci will be less attractive overall since people can’t risk a school knowing the younger siblings won’t get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:6 pages of this thread with people obsessing about non-feeder spots.

It’s not going to happen so move on and make other plans. Even if there are a few spots, your chance is going to be basically in the single digits.

So make other plans and worry less about things that are totally out of your control.

Honestly, I would just move to the burbs, be done with it, and have a sure middle and high school track.

The earlier you do that, the better for your kid. Very disruptive to move in later elementary or middle school.

Characterize this discussion however you want to. This thread has unveiled information that we didn't know when we ranked 6th grade spots for our current 5th grader.

We wouldn't have wasted our top three spots on DCI non-feeder spots if we'd known that feeder school sibling preference and slots moved from one language to another make it effectively impossible to get a non-feeder spot. Maybe even worse than the chances of getting a match at other high-demand schools like Latin or BASIS. Heck, we wouldn't have wasted our evening going to the Open House if we'd known this information, or we would have asked administrators more directly about it.

Sounds like we're not alone or unusual.

This information will definitely inform how we rank 6th grade spots for our current 2nd grader. Thank you to the parents who have explained it so clearly.

If you are not at a DCI feeder do not put DCI, you won’t get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:6 pages of this thread with people obsessing about non-feeder spots.

It’s not going to happen so move on and make other plans. Even if there are a few spots, your chance is going to be basically in the single digits.

So make other plans and worry less about things that are totally out of your control.

Honestly, I would just move to the burbs, be done with it, and have a sure middle and high school track.

The earlier you do that, the better for your kid. Very disruptive to move in later elementary or middle school.

Characterize this discussion however you want to. This thread has unveiled information that we didn't know when we ranked 6th grade spots for our current 5th grader.

We wouldn't have wasted our top three spots on DCI non-feeder spots if we'd known that feeder school sibling preference and slots moved from one language to another make it effectively impossible to get a non-feeder spot. Maybe even worse than the chances of getting a match at other high-demand schools like Latin or BASIS. Heck, we wouldn't have wasted our evening going to the Open House if we'd known this information, or we would have asked administrators more directly about it.

Sounds like we're not alone or unusual.

This information will definitely inform how we rank 6th grade spots for our current 2nd grader. Thank you to the parents who have explained it so clearly.

Doesn’t sound like you know how the lottery works. You did not waste your top 3 spots because you can still get Latin or Basis which you ranked below DCI.

In addition, I doubt you even filled out all 12 possible spots in the lottery because let’s be real, there are not 12 acceptable middle schools in the city. Acceptable as defined in critical number of kids at grade level and above.

You need to face reality that chances of getting a 7th grade spot, if you don’t match this year, will be even lower than 6th grade.

Agreed. Call my school dc and ask them how preferences work. You didn’t “waste” those slots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:6 pages of this thread with people obsessing about non-feeder spots.

It’s not going to happen so move on and make other plans. Even if there are a few spots, your chance is going to be basically in the single digits.

So make other plans and worry less about things that are totally out of your control.

Honestly, I would just move to the burbs, be done with it, and have a sure middle and high school track.

The earlier you do that, the better for your kid. Very disruptive to move in later elementary or middle school.

Characterize this discussion however you want to. This thread has unveiled information that we didn't know when we ranked 6th grade spots for our current 5th grader.

We wouldn't have wasted our top three spots on DCI non-feeder spots if we'd known that feeder school sibling preference and slots moved from one language to another make it effectively impossible to get a non-feeder spot. Maybe even worse than the chances of getting a match at other high-demand schools like Latin or BASIS. Heck, we wouldn't have wasted our evening going to the Open House if we'd known this information, or we would have asked administrators more directly about it.

Sounds like we're not alone or unusual.

This information will definitely inform how we rank 6th grade spots for our current 2nd grader. Thank you to the parents who have explained it so clearly.

This is the type of question that you should have asked at the open house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

No, they would be ranked according to their master lottery number with everyone else. The preference only applies to the feeder school's seats. That's according to the My School DC rep - please call and confirm if you're curious. I would love to know if someone else gets the same answer that I did!

I called MSDC and asked (among other things) about whether sibling preference could be stacked with feeder preference and was told that DCI has not yet decided the answer to this question. Essentially, the language in the charter is ambiguous and DCI has never had to make a decision, and so while DCI is aware that they need to make a decision, the current answer is "we don't know whether students will be able to stack feeder preference with sibling preference."

The logic for stacking preferences really doesn't hold at the middle and high school level. Without a school bus system, it makes sense to prioritize having elementary siblings in one location. But by middle and high school, they can commute on their own and stacking preferences makes it much more inequitable for students that don't have an older sibling already. Stacking preferences means that kids with siblings are guaranteed a seat and everyone else has MUCH lower odds. How is that fair to the school community as a whole?

Except I'm pretty sure all other middle schools (Latin, BASIS, DCPS, etc) provide sibling preference. I hear what you're saying, but not stacking the preferences would make DCI the outlier.

But people haven’t been planning on a specific middle and high school pathway for those other schools. You spend 8 years at a feeder only to realize your non-preference odds are 20%, then how would you feel? How disruptive would that be to the upper grades of the feeder schools when families start bailing for the suburbs because they’re odds suck?

Parents are smart, they will play the lottery for those schools too and then made a decision. They have more options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:6 pages of this thread with people obsessing about non-feeder spots.

It’s not going to happen so move on and make other plans. Even if there are a few spots, your chance is going to be basically in the single digits.

So make other plans and worry less about things that are totally out of your control.

Honestly, I would just move to the burbs, be done with it, and have a sure middle and high school track.

The earlier you do that, the better for your kid. Very disruptive to move in later elementary or middle school.

Characterize this discussion however you want to. This thread has unveiled information that we didn't know when we ranked 6th grade spots for our current 5th grader.

We wouldn't have wasted our top three spots on DCI non-feeder spots if we'd known that feeder school sibling preference and slots moved from one language to another make it effectively impossible to get a non-feeder spot. Maybe even worse than the chances of getting a match at other high-demand schools like Latin or BASIS. Heck, we wouldn't have wasted our evening going to the Open House if we'd known this information, or we would have asked administrators more directly about it.

Sounds like we're not alone or unusual.

This information will definitely inform how we rank 6th grade spots for our current 2nd grader. Thank you to the parents who have explained it so clearly.

If you are not at a DCI feeder do not put DCI, you won’t get in.

Depending on what waitlist number PP is this year, she might with French. Or if any of the matched families decline their seat later, it might happen. But chances are slim.

Once expansion years hit DCI, then I would agree with your statement above.

Lastly, yes DCI is currently more competitive than Latin and Basis due to feeder preference which reduces the total number of seats overall to non-feeder, much less seats than other 2 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

No, they would be ranked according to their master lottery number with everyone else. The preference only applies to the feeder school's seats. That's according to the My School DC rep - please call and confirm if you're curious. I would love to know if someone else gets the same answer that I did!

I called MSDC and asked (among other things) about whether sibling preference could be stacked with feeder preference and was told that DCI has not yet decided the answer to this question. Essentially, the language in the charter is ambiguous and DCI has never had to make a decision, and so while DCI is aware that they need to make a decision, the current answer is "we don't know whether students will be able to stack feeder preference with sibling preference."

The logic for stacking preferences really doesn't hold at the middle and high school level. Without a school bus system, it makes sense to prioritize having elementary siblings in one location. But by middle and high school, they can commute on their own and stacking preferences makes it much more inequitable for students that don't have an older sibling already. Stacking preferences means that kids with siblings are guaranteed a seat and everyone else has MUCH lower odds. How is that fair to the school community as a whole?

Because people have to move if one kid doesn’t get into dci. This is actually making dci slightly less attractive to my family because of my younger kids. If my younger kids don’t get into dci, we are pulling the entire family and moving to the suburbs. This is much worse for the community as a whole. Other kids know their risk going in- you have from April of the year prior to move. Dci families will be uprooted or dci will be less attractive overall since people can’t risk a school knowing the younger siblings won’t get in.

So families pull out regardless, you just don’t get a guarantee that others don’t. That still seems more fair overall.

[Anonymous]

I am still confused when the different feeders will hit the limit of not having guaranteed spots. When will that happen for each school, or has it happened already?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

No, they would be ranked according to their master lottery number with everyone else. The preference only applies to the feeder school's seats. That's according to the My School DC rep - please call and confirm if you're curious. I would love to know if someone else gets the same answer that I did!

I called MSDC and asked (among other things) about whether sibling preference could be stacked with feeder preference and was told that DCI has not yet decided the answer to this question. Essentially, the language in the charter is ambiguous and DCI has never had to make a decision, and so while DCI is aware that they need to make a decision, the current answer is "we don't know whether students will be able to stack feeder preference with sibling preference."

The logic for stacking preferences really doesn't hold at the middle and high school level. Without a school bus system, it makes sense to prioritize having elementary siblings in one location. But by middle and high school, they can commute on their own and stacking preferences makes it much more inequitable for students that don't have an older sibling already. Stacking preferences means that kids with siblings are guaranteed a seat and everyone else has MUCH lower odds. How is that fair to the school community as a whole?

Except I'm pretty sure all other middle schools (Latin, BASIS, DCPS, etc) provide sibling preference. I hear what you're saying, but not stacking the preferences would make DCI the outlier.

But people haven’t been planning on a specific middle and high school pathway for those other schools. You spend 8 years at a feeder only to realize your non-preference odds are 20%, then how would you feel? How disruptive would that be to the upper grades of the feeder schools when families start bailing for the suburbs because they’re odds suck?

That's already happening. It's part of why MV upper grades are struggling so much.

Huh? Aren’t you tired of repeating the same with no data to prove your point?

Mundo Verde is a chicken and egg situation. DCI is still a guarantee for now, but families are leaving in elementary grades because of the instability in the school. Which makes the school more unstable in those grades.

Can you point me to the data?

You can see retention and re-enrollment data here.
https://osse.dc.gov/dcschoolreportcard/schoolsnapshot

When people's oldest child is not doing well because the upper grades are a mess, and their youngest child might not get into DCI anyway, why stay?

NP, don’t know which campus MV parent is at above but we are in upper grade at 8th St and agree are having a very good experience.

Data doesn’t lie and the re-enrollment at MV aligns with the other immersion charters ranging in 86-91% so no families are not leaving.

Why don't you tell us what happened to the P St Padres.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

No, they would be ranked according to their master lottery number with everyone else. The preference only applies to the feeder school's seats. That's according to the My School DC rep - please call and confirm if you're curious. I would love to know if someone else gets the same answer that I did!

I called MSDC and asked (among other things) about whether sibling preference could be stacked with feeder preference and was told that DCI has not yet decided the answer to this question. Essentially, the language in the charter is ambiguous and DCI has never had to make a decision, and so while DCI is aware that they need to make a decision, the current answer is "we don't know whether students will be able to stack feeder preference with sibling preference."

The logic for stacking preferences really doesn't hold at the middle and high school level. Without a school bus system, it makes sense to prioritize having elementary siblings in one location. But by middle and high school, they can commute on their own and stacking preferences makes it much more inequitable for students that don't have an older sibling already. Stacking preferences means that kids with siblings are guaranteed a seat and everyone else has MUCH lower odds. How is that fair to the school community as a whole?

Except I'm pretty sure all other middle schools (Latin, BASIS, DCPS, etc) provide sibling preference. I hear what you're saying, but not stacking the preferences would make DCI the outlier.

But people haven’t been planning on a specific middle and high school pathway for those other schools. You spend 8 years at a feeder only to realize your non-preference odds are 20%, then how would you feel? How disruptive would that be to the upper grades of the feeder schools when families start bailing for the suburbs because they’re odds suck?

That's already happening. It's part of why MV upper grades are struggling so much.

Huh? Aren’t you tired of repeating the same with no data to prove your point?

Mundo Verde is a chicken and egg situation. DCI is still a guarantee for now, but families are leaving in elementary grades because of the instability in the school. Which makes the school more unstable in those grades.

Can you point me to the data?

You can see retention and re-enrollment data here.
https://osse.dc.gov/dcschoolreportcard/schoolsnapshot

When people's oldest child is not doing well because the upper grades are a mess, and their youngest child might not get into DCI anyway, why stay?

NP, don’t know which campus MV parent is at above but we are in upper grade at 8th St and agree are having a very good experience.

Data doesn’t lie and the re-enrollment at MV aligns with the other immersion charters ranging in 86-91% so no families are not leaving.

Why don't you tell us what happened to the P St Padres.

I am not Pp, but this just shows that you have no experience with this school at all. You should use your free time in a more useful way, maybe volunteer at your school PTA?

https://www.mundoverdepadres.com

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

No, they would be ranked according to their master lottery number with everyone else. The preference only applies to the feeder school's seats. That's according to the My School DC rep - please call and confirm if you're curious. I would love to know if someone else gets the same answer that I did!

I called MSDC and asked (among other things) about whether sibling preference could be stacked with feeder preference and was told that DCI has not yet decided the answer to this question. Essentially, the language in the charter is ambiguous and DCI has never had to make a decision, and so while DCI is aware that they need to make a decision, the current answer is "we don't know whether students will be able to stack feeder preference with sibling preference."

The logic for stacking preferences really doesn't hold at the middle and high school level. Without a school bus system, it makes sense to prioritize having elementary siblings in one location. But by middle and high school, they can commute on their own and stacking preferences makes it much more inequitable for students that don't have an older sibling already. Stacking preferences means that kids with siblings are guaranteed a seat and everyone else has MUCH lower odds. How is that fair to the school community as a whole?

Except I'm pretty sure all other middle schools (Latin, BASIS, DCPS, etc) provide sibling preference. I hear what you're saying, but not stacking the preferences would make DCI the outlier.

But people haven’t been planning on a specific middle and high school pathway for those other schools. You spend 8 years at a feeder only to realize your non-preference odds are 20%, then how would you feel? How disruptive would that be to the upper grades of the feeder schools when families start bailing for the suburbs because they’re odds suck?

That's already happening. It's part of why MV upper grades are struggling so much.

Huh? Aren’t you tired of repeating the same with no data to prove your point?

Mundo Verde is a chicken and egg situation. DCI is still a guarantee for now, but families are leaving in elementary grades because of the instability in the school. Which makes the school more unstable in those grades.

Can you point me to the data?

You can see retention and re-enrollment data here.
https://osse.dc.gov/dcschoolreportcard/schoolsnapshot

When people's oldest child is not doing well because the upper grades are a mess, and their youngest child might not get into DCI anyway, why stay?

NP, don’t know which campus MV parent is at above but we are in upper grade at 8th St and agree are having a very good experience.

Data doesn’t lie and the re-enrollment at MV aligns with the other immersion charters ranging in 86-91% so no families are not leaving.

Why don't you tell us what happened to the P St Padres.

I am not Pp, but this just shows that you have no experience with this school at all. You should use your free time in a more useful way, maybe volunteer at your school PTA?

https://www.mundoverdepadres.com

Stop trying to pretend it didn't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

No, they would be ranked according to their master lottery number with everyone else. The preference only applies to the feeder school's seats. That's according to the My School DC rep - please call and confirm if you're curious. I would love to know if someone else gets the same answer that I did!

I called MSDC and asked (among other things) about whether sibling preference could be stacked with feeder preference and was told that DCI has not yet decided the answer to this question. Essentially, the language in the charter is ambiguous and DCI has never had to make a decision, and so while DCI is aware that they need to make a decision, the current answer is "we don't know whether students will be able to stack feeder preference with sibling preference."

The logic for stacking preferences really doesn't hold at the middle and high school level. Without a school bus system, it makes sense to prioritize having elementary siblings in one location. But by middle and high school, they can commute on their own and stacking preferences makes it much more inequitable for students that don't have an older sibling already. Stacking preferences means that kids with siblings are guaranteed a seat and everyone else has MUCH lower odds. How is that fair to the school community as a whole?

Except I'm pretty sure all other middle schools (Latin, BASIS, DCPS, etc) provide sibling preference. I hear what you're saying, but not stacking the preferences would make DCI the outlier.

But people haven’t been planning on a specific middle and high school pathway for those other schools. You spend 8 years at a feeder only to realize your non-preference odds are 20%, then how would you feel? How disruptive would that be to the upper grades of the feeder schools when families start bailing for the suburbs because they’re odds suck?

That's already happening. It's part of why MV upper grades are struggling so much.

Huh? Aren’t you tired of repeating the same with no data to prove your point?

Mundo Verde is a chicken and egg situation. DCI is still a guarantee for now, but families are leaving in elementary grades because of the instability in the school. Which makes the school more unstable in those grades.

Can you point me to the data?

You can see retention and re-enrollment data here.
https://osse.dc.gov/dcschoolreportcard/schoolsnapshot

When people's oldest child is not doing well because the upper grades are a mess, and their youngest child might not get into DCI anyway, why stay?

NP, don’t know which campus MV parent is at above but we are in upper grade at 8th St and agree are having a very good experience.

Data doesn’t lie and the re-enrollment at MV aligns with the other immersion charters ranging in 86-91% so no families are not leaving.

Why don't you tell us what happened to the P St Padres.

I am not Pp, but this just shows that you have no experience with this school at all. You should use your free time in a more useful way, maybe volunteer at your school PTA?

https://www.mundoverdepadres.com

Stop trying to pretend it didn't happen.

Stop trolling and get a life!