Why can’t Watkins get traction with Capitol Hill?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

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Anonymous wrote:They desperately need to get rid of the Peabody/Watkins configuration. Watkins should be a PK-3 through 5th grade, with fewer classrooms in each grade, which in turn would help the school.

Peabody could become a special education school or something—ideally the destination for an autism program or something.

I think that's a decent idea, regarding Peabody. I do think you'd get pushback from neighborhood families though. Peabody is not only a very solid option for IB families, but it's often an ECE option for families IB for L-T, Brent, and Maury who can't get into those programs at PK. Because Watkins is less desirable to IB families, they usually have more OOB seats available, especially for PK4, as many IB families lottery into charters, SWS, or CHML rather than take a Peabody spot knowing they will want to move before Watkins.

Right now it feels like there is either not quite enough, or just enough, PK spots (via a combo of DCPS, charters, and private options) on the Hill. But it's an area that has consistently seen increases in families with young kids, especially families with young kids who want a public option for PK, over the last 15 years or so, and I don't see that changing. So taking away a current PK option isn't going to go over well.

A decent idea going absolutely nowhere. Have you ever heard a single DC pol discuss changing the status of the Cluster school? It's just not in the plans and presumably never will be.

It’s funny. I agree. But I wonder if in 2-3 years it would have been different. Friends on the Hill are just starting to realize how much Watkins is shedding students.

You think that DC politicians care that Watkins is shredding students? Like they care how long the BASIS and Latins' wait lists have become? Like they care that Stuart Hobson still enrolls more students from Wards 5, 7 and 8 than Ward 6? Like they care that Eastern is majority OOB by a mile?

They don't and won't because high SES Hill parents aren't organized politically and are far too small a slice of the electoral pie to bother with, even within Ward 6.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The boundary is too big and weirdly shaped. Most people within the boundary are closer to another school on the Hill, so they go there instead. Watkins then becomes a school for Ward 7 and 8.

This. We are zoned for LT, but less than two blocks away, some are zoned for Watkins. A 2nd grader can't walk all the way there!
Also, having siblings in different buildings is awful. They need to redraw the boundaries Pronto.

Well having siblings in different buildings is fine if they are near each other, which is why you see quite a few families that lottery into L-T with proximity preference for 1st but their younger sibling may finish out at least PK at Peabody. The commute between those schools is super easy -- it's just a few blocks and one parent could do it within the drop off window, on foot.

That's not possible for Peabody and Watkins, I don't understand why that's ever been tolerated, to be honest.

There were buses that ran from each school to the other every morning and afternoon, from the time the Cluster was created to the pandemic. My kids used those buses the entire time we were in the Cluster. It was how my kid at Watkins was able to do aftercare with his sibling at Peabody so I could pick up in one location.

Once they killed the bus the Cluster stopped making sense. It’s not possible to do with two kids of close age, or if you live one the edge of the boundary.

Why would they get rid of the bus?

Because the leader of Watkins at the time thought the bus was not equatable because families from ward 7 & 8 didn’t have a bus to school. So why should the families from ward 6 who obviously had the means to get their kids school get one. So she didn’t fight for it or back the PTA who was fighting for it.

SHE WAS THE WORST!

+1 She was awful and this current idiot isn't any better. Functional leadership is important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how many students Watkins would shed if there weren’t spots available in nearby schools. That so many spots are available surprises me, as that definitely wasn’t the case 5-10 yrs ago.

This is definitely not true. Brent was harder 10 years ago, but Maury was easier and L-T was practically open enrollment. It's just that L-T became an "acceptable" option to IB families. 10 years ago many IB L-T & Payne families lotteried into Watkins; now you see Watkins families lotterying for L-T & Payne staying put.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how many students Watkins would shed if there weren’t spots available in nearby schools. That so many spots are available surprises me, as that definitely wasn’t the case 5-10 yrs ago.

This is definitely not true. Brent was harder 10 years ago, but Maury was easier and L-T was practically open enrollment. It's just that L-T became an "acceptable" option to IB families. 10 years ago many IB L-T & Payne families lotteried into Watkins; now you see Watkins families lotterying for L-T & Payne staying put.

I'm not sure why you put "acceptable" in quotes. We were at LT more than 10 years ago, and like many others who entered with high hopes, we left as soon as we could.