Might send kid to school in another state - how does enrollment/communication work?

[Anonymous]

We are a DCPS family. We own a second home in another state. We're really starting to think DCPS is going to be a bad experience (my daughter is participating in the bridge program that started this week for 9th graders and it is just so depressingly awful). We've started to toy with the idea of moving to our second home permanently and letting her attend school here. Of course, she's resistant because DC is all she knows and where her friends are...but friends she hasn't seen in months and won't for months more. We're the parents so we make the final decision, but we really would like for her to come around to the idea. So, I'm considering enrolling her in school where our second home is so she can participate in the freshmen orientation program and school visit. I"m hoping that experience will help her get on board with the idea. But I'm wondering how it works with our DCPS school (which she's already enrolled in). I have her transcripts so there shouldn't need to be communication between the two districts when I enroll, but that doesn't mean there won't be. I guess the gist is I'd like her to try out the new school while still being enrolled in DC. If she likes it, we'll disenroll from DC. Anybody on here who has thoughts on how this works when schools are in different states? Will the new school automatically contact DCPS? Or if I have all the paperwork, might they not?

[Anonymous]

The new school _should_ contact the old school, because the only transcripts they can trust come directly from the school. However things are so hectic this year that the admin people may overlook it, especially if you make it easy by providing them.

[Anonymous]

I don't think they will let you enroll in two states at the same time. I would assume that the schools will communicate to verify information.

Also, consider what will happen if the second school also goes to 100 percent DL or there are rolling quarantines or closures after kids/teachers start testing positive for COVID. Will that really be better?

[Anonymous]

You need to disenroll her from DCPS and enroll her in the new school. If she hates it, then you can reenroll her in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

My 9th grader tells me that she’s going to hate the new school. So...

[Anonymous]

Also, you're making some big decisions based on two days of not-school. I think you need to take a big breath, and stop drawing huge conclusions on essentially no data. Bridge isn't school, and that means the teachers aren't treating it like school. What it was supposed to be doesn't translate well to online at all. It's not a sign of how actual DL, with her actual teachers, is going to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, you're making some big decisions based on two days of not-school. I think you need to take a big breath, and stop drawing huge conclusions on essentially no data. Bridge isn't school, and that means the teachers aren't treating it like school. What it was supposed to be doesn't translate well to online at all. It's not a sign of how actual DL, with her actual teachers, is going to go.

Thanks for this. OP here. This helps. Here's the thing. I don't mind waiting. I WANT to give DCPS a chance. It starts August 31. The second home school begins mid-September which means she could go to DCPS for two weeks to feel it out. What I ideally want is for my child to get to be able to participate in the freshman orientation stuff at the 2nd home school, but to do that I assumed I needed to be enrolled in the second home school. But maybe if I explain the situation to them they'd allow her to participate in the orientation activities. I need to do more legwork.

[Anonymous]

Enrolling in two public schools at the same time so that you can try them out and decide which one you like best is the strangest combination of privilege and lack of privilege I have run across in a while. In any event, it is, in my opinion, immoral. I believe it is also illegal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Enrolling in two public schools at the same time so that you can try them out and decide which one you like best is the strangest combination of privilege and lack of privilege I have run across in a while. In any event, it is, in my opinion, immoral. I believe it is also illegal.

We did this during the summer. It's not illegal to my knowledge. We enrolled at our vacation house and our main house, both in the same state but not in the same county, while waiting on each to make their decision about learning in the fall. They did not _start_ in both schools -- we unenrolled them from one school before the school year started.

I read closely what we signed to enroll them, and there was no statement about how I acknowledge my kid isnt' enrolled in some other school or anything like that.

[Anonymous]

It's fairly normal to freak out when a new program isn't what you expected. Talk to your neighbors who have kids already at he school or who have gone through it. Let them talk you off the ledge. Also, it is high school, so prepare and expect for the schedule to be completely messed up for the first week. It happens every year, mostly because so many people enroll late, and the assign classes to people who actually transferred, and everyone has to be reshuffled, etc., and then it all gets sorted out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enrolling in two public schools at the same time so that you can try them out and decide which one you like best is the strangest combination of privilege and lack of privilege I have run across in a while. In any event, it is, in my opinion, immoral. I believe it is also illegal.

We did this during the summer. It's not illegal to my knowledge. We enrolled at our vacation house and our main house, both in the same state but not in the same county, while waiting on each to make their decision about learning in the fall. They did not _start_ in both schools -- we unenrolled them from one school before the school year started.

I read closely what we signed to enroll them, and there was no statement about how I acknowledge my kid isnt' enrolled in some other school or anything like that.

This! Just go full bore on both schools, and disenroll from the one that has the least to offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, you're making some big decisions based on two days of not-school. I think you need to take a big breath, and stop drawing huge conclusions on essentially no data. Bridge isn't school, and that means the teachers aren't treating it like school. What it was supposed to be doesn't translate well to online at all. It's not a sign of how actual DL, with her actual teachers, is going to go.

Thanks for this. OP here. This helps. Here's the thing. I don't mind waiting. I WANT to give DCPS a chance. It starts August 31. The second home school begins mid-September which means she could go to DCPS for two weeks to feel it out. What I ideally want is for my child to get to be able to participate in the freshman orientation stuff at the 2nd home school, but to do that I assumed I needed to be enrolled in the second home school. But maybe if I explain the situation to them they'd allow her to participate in the orientation activities. I need to do more legwork.

You cannot judge it by the first week either. The first week always sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to disenroll her from DCPS and enroll her in the new school. If she hates it, then you can reenroll her in DCPS.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's fairly normal to freak out when a new program isn't what you expected. Talk to your neighbors who have kids already at he school or who have gone through it. Let them talk you off the ledge. Also, it is high school, so prepare and expect for the schedule to be completely messed up for the first week. It happens every year, mostly because so many people enroll late, and the assign classes to people who actually transferred, and everyone has to be reshuffled, etc., and then it all gets sorted out.

Yup. There's a lot of shuffle in the schedule. People are going to attribute it to DL, but it's really just what happens when you have a large school with a lot of moving parts.