What are the best charter schools in the District

[Anonymous]

What are the best charter schools in the District. Open to different neighborhoods. Want an academically challenging environment with a parent body that is engaged and serious about learning and kids who are, by and large, focused on learning and not disruptive. Many thanks for ideas and insights! (we're the same family, coming to DC for a year - really appreciate the other advice)

[Anonymous]

what grades are your children? charters admit by lottery, many lotteries are in the next month. if you don't already have a DC address, I don't think you can enter a lottery. . . . but need to call and ask. off the top, the best:

EL Haynes
Capital City
Two Rivers

with a language immersion component:
LAMB (only admits 3 & 4 yo)
Yu Ying
Elsie Stokes

[Anonymous]

If your kid is old enough, Washington Latin.

I believe the charters with the highest scores are E.L. Haynes (year round program) and Cap City, both are in neighborhoods I'd be really careful about. Haynes is located between a liquor store and a strip club, Cap City is in a very rough spot with active drug dealing nearby (and before everyone jumps on that characterization, I live nearby and see it with my own eyes).

If you are here for a year with a grade school child I would move in bounds for one of the upper NW schools - Janney (maybe not for next year though, it will be a construction site, Lafayette (school without walls so not great if any attention issues), Key, Horace Mann, Murch. We had friends who were here for a year who spent it at Murch, they found it a really welcoming community.

[Anonymous]

Yu Ying is a fabulous school, but Chinese immersion, don't think I'd do it for a year. Same with Oyster, a DCPS with Spanish immersion.

Two Rivers is at some distance from NW neighborhoods, the quality is supposed to really drop off after 3rd. Not a bad drive from parts of Capitol Hill.

If you try to move in bounds for a DCPS school (not charter) get the most recent map of boundaries from the school and work with a good realtor. Schools with a lot of apartments in bounds include Murch, Lafayette, Janney and Key.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is old enough, Washington Latin.

I believe the charters with the highest scores are E.L. Haynes (year round program) and Cap City, both are in neighborhoods I'd be really careful about. Haynes is located between a liquor store and a strip club, Cap City is in a very rough spot with active drug dealing nearby (and before everyone jumps on that characterization, I live nearby and see it with my own eyes).

If you are here for a year with a grade school child I would move in bounds for one of the upper NW schools - Janney (maybe not for next year though, it will be a construction site, Lafayette (school without walls so not great if any attention issues), Key, Horace Mann, Murch. We had friends who were here for a year who spent it at Murch, they found it a really welcoming community.


i live nearby too. i guess i just find this post to be alarmist and almost a bit silly. adams morgan/mount pleasant/columbia heights are urban neighborhoods in an american city. get a grip, people.

[Anonymous]

Latin. Kids thrive.

[Anonymous]

To the Cap City poster, I live there too, but not all out of town folks want to take on such urban grit for a year. Not fair to not share the real deal.

[Anonymous]

If you are looking for a 1st grade spot in a "TOP" charter your chances are slim to none. These schools admit at PreK and a spot only opens up (to everyone who put their child into the lottery) if a child leaves - or if they expand the school (add another class).

I would recommend that you focus on finding a rental in one of the top neighborhood schools that people had previously mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the Cap City poster, I live there too, but not all out of town folks want to take on such urban grit for a year. Not fair to not share the real deal.

i mean this question in a completely non-snarky, genuine way:

is 15th and Irving really "urban grit?"

maybe because i lived in NYC for a long time before DC, i just don't see it that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the Cap City poster, I live there too, but not all out of town folks want to take on such urban grit for a year. Not fair to not share the real deal.

i mean this question in a completely non-snarky, genuine way:

is 15th and Irving really "urban grit?"

maybe because i lived in NYC for a long time before DC, i just don't see it that way.

I agree with you PP. As a native Washingtonian who once lived in NYC, I often laugh when people describe DC as real urban or city for that matter. It's a neat little town in which some sections of the city are more active than others.

[Anonymous]

IO opinion the strip club by ELH is a non-issue. We have been there for 2 yeas and I have yet to see anyone entering or leaving the club. In addition ELH is moving the PreK3-2nd to a new campus in August, 5 minutes north in a residential neighborhood. Lots of green space surrounding it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the Cap City poster, I live there too, but not all out of town folks want to take on such urban grit for a year. Not fair to not share the real deal.

i mean this question in a completely non-snarky, genuine way:

is 15th and Irving really "urban grit?"

maybe because i lived in NYC for a long time before DC, i just don't see it that way.

I agree with you PP. As a native Washingtonian who once lived in NYC, I often laugh when people describe DC as real urban or city for that matter. It's a neat little town in which some sections of the city are more active than others.

Never lived in NYC, but I agree too. It all depends on your perspective. "A neighborhood to be careful about" to one is vibrant and exciting to others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is old enough, Washington Latin.

I believe the charters with the highest scores are E.L. Haynes (year round program) and Cap City, both are in neighborhoods I'd be really careful about. Haynes is located between a liquor store and a strip club, Cap City is in a very rough spot with active drug dealing nearby (and before everyone jumps on that characterization, I live nearby and see it with my own eyes).

If you are here for a year with a grade school child I would move in bounds for one of the upper NW schools - Janney (maybe not for next year though, it will be a construction site, Lafayette (school without walls so not great if any attention issues), Key, Horace Mann, Murch. We had friends who were here for a year who spent it at Murch, they found it a really welcoming community.

Oy vey aren't you a precious hothouse flower? By LAW strip clubs can't have windows that anyone can see into and know what's going on. And needless to say, the girls don't stroll in and out the doors in a state of undress. In the 10+ years I've lived in Washington, near strip clubs in Glover Park and Dupont Circle I don't think I've ever - even once - seen an actual person either enter or exit one of them. If I had, I would imagine they'd look like the patron of just about any other business (i.e., clothed and sober), but instead I'm always wondering how those places stay in business because I never see any foot traffic. As for liquor stores, I've taken my baby into Calvert Woodley many times. I fail to see how adults legally purchasing wine, beer or liquor has a degenerative effect on children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is old enough, Washington Latin.

I believe the charters with the highest scores are E.L. Haynes (year round program) and Cap City, both are in neighborhoods I'd be really careful about. Haynes is located between a liquor store and a strip club, Cap City is in a very rough spot with active drug dealing nearby (and before everyone jumps on that characterization, I live nearby and see it with my own eyes).

If you are here for a year with a grade school child I would move in bounds for one of the upper NW schools - Janney (maybe not for next year though, it will be a construction site, Lafayette (school without walls so not great if any attention issues), Key, Horace Mann, Murch. We had friends who were here for a year who spent it at Murch, they found it a really welcoming community.

Oy vey aren't you a precious hothouse flower? By LAW strip clubs can't have windows that anyone can see into and know what's going on. And needless to say, the girls don't stroll in and out the doors in a state of undress. In the 10+ years I've lived in Washington, near strip clubs in Glover Park and Dupont Circle I don't think I've ever - even once - seen an actual person either enter or exit one of them. If I had, I would imagine they'd look like the patron of just about any other business (i.e., clothed and sober), but instead I'm always wondering how those places stay in business because I never see any foot traffic. As for liquor stores, I've taken my baby into Calvert Woodley many times. I fail to see how adults legally purchasing wine, beer or liquor has a degenerative effect on children.