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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It seems like Brookland is geographically the "which of these things is not like the other".  Why is it on your list?  The neighborhood schools there are not great.  There are a lot of area charters but having missed the Iottery, you won't get in.  I would stop looking in Brookland, your search is too wide and you need to narrow it down.[/quote]

+1. Unless you want to gamble on the lottery, I’d avoid Brookland. Petworth and Takoma have a few really great schools (Powell, Barnard, West, Whittier) but they lack the “desirable” feeder patterns to MS/HS you get from schools in Ward 3, Shepherd Park, and Mt. Pleasant. That being said, my kids attend one of those schools I mentioned, and we are really happy there. Good community feel and happy, experienced teachers.[/quote]

I am the poster of list of the reasons we left a school (playground behavior etc.) It was one of the petworth schools listed above. People are always excited about the school and think it’s on a positive trajectory. It’s not a horrible place but there are still a lot of problems and that comes from the fact that the neighborhood still has a lot of issues, particularly drug related crime often extremely close to the school.  I’m not stereotyping - I lived in the neighborhood a very long time and I am close friends with even longer-term residents.  There a lot of people with really great intentions and positive thinking about some of the petworth DCPS schools.  Those affirmations don’t always play out in reality though. I urge you to go check out the schools in person to the extent you are permitted.  Linger, without looking too creepy, when kids are outside playing. Pay attention to what you see happening. I will also note that every communication received from the school was full of basic spelling errors. It did not instill confidence.

I’m not saying this to sound mean or negative but it became a really big source of stress in our lives. I’m just sharing my experience in hopes of helping other people navigate better than we did.  My friends who ended up at charters we’re all happy. My friends who ended up at some of the local petworth DCPS continue trying to lottery into the charters.[/quote]

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