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[quote=Anonymous]For various reasons (but mostly anonymity), I don't want to name the schools involved in this decision. But I would love insight if anyone has anyone based on this hypothetical, because I don't know what to do.

We are currently at Red Elementary, a DCPS. We have had an okay but uneven experience there, and the most recent year was not great (partly just a bad class draw, but also partly due to things about the school's culture and physical setting). We do not want to spend the rest of elementary at Red.

We did the lottery this year and got a very bad lottery number. Like REALLY bad -- we wound up last on the waitlist for pretty much every school we lotteried for.

Right now, our best shot at moving this summer is for Blue Charter Elementary. Blue has very mixed reviews and has had issues recently retaining teachers. However, it has a philosophy we think would be better for our child, and it's in a better facility. It's very possible Blue will be the only school we get into this year. We are worried that if we switch to Blue, we will quickly become frustrated with teacher retention and administration issues, and regret leaving Red Elementary. But then be in a situation where if we move again, our kid will have attended 3 elementaries in 3 years, something we don't want.

There is another school, Purple Elementary, that we have an extremely low chance of getting into this year, but we really like it. If we got a spot this year, we'd for sure stay through the end of elementary, no question. Also, our odds of getting into Purple next year would be much better, simply because lottery odds for higher grades are much better (they frequently clear waitlists fir the next grade up, but not our current grade).

If you were in this situation, and you got an offer from Blue Charter, would you take it, hoping either Blue is better than you hoped or you get a spot at Purple in August or September? Or would you stay at Red and hold out hope for a spot at Purple either this year or next, knowing you'd be much more likely to be happy there over the longterm? Even though you know you'll probably be frustrated/unhappy at Red this year based on what you now understand about the school?

If you followed that, congrats, and TIA for any suggestions or perspectives on what to do.[/quote]

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