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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]EOTP poster, do you get the feeling that your neighbors will be staying in the neighborhood long term?[/quote]

Depends on the neighbors. Many of them have already been in the neighborhood long term, so yes. If the middle and high school situation in mid-city doesn't improve, I have the impression that many of the higher SES/white families will leave. I would really rather not do that myself, and I suspect that my standards for what is "acceptable" might be slightly lower/different than the higher SES/white families I'm thinking of, but truthfully, if nothing changes in the next 6 years, I will probably try to find another middle school option.

Why do you ask?[/quote]

We're looking to move from our condo in an area where families tend to move once their kids reach pre-schoolish age or they have a 2nd child (we fit both criteria).  I feel like I've stopped making an effort because people come and go so much in my neighborhood.  I really want to move to a community where we can plant roots and other families are planning to stay as their children become tweens and teens, but we can't afford the WOTP neighborhoods.  Also, DH grew up in another large city, so it doesn't phase him that neighborhood children go to many different schools, but it still kind of bothers me (once again, doesn't seem to be an issue WOTP, but we can't afford it there).  Maybe I'm just not cut out for raising a family in the city, time will tell.  [/quote]

I guess it depends on the area you're talking about. We live in Columbia Heights and DD is going to Cooke in Adams Morgan next year. There are a lot of families who stay in the neighborhoods right around the school and me long term, but by and large they are not DCUM readers. I have observed that young families are staying longer than they used to, but that hasn't translated to meaningful diversity (racial OR socioeconomic) in all the EOTP neighborhoods that are diverse yet - because there are charters, because kids go private, because they get in OOB (we are OOB for Cooke but prefer it over Tubman because of the international bacc curriculum).

I am excited to see what happens.[/quote]

We are going to H.D. Cooke next year too and could not be more excited about it, especially given the fantastic new principal who has done so much already in just a few weeks on the job. I will say that we weren't planning on checking out Cooke initially based on what we read here and on test scores. But I'm glad that we did. First, we would have gotten in nowhere if we had not applied--we are IB for Cooke and our waitlist numbers are into the 400s for some of the more popular schools and very high (over 100) for schools that people said were "safeties." Second, the early childhood program at Cooke is top-notch. And third, now that there is a new principal, the school is going to turn around. The new principal has a clear plan for increasing the quality of teaching, test scores, parent engagement, etc. I feel like families like yours, PP, and mine are going to be a part of that.

OP, my advice to you is to check out your neighborhood school. DCPS does early childhood education very well pretty universally. If you can get into your neighborhood school early, your child can get an excellent education AND you can be a part of making the school into one that will meet the long-term needs of your family. You can also check out OOB options and charters, but there is such a benefit of being able to walk next door to school with your three-year-old and have a core group of families that live nearby who go to the school.

If you share what your IB school is, those of us who live EOTP and checked out a bunch of DCPS can let you know our impressions. Best of luck.[/quote]

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