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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Right, don't plan on getting into BASIS.

Giving up one's happy life on Cap Hill/community mainly so your kid can attend a high powered middle school in the burbs seems nuts. Same with forking out for a pricey private you can scarcely afford or commuting to DCI.[/quote]

Not nuts when you have a secure path from middle school to 12th in the burbs at a much better school with high performing peer groups with better facilities, extracurriculars and sports.

What exactly is your plan for high school?[/quote]

The truth is that lots of families on the Hill can afford 4 years of private or, at least, parochial HS if they need to. That is the plan of at least 50% of the UMC 2-3 kid families I know at our Hill IB ES (my oldest is rising 4th, so this is a frequent topic of convo). Nearly everyone plans to lottery for Latin x 2 and most for BASIS (though quite a few prefer BASIS, mostly the high achievers); for those who don’t get in, I’d say 3/4ths are planning to head to SH. The rest will move, head private or head to ITS if they can (I’ve also heard CHML, 2R and ST as back ups, but ITS seems to be the preferred charter backup). Then folks without a HS option (plus quite a few who have one) are hoping for Walls or, for a few, DE or Banneker or planning to go private/parochial. Some recent UMC families got some money from Gonzaga and SJC, so those are ones I’ve heard recently. 2 grads with younger sibs are headed to GDS and NCS. I think if people stick it out for middle, they don’t move for HS.[/quote]

I disagree. Plenty of people "stick it out" for middle, but do move for HS. If not at the end of MS, then before. I know several families who went into MS on the Hill with spots at BASIS, or private, or giving SH a try, with every intention of sticking around for high school, but then left. I know families who got spots at BASIS and realized it was not a good cultural fit and did not want to stick it out for high school despite being happy with the academics. I also know a family who got into ITDS for elementary thinking they'd go through MS, but realized the very small school environment wasn't right for their kid and needed other options. All of these families wound up moving.

I mean, they could have stayed and gone to SH or Jefferson, that's an option. This was a few years ago and I do wonder if they'd make the same choice today given that more kids form feeder schools are going to these MSs. But I also think about those families and what they wanted for their kids, and I don't think so. If you go the charter route, you're not content with the DCPS options. If the charter doesn't work out, it doesn't necessarily make DCPS look better at this level. In some ways worse because even if you aren't happy at BASIS, at least there's a HS option.

As for private... people talk big about going to private schools when they have bright kids in elementary school. I remember those conversations about "oh we can use our 529" or "it's just 4 years." But if you have more than one kid, you will be looking at paying for private while also funding college for older kids. Also, admissions to private schools aren't just a given. It's competitive. It's not some low key option.

Lots of families get to MS and realize, you know what, we just want a decent-to-excellent MS and HS option that is by right with no worries about applications, lotteries, long commutes, etc. And suburban districts with larger schools start to look appealing too because the large school scan offer everything -- honors tracking, AP and/or IB, strong foreign language, strong arts programs, athletics, etc. That's the advantage of having large high schools with big catchment areas -- they have the money and space to be all things to all people, and if you can buy IB for a good one, it solves like 8 problems at once.

Yes, you give up your nice life on the Hill. Not everyone we know who moved bought, or have the intention of staying forever, and many kept their homes on the Hill with the intent to move back. Who knows, maybe they will. But it's easy to say in mid-elementary that you are in it for the long haul -- you're at an ES you like and most people around you are in the same situation. Things change a lot in MS.[/quote]

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