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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You should rank them in your order of preference. If middle school matters, probably Lafayette and Shepherd first. But if you plan to move anyway or commutes matter a ton, that could be different.

Would you consider trekking south? I have friends whose kids go to Dorothy Height and Barnard and have been happy there.[/quote]

+1. True preference always. But if you wanted a middle/high school pathway, your true preference could be different than if you're just looking for a strong, convenient elementary school. The problem with Whittier, Lewis, and Takoma is that other families WILL start leaving in middle elementary for a different feeder pattern. Not everyone and not all in the same year, but you just can't know ahead of time if it will be your DC's primary friend cohort and how much it will bother your DC.

As someone in the same general neighborhood and a few years ahead of you, here's what I'd recommend. Decide both: (1) if you want to prioritize staying in your current house and if that means securing an OOB/charter feeder pathway; (2) and also if you feel confident in your current charter through third grade or so. If both are a yes, then I wouldn't move your DC from your decent charter until you get an offer that gives you a long term pathway. If you want to stay in your current house, but don't feel confident in your charter for another 5 years, then I'd rank true preference, accounting for feeder patter, and see where you get in. If another school can give you a solid, stable 5+ years, it's not ideal, but not the end of the world to move DC in middle elementary. They may moan and groan, but it is so common in DC that it's not the end of the world. Also consider whether you would be interested in DCI for middle and high school. Many, many families in the area choose DC because of academic standards and proximity, not language. If you'd consider DCI, then I'd lottery for any of those feeders you want, plus Powell and Bruce Monroe (which are easy to get into at K and build language skills until you can lottery into a DCI feeder in upper elementary).
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This is an underrated post. Even if you OP want to stay at a school your kids friends may begin to leave for schools with different feeders. Or move out of DC in general..[/quote]

This is true at all schools unless you live WOTP and go to your IB school, and even then kids start to splinter to charters, Walls, private, the suburbs. DC is probably not a place where your kid is going to matriculate with their 20 best friends for their entire school lives. [/quote]

But OP is already planning on her DH's charter for middle school, so that's not an issue for her. The question is whether her kid will be the last one from the K/1st grade friend group left by 4th grade. Even in WOTP schools it's rare to finish elementary school with all 20 best friends, but socially it's different whether there are a critical core left vs. having to make new friends for the last year or two of elementary. And to put a finer point on it, it's year to year at any EOTP schools. Within the same school and same family, one kid may keep their friend group through elementary and another may be feel left behind and lonely in fourth or fifth. I've seen all of these scenarios play out at all of the EOTP schools in the OP.[/quote]

I actually have a question about this because the EOTP people we know who go to WOTP early elementary seem to struggle a bit more to find footing. How easy is it to build a community WOTP if you live EOTP? I'm genuinely curious about this from people with experience. Are you constantly shuttling WOTP. Do you tend to see neighborhood kids on weekends? [/quote]

I think it depends on the particular WOTP school, the kid, and the family. Some schools are much more neighborhood schools than others. And if you have a social butterfly who arranges their own play dates and joins every after school club, then they'll probably find their footing easily, but yes the parents will be shuttling WOTP on weekends and holidays. [/quote]

This isn't a judgement, it's really not, parents want to do best by their kids and make choices that will do that but that seems like so much for what? Obviously JR is the highest ranked neighborhood HS but what are the activities, offerings, etc... that make it so much better? Is it purely reputation? I know test scores get thrown out a lot but there are kids with remarkably different circumstances at these schools regardless of teachers.

Sorry to hijack this thread I'm just curious what makes people so anxious about non-JR HSs that they drive around all weekend while living in the city.[/quote]

You’re really asking if parents think it’s worth a couple car trips for weekend play dates if that’s part of the deal for a completely different education? Your normal weekend must be full of magic if you don’t want to pull your kids away from that a few times to see their friends.

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I specifically asked what made it worth it because our current EOTP IB school has been very academically rigorous with the added bonus of a strong community. So the idea of losing that community for education makes me curious what exactly the educational difference is.

I appreciate the specific programming and offerings, and it makes sense, but those offerings exist in part because people are willing to drive around the city to get them rather than demand them in their own backyards. I want to know what to try and demand in my own backyard.[/quote]

Well, it depends what you think is realistic for the feeder pattern.  For example to offer Calculus BC like Wilson does, Coolidge would need a bunch of 9th graders to take Algebra II. So that means Wells has to get some 7th graders through Algebra I so that they can take Geometry as 8th graders. And the only way that can happen is if the entering 6th grade class has some strong math students. See how it fits together?  Therefore you need to understand that it's not as simple as demanding it and it will appear. That's naive elementary school parent thinking. The problem is low performance throughout the feeder pattern. It's not that DCPS just hates Coolidge or thinks parents don't want a good school or whatever rationale you're imagining. It's a very hard and very expensive thing to change. And it's not for lack of parents demanding change.

And you also need to understand that Coolidge just isn't as large, and it's overcrowded-- its target enrollment is actually a little lower. So it's always going to have less variety than a bigger school does. Pros and cons to that either way.

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