Reply to Commuter nightmare- any options that you would consider?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]That is such a tough commute for everyone, OP. I think you're right to look for alternatives. But I also think you did a great job finding good schools for your kids with the information you had at the time.

- I think it's going to be harder to find a "good" HS alternative than it is to find a "good" elementary school alternative

- That said, you want to do your best to get your younger child into a "good" middle school pathway too

- I think ideally you'd want to find a high school that is reasonable for your older child to commute to on their own and an elementary school that is reasonable for you to commute with your younger child to.

- I think the next best option is to find two schools in close enough proximity that you can reasonably commute with them both.

Some ideas:

- Eastern, KIPP Legacy, Friendship, Thurgood for your older child to commute to themselves. All have short wait lists and a decent cohort of students passing standardized tests. Definitely ask around the neighborhood for recommendations

- Sojourner Truth is in close proximity to Stokes Brookland and is fairly well regarded

- Thomson is well-liked by families there, short waitlist, feeds into one of the better middle schools, and is sort-of on the way to MacArthur [/quote]

I think that High School is more important socially and that keeping the Sophomore in the same school is a major factor.  And the Sophomore really can commute on their own, so that shouldn't be as big of a factor.  This, of course, depends on the kid and their relationships.  If they don't make friends and hate the school, by all means find an alternative.  But if they like MacArthur, I see no reason to move them.

Getting the younger child into a good middle school is, indeed, pretty important.  I wonder if getting into one of the hill middles at 5th grade might be a good call to assure a decent middle school track?  I live fairly far from there, so it's not my thing, but my kid is entering 5th this year, so I know there's a big shuffle at that grade.[/quote]

The commute between MacArthur and Hillcrest via transit is probably a solid hour and a half. Personally I would have hated having to rely on my parents to get to/from school in high school, but it's the only reasonable choice if they go to MacArthur. Commute/lack of autonomy would be my main motivation to pick a different high school.

All things considered, if I were in this situation I'd probably opt for MacArthur and Thomson and try the 5th grade lottery for a Hardy/MacArthur feeder and/or BASIS. If that didn't pan out, Thomson/John Francis is still a decent pathway.[/quote]

Yep. from Hillcrest I think you would have to do a bus to green line, green line to red line, exit Dupont, bus to MacArthur.

People like to claim this stuff “just works out” but in reality, not really. If you have a better commute to MacArthur let us know. [/quote]

I think it’s 2 buses at this point but I am looking into some sort of shuttle service. I agree stuff doesn’t just work out but I’ll make sure it does. Asking here was one effort, people are so lame and not helpful though [/quote]

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