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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DCUM will always tell you to move to the suburbs or at the very least live zones for JR and still lottery like hell because DCPS is evil. Reality is obviously more nuanced. Lots of families are thriving east of the park and buy in for some middle schools is improving. Having a baby in the burbs seems incredibly isolating to me and giving up the city for high school when you haven't even conceived yet is wild. So much can and will change before you even get to Prek- both with the schools and you![/quote]

The problem is that many of us ignored (or didn't get) advice like that when we were in OP's position and now have middle school age kids and are REALLY unhappy with our options and wish we'd planned better. The whole "so much can change!" advice is just a way to kick the can and not deal with something that will eventually be a problem.

I'd love to be able to say "don't worry, most of the middle schools and high schools in the city are fine, and people freak out about this for no reason." The truth is that most of the middle schools in the city are hot garbage, high school is worse, and making better choices when you can do so will save you a lot of headaches down the road.

Also, close in suburbs are not isolated. Plenty are dense, close to transit, with walkable neighborhoods and plenty to do. The difference between Petworth and, say, Takoma Park, is negligible in terms of connectivity. But if you buy in the right part of TP, you can be in bound for Blair high school which is a perfectly good school. If you buy in Petworth, you might have a great elementary experience and then realize you want to be in TP, and then discover you can't afford to move or doing so uproots your life in challenging ways.

I live in DC, I wish I'd either bought IB for JR or for a close in suburb. The school situation in DC is fine-to-great for PK and elementary, and then totally falls apart for middle and high school. I've already dropped my standards so far just out of self preservation and it's still hard.[/quote]

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