Reply to Brent rebuild details to know before you accept that lottery spot

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[quote=Anonymous]This is a good point and makes sense re staffing. The funding is a valid issue and a few kids one way or the other does make a difference. I’m sure there will be some downward movement in enrollment numbers, I’m just having a hard time with the doomsday poster who keeps gleefully insisting that enrollment will be down like 50% +. Or actually 100% in 3rd grade allegedly because apparently masses of people are house hunting now to move in the next 8 weeks 😉

But also, the school has been anticipating lower numbers and has been planning as best they can especially given that some teachers also will not be making the move to the swing space (by choice). Just hoping it all works out.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Don’t have younger kids, just not leaping to conclusions. Nothing you said changes my opinion.

Who would take a 4th or 5th grade spot in a swing space across town? Of course they will have to offer it to 30 people and honestly probably no one will ever take it. There’s not a lot of upside there.

Similar story for the 17 spots in each grade you’re citing - it’s probably at least a handful of spaces but I bet the same spot is going to have to be offered around more than once or twice to find a taker. I’m not saying no one is leaving but I don’t think it’s the mass exodus that’s being suggested. I actually also don’t really care either way - time will tell, but just trying to give a balanced perspective here. And if class sizes are smaller, won’t hurt my kid & their many friends who I do know are staying, which greatly outnumber the ones I know leaving (although of course there are some of those too).

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The next two years are going to be awful. IB parents who got in elsewhere are leaving; those with younger kids are mostly planning to come back. Lots of 2nd and 3rd grade families are moving off the Hill. The Upper School set up is even worse than I could have imagined. It's the exact same non-differentiated class on the ELA side; they didn't even change the book (so my kid read the same book twice in a row). I have actually complained the the Chancellor about it, since I don't think it should be possible that your IB school adopts a model that appears to be designed to drive out 5th graders intentionally.[/quote]

Dramatic much? Upper school is not great, nor was it ever. I wouldn’t transfer in for just those years. [b]Some families are of course leaving but it’s not that many and honestly even less than I expected [/b]- lots of folks with kids young enough to see the upside of the new building are sticking it out, or those with older kids who have an established middle school path (sibling preference). The bus ride is what it is but I’d still take the school and community plus bus ride over switching just to avoid the bus.

It’s a different calculation of course if you’re considering transferring in! It may be harder to build community with a bus drop off/pickup versus milling around the school. Depends on what grades your kids would be joining.[/quote]

You are very wrong. I wonder if you have younger kids and so don't realize just how many people are leaving? Check out the WL data and it's only June: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData_draft/MSDCPublicDisplay.

Minimum of 17 offers made in every grade K-5th (where they had only posted 1-2 lottery seats for 1st-5th). For 4th grade, they listed 1 lottery seat, but have made 30 offers already to a WL that only had 33 on it. For 5th, they have offered 19 WL spots (despite having only 24 5th graders last year TOTAL!!)... so only 1 kid on that WL on match day remains. The school is hemorrhaging students. They will fully run through their waitlists in many grades.[/quote][/quote]

People get a week to decide and these are only the offers made by the beginning of June (i.e., within a month) and they don’t even have the full count of who is leaving yet. I am speaking from personal experience when I say the 3rd grade is leaving en masse; I was just using these stats to offer proof that it’s true. If you want to think they’re offering 20 spots all at once to fill one opening and just hoping only 1 kid takes it, feel free. What’s really happening is that they’re down 10+ kids in these grades already. And WLs have only just started moving/some folks are still house hunting. [/quote]

What you have to worry about is losing money for teachers. They did *not* hold Thompson harmless last year and, woth 2 years in swing space, my guess is that Brent is forced to cut quite a few teachers next year. It will be very disruptive, and they will need those teachers back eventually, but DCPS is short sighted. But yes, this year you might get small classes.[/quote][/quote]

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