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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ludlow-Taylor waitlists didn't move at all, with the exception of PK and a single October offer for 4th grade. Recalling people saying that's related to ongoing construction?

Meanwhile, Brent made 3x the number of offers it did last year. Bussing to Columbia Heights definitely not appealing to people. [/quote]

Yes regarding L-T. Construction that was supposed to be done before school started in August was not even up out of the ground at that point. They now claim it will be done before kids are back in the building after winter break. I remain skeptical. Glad they didn't overextend with offers in this environment. Next year will likely be a different story once the school can spread out into the new space (though don't expect them to suddenly add a ton of seats, I just think there will be more cushion on the margins).

Not surprised about Brent though we don't know any Brent families who left this year. I am betting they just burned through waitlists when offers were made and they had to clearly disclose the swing space situation. I recall we were in a similar boat with an offer to CHML when they were renovating and it was the same thing -- we were one of many families who turned it down because we didn't want to commit to busing our then-3 yo kid across town daily.[/quote]

L-T has about 20 more kids than last year even without the WL movement. Classes are bigger than they’ve ever been. DCPS is forcing them to offer too many slots in the lottery. 3rd grade has 24 kids in every class; construction or no construction, they weren’t taking in the lottery except for maybe in 2nd where they added a class to meet demand so could have take more kids. Assuming they’re trying to get back to 3 classes next year so decided to stay with 19/class.[/quote]

24 kids in a 3rd grade classroom is not large. I'd say that's about right for class size at an in-demand school with strong in bound buy in. I wouldn't want to go larger but I wouldn't complain about that. Everyone always wants smaller classes.

19 kids in a 2nd grade classroom is incredibly small and you don't even get that in Title 1 schools where there are restrictions on class size. A sub-20 class size outside of ECE or later grades due to attrition is fairly unheard of at a school with L-T's test scores. That 2nd grade cohort with smaller class is very lucky (really nice for 2nd when there's a big push for literacy and math fundamentals to get them ready for higher level work the following year) but I would also expect the school to get those classes up to at least 22 via the lottery next year, which would mean offering around 15 spots (9 to lift class size and then conservatively estimating attrition of 6).

It sounds like L-T had the capacity for more students and DCPS rightly sought to get them to capacity. I would also note that demand on L-T should lessen somewhat after JO Wilson's new campus opens next year. I would expect L-T to attract fewer JOW students, especially for ECE, once that is available. L-T likely added more students than normal from the JOW catchment this year because of the swing space, and may also have taken in Brent students for the same reason. Once JOW and Brent reopen with brand new campuses, I don't think you'll see as many people in the broader neighborhood seeking L-T out as an alternative. They'll still get students from Miner and Watkins, but those students will also seek out Brent, Maury, Payne, and likely JOW. So it will relax somewhat.

L-T is fine, I think parents are just freaking out a bit because of a lack of understanding of the broader situation. L-T is not being asked to do anything that any other school in the same situation would be asked to do.[/quote]

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