Reply to Parents of 2-year-old in DC - what should we be doing NOW to prepare for the PK3 lottery?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
One more https://ms-dc.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/2016-lottery-unique-applicants-on-wls-by-grade.pdf[/quote]

Thank you for posting this list. I'm realizing that a huge number of students don't get in anywhere for PK. DC clearly needs more school options - even though the number of slots for students has been rising rapidly, the number of students seems to be rising even more rapidly. I wonder what the prospects are for:
1) WOTP schools to offer PK3 (Potentially parents who would aspire to move to a WOTP neighborhood eventually stay EOTP until their children are older to have an opportunity for PK3)
2) A guaranteed slot for PK3 at neighborhood schools instead of starting at kindergarten (some parents are perhaps choosing the lottery instead of their in-bounds school because of the lack of guarantee?)
3) Either additional schools open or existing schools expand their programs

Interested what people think of this.

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Very unlikely. PK3 and PK4 is not a compulsory year in DC for good reason.

However, in the areas of most need (about 1 dozen Title 1 or likely Title I schools)  they have now made PK3 and PK4 guaranteed to all IB students who enter Round 1 of lottery and list that school first.

The problem is parents are acting like they have a RIGHT to PK3 and PK4. And they don't.

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See, I would say the problem is DC does not plan very well. Why offer PS3 in some areas when less than 50% of the IB kids can get into the program? I understand they are not guaranteed seats but I shouldn't have a better chance of winning money on a scratch off than getting my kid into their neighborhood school. I think this is one of the things the lottery is trying to hide by only releasing the WL movement numbers.[/quote]

This is a problem in our EOTP neighborhood but there is little that can be done. Guaranteeing PK to IB families in neighborhoods with huge demand is no solution. You cannot have a school with more PK classes per grade than the upper grades, because you'd just be running a giant daycare with a school tacked onto it, not to mention physical space constraints. So say you have 2 classes per grade in grades 1-5, then your max is 2 classes for PK3 and the same for PK4.

I used to be upset about this, because I saw my neighbors not getting in and I wanted them at the school, for their sake and the school's. But over time I realized that K-5 is not nearly as over-subscribed, just PK3-4. And if that phenomenon occurred for just 1-2 years then it could be a demographic anomaly, like a snowstorm baby boom or something. But it continues, which tells me (and tells DC Central Office) that there is huge demand for PK3/4 mostly because it's free and an amazingly good alternative to $2k/month daycare which is often of no better quality.

But the demand reduces after K. Thus it would be bad policy to offer PK to everyone IB. I wish there was a way (and I bet DCPS wishes the same) to ascertain which parents were committed to stay until grade 5 and give them preference. But that doesn't exist, so the only rational policy is to restrict PK spots to equal K and above spots, per grade.  
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