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]
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.

[/quote]

1) Not gonna happen. Those schools are overcrowded in the compulsory grades. Yes, I think that re-zoning and considering opening additional schools would be a good idea, but we all saw how re-zoning went the last time that was tried and how pissed people still are about it.
2) This is already happening at some schools, as the PP mentioned. Parents are not lotterying because PK3 isn't available. If PK3 is available in the neighborhood school, they're listing it. They are also listing other things, because many people want something (that they perceive to be) better than their neighborhood school.

I definitely think that there is a bigger demand for PK3 and PK4 than DCPS bargained for. I would be interested to know if they are planning to expand in the upper grades. I don't know that it makes sense to do that now, but I think that adding an elementary school WOTP would make a lot of sense, as would expanding access to things like Montessori and dual language that are highly desirable.

I think that something important for the PK parents (particularly those whose first child will be entering the lottery for the first time this winter) to consider is that PK3 and PK4 are fairly low down on many schools' lists of concerns. They are dealing with older children who are struggling academically and socially. They are dealing with facilities that are crumbling and an opaque process for deciding what renovations will happen and when. They are dealing with a revolving door of teaching staff that stems from the difficult populations that many schools serve as well as the generally grueling work that teachers do. If you suggest to the overworked principal of a Title 1 school EOTP that they should open another PK3 class room, what they hear is "I want you to deal with the logistics of hiring 2 more teachers, finding classroom space and managing interactions with 15 more families."

Selfishly, as the parent of an older child at one of these schools, I am not particularly inclined to fight for expanded PK3 because I know that many PK3 families will leave our school the first chance they get. Sure, there may be people lining up behind them to take their place, but given the many other priorities we have at school, why would I pick that one?[/quote]

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