Reply to Why can’t Watkins get traction with Capitol Hill?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]They desperately need to get rid of the Peabody/Watkins configuration.  Watkins should be a PK-3 through 5th grade, with fewer classrooms in each grade, which in turn would help the school.

Peabody could become a special education school or something—ideally the destination for an autism program or something.[/quote]

I think that's a decent idea, regarding Peabody. I do think you'd get pushback from neighborhood families though. Peabody is not only a very solid option for IB families, but it's often an ECE option for families IB for L-T, Brent, and Maury who can't get into those programs at PK. Because Watkins is less desirable to IB families, they usually have more OOB seats available, especially for PK4, as many IB families lottery into charters, SWS, or CHML rather than take a Peabody spot knowing they will want to move before Watkins.

Right now it feels like there is either not quite enough, or just enough, PK spots (via a combo of DCPS, charters, and private options) on the Hill. But it's an area that has consistently seen increases in families with young kids, especially families with young kids who want a public option for PK, over the last 15 years or so, and I don't see that changing. So taking away a current PK option isn't going to go over well.[/quote]

Current Peabody Prek4 family here - I agree, it seems like there aren't enough PK spots. You're not correct though on Peabody having many OOB seats. There are aprox. 58 slots per grade at Peabody. Since 2021 (the first year the data is broken out this way), Peabody PK3 hasn't matched an OOB kid on match day (although OOB kids do get in off the waitlist). For Prek 4, in 21, 0 OOB kids were matched. In '22, 3 OOB siblings matched, and in '23, 12 OOB siblings matched. For K, in '21 there were no OOB kids matched, in '22 there 3 siblings that matched and 10 no preference and in '23, 6 siblings matched and 19 no preference. Now certaintly there may be some OOB kids getting into Peabody for Prek3, but since inbound kids aren't getting in, I'm skeptical. There are more OOB kids at Prek4 but the big group would be siblings on match day so not these LT, Brent, Maury OOB kids you describe (assuming their older siblings are at those schools). All this to say, I think the issue with removing Peabody as an option is actually what you do with the Peabody/Watkins inbound prek3 and prek 4 kids which is probably more like 60 kids a year plus the handful of OOB kids that are getting into Peabody for prek4. That seems like a solvable amount of kids should Peabody convert to a special ed campus (which I think would be a great idea). We loved Peabody but aren't continuing on at Watkins (lotteried into another Hill school). [/quote]

You underestimate how much movement there is on waitlists for PK. I have known several people who have gotten into Peabody OOB off the waitlist, for both PK3 and PK4, over the last 5 years or so.

What happens is that IB families get matched with Peabody and enroll, because it's a good school and it's close and it's a no brainer. But then they get a waitlist offer for SWS, CHML, a DCI feeder, etc. Some people will still stick with Peabody because of proximity, but there are plenty of families who will look down the road to Watkins and take the offer elsewhere. Especially true for people who have younger siblings because they'll be looking forward to a few years ahead when their youngest is in PK3 and their oldest is in 1st and up.

To give a sense, Peabody made 67 waitlist offers for PK4 last year. That's a lot of offers! Many to OOB kids.[/quote]

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