Reply to 3/29 Lottery Results

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I hear a lot about Whittier being a great DCPS in ward 4. What about Takoma? It was on the list a few pages ago which is why I ask.

We don’t have kids old enough yet but can’t wait (not) to do the lottery next year (we live in ward 4 but will be able to do drop off anywhere).

Not anti charter. But we like the idea of a DCPS. [/quote]

IMO, which may not be worth much  :lol: , Takoma is a wildcard. We liked the PK program when we visited (teachers seemed relatively engaged and class sizes were small) and the administration seems, for the most part, to know what's going on, especially compared to some of the other schools we visited (I'm looking at you, Brightwood and Barnard). But it didn't seem as organized or to have as strong a community as Whittier (so much school pride) or Height (PTO is super active). We know several families with kids in various grades there who love it and say they would absolutely choose it again... but we also have several friends who didn't have a good experience and transferred out (mostly to charters, but two to other DCPS schools that don't look any better than Takoma on paper) and know one PK3 family that had a terrible experience there pretty much all year and is trying to lottery into basically [b]any[/b] other school in our area (or will go private) for PK4. Even that family, however, acknowledges that the families they know in the other PK3 class are super happy and that they probably wouldn't be planning to transfer out of they had ended up in the other PK3 class. So basically, it seems like kids' experiences there are highly variable depending on which teachers they get. I know that's obviously true at any school (some teachers are better than others... duh) but it seems like there may be more extremes amongst the teaching staff at Takoma, like you might get a longterm sub unqualified to teach PK followed by a PK teacher who doesn't respond to any parent emails or phone calls at all, or you might get an awesome PK teacher with tons of experience who sends you updates at least daily. That's why it seems like a wildcard to me.  [/quote]
Thanks for this. I was the one who asked about Takoma. Thank you for taking your time to answer. This is helpful.

Teacher specific seems like a risk had at any school (like you said) but are you thinking there may be more "bad" than good at Takoma than a Whitier or a charter? We have neighbors who love Breakthrough, DCB, etc.

This may not be the thread for that. Was only curious about why Whittier gets more attention than the other DCPS school less than a mile away. Almost feels like both schools would be part of the same overall Brightwood, Manor, Takoma community for all families to play at the playground, etc. 
[/quote]

Breakthrough has no MS feeder and many families don’t want Montessori for upper ES so I feel like it doesn’t get as much love.  I live in one of the neighborhoods you mentioned and don’t know anyone who goes to Takoma or Brightwood.  At the playground we meet Whittier, Breakthrough, LAMB and DCB families.  [/quote]

Well, Breakthrough has Truth, but that's not for everyone. We are in the neighborhood and know a lot of families IB for Takoma that are at Takoma. Plenty at LAMB, DCB, JR feeders, etc as well. We actually know only a few families at Brightwood and Whittier, but that's a sample size of one.[/quote]

Breakthrough does not feed to Sojourner Truth.  It currently has no MS feeder pattern.[/quote]

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