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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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]This is an incredibly insightful analysis.   Certainly accurate and much more charitable and nuanced than pointing out that all this strum and drang among the Millennial/Petworth set is first and foremost about free childcare (and secondarily about upcoming real estate decisions.  see, e.g., PoP)

[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. [/quote][/quote]

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