PO drops him off at my house before school starts and I take him in with mine

Anonymous wrote:My spouse received a return to office date sooner than we expected and now we are scrambling to apply to the post Lottery to find a school closer to our ward. He was hired for a remote position so we weren't sure RTO would be required until now.

We love the school our kids are attending but with only one spouse now doing all the work, we need to find a closer commute or a school downtown where my spouse will be working. We do not like our in bound school.

Anyone had luck applying post lottery and found a decent spot or is more just leftovers from bad schools left? We've only applied once before so we don't have any experience in this or know any parents yet having to do a post Lottery application.

Is it possible to hire a sitter or another parent to drive them to/ from their current school or do a carpool? That way you won’t need to change their lives too much?

Just thinking of other ideas. We had to do this as kids and my mom (single parent) took us in mornings and another parent got us after school.

I help a neighbor who has to RTO more now. Our kids attend the same school so I either pick him up on the way in or she drops him off on her way to work. Her husband barely works, but can’t be bothered to do it for some reason. The older MS child goes on their own. The kid attends after school and occasionally I have received a text asking if I can get him from after school, but usually dad picks him up. I’m happy to do it and to help. Do you know other parents at your kids school who live close to you? Especially if you don’t get in anywhere that you’re interested in?

What is your IB (since you're guaranteed a spot for the 1st grader and IB w/ sib preference for prek 4)? Have you spoken to famailies enrolled there to get a real sense of it? We're at a school that doesn't get much love on DCUM but it's been fantastic for the 10 yrs we've been there (2 kids, completing 5th with younger sib this year).

Anonymous wrote:Ward 6 PK4 and 1st Grade

Pk4 will be difficult. Thomson (downtown) in ward 2 might be your best bet. They usually have a short list for both grades

We matched with a school from the "short waitlist" option last year and ended up being very happy with it.

Myschooldc will have a “short waitlists” tab soon. It’s super helpful. You can sort by grade, ward, school, etc. Not sure when they usually post it. Maybe after the May 1 enrollment deadline?

Ward 6 PK4 and 1st Grade

How many kids and what grades? Having multiple is going to help because if one of them gets a spot it will help the others jump up the list.

Just add every school within an acceptable commute that you would be okay with. I would include a few that are a "stretch commute."

Also, regarding your IB, you need to ask yourself a key question: which is a worse case scenario for you next year? (1) You don't get in anywhere closer and so you figure out how to keep making the commute to the old school even though you are on your own with it. OR (2) your kids attend the IB for a year and you lottery next year and hope you land somewhere you prefer?

You just have to be realistic. Figuring out now what your best worst case option is, if post-lottery apps don't pan out, will help you feel more secure as you move forward, and also help with explaining to older kids what's going to happen (ECE kids don't need that much info but like a 4th grader needs some warning on the plan).

Do you have proximity preference to any schools? That will bump you to the top of the wait list.

And what grade?

What neighborhood, OP?

thanks for the advice. I'll start applying everywhere

It's not always "leftovers"-- sometimes a school can decide to add another classroom. DCPS preschool is pretty good everywhere, just because you get in late doesn't make it a bad school for preschool.

I think you should go in now and just add your kids to every school you'd be willing to commute to, without regard to quality. Do that right now. That way you will see which schools are possible, like where you're under, say, #25 on the waitlist. Then after the May 1 enrollment deadline, lists will start moving and you can make decisions about what schools you'd actually like.

We've gone up 4 slots at one school and have been told that most movement will be after May 1. Scour MySchoolDC and just put your kids in waitlists everywhere you can.

My spouse received a return to office date sooner than we expected and now we are scrambling to apply to the post Lottery to find a school closer to our ward. He was hired for a remote position so we weren't sure RTO would be required until now.

We love the school our kids are attending but with only one spouse now doing all the work, we need to find a closer commute or a school downtown where my spouse will be working. We do not like our in bound school.

Anyone had luck applying post lottery and found a decent spot or is more just leftovers from bad schools left? We've only applied once before so we don't have any experience in this or know any parents yet having to do a post Lottery application.