Anonymous wrote:Below is what OP posted in the DC forum, just FWIW. They clearly bought a house and got a good bang for their buck and are now shocked that their child may actually have to go to school with … their actual neighbors? As PP said, this is why some people stretch even for the smallest house in a good district. But yes, let’s try COSA or the DCPS lottery (?!?) because you think your child is somehow special and should just get to go to a better public school just because.


I might be crazy, but... would it be possible for a child in Silver Spring to win a lottery spot to attend a DCPS school?

We like our house and our neighborhood and would rather not move. However, our ES option is not good, and mortgage rates are 2.5x what they were when we bought our house. So....

Wondering if this has ever been done, and how to best make the case for our DC if so.

We'll move in-boundary into DC if we have to.

Ok?

Below is what OP posted in the DC forum, just FWIW. They clearly bought a house and got a good bang for their buck and are now shocked that their child may actually have to go to school with … their actual neighbors? As PP said, this is why some people stretch even for the smallest house in a good district. But yes, let’s try COSA or the DCPS lottery (?!?) because you think your child is somehow special and should just get to go to a better public school just because.


I might be crazy, but... would it be possible for a child in Silver Spring to win a lottery spot to attend a DCPS school?

We like our house and our neighborhood and would rather not move. However, our ES option is not good, and mortgage rates are 2.5x what they were when we bought our house. So....

Wondering if this has ever been done, and how to best make the case for our DC if so.

We'll move in-boundary into DC if we have to.

Possibility of a COSA? No.

OP here: Figured it would be next to impossible. Just wanted to see if there was even an avenue for this. Guess not. Thanks!

No chance unless you come up with a really compelling sob story. And I hope you won’t. We know kids with legit needs who were denied. We bought the cheapest, smallest, crappiest house just for the schools. We could have spent the same or less and had a nice house elsewhere so I feel resentful of people who choose house over school and then complain. We saw parents lie to get COSAs at our school and I have spent years fighting the urge to report them. It could be your assigned school is better than you expect. I have had friends who found their kids in “ low performing schools” and fell in love with the staff and community. I have a friend out of state who is happy with her title 1 school experience because they had extra funding and smaller class sizes. And her kids were very advanced. She felt they benefited from standing out instead of blending in. Now that my youngest is in HS, I can say that my house probably wasn’t worth it. The highly ranked schools were high pressure and my kids never felt good at anything. It wasn’t great for their confidence.

I paid extra for a crappy small old house for the ES/MS/HS schools we zone for. They are all within walking distances to our home, so we know what we get with no big surprises.

So three main reasons for a COSA are Sibling placement, family move or unique hardship. I am not sure if you could make a case for unique hardship.

You can't just COSA because you don't like your school. This must be a troll post

Maybe you should just move. This is not COSA worthy.

Possibility is zero.

Have you visited your zoned school? Talked to the teachers/adminstrators? Sat in on a class? If not, you need to do this. You might be surprised.

This is silly. You have no idea if the school will not be a great fit for your child.

Lol is this a serious post? Of course you can’t COSA into a school you think is better, for no reason other than that. If you could do this, everyone would.

If the class sizes (number of students in the classroom) are the same at both schools, it does not matter.

Hi everyone.

What are the chances that we could be granted a COSA for our rising kindergartener to go to a smaller, better ES in a different town than the one we're zoned for?
What argument could we make to be successful in our COSA application?
Have any of you done this before, and what was your experience/rationale?

Our DC is a well rounded, smart kiddo without special needs. We're worried about the size and relatively poor ratings of the school we're zoned for (>150 kids per grade, 7-8 classes per grade), online reviews aren't great, and parent reviews have been mixed.

Grateful for any advice.