Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Miner is always going to be an awkward school. It’s IB has a small pocket of UMC families indistinguishable from those living in the LT and Maury boundaries (those living east of the school) and a lot of similar families using it for ECE because of the ECE crunch on the Hill… and then it has a lot of concentrated poverty. I was at a PTA meeting where the principal at the time was talking through strategies for reducing the 30% absence rate in 5th grade and then a petition was presented for replacing the brand new ground cover in the ECE playground because it wasn’t organic; some NW ES (Janney?) had just done it at a cost of six figures. It was clear to me from that one meeting that the school would be impossible to be the principal of. They basically deal with it by making the Miner ECE entirely separate from the rest of the school and assuming all UMC families will leave after ECE anyway.

Hmmm

I think they mean living *west* of the school, but this is otherwise spot-on. There were a handful of very involved IB UMC families who started in ECE and stayed for a few or many years, but that population plummeted post-COVID and I think the last of them (including the long time leaders of their PTO) jumped ship via the lottery this year.

Anonymous wrote:Miner is always going to be an awkward school. It’s IB has a small pocket of UMC families indistinguishable from those living in the LT and Maury boundaries (those living east of the school) and a lot of similar families using it for ECE because of the ECE crunch on the Hill… and then it has a lot of concentrated poverty. I was at a PTA meeting where the principal at the time was talking through strategies for reducing the 30% absence rate in 5th grade and then a petition was presented for replacing the brand new ground cover in the ECE playground because it wasn’t organic; some NW ES (Janney?) had just done it at a cost of six figures. It was clear to me from that one meeting that the school would be impossible to be the principal of. They basically deal with it by making the Miner ECE entirely separate from the rest of the school and assuming all UMC families will leave after ECE anyway.

Hmmm

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assume you are IB for Maury and listing others to flush out your list? Based on your preferred travel direction, CHML could be an option. And also assume this means you have already listed the AppleTrees, etc., where you are not at a OOB disadvantage. But yes, highly, highly unlikely you’d get a spot at Peabody or Payne from OOB. Neither even gave sibling attending or proximity PK3 spots last year.

Any knowledge of JOW (back at permanent location for 26-27) vs Miner?

Honestly depending on which part of the Maury boundary you’re in, there may be a decent logistical difference between the two. I’m not sure how (car vs public transport) you continue your commute, but if one is walkable and the other is not, I would consider weighing that in your calculations. Drop offs at both can get congested. JOW will have a brand-new facility and hopefully the excitement and energy that comes with it. Everyone I’ve spoken to about Miner’s ECE has always said positive things. I’m sure people with first-hand experience at either would have more helpful advice, but honestly, for PK3, don’t underestimate the value of convenience.

OP here. Thanks, good point on logistics. Looking closely at potential routes for either parent, and we were also curious about any other data points that could nudge one way or the other for lottery ranking or if it's really a toss up. One parent will work in NoMa not far from JOW which is how it came on our radar.

Miner is always going to be an awkward school. It’s IB has a small pocket of UMC families indistinguishable from those living in the LT and Maury boundaries (those living east of the school) and a lot of similar families using it for ECE because of the ECE crunch on the Hill… and then it has a lot of concentrated poverty. I was at a PTA meeting where the principal at the time was talking through strategies for reducing the 30% absence rate in 5th grade and then a petition was presented for replacing the brand new ground cover in the ECE playground because it wasn’t organic; some NW ES (Janney?) had just done it at a cost of six figures. It was clear to me from that one meeting that the school would be impossible to be the principal of. They basically deal with it by making the Miner ECE entirely separate from the rest of the school and assuming all UMC families will leave after ECE anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assume you are IB for Maury and listing others to flush out your list? Based on your preferred travel direction, CHML could be an option. And also assume this means you have already listed the AppleTrees, etc., where you are not at a OOB disadvantage. But yes, highly, highly unlikely you’d get a spot at Peabody or Payne from OOB. Neither even gave sibling attending or proximity PK3 spots last year.

Any knowledge of JOW (back at permanent location for 26-27) vs Miner?

JOW has the better middle school and that makes it stronger in upper elementary. Miner has had a rough go with principals the last few years. I don't know who is principal now.

Spoke at length with the current Miner principal Dr. Broquard at Edfest, and she seems to have a very good plan and support for getting the school to where many in the community may want it to be.. and also seems like an overall caring individual.

One of the best principals in the district. Committed to Miner. School still has a lot of issues, despite this great leadership.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assume you are IB for Maury and listing others to flush out your list? Based on your preferred travel direction, CHML could be an option. And also assume this means you have already listed the AppleTrees, etc., where you are not at a OOB disadvantage. But yes, highly, highly unlikely you’d get a spot at Peabody or Payne from OOB. Neither even gave sibling attending or proximity PK3 spots last year.

Any knowledge of JOW (back at permanent location for 26-27) vs Miner?

JOW has the better middle school and that makes it stronger in upper elementary. Miner has had a rough go with principals the last few years. I don't know who is principal now.

Spoke at length with the current Miner principal Dr. Broquard at Edfest, and she seems to have a very good plan and support for getting the school to where many in the community may want it to be.. and also seems like an overall caring individual.

For ECE I’d go with whatever is more convenient and offers you a space. You have close to zero chance of getting into Payne or Peabody for PK3 OOB.

I sent my kids to Miner for ECE and had a good experience. The facility is nice and not even 2 years old and the teachers were all caring and devoted. Also, the principal there now is on her second year (after almost a 10 year stint at Lafayette, what a change!) and to my eyes seems to be doing a good job after much leadership turmoil.

You have to remember the ECE program at Miner generally has quite a few OOB kids who couldn’t get in to their IB - plus IB “UMC” families who may not be in it for the long haul - so the student body is quite distinct from what you’re seeing in the upper grades, where things become pretty dire.

If you were looking at the schools longer term than ECE, JO Wilson is the more desirable school, but personally I’ve never really seen it as a particularly good option either, even though it gets touted here as at least a passable choice, which Miner never is. Granted, the proficiency scores (again, nothing to do with ECE) from Miner are abominably bad - like it doesn’t get any worse - where JO Wilson’s are merely not good. Miner has a cripplingly-high concentration of at-risk students at higher grades that partially helps explain their struggles. But JO Wilson isn’t that far behind on that metric, which matters a lot to me as a parent who has seen first hand how a really high % manifests. Again, for ECE, either is fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assume you are IB for Maury and listing others to flush out your list? Based on your preferred travel direction, CHML could be an option. And also assume this means you have already listed the AppleTrees, etc., where you are not at a OOB disadvantage. But yes, highly, highly unlikely you’d get a spot at Peabody or Payne from OOB. Neither even gave sibling attending or proximity PK3 spots last year.

Any knowledge of JOW (back at permanent location for 26-27) vs Miner?

JOW has the better middle school and that makes it stronger in upper elementary. Miner has had a rough go with principals the last few years. I don't know who is principal now.

PP here. I’m basing my advice assuming the OP is in-bound for Maury and looking for backups for PK3-4. So the long view of upper elementary is probably not in their calculations since they’ll head to Maury for K if they don’t get in before that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assume you are IB for Maury and listing others to flush out your list? Based on your preferred travel direction, CHML could be an option. And also assume this means you have already listed the AppleTrees, etc., where you are not at a OOB disadvantage. But yes, highly, highly unlikely you’d get a spot at Peabody or Payne from OOB. Neither even gave sibling attending or proximity PK3 spots last year.

Any knowledge of JOW (back at permanent location for 26-27) vs Miner?

Honestly depending on which part of the Maury boundary you’re in, there may be a decent logistical difference between the two. I’m not sure how (car vs public transport) you continue your commute, but if one is walkable and the other is not, I would consider weighing that in your calculations. Drop offs at both can get congested. JOW will have a brand-new facility and hopefully the excitement and energy that comes with it. Everyone I’ve spoken to about Miner’s ECE has always said positive things. I’m sure people with first-hand experience at either would have more helpful advice, but honestly, for PK3, don’t underestimate the value of convenience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assume you are IB for Maury and listing others to flush out your list? Based on your preferred travel direction, CHML could be an option. And also assume this means you have already listed the AppleTrees, etc., where you are not at a OOB disadvantage. But yes, highly, highly unlikely you’d get a spot at Peabody or Payne from OOB. Neither even gave sibling attending or proximity PK3 spots last year.

Any knowledge of JOW (back at permanent location for 26-27) vs Miner?

JOW has the better middle school and that makes it stronger in upper elementary. Miner has had a rough go with principals the last few years. I don't know who is principal now.

Anonymous wrote:Assume you are IB for Maury and listing others to flush out your list? Based on your preferred travel direction, CHML could be an option. And also assume this means you have already listed the AppleTrees, etc., where you are not at a OOB disadvantage. But yes, highly, highly unlikely you’d get a spot at Peabody or Payne from OOB. Neither even gave sibling attending or proximity PK3 spots last year.

Any knowledge of JOW (back at permanent location for 26-27) vs Miner?

Assume you are IB for Maury and listing others to flush out your list? Based on your preferred travel direction, CHML could be an option. And also assume this means you have already listed the AppleTrees, etc., where you are not at a OOB disadvantage. But yes, highly, highly unlikely you’d get a spot at Peabody or Payne from OOB. Neither even gave sibling attending or proximity PK3 spots last year.

I don’t think anyone got into Peabody or Payne for PK3 from OOB last year.

Well, you're very unlikely to get into Peabody, I'm not sure it's worth ranking at all if you have 12 other schools to rank.

Tr4 is fine for preschool if their playground is your idea of nice. I'd skip it or rank it super low.

Hoping for PK3 spot and looking for input on how to rank these DCPS schools which are OOB for us: JO Wilson, Miner, Peabody.

Please share any perspective on staff, community, ECE program, etc and anything (good or not so good) that might be distinguish a school so we have some ideas of the order to put them on our list.

We may also add Payne though it’d be a little farther in opposite direction of our existing commute. The charter one Two Rivers 4th St is another possibility – this board seems to have mixed takes on that.