Anonymous wrote:How old are your kids? How far off is school for them (ie, are they babies?)? )Or, would they be entering in an older grade (ie, not K)? All important questions.

Right, if you have a fourth or fifth grader it will probably be easier to get in b/c most parents with those kids are moving them to privates by then to avoid the middle schools.

How old are your kids? How far off is school for them (ie, are they babies?)? )Or, would they be entering in an older grade (ie, not K)? All important questions.

Depends on the grade.

For K,register early and you will likely get in.

If they have room in that grade, you can go. If not, Jefferson-Houston is one alternative and maybe Patrick Henry is the other?? Can't remember right off but neither is a school that is very desirable.

Parochial Schools - St.Marys - you need to be in the parish and they have very few openings. Upper grades there are more openings. The other Catholics in Alexandria - same story.

You asked about parochial schools -- St. Mary's is in the SE quadrant, and seems to be a nice school. However, it is difficult to get into if you are not a "contributing" parishioner.

I believe it is possible that you could be told that Lyles-Crouch is full. I believe kids are taken in the order they register. Lyles-Crouch used to take kids by lottery from other zones. They've stopped that now, but I think they still have siblings of those lottery kids going there (I know some). However, because Jefferson-Houston has not made AYP, I do not believe you can be forced to go there. In fact, parents zoned for J-H can opt out of J-H. I have one friend who is in the J-H zone whose child goes to Maury. All of this is on the Alexandria web site, but my recollection is that they don't make it easy to find. Just keep looking.

Go to the ACPS website and search for "modified open enrollment". You should be able to find some good information there. I think it is entirely possible that you would not get a spot a Lyles Crouch if the school is at capacity but I do not think you can be forced to send your child to Jefferson Houston doesn't make or hasn't made AYP. I believe all the options and scenarios are outlined on the ACPS website.

I think it is very unlikely that if you buy a house in the SE quadrant of Old Town that your kids won't get to go to Lyles Crouch. I know there is talk of it b/c of over-crowding, but I can't see this happening to homeowners in SE OT. Worse case scenario is that the City will make the zone for LC smaller, so maybe I'd think twice if I were on the fringe of the district for LC. Otherwise, I just can't see it happening. There are too many rich, powerful people who live in that area who have too many friends at the City government level.

Really, nobody can tell me if an in-boundary child will be able to go there or not?

We're new to the area and would really like to buy a house that is zoned for Lyles-Crouch but, after reading the posts on DCUM, it looks like it may not be worth it. Is it true? Do kids zoned for L-C get pushed into J-H instead?

On another note, what do the parochial schools look like in that area??? DC is currently in parochial school -- I could always try that again! TIA!