OP here - thanks for all the comments. I'm amazed that there are schools that aren't overcrowded. In our area there are portables at every school including the one we want to transfer to.

Has anyone tried to get a middle school or high school transfer? I want my DC to come to my work after school. I don't want DC going home and hanging out unsupervised for 4 hours everyday.

My kids attend the school that corresponds to their grandparents' address, since that is our before and after care. Our home school has before and after care, but obviously we prefer the kids to be with their grandparents. Ours was approved three years ago (and re-approved this year for my youngest in K). The new school is not overcrowded and has no portables, and as PPs have said, I think that is the motivating factor, moreso than your actual reason for wanting the COSA.

Anonymous wrote:Wow, my friend just got a transfer for kindergarten based on day care arrangements. But she requested a less-than-stellar school. Some of it may have to do with capacity.

I'm the poster above who mentioned friend got approved due to daycare issue. It is true that capacity is a huge factor. The COSA "coach" my friend was assigned said that if there is no space in the school you are requesting its a no go. So if you can find out about school enrollment levels and target a school that isn't overcrowded things may go smoother.

We applied and were granted a COSA. The requested school is practically next door to our house, while the assigned school is 25 minutes on the bus. The official reason was that I work in downtown DC and my spouse is temporarily disabled (cannot walk well or drive a car). The school we requested is in the same high school cluster and happens to be the slightly less crowded of the two middle schools, so I think may have helped us. Both schools are fairly similar academically.

We applied in 2012 and were approved. Our offical reason was transportation - we work FT and can't meet the bus. The unofficial reason was day care - the day care DC has been at for 3 years buses to and from a ES.

We included a letter from the day care director documenting the transportation and DC's history at day care, and noting we have another child in their program

We were approved.


Despite the letter I agonized over forever, I genuinely believe the real reason we were approved was the size of the schools. Our official school is overcrowded, and actually set to be torn down/remodeled in the next 1-2 years. Our desired school is underutilized.


To be honest, we shouldnt have bene approved. Our zoned school has several before/after cares that bus to the school, they shoudl have told us just ot switch day cares. I realize we 'worked the system' and probably shouldnt have (our zoned school is 'bad' our desired school is excellent)


That said, I am THRILLED with it - DC is in a much better school and I save an hour out a day with both kids in the same day care. I will not say a peep to MoCo schools about it until both kids are out of ES (#2 gets to go there just because #1 is!)

Wow, my friend just got a transfer for kindergarten based on day care arrangements. But she requested a less-than-stellar school. Some of it may have to do with capacity.

Unfortunately, the decisions aren't consistent from school to school or even year to year. If a school is overcrowded or has a lot of requests for COSAs in a given year (or the year prior), you may be denied. As someone in the school system and someone who knows of many people who have applied for COSAs, I will say that "fighting it" really isn't much work and is just a matter of an appeal (or 2 or 3...). I've never known anyone who continued to "fight it" who didn't ultimately get approved. It almost seems as though the first response is to deny. If it is important enough to someone to continue to push it, they will usually get it.

Thanks PP. I'm glad that worked out for your friend. But the handbook explicitly says that daycare arrangements are NOT considered a hardship. Which of course is ridiculous. Unfortunately, that line didn't work for me so I'm looking for another line.

Anonymous wrote:
I'm interested to know what reasons where given successful transfers and what reasons were denied. Several years ago I requested that my DC be transferred to a school that was right next door to my work. It would have made life orders of magnitude simpler for us. The request was denied with no reason given. We didn't feel like fighting it but I'm thinking of applying again.

I'd love to hear others experiences. TIA.

A friend of ours successfully transferred because his daycare provider/ baby sitter had kids at the other school and the friend needed the child picked up from school as work hours didn't allow it even with aftercare. Since the provider couldn't be in two places at the same time (pickup kids at one elementary school at the same time the other was letting out) they granted the transfer. This was approved this year, 2012.

I'm interested to know what reasons where given successful transfers and what reasons were denied. Several years ago I requested that my DC be transferred to a school that was right next door to my work. It would have made life orders of magnitude simpler for us. The request was denied with no reason given. We didn't feel like fighting it but I'm thinking of applying again.

I'd love to hear others experiences. TIA.