OP Here... Thanks for pointing out the correct feeders everyone. We currently have a house over in Ward 6. We like our neighborhood and don't want to move, but we know that our DCPS middle school options are limited over here. We don't want to move, but would love for a children to attend Deal.

OP, have you thought about just moving IB? There is no "best way", only a lottery with slim chances at all wotp elementary schools, whether or not they are JKLM.

And I have to say, what's the point of living in the city if you commute 30 min to school and then have another commute to work.

We rented an apartment in bounds for Murch for this reason. I'm sure I could get a lot more space for the money in a different part of town but I wasn't willing to risk it. Plus commuting to work already takes long enough. I didn't want to commute to school as well. That said, there are lots of families who got in through lottery. Most of them don't stay all the way through middle school because the logistics are a lot harder than you think.

Anonymous wrote:I would choose Hearst over Key or Mann if the plan was public and not private school. You can still get in OOB relatively easy at pk.

I'm not sure this is true for Hearst anymore. I can't remember from when the original lottery results were released but wasn't it only 5 OOB without any pref got a PK spot? Sure, the list will move, but it seems like each year it's moving less.

Rent an apt for sure. We rent an apt right by the Van Ness metro and attend Hearst. It's great.

Anonymous wrote:I know it's virtually impossible to get into these schools for PK4 and K. Is it possible to lottery in to these schools in the later elementary years so your child can take the path to Deal Middle School? How possible is this scenario?

Not all JKLMs feed to Deal. Specifically, Mann and Key feed to Hardy. If the Deal feed is what you want, you should take off Key and Mann, and add the other Deal feeds (Shepherd, Hearst, Bancroft).

Become the mayor and your kids can go to any school they want. Chancellor of DCPS might also work too.

I would choose Hearst over Key or Mann if the plan was public and not private school. You can still get in OOB relatively easy at pk.

Anonymous wrote:I know it's virtually impossible to get into these schools for PK4 and K. Is it possible to lottery in to these schools in the later elementary years so your child can take the path to Deal Middle School? How possible is this scenario?

Only J, L and M feed Deal. K and M feed Hardy.

Buy/rent a house in the district you want or pray for a good lottery number. Those are your choices.

Its not impossible, especially for K. Stay on the wait list, call the school to check in frequently and be prepared to change schools as late as October if necessary.

The number of students wait listed is available for all schools on the Myschooldc website. They probably all have some sort of wait list for every grade so I would be very cautious with lottery optimism.

16:04 is probably right.

Hearst

Yeah, the OOB feeder system isn't here for long.

Rent an apartment IB.

I know it's virtually impossible to get into these schools for PK4 and K. Is it possible to lottery in to these schools in the later elementary years so your child can take the path to Deal Middle School? How possible is this scenario?