If aftercare costs are a problem for you, you should look into this carefully at each school you are considering. We went from FREE aftercare at a good Title 1 DCPS (and free lunches) to $530 a month (with 2 kids) at the WOTP school we moved to. We were lucky to place into a different cheaper program with limited spots the following year. The aftercare was def. a hardship for us.

Some schools have a vendor that agrees to provide care for all the kids no matter how many. Others don't, or suffer from a physical space constraint. The only way to know is to ask the school, but they may not be able to accurately predict aftercare enrollment.

Also be aware that if you trade up from a Title I to a HRCS, the aftercare may be significantly more expensive.

Anonymous wrote:It's our first time in the lottery and I've generally heard that after care can be a bit of an issue if you get off the waitlist somewhere. Any advice on how to proceed? Should we sign up at after care wherever we get in, and then just keep trying if the wait list moves? I'd appreciate your thoughts on this as we wait to hear the results. Thanks!

Yes, you should sign up for aftercare as soon as it's available if you're matched somewhere. Ask the school, because not all schools are proactive about aftercare registration notification, particularly in DCPS. Ask them how many seats are available for kids in your child's grade because in some schools, there are fewer seats for younger kids due to ratios. If you get off the waitlist somewhere where an aftercare seat is essential for you to accept the seat, ask about aftercare immediately. Some schools do not know a ton about the specifics of their aftercare program as it's run by an outside vendor, but they should be able to tell you if there are seats for a kid your kid's age.

Anonymous wrote:It's our first time in the lottery and I've generally heard that after care can be a bit of an issue if you get off the waitlist somewhere. Any advice on how to proceed? Should we sign up at after care wherever we get in, and then just keep trying if the wait list moves? I'd appreciate your thoughts on this as we wait to hear the results. Thanks!

It varies a lot by school, but generally this is good advice. When you enroll ask the registrar about after care procedures and availability.

Some schools provide DCPS-sponsored aftercare, others use private vendors. Usually, as long as you sign up by the deadline (usually in the spring around when the school registration deadline falls), they can account for your child and make sure they have enough staff on hand for the aftercare.
The waitlist usually comes into play for kids who get called off the school's waitlist later in the summer or into the next school year.

Here's the link to the page on DCPS aftercare and the schools that are using DCPS-sponsored aftercare this school year:
https://dcps.dc.gov/afterschool

Important to note that aftercare for some of the DCPS-sponsored programs doesn't start until the 2nd week of school. DCPS will post a list to the link above with start dates for aftercare at specific schools later this SY.

It's our first time in the lottery and I've generally heard that after care can be a bit of an issue if you get off the waitlist somewhere. Any advice on how to proceed? Should we sign up at after care wherever we get in, and then just keep trying if the wait list moves? I'd appreciate your thoughts on this as we wait to hear the results. Thanks!