Anonymous wrote:Looked at Thomson 5 ish years ago and firstly was not impressed by what I saw in 2 of the PK classrooms, but second couldn’t stomach sending my kid to a school with an enclosed level of a parking garage for their recess area.

Yikes! i wonder if it's still the same. Cooke's playground is nothing to write home about, but it's outside at least.

Looked at Thomson 5 ish years ago and firstly was not impressed by what I saw in 2 of the PK classrooms, but second couldn’t stomach sending my kid to a school with an enclosed level of a parking garage for their recess area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go with whatever is closer to your neighborhood

Both schools have made significant gains in the last 10 years. Cooke used to have sugar cereal and chocolate milk for breakfast and had a situation where a child left the building unknowingly.

Thomson had a 5th grader take coke to school and share it during lunch.

It is worth noting that both of these incidents were in the last 5-10 years and are not at all reflective of the current climate at the school.

That incident at Thomson was nine years ago and under a different principal. The current Principal is fabulous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go with whatever is closer to your neighborhood

Both schools have made significant gains in the last 10 years. Cooke used to have sugar cereal and chocolate milk for breakfast and had a situation where a child left the building unknowingly.

Thomson had a 5th grader take coke to school and share it during lunch.

Isn't the school menu now set and identical for all DCPS schools? We are actually super impressed with the lunch menu for little kids at Cooke.

Yes, the menu is now the same for almost everyone. The issue the PP is talking about was at least 5 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:Go with whatever is closer to your neighborhood

Both schools have made significant gains in the last 10 years. Cooke used to have sugar cereal and chocolate milk for breakfast and had a situation where a child left the building unknowingly.

Thomson had a 5th grader take coke to school and share it during lunch.

Isn't the school menu now set and identical for all DCPS schools? We are actually super impressed with the lunch menu for little kids at Cooke.

Anonymous wrote:Go with whatever is closer to your neighborhood

Both schools have made significant gains in the last 10 years. Cooke used to have sugar cereal and chocolate milk for breakfast and had a situation where a child left the building unknowingly.

Thomson had a 5th grader take coke to school and share it during lunch.

It is worth noting that both of these incidents were in the last 5-10 years and are not at all reflective of the current climate at the school.

Go with whatever is closer to your neighborhood

Both schools have made significant gains in the last 10 years. Cooke used to have sugar cereal and chocolate milk for breakfast and had a situation where a child left the building unknowingly.

Thomson had a 5th grader take coke to school and share it during lunch.

OP, for what grade? The demographics at Cooke look very different in lower grade vs higher grade. Tons of ELL (english language learners) in upper grades, like 70%-ish, and in PK grades is like 2 out of 16 kids.

I think SWW MS has better test scores than CHEC but I don't know if I'd make that the deciding factor. A short commute from home to school is nice. And redistricting might change feeder patters over the next 5-10 years anyway.

We are at HDCooke, in PK3, and nothing but good things so far! We are an inbound family and love the walking commute.

Thanks for the info. I was unable to go to the Open Houses, as these were my #6 and #7 choices, but hopefully can see them for myself if this ever ends.

Anonymous wrote:OP- that's what I thought, but it seems to me that Thomson has a better reputation, and I would like to hear from people with experience at either school.

I’m the PP. My child attended Cooke from PK-3rd grade, at which point we moved out of the area. It is a great school that I believe suffers from an undue negative reputation on this site. The teaching staff is amazing at all grade levels. The main issue the school faces is that the area is pretty transitional - many families leave the neighborhood when they have a second child or need more than 2 bedrooms. However, there are many families with multiple kids at the school over many years. They just are not families who post on this site.

Happy to answer specific questions about our experience at Cooke. I cannot comment on Thomson as I’ve never been there.

OP- that's what I thought, but it seems to me that Thomson has a better reputation, and I would like to hear from people with experience at either school.

Chinese vs. Spanish.

Having been in bounds and OOB, all other things being more or less equal, I’d choose in bounds school because of neighborhood friends, but that’s just me.

We matched at HD Cooke, but are #1 on the waitlist at Thomson, so I have high hopes we will get in. Looking at the stats, they seem pretty similar in terms of test scores. Any strong preference for one over the other. Thomson is closer to my job, HD Cooke closer to our house, but either is fine in terms of commute.