OP -- I said PTA meaning fully parent-led and open to anyone who chooses to partake. Of course, only the bus beneficiaries would pay. I was curious to see if any schools had surveyed parents and had tried but failed or succeeded (not trying to recreate the wheel).

My PK4 daughter matched at Oyster as Spanish dominant (test pending). My son is in first grade and matched at HD Cooke (8th choice). We initially thought we would live near there in Mount Pleasant or Crestwood, so fairly close to Oyster (son is waitlisted #2 and is also Spanish dominant), He is #8 at Marie Reed and #12 at Bancroft.

But looking at house prices, we are now seeing that we would we way better off buying in NE. Unfortunately, all the charters around there are now in the 50s, 60s in their waitlists. My son is also #1 at Breakthrough, which is also far -and my daughter is #68 there as well (post lottery app), so doubt we can have them there together. No way I can afford anything WOTP, unless it was a fixer upper and I don't have that kind of time or patience. If we can get a house up near Takoma, Sixteenth St. Heights, Brightwood Park, the commute would be better, but we've really liked the areas around Brookland the best.

The other option would be to "send" my daughter (via online learning) to Oyster for PK 4 just this year and try to find something in Capitol Hill zoned for Maury, JO Wilson, Watkins, LT or Maury, send my son there as IB and switch my daughter next year. However, I really want them to keep up the bilingual education which they've had before now. My husband and I are both native speakers, so this is pretty important to us. I didn't do enough research on charters before so did not list the obvious: Stokes, MV, LAMB. I feel dumb, but the move was sort of unexpected.

Don't be one of those parents that expects the PTA to do the legwork on this unless you're willing to help.

Anonymous wrote:OP - No, I meant parents organizing and paying for a bus through the PTA. Granted, I have no idea how much it costs. We are waitlisted at multiple schools, and we haven't bought a place yet. Unfortunately, I lotteried for schools too far away from where we now realize we can get the best bang for our buck. The inbound schools aren't too great. Our options now seem limited to bus, or a painful commute for a year and doing lottery again next year hoping for a good number.

You could get really specific advice if you tell us the schools on your list, grades, list numbers, and neighborhoods you’re considering. That is one of the things this site is actually helpful for. You could include housing budget but then you open up to some arguments about what are the best neighborhoods to pay for (ie, buy tiny condo in Nw because only those schools matter to some folks).

The few bus options at our charter and neighbor's charter are largely parent organized and very expensive.

Neighborhood schools are walkable. Kids ride free on metro and metro buses.

Anonymous wrote:^^ Like, in suburbia, they don't give you a bus to any random school you want to go to. They give you a bus to your assigned school, which is usually either an IB or, in some cases, a magnet or specialized school of some kind. Obviously that's not akin to expecting schools to have buses for every kid everywhere in DC...

And in DC nearly 50% of students do NOT attend their in-boundary school.

^^ Like, in suburbia, they don't give you a bus to any random school you want to go to. They give you a bus to your assigned school, which is usually either an IB or, in some cases, a magnet or specialized school of some kind. Obviously that's not akin to expecting schools to have buses for every kid everywhere in DC...

Anonymous wrote:OP - No, I meant parents organizing and paying for a bus through the PTA. Granted, I have no idea how much it costs. We are waitlisted at multiple schools, and we haven't bought a place yet. Unfortunately, I lotteried for schools too far away from where we now realize we can get the best bang for our buck. The inbound schools aren't too great. Our options now seem limited to bus, or a painful commute for a year and doing lottery again next year hoping for a good number.

To make this even remotely feasible, you'd have to live in a place w/ a large concentration of kids going to the school in question. If what you mean is that you lotteried for lots of IB DCPS schools far away from where you will live, then it's very unlikely there are a bunch of kids living in that area attending the IB. And, even then, why would the bus be paid for through the PTA to benefit a few OOB students? Maybe I'm missing what you have in mind...

Anonymous wrote:OP - No, I meant parents organizing and paying for a bus through the PTA. Granted, I have no idea how much it costs. We are waitlisted at multiple schools, and we haven't bought a place yet. Unfortunately, I lotteried for schools too far away from where we now realize we can get the best bang for our buck. The inbound schools aren't too great. Our options now seem limited to bus, or a painful commute for a year and doing lottery again next year hoping for a good number.

What you are asking for doesn't exist at any DC public school. As noted above, a very few charters have them and the ones that do are mentioned.

And yes, the commuting pain is real. But the bus may not be as bad as you anticipate - you could try it out now and if it's a no-go for you, remove yourself from the wait list now.

However, for SY 20-21 so much will be done online, that commute won't matter so much. Best case your kid will be in their school building 50% of the time. The city's Phase 3 guidelines anticipate A/B schedules and a max of 10 students in a classroom, with 6 feet of distance between them, until a vaccine exists. Maybe that changes, but I do not expect it to.

OP - No, I meant parents organizing and paying for a bus through the PTA. Granted, I have no idea how much it costs. We are waitlisted at multiple schools, and we haven't bought a place yet. Unfortunately, I lotteried for schools too far away from where we now realize we can get the best bang for our buck. The inbound schools aren't too great. Our options now seem limited to bus, or a painful commute for a year and doing lottery again next year hoping for a good number.

There’s a YY bus from the NE library area, I believe. It’s part of how so many Hill families make the logistics work. The parents pay for it though. Are you asking about a DCPS bus bringing OOB families to the school? That’s never going to happen; part of lotterying into a school is deciding the logistics work. If you’re talking IB families, how far from the school are you and is there not public transport? Even in the burbs, you usually have to be at least .5-1 mile from the school (depending on how pedestrianized the area is) to get a bus.

My kid takes the city bus.

DC students get a Kids Ride Free car that allows them to take a metro bus or train free of charge. That's our bus system. Otherwise, parents arrange a costly bus, but it's not going to pick your kid up in front of your house like the yellow school bus routes you are familiar with.

Buses are not the norm in DC. A few (<5) charters have them and parents pay for them unless the student’s family is very low-income.

DC provides all students with a pass to ride city buses or the Metro for free in lieu of school buses.

Other schools are Yu Ying and LAMB, pending.

But it isn’t a bus from wherever, they go to and from very specific pickup points and they cost a fair amount.

I have read on some threads that Mundo Verde has the option of a school bus. What other schools have a transportation option? Has your PTA every surveyed parents about that possibility?
We are a new family to DCPS and our kids have been taking a school bus since they were 5 in our old district. I would much rather have it this way, so was just thinking. This is POST Covid of course, just thinking ahead.