Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is such a tough commute for everyone, OP. I think you're right to look for alternatives. But I also think you did a great job finding good schools for your kids with the information you had at the time.

- I think it's going to be harder to find a "good" HS alternative than it is to find a "good" elementary school alternative

- That said, you want to do your best to get your younger child into a "good" middle school pathway too

- I think ideally you'd want to find a high school that is reasonable for your older child to commute to on their own and an elementary school that is reasonable for you to commute with your younger child to.

- I think the next best option is to find two schools in close enough proximity that you can reasonably commute with them both.

Some ideas:

- Eastern, KIPP Legacy, Friendship, Thurgood for your older child to commute to themselves. All have short wait lists and a decent cohort of students passing standardized tests. Definitely ask around the neighborhood for recommendations

- Sojourner Truth is in close proximity to Stokes Brookland and is fairly well regarded

- Thomson is well-liked by families there, short waitlist, feeds into one of the better middle schools, and is sort-of on the way to MacArthur

I think that High School is more important socially and that keeping the Sophomore in the same school is a major factor. And the Sophomore really can commute on their own, so that shouldn't be as big of a factor. This, of course, depends on the kid and their relationships. If they don't make friends and hate the school, by all means find an alternative. But if they like MacArthur, I see no reason to move them.

Getting the younger child into a good middle school is, indeed, pretty important. I wonder if getting into one of the hill middles at 5th grade might be a good call to assure a decent middle school track? I live fairly far from there, so it's not my thing, but my kid is entering 5th this year, so I know there's a big shuffle at that grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is such a tough commute for everyone, OP. I think you're right to look for alternatives. But I also think you did a great job finding good schools for your kids with the information you had at the time.

- I think it's going to be harder to find a "good" HS alternative than it is to find a "good" elementary school alternative

- That said, you want to do your best to get your younger child into a "good" middle school pathway too

- I think ideally you'd want to find a high school that is reasonable for your older child to commute to on their own and an elementary school that is reasonable for you to commute with your younger child to.

- I think the next best option is to find two schools in close enough proximity that you can reasonably commute with them both.

Some ideas:

- Eastern, KIPP Legacy, Friendship, Thurgood for your older child to commute to themselves. All have short wait lists and a decent cohort of students passing standardized tests. Definitely ask around the neighborhood for recommendations

- Sojourner Truth is in close proximity to Stokes Brookland and is fairly well regarded

- Thomson is well-liked by families there, short waitlist, feeds into one of the better middle schools, and is sort-of on the way to MacArthur

I think that High School is more important socially and that keeping the Sophomore in the same school is a major factor. And the Sophomore really can commute on their own, so that shouldn't be as big of a factor. This, of course, depends on the kid and their relationships. If they don't make friends and hate the school, by all means find an alternative. But if they like MacArthur, I see no reason to move them.

Getting the younger child into a good middle school is, indeed, pretty important. I wonder if getting into one of the hill middles at 5th grade might be a good call to assure a decent middle school track? I live fairly far from there, so it's not my thing, but my kid is entering 5th this year, so I know there's a big shuffle at that grade.

Anonymous wrote:That is such a tough commute for everyone, OP. I think you're right to look for alternatives. But I also think you did a great job finding good schools for your kids with the information you had at the time.

- I think it's going to be harder to find a "good" HS alternative than it is to find a "good" elementary school alternative

- That said, you want to do your best to get your younger child into a "good" middle school pathway too

- I think ideally you'd want to find a high school that is reasonable for your older child to commute to on their own and an elementary school that is reasonable for you to commute with your younger child to.

- I think the next best option is to find two schools in close enough proximity that you can reasonably commute with them both.

Some ideas:

- Eastern, KIPP Legacy, Friendship, Thurgood for your older child to commute to themselves. All have short wait lists and a decent cohort of students passing standardized tests. Definitely ask around the neighborhood for recommendations

- Sojourner Truth is in close proximity to Stokes Brookland and is fairly well regarded

- Thomson is well-liked by families there, short waitlist, feeds into one of the better middle schools, and is sort-of on the way to MacArthur

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People think Mccarthur is a good school bc its adjacent to several wealthy neighborhoods. It's a title 1 school - few or none of the parents who live in those neighborhoods would ever send their kids to the school as it is currently constituted. Im talking about the parents who own $2+ million sfh in those adjacent neighborhoods - not parents renting apartments around the corner or across the street from the school.

OP here… I don’t “think” anything about McA. Since my daughter is a rising 10th grader, schools like Banneker and Walls weren’t an option. This is what we got in the lottery, I could at this point consider switching to eastern… we were waitlisted for private and didn’t get low numbers for any of our charter preferences.

Anonymous wrote:People think Mccarthur is a good school bc its adjacent to several wealthy neighborhoods. It's a title 1 school - few or none of the parents who live in those neighborhoods would ever send their kids to the school as it is currently constituted. Im talking about the parents who own $2+ million sfh in those adjacent neighborhoods - not parents renting apartments around the corner or across the street from the school.

Anonymous wrote:I just saw a post on the MacArthur thread that a student commutes from Anacostia, so I hope your daughter makes friends who also live by you all. It will make the commute better for her!

Let's not mistake that Hillcrest is a beautiful neighborhood!

DCUM is a strange place OP.

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Randle Highlands (a little bit down Penn Ave, closer to the highway) for 10 years and initially commuted all the way to Petworth for my son's school and my job. It was brutal and I will always say it time I will never get back.

The commute to Brookland would be about the same in the car to MacArthur depending on traffic. The real issue is that these two schools are nothing close to each other.

It's not the way school campuses work, but I would ask Stokes about the possibility of going to EE. As for MacArthur, that is also a long commute. Kids are doing it, but it would be an over an hour commute from there. I know people who lived in Hillcrest growing up who went to St. Johns, Banneker or School without Walls for high school. So again, people do it, but its long.

Hope it all works out!

Anonymous wrote:People think Mccarthur is a good school bc its adjacent to several wealthy neighborhoods. It's a title 1 school - few or none of the parents who live in those neighborhoods would ever send their kids to the school as it is currently constituted. Im talking about the parents who own $2+ million sfh in those adjacent neighborhoods - not parents renting apartments around the corner or across the street from the school.

Anonymous wrote:I would never do those hellish commute for those schools. McArthur really???

I don’t understand why you moved to Hillcrest without thinking about the consequences of schools and the commute. Even if your kid is older and can take public transportation, it’s still a bad commute for them. It’s a lot of lost quality time for you and your kids and it’s not even like the school is worth it.

I would move.

Anonymous wrote:I would absolutely look into switching the 4th grader. There are lots of much closer options that would be fine (including Beers - if thats your IB) and other immersion schools. High school options are much more limited and your child can take public transit some by themselves so you might be stuck with McA at least for this year.