Anonymous wrote:My kids started at IT and we moved to Hearst. I have nothing but nice things to say about IT, although I am several years removed now. It was a great community. I would pretty much parrot the sentiments expressed by the OOB Hearst parent up thread. For my family, Hearst was hands down the best option. My kids left IT kicking and screaming, but after the first month, never looked back.

As noted, they are both good options so I would say that it is a wholly personal choice. There is a Screen on the Green tomorrow as someone noted. The whole school will be there and it is a perfect opportunity for you to get a sense of the community. I would urge you to look for a similar event at IT.

The parents at both schools are very engaged, so that is a wash. I believe Hearst does have better after care options, but depending on where you live, the commute to Hearst might be fairly stressful and you could lose a lot of family time crossing the city.

I will end by saying that THERE IS NO PERFECT SCHOOL. If you're looking for nirvana, it doesn't exist--not even in the burbs. And even if you find a school that you really like, it will still have its up years and down years; years where your kid gets the best teacher and years where they end up with a dud; years where the administration is great and years where it takes a turn for the worse; years where the parents divide into camps and battle over some issue and years where they all sing, kumbaya.

I have more than one kid and have been through more schools than I can remember at this point. I've seen it all . Just find a school that serves your child well and has at least 80% of what's important to you. Then prepare yourself to roll with the changes over time .

Great post! IT parent here. I will add that aftercare at ITS is pretty nice via the YMCA. It's relatively affordable considering they include winter and spring breaks. We hope it will be as good as last year (when we were onsite and had swimming, cooking and rock climbing) when they bring more specials/sports next school year. We have a friend that has left the Y aftercare to take part of a new aftercare program being offered by DPR behind the school at Edgewood Rec Center. They come pick up the kids after school and run a traditional aftercare program (homework help, snack etc). She said they are doing tennis lessons once a week and then switch playing various sports in the field outside. Oh yeah and its FREE! I think it's for ages 5+ though.

Anonymous wrote:There was a family that came from Hearst to ITS thinking the grass was greener and quickly realized it wasn't and was able to get back into Hearst mid year.

Anonymous wrote:Please go with Hearst--small school setting, track record, great location, great parents. Teachers with experience, great and reasonably priced aftercare. People love to hype IT but if you look at their upper grades, the school is totally different. Hearst is much more diverse. And, after all these years IT is still trying to work out the kinks. I am not a Hearst or IT parent, by the way.

Anonymous wrote:We are OOB Hearst parents and have friend with kids at IT (2nd, and preschool). They are excited to be at a well regarded charter and to have met other cool well educated parents, my one friend with a 2nd grader says her DD loves her teacher and they think the work group model has been good for her. If you haven't toured both campuses definitely do so asap.
We moved to Hearst from our darn-good EOTP DCPS because of the higher test scores, the dedicated green space - check out the oak tree lined soccer field - the slightly better income and racial diversity, feeds to Deal and Wilson, location next door to Sidwell, but also the incredible array of after school activity choices the PTA has arranged, offered right on campus (karate, dance, robotics, Spanish, art, sports teams etc. etc. )
I'd say you are in a great position to be choosing between the two schools. And yes the commute is a major factor, do not underestimate what a pain in the ass it might be if one of the two school locations is a problem for you. Especially if you have a wide bodied SUV, trying to squeeze down DC streets cross town with the other time-stresses parents is no picnic.

Anonymous wrote:Please go with Hearst--small school setting, track record, great location, great parents. Teachers with experience, great and reasonably priced aftercare. People love to hype IT but if you look at their upper grades, the school is totally different. Hearst is much more diverse. And, after all these years IT is still trying to work out the kinks. I am not a Hearst or IT parent, by the way.

Anonymous wrote:Please go with Hearst--small school setting, track record, great location, great parents. Teachers with experience, great and reasonably priced aftercare. People love to hype IT but if you look at their upper grades, the school is totally different. Hearst is much more diverse. And, after all these years IT is still trying to work out the kinks. I am not a Hearst or IT parent, by the way.