I'm also a single mom, and was looking for schools for pk3 (son is now in 1st). My only priority was a solid education - I didn't need frills (I hate the Montessori approach as my son needs more structure, and bilingual would have been nice but wasn't necessary). I looked on a map and figured out which schools were either on my commute route of those that were within walking distance of my house.

I entered all the lotteries for those schools after visiting most of them (this was before the common lottery). We got into one charter school that I had not visited, and I was really impressed at enrollment night and we have stayed. My son (very bright, tests very well, but probably not "gifted") is thriving and has had amazing teachers every year.

Think outside the box, and don't judge a school solely on its numbers - especially the demographics. The school demographics where my son is are completely unacceptable to most on DCUM (the poors! the AA's!!) but we've had a great experience and plan to stay at the school through middle school.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the feedback. Keep it coming.

We live between New Hampshire, North Capitol, and Riggs, just west of the red line tracks, and I work at Navy Yard, so Bridges and DC Bilingual are both on the way to metro/work. I do realize that no school is going to be perfect, but I figured I'd throw it all out there and see what you all had to say about it. I did look at myschooldc.org, but like I said, it's really overwhelming. Up until a couple of months ago, DC wasn't even on my radar (I was looking in SS), but then I got a clue about home prices. Between buying/packing/moving/holidays/flood in our old home/busy time at work, I haven't had time or bandwidth to do much research. Just getting started.

And I can't afford private school.

If you work in Navy Yard, I'd fed add Inspired Teaching. We pass Bridges every day to school and get to IT/Lee in under 7 minutes from Bridges new location. I know timing very well because that's our half way point . I'd also add CMI and MV.

Sela is a good bet. You would probably get in. DC Bilingual is also close. I think Sela is great, we got in, and enrolled, but later got in to a Spanish DCPS program, where we are now.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the feedback. Keep it coming.

We live between New Hampshire, North Capitol, and Riggs, just west of the red line tracks, and I work at Navy Yard, so Bridges and DC Bilingual are both on the way to metro/work. I do realize that no school is going to be perfect, but I figured I'd throw it all out there and see what you all had to say about it. I did look at myschooldc.org, but like I said, it's really overwhelming. Up until a couple of months ago, DC wasn't even on my radar (I was looking in SS), but then I got a clue about home prices. Between buying/packing/moving/holidays/flood in our old home/busy time at work, I haven't had time or bandwidth to do much research. Just getting started.

And I can't afford private school.

You have until March 1 OP. Take a deep breath and make a spreadsheet. I think the toughest thing for you to fit in will be open houses - so make it a priority to figure out those days/times ASAP.

OP here. Thanks for all the feedback. Keep it coming.

We live between New Hampshire, North Capitol, and Riggs, just west of the red line tracks, and I work at Navy Yard, so Bridges and DC Bilingual are both on the way to metro/work. I do realize that no school is going to be perfect, but I figured I'd throw it all out there and see what you all had to say about it. I did look at myschooldc.org, but like I said, it's really overwhelming. Up until a couple of months ago, DC wasn't even on my radar (I was looking in SS), but then I got a clue about home prices. Between buying/packing/moving/holidays/flood in our old home/busy time at work, I haven't had time or bandwidth to do much research. Just getting started.

And I can't afford private school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not trying to be harsh here, but you sound kind of high maintenance. You're probably not going to be happy with what DCPS or charter schools offer, so I recommend looking at private schools where you can really pick the attributes you want.

My kids are very bright, and I'm happy with our fairly normal DCPS. But I don't really care about montessori, reggio, project / play based learning, or language immersion.

You are a terrible person.

I am not the previous poster but I get their point. Public schools in DC work best for more low maintenance parents / families / children. This doesn't mean disinterested or unengaged parents - but those who understand the pros and cons of public education in DC - and those who are comfortable with "rolling with it" and picking their battles. My spouse and I are professionals who live EOTP - we have two normal kids (no learning disabilities, not gifted, quite sociable) - we are happy with our IB EOTP and embrace its diversity and even its moments of slight chaos. Our kids have fun and are on track. If a parent feels very strongly about specific strategies and will need constant feedback from teachers and the school, public school may be a huge disappointment. (Language immersion is actually important to us but we live IB for a dual language school. But I do not have strong feelings about the other approaches).

Honestly, I would say that as a single parent, convenience should be one of your highest priorities. So, I would lead off with DC Bilingual and Bridges. Cap City, Stokes, Creative Minds may be good charters as well, but not as conveniently located, depending where you are in the Fort Totten area, and only Stokes has dual language (Bridges doesn't either). Bruce Monroe at Park View may be a good dual language program for you.

Where in Fort Totten are you? Depending on which street you are on, you may be in bounds for Barnard (which is a better DCPS school than LaSalle-Backus, the other in bounds possibility). No immersion at Barnard, but they do have Spanish as a special. Generally though, I think DCB would be the best match for what you say you are looking for - convenient location and immersion!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not trying to be harsh here, but you sound kind of high maintenance. You're probably not going to be happy with what DCPS or charter schools offer, so I recommend looking at private schools where you can really pick the attributes you want.

My kids are very bright, and I'm happy with our fairly normal DCPS. But I don't really care about montessori, reggio, project / play based learning, or language immersion.

You are a terrible person.

Sure, kind of. But why do you think it's terrible to not care about the latest trends in education?

I think it was a joke. It made me lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not trying to be harsh here, but you sound kind of high maintenance. You're probably not going to be happy with what DCPS or charter schools offer, so I recommend looking at private schools where you can really pick the attributes you want.

My kids are very bright, and I'm happy with our fairly normal DCPS. But I don't really care about montessori, reggio, project / play based learning, or language immersion.

You are a terrible person.

Sure, kind of. But why do you think it's terrible to not care about the latest trends in education?

Because Bridges is moving, I would say you have a shot at K.

Anonymous wrote:I'm not trying to be harsh here, but you sound kind of high maintenance. You're probably not going to be happy with what DCPS or charter schools offer, so I recommend looking at private schools where you can really pick the attributes you want.

My kids are very bright, and I'm happy with our fairly normal DCPS. But I don't really care about montessori, reggio, project / play based learning, or language immersion.

You are a terrible person.

I'm not trying to be harsh here, but you sound kind of high maintenance. You're probably not going to be happy with what DCPS or charter schools offer, so I recommend looking at private schools where you can really pick the attributes you want.

My kids are very bright, and I'm happy with our fairly normal DCPS. But I don't really care about montessori, reggio, project / play based learning, or language immersion.

Anonymous wrote:I would but SELA on your lottery list. It is near by and people there are generally happy but not there for the long term as they are uncertain if the school will be around.

Agree with this recommendation. While it's not Spanish, at least your children will continue to be exposed to different languages. Our prek3 child is very happy there.

You might want to look at Powell, a DCPS school. I think there might be a waitlist for K, but after that it drops off quite a bit and they do have a Spanish track.