From the Principal of Marie Reed -
I’ll just chime in by inviting any interested families to contact me directly. As I head toward the conclusion of my first year at Reed, I find we have shown growth from a solid starting point. At the same time, there's no question our school improvement work is not finished. I'm particularly excited that our PTA is active in its inaugural year, and hope to have more parents on board next year. We’re focused on finalizing enrollment so folks don’t have to linger on the waitlist, but I’m happy to connect with anyone. Email is best: eugene.pinkard@dc.gov. Come check us out—you might find a comfortable place for your child to excel.

I'm applying to Reed. Hopefully enough very involved parents will also apply. I am also applying to Bancroft and Stokes (although that would be a drive for me)

FYI - Cleveland has 2 strands-English and Spanish. You are not guaranteed a slot in the Spanish immerision program. Although I have never seen a child whose hispanic in the English strand. So I guess if you are hispanic you are guraanteed a spot in the Spanish strand. The last couple of years I have only seen 2-3 african american kids in the Spanish immersion class, the rest are hispanic. Seems fair right?

I have applied to Cleveland, Stokes and will consider Mundo Verde. Not wasting a bid on Oyster since the chances are so slim. Cleveland is top choice due to proximity and language immersion, but am wondering if I should also consider Marie Reed?

I would also love to know. Definitely considering applying OOB, but would love to hear from someone who has sent their kid there, or at least knows of someone who did

Does anyone have current info on Marie Reed?

Anonymous wrote:OP, based on your 15:02 post, sort of looks like you are picking a school for your kid based on how the school makes you feel.... A school can't be "smug," really.... It's about educating kids, not making parents feel special. If you want that, better try privates...

Anyhoo, EL Haynes had loads of open houses during admissions season (their last one was just last week). Why do they want to take time away from their mission to cater to someone who can't be bothered to attend one of eight open houses? What if every family wanted that? 400 private tours? I know someone whose child got in in September and the CHILD spent the day at EL Haynes before making a decision about whether to go... not the mom....

I don't have a personal connection to EL Haynes but your post just struck me as immature and short-sighted.

Whew, that was close, I almost took the bait on this one yesterday! I didn't ask for a private tour, just wanted an open house during school hours like every other school I have toured so far. How I love being insulted anonymously by someone ...whoops! I'll refrain. Bet this person isn't nearly so crabby in person. Let's start a children's athletic league together! Not.

Well, like an idiot I applied to what I considered to be the top ranked DCPS schools among those that offer PS for 3s (based on test scores, visits, and somewhat on proximity and convenience) and got into the one that was the least popular among other applicants, natch. It does have the dual language and higher test scores than some other schools. There will be more schools to choose from next year but I wish you were allowed to apply to more than six. Eveybody wants in to the same schools that we do, it seems, and it would be nice to be able to roll the lottery dice but also include a few "safeties" i.e. shorter waitlist schools without leaving off your preferred choices. The charter schools are getting so popular there will be a similar problem at certain ones - over 100 applicants for 27 slots or whatever.

OP, what other DCPS schools are you waitlisted at? Any low waitlist numbers? Sounds like Reed may be too much work unless you find a large group of parents to make it work.

I thought that 15:02 wasn't demanding a private tour, she was saying that:
1. it's a problem that all the open houses are outside school hours
2. it's a problem that the principal won't return phone calls

OP, based on your 15:02 post, sort of looks like you are picking a school for your kid based on how the school makes you feel.... A school can't be "smug," really.... It's about educating kids, not making parents feel special. If you want that, better try privates...

Anyhoo, EL Haynes had loads of open houses during admissions season (their last one was just last week). Why do they want to take time away from their mission to cater to someone who can't be bothered to attend one of eight open houses? What if every family wanted that? 400 private tours? I know someone whose child got in in September and the CHILD spent the day at EL Haynes before making a decision about whether to go... not the mom....

I don't have a personal connection to EL Haynes but your post just struck me as immature and short-sighted.

Thomson is so full in boundary PS and PK children didn't get it this year. It's crazy!

OP here. We are actually Oyster inbounds but Oyster does not offer 3-year-old PS.
I too can recommend a visit to Barnard !!! especially if you live in Petworth, Brightwood or north CH.
I have been frustrated by E.L Haynes because they won't consider tours during school hours (yes yes tours are disruptive but what are they trying to hide?) I think they are a little too smug about their high application rate and the principal does not return calls. On the plus side their pre-K and new high school is moving to Clark Elementary with an enormous playing field and renovating the whole building right now. It was vacant for at least two years and probably pretty musty! Anyway, it's a big school and full of itself, not so sure I like their administrative attitude.
AppleTree and Bridges looked great (warm, pre-k only, specialists etc but NO playground attached, depressing locations re: next door rehab clinic/crime stats.)
I was impressed by LAMB Montessori but the class looked a little chaotic - the student to teacher ratio was too high (22-28 to 2)
Wherever we end up I'll be doing some volunteering. Marie Reed needs an outdoor cleanup crew, fresh blacktop, a completely fenced tot lot and a vegetable garden. The field looks abandoned. They are only able to offer PE once a week! per class, plus some directed recess. Barnard has fresh clean look about it, it's something to think about.

Don't forget Francis-Stevens and Thomson!

Anonymous wrote:I see a trend here. Marie Reed is apparently up and coming (I never even looked at it). Lots of parents seem excited by Cooke. Tubman doesn't hit these boards often, but they seem to have "non-suspicious" test score increases. Garrison has a new facebook page and a group of interested neighborhood parents (up to now, Garrison was mostly OOB -- like Ross a few years ago).

Ross is now a desirable school.

Mid-city parents, there may really be a trend toward making our neighborhood schools desirable. Wouldn't it be nice if we could walk to school together instead of competing with each other for a few OOB slots across the park!

Another dual language option is Cleveland Elementary in Shaw/U St.