I have two children at Latin and they have had an excellent experience. The teachers and administration keep a close eye on the children and if anything is amiss, I get an email immediately. No child will "slip through the cracks" at WL.

The governing board at WL is absolutely focused on the long-term health of the institution. They have cleaned up the finances and put the school in an excellent position to acquire a top-notch facility, which will be the crown jewel for an academically strong middle and upper school.

I'm not sure there's any guarantee. The trick with WL is that it has continued consistently on the up, not down-swing. Entering families today will have a FAR different experience the whole way through - and ours was pretty good/getting better each year. There is no imminent crisis lurking though--along the lines of eviction, bankruptcy etc. The problem with WL is that even though it is perceived in some corners as an 'elite' school (despite its balanced diversity) it has not been terribly shrewd or political thus far in scooting to the trough for facilities or big donors. Now that the academic and faculty core is in place, the school is getting far more savvy about the long term view. That's where they are right now, approaching the questions above you mention more aggressively. Getting their name out there in the 'giving circles' (a whole bunch of the kids were invited to the White House by M. Obama a few weeks ago which is the public 'kiss' the school needed) etc.
Next year will see the first graduating class. Supposedly there is a fantastic college counselor who is cultivating relationships with MANY schools including the top-drawer who are very interested in the 'Latin' story.

Thanks for this. Can you talk at all about Latin's long-term viability. Financially speaking. Is there a plan to upgrade facilities, fundraising strategies? How do we know that the school will be around and healthy for the next decade or so?

We did and are still very happy. Our child was accepted into an independent school we think might be a good fit, but we are most likely going to stay on to WL for HS next year. However, it does speak well to WL Middle School that he was accepted into a competitive independent HS - and that they were supportive and knew him well enough to write him recommendations to reinforce his scores and grades. No sour grapes there. They wanted the best for out kid--to have a choice. For us, Latin comes down to the small size, bright teachers, and generally wholesome group of kids. For FREE. PS, we are in-bounds for Deal/Wilson. Nothing against either and they have both been compelling options in their way, but we chose and most likely will stick with ol' WL. I truly hope GREAT families and kids continue to give the school fair consideration.

Op if you are still out there, which did you choose and why? Anyone else have the good fortune to choose between Latin and Deal and want to share your reasoning?

Thanks, everyone, for super helpful input. We are talking our son on a tour next week--will see how he likes it.

Because you are in bounds for Deal, your child can attend any day of any year as a matter of right. WL is going to get harder and harder to get into (I think) as more potential students enter the lottery. If there is any chance that WL would be the long term right answer, think of it as now or never.

Deal is always.

Deal gets great reviews right now, but Wilson is still relatively weaker. WL for high school is relatively unknown, but probably will be strong.

I think the best advice you've gotten is to have your kid tour and get his/her input.

HANDS DOWN DEAL!!!!! I'm on the waitlist, you are so lucky. The facilities are gorgeous, the teachers dedicated, the technology up to date, and soon enough it will be impossible for OOB to get in. Latin has a great program but the facilities issues limit the athletic/artistic options. Deal scores big in BOTH. Congratulations.

Dear Deal/Latin mulling Parent,

Good luck with your decision. Information, talking to other parents and visiting the schools are the way to go!
You may have received this from Washington Latin already; these are a few highlights from a Washington Latin distributed 'fact sheet' for 2009. Hope it helps!

-60% increase in applications, had to conduct a lottery, and had a wait list at every grade level.
-Second highest performing charter school in the District of Columbia on the DC-CAS assessments with 82% of students proficient in both reading and mathematics.
-As the Lead School in a consortium of six schools, Washington Latin received a Safe Schools/Healthy Students federal grant of $721,102 to be spent by the six schools for the programs.
-One of only two schools in the country to offer Arabic through the Qatar Foundation International, which will fund 30 students on a trip to Qatar over spring break of 2010.
-7th, 8th, and 9th grade students took the National Latin Exam, a multiple-choice test organized by the American Classical League (ACL). Over 149,000 students around the world participated in this challenging exam. 29% of our students earned some sort of recognition for their performance (up from 22% last year). 28% of those taking the Introduction to Latin exam (for first-year Latin students) received certificates of achievement. On the Latin I and II exams, the numbers were 30% and 31%, respectively, including 3 gold medals earned by students taking the Latin I exam for nearly perfect performances.
-Parent support of the school is excellent; parents have come to beautify the campuses with flowers and to clean up the grounds.
-The combination of appropriate class sizes and bright, caring, devoted teachers under the guidance of a superb assistant head for academics creates a strong, purposeful community in which students know the adults have high expectations for them but also care deeply about them.

My child was miserable in 4th grade, so we applied to WL. My DC loves it. DC likes a lot of structure, the demerit and merit system, the uniform, etc. There is also a lot of commoderie and respect between the students and the teachers. There is a lot of homework, but it is not overwhelming and it is a lot less busy work than what DC got in 4th.

I was impressed with Deal as well and always thought that it would be a good back up if Latin didn't work out. My child is so happy at Latin that we did not even bother to apply to Deal this year.

From what I observed the bullying was taken seriously and dealt with by the teachers and the administration.

Both Deal and Latin are good schools. A parent who gets to choose between the two should consider his/herself fortunate.

I am not sure that one has to be bad for the other to be good. They are just different. The perception I would combat about WL is that it is uptight. Our kids are laid back and cheerful. They do hold firm to high expectations and yes, children do not get A's handed to them on a platter. They work for them and even then don't always succeed- a good life lesson: it's about the learning and exceptional grades are, well , exceptional. I personally like that approach in a society where As are handed out so frequently that kids feel like failures when they don't get them. Latin is a nice recalibration of realism.
Latin also seems more diverse to me than other dc schoolsin terms of politics. It is not all liberal or all consevative in the parent body. There is an intellectual mix and give and take that I like.

Go to WL! More spaces at Deal for the rest of us! =)

Deal's academic program is rigorous and intense. I would be shocked to learn that a small school like Latin can offer the range of classes that Deal does. My child is in 7th grade and has the most extraordinary teachers and loves school. The school climate is just perfect for the middle school child. He was ready to meet more kids and expand his social circle from ES. Since so many of the great ES feed into Deal, he met great new friends.

Also, the leadership at Deal is tremendous. Go to the website, www.alicedeal.org to read the principal's weekly bulletins.

It comes down to curriculum.

Deal offers the DCPS standards packaged with IB pedagogy.

WL offers a classical curriculum and Latin.

Anonymous wrote:

See the charter school board's unfavorable review of the climate of the school here:

http://www.dcpubliccharter.com/data/files/performance_reports/2008/spr_08_secondary_schools.pdf

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2008 report!