I wonder how EL Haynes has faired in the shuffle. Since they use a year round model, children start earlier than at DCPS. Did any families try it out then leave once the other schools started?

I work at a charter school and can tell you that one of the great benefits of the common lottery is that there is far less shuffle this year. That means that the majority of students are starting school day 1, the majority of parents were able to attend orientation events and establish early relationships with teachers and administrators, students are able to create secure and lasting relationships with their teachers and peers, etc.

Most schools spend the first two weeks establishing routines and setting expectations. Reducing the wait-list shuffle really, really helps schools start off on the right foot.

If you feel that you got "shut out" by the common lottery, I encourage you to direct your frustrations to the underlying fact that there aren't enough high-quality seats in this city for every child who wants to enroll. The common lottery efficiently and equitably distributes the availability of those seats. Your outcome in previous years may have differed, but the underlying chances of that outcome were the same, and the process whereby you achieved that outcome was FAR less efficient.