The principal said at the first open house it's possible that a dozen of the ps3 slots could be taken by sibs, perhaps even half? That leaves less than 20 ps3 spots. There are 36 pk4 spots, assuming a dozen lost to sibs there as well... Better chances in pk4 this year.

The new lottery rules may shorten the wait list, but even if it's only 200 vs. the 500 that applied at Peabody and Montessori last year, i bet it's still 1:10 odds of getting in, best case scenario, and may be more like 1:15 or 20 but it being the first year of the city-wide draw, it may be the best shot any of us will get.

Anonymous wrote:I bought a long time before expansion, when Watkins looked like it might continue to get better. My observation as an outsider is that it has done nothing back backslide since then.
So, assuming that we don't get into SWS we'll do Peabody for one or two years and then move. It's fine. I just don't want to be lectured that I made a shitty decision when, in fact, I made a pretty solid decision until DCPS/SWS parents/whoever pulled the rug out.

We'll sell to some other optimistic yuppie couple who thinks the schools will be much better in just a few years when they have kids, and the cycle will continue...

I understand your dilemna. We gambled by buying in the Brent District before the school library was renovated in 2004 and got lucky on a house we liked. We could just as easily have bought in the Watkins District.

Well, you might just get into SWS if you're trying for PreK3. There will be around two dozen slots this year, with sibling preference taking the rest of the 30 they will have. That was made clear at last night's open house.

But by the PP analysis, the SWS/DCPS "pulled the rug out" for 2 years of free early childhood. There was never any expectation that SWS would provide an elementary school for any particular group of students. Watkins is the cluster elementary school. It also never before provided PS - these too are new spaces. And had it not expanded those new seats would have been available to no one.

As an inbound LT family, understand the frustration of looking at an elementary school and believing it will not be a good fit for your child. I strongly feel that way about LT (ok for early childhood, not confidant about elementary school). Apparently some feel that way about Watkins - not clear why, seems worthy of a separate thread.

I bought a long time before expansion, when Watkins looked like it might continue to get better. My observation as an outsider is that it has done nothing back backslide since then.
So, assuming that we don't get into SWS we'll do Peabody for one or two years and then move. It's fine. I just don't want to be lectured that I made a shitty decision when, in fact, I made a pretty solid decision until DCPS/SWS parents/whoever pulled the rug out.

We'll sell to some other optimistic yuppie couple who thinks the schools will be much better in just a few years when they have kids, and the cycle will continue...