Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is PK guaranteed to all residents?

No, PK is AVAILABLE to all residents at some school, but not necessarily the school you want or even your in bounds school. PK is a lottery. Some schools have guaranteed PK and others have very competitive lotteries.

Is there such thing as being "inbound" to a school for PK?

Yes. All addresses in DC are geographically zoned for one DCPS PK program. Whether your child gets into that program is based on a lottery. Some schools have guaranteed PK, but you still have to enter the lottery - it's not like kindergarten where you can basically show up whenever you want with your registration paperwork and enroll on the spot. Charter schools do not have geographic boundaries, so no one is "inbound" for them. There are also other types of preference, mostly related to having a sibling at the school.

Is it totally free? Full day?

The school day (8:45 to 3:15 or so) is free. Aftercare (3:15 to 6pm) is not free. How much it costs varies based on the school. Schools with high populations of low income students generally have cheaper aftercare rates, particularly if they're run by DCPS vs. a private program. At our school, aftercare was free for several years, and this past year it's been $82.50/month for families not receiving government assistance of some kind. For families on government assistance, it's still free. School lunch has a similar variation in cost. Charters set their own rates for both of those things. "Full day" in DCPS means 8:45 to 3:15 or 3:30. PK has the same hours as the rest of the school.

This is mostly accurate, but there are some addresses in DC that are not in bound for any PK3 program.

PP here.

Correcting myself to say that all addresses in DC are geographically assigned to one elementary school - most elementary schools in DC have PK3. The ones that don't are: Eaton, Hearst, Hyde-Addison, Janney, Key, Mann, Murch, Oyster-Adams, and Stoddert. Those schools start at PK4, and admission to PK4 is still a lottery.

Anonymous wrote:OP please call MY SCHOOL DC and ask these questions. Some of the responses on this thread are wrong. MY SCHOOL DC can answer your questions about the lottery process. The number is 202-888-6336.