Anonymous wrote:We applied to two schools for preK for DS, a private school that was recommended by a college classmate of DH's who is on their board and Yu Ying b/c we really wanted DC to learn Chinese. We're not Chinese. Child was accepted at both, the charter off the waitlist. Thanks DCUM for how they number their waitlist! DC goes to Yu Ying. Easy choice and very happy there and will certainly consider staying there (DCI) until high school. For high school, DC will go to boarding school - family tradition and then to the same Ivy as his dad, grandfather, great grand...

Anonymous wrote:Assuming they get into Ivy...or are you saying that your child does not need to compete, it's a done deal? Must be nice to know your child is going to an IVY, not based on intelligence, work ethic, test scores, etc. Must be nice to live in your world.

Anonymous wrote:Assuming they get into Ivy...or are you saying that your child does not need to compete, it's a done deal? Must be nice to know your child is going to an IVY, not based on intelligence, work ethic, test scores, etc. Must be nice to live in your world.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read the March forums when decision letters come out form Private schools. Being able to afford private school does not always or even usually translate into "going private" As in, oh, we make 1.5 million a year, so we have decided DC will go to Sidwell next year, NOT.

How many kids in the DC area do you think, PP, have families that make $1.5 million per year but end up in a charter school because they can't get into any private school? Not all private schools are as competitive as Sidwell.

I don't know of a single family at BASIS or Latin that is there because, despite their best efforts and ample wealth, their kids could not get into a private school. Of course, I don't know them all.

Anonymous wrote:Read the March forums when decision letters come out form Private schools. Being able to afford private school does not always or even usually translate into "going private" As in, oh, we make 1.5 million a year, so we have decided DC will go to Sidwell next year, NOT.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me there's a serious battle afoot. The privates, parochials and public schools all have their crosshairs on charters, because they see their students (and therefore, their funding) going over to charters in ever increasing numbers. That would certainly explain the vitriol and FUD campaign of vague, nonspecific and irrelevant accusations about Latin, BASIS and the others.

This is silly, at least on the private school front. My children are at one of those always-talked-about private schools but we considered switching them to charter school recently for financial reasons. We were pretty open about it with families from school since everyone knew about our job situation at the time, and not one of the families we talked to had even heard of our lottery-pick charter schools, despite tons of press coverage and endless discussions on DCUM. I'm not saying that the charters aren't worth serious consideration, but the private school world is not even paying attention for the most part. I think the exceptions would be some of the less popular religious-based schools or the tiniest independent schools, but most of the latter are in the suburbs anyway. The notion that Sidwell, Georgetown Day, WIS, and the Cathedral schools will lose potential students to charter schools is nonsense. In fact, our children's school (again, rightly or wrongly) has people practically running each other over in an attempt to get in. There's no shortage of rich people in DC.

They lost my kids. We value living in a more urban/mixed use area of the city and as a result our neighborhood public school is not an option. If we had not gotten into a well-regarded charter we would have gone private. In fact, our social circle is almost entirely made up of families that can easily afford private school and are (for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to valuing racial and SES diversity in our children's schools and ease of commute) choosing charters instead.

It is one thing to be able to say that" we have the money to afford private" and another thing to be admitted, have the money and choose not to go or, as this thread postulates: private school parents pulling their kids out of private and going charter. It is like saying that, well, I got into Harvard, Princeton and Yale, but I chose to go to the University of Maryland because, " I wanted more SES diversity" . It doesn't happen.

BTW, lot's of diversity in private schools in Washington; rich people of every color, nationality, political and sexuality persuasion.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me there's a serious battle afoot. The privates, parochials and public schools all have their crosshairs on charters, because they see their students (and therefore, their funding) going over to charters in ever increasing numbers. That would certainly explain the vitriol and FUD campaign of vague, nonspecific and irrelevant accusations about Latin, BASIS and the others.

Dc has been at Private for 6 years. I am one of only a handful of parents at DC's school who live in a ward other than ward 3. 90% of parents at Sidwell, Maret,STA,NCS,GDS et al are from ward 3( Foxhall,Wesley Hghts,Chevy Chase,Spring Valley) NOVA or MOCO, so Charter Schools are not even on their radar. I don't thnk these privates " have the charters in their cross hairs". Though all of these parents would say that their child attends private for the academics, and the "community" or moral compass , small class size etc... guess what: their local public school down the street is great and free and they don't send their kid there. This is not about the classroom.

I think Basis has a great concept, but it will only appeal to those already looking at Charters and that is only a handful of familes at any big private. Certainly not enough for anyone to get paranoid about suspicious neg PR.

Few in the richest parts of Ward 3 and Ward 2 care about charters or education outside of the neighborhood school (that drives real-estate values a bit) and where they are paying tuition unless they are political or policy oriented for work or as a hobby. If you added all of these people up, you would have fewer than two thousand.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me there's a serious battle afoot. The privates, parochials and public schools all have their crosshairs on charters, because they see their students (and therefore, their funding) going over to charters in ever increasing numbers. That would certainly explain the vitriol and FUD campaign of vague, nonspecific and irrelevant accusations about Latin, BASIS and the others.

Dc has been at Private for 6 years. I am one of only a handful of parents at DC's school who live in a ward other than ward 3. 90% of parents at Sidwell, Maret,STA,NCS,GDS et al are from ward 3( Foxhall,Wesley Hghts,Chevy Chase,Spring Valley) NOVA or MOCO, so Charter Schools are not even on their radar. I don't thnk these privates " have the charters in their cross hairs". Though all of these parents would say that their child attends private for the academics, and the "community" or moral compass , small class size etc... guess what: their local public school down the street is great and free and they don't send their kid there. This is not about the classroom.

I think Basis has a great concept, but it will only appeal to those already looking at Charters and that is only a handful of familes at any big private. Certainly not enough for anyone to get paranoid about suspicious neg PR.

Few in the richest parts of Ward 3 and Ward 2 care about charters or education outside of the neighborhood school (that drives real-estate values a bit) and where they are paying tuition unless they are political or policy oriented for work or as a hobby. If you added all of these people up, you would have fewer than two thousand.

I think total enrollment at Sidwell is 1200, same at GDS, WIS might be a bit smaller, Beauvoir , NCS,STA added together is about 2000, Maret about 500, so not a huge group of people, but more than 2,000.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting analysis. Thank you to whoever posted this and to the Cato institute for sponsoring this research and posting it here.

In my familiy's own case, the analysis definitely rings true. Had my child not gotten into Yu Ying, we would have considered Washington International School, but likely rejected it over its tuition (around $30,000/year). We probably would have settled on a privately run Chinese program on Saturdays or Sundays, in addition to public school.

I'm all for giving parents more "choice" in education. I recognize there are different ways of doing this - school vouchers and charter schools being two methods.

I am stunned that anyone from Cato reads this blog.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me there's a serious battle afoot. The privates, parochials and public schools all have their crosshairs on charters, because they see their students (and therefore, their funding) going over to charters in ever increasing numbers. That would certainly explain the vitriol and FUD campaign of vague, nonspecific and irrelevant accusations about Latin, BASIS and the others.

Dc has been at Private for 6 years. I am one of only a handful of parents at DC's school who live in a ward other than ward 3. 90% of parents at Sidwell, Maret,STA,NCS,GDS et al are from ward 3( Foxhall,Wesley Hghts,Chevy Chase,Spring Valley) NOVA or MOCO, so Charter Schools are not even on their radar. I don't thnk these privates " have the charters in their cross hairs". Though all of these parents would say that their child attends private for the academics, and the "community" or moral compass , small class size etc... guess what: their local public school down the street is great and free and they don't send their kid there. This is not about the classroom.

I think Basis has a great concept, but it will only appeal to those already looking at Charters and that is only a handful of familes at any big private. Certainly not enough for anyone to get paranoid about suspicious neg PR.

Few in the richest parts of Ward 3 and Ward 2 care about charters or education outside of the neighborhood school (that drives real-estate values a bit) and where they are paying tuition unless they are political or policy oriented for work or as a hobby. If you added all of these people up, you would have fewer than two thousand.