I agree that charters shouldn't become neighborhood schools. FWIW, I really want to see neighborhood schools be viable options for everyone. I hate this whole charter/oob lottery business.

As for why some schools sort wait lists by date of application, I think it's because they're trying to limit the September shuffle. It's disruptive with 3 or 4 students leave and are replaced with new students. Parents who are serious about a school try to give their kids the best chance to get in, so they will most likely enroll and stay.

What if DCPS turns one of its schools into a charter and is able to use neighborhood preference to do some creative things?

It's ridiculous because:
1. charters locate where they can and move frequently
2. charters offer specialized curriuculum and models and are meant to appeal to the entire city, not just their (often temporary) neighbors
3. if charters become neighborhood schools, NO charter will want to locate in the crappiest neighborhoods.
4. charters will be pressured to meet the needs of the neighborhood--not be faithful to their model
5. etc. etc. etc.

Seriously. I hoped this awful idea would go away when Kwame Brown went to prison. Families who can afford to buy close to a desirable neighborhood school will do so. Families who can't afford a great neighborhood at least have an equal shot at a decent charter school.

Exactly. I wouldn't be in favor of prioritizing neighborhood kids for charters. Isn't that why neighborhood PS exist? Charters are all about equal opportunity/access for all residents of the city. Plus, what happens when the charter moves. Even established charters move (Cap City this past year). And charters in the first years can move quite a bit and are almost always not in their final location.

Anonymous wrote:Instead of wasting your time on this topic (which will not change unless the PCSB changes the rules, which is unlikely considering they established them in the first place), why don't you tackle the new issue of making charters offer priority admission to neighborhood kids? Now that's ridiculous....

Why is that ridiculous?

Instead of wasting your time on this topic (which will not change unless the PCSB changes the rules, which is unlikely considering they established them in the first place), why don't you tackle the new issue of making charters offer priority admission to neighborhood kids? Now that's ridiculous....

The "truly screwed" should be the most-motivated.

Otherwise, c'est la vie.

I mean, holy hell, does one need to light the way with friggin' red carpet, flashing neon lights and engraved invitations?

People can after all be their own worst enemy. It's all out there loud and clear, schools are already bending over backward, aside from whacking clueless parents in the head with slings, Goliath-style.

Just sayin'...

Spare us your "oh so compassionate" scenario. Impoverished people figure it out when it matters to them.

Hi, Brookland non-profit mom who can't afford to buy the same house in Chevy Chase!

I feel more compassion for the truly screwed than I do for you, despite the fact that you can't afford all the choices I have over here in Ward 3.

I can't stand the wait-list ordering by application date.

But if Stokes and YY took all of their applications for just the FIRST WEEK and randomized their receipt times, and after that one-week grace period they began to mark the actual receipt times for building the eventual wait-list, I would be okay with building a wait-list using that process. They're still prioritizing families who have their act together, but it gives other folks a chance to walk-in / mail-in / e-mail in their applications without getting up at oh-dark-thirty.

Problem solved. You're welcome. (Excepting of course that Stokes and YY won't listen to me, so I will continue to poke them with my bad-charter voodoo dolls.)

^^This. It might help a wee bit with the shotgun approach to charter school admissions that we all do, as well as the September shuffle.

And I say that as someone who was too late to Stokes and YY.

Perhaps they SHOULD sort by application date. That would give preference to the folks who have their act together, and who have a serious and deep interest and intent in attending that particular school, as opposed to the johnny-come-latelies who are just bumbling along with a shot-gun approach, trying to get into whatever school they can.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: In all this discussion about fairness... There is no way to ensure a perfectly fair process.

But there is an insanely easy way to make it much fairer. Fully random would take no extra effort at all and it is clearly fairer . . . Why would anyone say there is some equivalence?

I just don't see it. First come first served is a perfectly fair way to do it. Many limited resources in our society are allocated this way.

Wasn't there a huge long thread about how Yu Ying should give preference to Mandarin/Cantonese speakers in admissions.

Now, YY isn't being fair to "poor, single, mothers" and others who can't apply early b/c of the way the wait list is ordered.

Maybe they should have two separate lotteries: One for Mandarin/Cantonese speakers from families with "poor, single mothers" who apply later - they get preference.
Another lottery for everyone else. THAT'S FAIR.

Anonymous wrote: In all this discussion about fairness... There is no way to ensure a perfectly fair process.

But there is an insanely easy way to make it much fairer. Fully random would take no extra effort at all and it is clearly fairer . . . Why would anyone say there is some equivalence?