Anonymous
09/26/2025 10:12
Subject: Would you move for Deal and J-R?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would take the Kalorama Triangle portion of Adams Morgan (OA) or neighborhoods along CT or Wisconsin Ave that feed to Deal over Mt Pleasant. I have never understood all the Mt Pleasant praise. Geographically it feels like an isolated little island with a tiny main drag penned in by chaotic Columbia Heights. Of course, it is nice to be right on the park but to me that seems to be the sole benefit. Parts of it are quite far from metro, etc.
I actually didn’t know that Adams Morgan is zoned for Deal and JR. You mean the Kalorama part? The strip along 18th isn’t, right?
NP. We are right on the Adams Morgan/Kalorama border. They may be changing our IB to MacArthur soon. Definitely research this if that’s something you wouldn’t want.
Soon? They just did a boundary study in 2023. The one before that was all the way back in 2013.
That’s what we were told at MacArthur when we toured last year. Even though we’re currently just about 5 blocks out of bounds, they said that they expected it would be changing again in the not too distant future. No exact details, of course, but that’s what an administrator told me.
The issue here is the mayor messes with the boundaries to get constituents into the good schools in NW. Probably doesn’t affect MacArthur, but she could put her thumb on the scale for MacArthur like she does with JR. Definitely affects an administrator’s confidence in the boundaries going forward.
Anonymous
09/26/2025 10:09
Subject: Would you move for Deal and J-R?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Ignoring the mean spirited posts…
We live in bounds for Deal & JR. If you’re going to move anyway, and schools are a priority, I would absolutely look at VA and MD (more VA than MD, due to all the redistricting chaos in MCPS). Recognizing that some kids do fine and have good experiences at Deal and JR, we were unhappy with our academic experiences in DCPS and tired of the usual DCPS chaos. Kids are in private now. Hopefully DC schools get their act together, but they were a mess during the pandemic and have not yet fully recovered.
What was it about the academic experiences that made you unhappy? And has the private school experience helped? We are weighing everything but want to understand what people have been unhappy with at Deal and J-R (other than proximity to chaos or disruptions caused by other students). What about the education was lacking in your view?
Not the PP you're responding to. This longtime DCPS parent who ultimately bailed for a suburban school (divorced, co-parent with Arlington resident) can tell you that the problems are glaringly obvious. I don't say this as a hater; I say this as a parent who really wanted DCPS to work through 12th grade.
As you must know, as a general rule, DCPS doesn't formally track/ability group in middle school other than for math. Even at Deal, the DCPS MS with the most favorable demographics for learning, your kid end up in humanities and science classes with a bunch of classmates who work one or two, possibly more, grade levels behind yours. There isn't nearly enough challenge or a push for a bright kid, and teachers aren't to blame. But I think the worst part about Deal was that the grading system was absurdly opaque. We almost never saw corrected work. In a nutshell, we had no idea where most of the grades were coming form, or how to up our game after suspiciously low grades were given.
Low-capacity DCPS just doesn't think nearly enough through. If your kid is advanced in a foreign language, chances are good that they'll get lumped into a beginning language class anyway, leaving you to struggle to extract them from said class for weeks or months. And if you have a real problem and admins blow you off, going up the chain tends to be nightmare. Phone calls or emails aren't necessarily returned and if you get somebody on the phone and they figure out that you're an UMC family, they may or may not bother to help. Another big problem is that nobody seems to be a rush to fix urgent seeming problems in DCPS, like broken bathroom stalls (bathrooms are often locked at Deal), or collapsing seats in an auditorium, of the fact that your kid's science class has had a STEM clueless sub for a couple months now. PTAs wind up raising money to fix problems DCPS should fix.
If you're super patient, fairly woke, seriously committed to your DC life and prepared to do heavy lifting to keep your high-performing and well-behaved kid(s) learning, DCPS is fine for middle school, at least at Deal. That wasn't our situation. Good luck, OP.
Anonymous
09/26/2025 10:08
Subject: Would you move for Deal and J-R?
OP here. What are the kinds of things people learned about the schools, learned about their kids, etc that led you to realize Deal (or Hardy, per the PP) and J-R were not the right place? Those are the kinds of things I am trying to figure out.
My kids are strong students and average, rec-level athletes. We're not making any decisions based on sports. If I had to guess, their middle and high school activities will probably be more like debate and drama. We'd prefer to live near their school so they have a sense of independence and community and so we don't need to shuttle them around. We would like to find a good balance between keeping them challenged but also not ending up in a super stressful pressure-cooker environment.
My kids are strong students and average, rec-level athletes. We're not making any decisions based on sports. If I had to guess, their middle and high school activities will probably be more like debate and drama. We'd prefer to live near their school so they have a sense of independence and community and so we don't need to shuttle them around. We would like to find a good balance between keeping them challenged but also not ending up in a super stressful pressure-cooker environment.
Anonymous
09/26/2025 09:42
Subject: Would you move for Deal and J-R?
OP-
There are so many variables to this question that will completely change the answer.
Do you love your house and your mortgage rate?
Do you have the flexibility to drive across town for a few years or are you near a decent bus route for your kids to commute?
What are your kids into? How do they spend their time and what are their extracurriculars?
What’s your plan beyond HS for yourselves? Will you stay in DC forever?
We are an EOTP family that ended up commuting across town for Hardy. I would have been disappointed if we had up and moved out of our house for it, to be honest. We ultimately ended up in private for HS (which we’d never really even planned or considered, we always thought we’d just feed to JR). But what we learned about our kids in middle school coupled with their extracurriculars, led us to exit DCPS. If we had moved and stretched our housing budget we wouldn’t have felt like that was an option.
But if you didn’t lottery in and you have to move to get into those schools, I think in hindsight at least for us, it would’ve been better to totally leave DC and head for a suburban school.
There are so many variables to this question that will completely change the answer.
Do you love your house and your mortgage rate?
Do you have the flexibility to drive across town for a few years or are you near a decent bus route for your kids to commute?
What are your kids into? How do they spend their time and what are their extracurriculars?
What’s your plan beyond HS for yourselves? Will you stay in DC forever?
We are an EOTP family that ended up commuting across town for Hardy. I would have been disappointed if we had up and moved out of our house for it, to be honest. We ultimately ended up in private for HS (which we’d never really even planned or considered, we always thought we’d just feed to JR). But what we learned about our kids in middle school coupled with their extracurriculars, led us to exit DCPS. If we had moved and stretched our housing budget we wouldn’t have felt like that was an option.
But if you didn’t lottery in and you have to move to get into those schools, I think in hindsight at least for us, it would’ve been better to totally leave DC and head for a suburban school.
Anonymous
09/26/2025 07:36
Subject: Would you move for Deal and J-R?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would take the Kalorama Triangle portion of Adams Morgan (OA) or neighborhoods along CT or Wisconsin Ave that feed to Deal over Mt Pleasant. I have never understood all the Mt Pleasant praise. Geographically it feels like an isolated little island with a tiny main drag penned in by chaotic Columbia Heights. Of course, it is nice to be right on the park but to me that seems to be the sole benefit. Parts of it are quite far from metro, etc.
Boundary changes are very unpopular politically. They are mandated to do them every 10 years. I wouldn’t expect any boundary changes before 2033.
I actually didn’t know that Adams Morgan is zoned for Deal and JR. You mean the Kalorama part? The strip along 18th isn’t, right?
NP. We are right on the Adams Morgan/Kalorama border. They may be changing our IB to MacArthur soon. Definitely research this if that’s something you wouldn’t want.
Soon? They just did a boundary study in 2023. The one before that was all the way back in 2013.
That’s what we were told at MacArthur when we toured last year. Even though we’re currently just about 5 blocks out of bounds, they said that they expected it would be changing again in the not too distant future. No exact details, of course, but that’s what an administrator told me.
Anonymous
09/26/2025 06:54
Subject: Would you move for Deal and J-R?
Anonymous wrote:Yes, Kalorama Triangle is part of Adams Morgan - between Columbia Rd and Connecticut Ave. I’m not talking about Kalorama, which is across CT ave and is mansions.
No, it’s not “part” of AM. It’s its own distinct neighborhood
Anonymous
09/25/2025 23:22
Subject: Re:Would you move for Deal and J-R?
Would the posters who have shared so far prefer Deal to Hardy?
Anonymous
09/25/2025 23:11
Subject: Would you move for Deal and J-R?
The OA/JR cachement area of Adams Morgan actually extends east past Kalorama Triangle (bounded by Columbia RD) another block to 18 St. Adds a funny little wedge to the zone. Worth studying a map if you’re targeting this neighborhood.
Anonymous wrote:Yes, Kalorama Triangle is part of Adams Morgan - between Columbia Rd and Connecticut Ave. I’m not talking about Kalorama, which is across CT ave and is mansions.
Anonymous
09/25/2025 19:28
Subject: Would you move for Deal and J-R?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would take the Kalorama Triangle portion of Adams Morgan (OA) or neighborhoods along CT or Wisconsin Ave that feed to Deal over Mt Pleasant. I have never understood all the Mt Pleasant praise. Geographically it feels like an isolated little island with a tiny main drag penned in by chaotic Columbia Heights. Of course, it is nice to be right on the park but to me that seems to be the sole benefit. Parts of it are quite far from metro, etc.
I actually didn’t know that Adams Morgan is zoned for Deal and JR. You mean the Kalorama part? The strip along 18th isn’t, right?
NP. We are right on the Adams Morgan/Kalorama border. They may be changing our IB to MacArthur soon. Definitely research this if that’s something you wouldn’t want.
Soon? They just did a boundary study in 2023. The one before that was all the way back in 2013.
That’s what we were told at MacArthur when we toured last year. Even though we’re currently just about 5 blocks out of bounds, they said that they expected it would be changing again in the not too distant future. No exact details, of course, but that’s what an administrator told me.
Anonymous
09/25/2025 16:29
Subject: Re:Would you move for Deal and J-R?
Anonymous wrote:I live in MtP and my kid goes to Bancroft. Here is what is attractive about living here. The neigborhood is very welcoming and friendly. Many of the streets have their own block parties at different times of the year. I've been to ones on Kilbourne, Hobart, Ingleside, Monroe and the big Halloween one on Lamont. The strip on MtP is quite convenient for running errands. Dry cleaner, Streets, Each Peach, a couple of liquor stores. Target is easy to get to for bigger stuff.
We go to Elle, Bar Del Monte, Purple Patch, the Taqueria, Martha Dear and Joia Burger all the time. (the last one WAY to often thanks to my kid)
My kid has a great friend group and I can send him up to Bancroft on weekends to play. He is mid-elementary and he and his friends all meet up there. They go to each other's houses when they get hungry and we take turns feeding them. My kid is also involved in 2 organized sports.
We are right on RCP and close to Adams Morgan for more places to run errands like the hardware store and CVS.
We love living here. I used to think I wanted to live over in Cleveland Park or AU park but now if we were to move it would be out of state.
Yea we love Mt Pleasant as well. We moved to the 14th Street Corridor/Logan area as young empty nesters and love it, but in retrospect think we would prefer Mt Pleasant. Cleveland Park and AU Park are both far too suburban and white.
Anonymous
09/25/2025 15:34
Subject: Re:Would you move for Deal and J-R?
I live in MtP and my kid goes to Bancroft. Here is what is attractive about living here. The neigborhood is very welcoming and friendly. Many of the streets have their own block parties at different times of the year. I've been to ones on Kilbourne, Hobart, Ingleside, Monroe and the big Halloween one on Lamont. The strip on MtP is quite convenient for running errands. Dry cleaner, Streets, Each Peach, a couple of liquor stores. Target is easy to get to for bigger stuff.
We go to Elle, Bar Del Monte, Purple Patch, the Taqueria, Martha Dear and Joia Burger all the time. (the last one WAY to often thanks to my kid)
My kid has a great friend group and I can send him up to Bancroft on weekends to play. He is mid-elementary and he and his friends all meet up there. They go to each other's houses when they get hungry and we take turns feeding them. My kid is also involved in 2 organized sports.
We are right on RCP and close to Adams Morgan for more places to run errands like the hardware store and CVS.
We love living here. I used to think I wanted to live over in Cleveland Park or AU park but now if we were to move it would be out of state.
We go to Elle, Bar Del Monte, Purple Patch, the Taqueria, Martha Dear and Joia Burger all the time. (the last one WAY to often thanks to my kid)
My kid has a great friend group and I can send him up to Bancroft on weekends to play. He is mid-elementary and he and his friends all meet up there. They go to each other's houses when they get hungry and we take turns feeding them. My kid is also involved in 2 organized sports.
We are right on RCP and close to Adams Morgan for more places to run errands like the hardware store and CVS.
We love living here. I used to think I wanted to live over in Cleveland Park or AU park but now if we were to move it would be out of state.
Anonymous
09/25/2025 15:22
Subject: Would you move for Deal and J-R?
Anonymous wrote:Ignoring the mean spirited posts…
We live in bounds for Deal & JR. If you’re going to move anyway, and schools are a priority, I would absolutely look at VA and MD (more VA than MD, due to all the redistricting chaos in MCPS). Recognizing that some kids do fine and have good experiences at Deal and JR, we were unhappy with our academic experiences in DCPS and tired of the usual DCPS chaos. Kids are in private now. Hopefully DC schools get their act together, but they were a mess during the pandemic and have not yet fully recovered.
What was it about the academic experiences that made you unhappy? And has the private school experience helped? We are weighing everything but want to understand what people have been unhappy with at Deal and J-R (other than proximity to chaos or disruptions caused by other students). What about the education was lacking in your view?
Anonymous
09/25/2025 14:48
Subject: Would you move for Deal and J-R?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would take the Kalorama Triangle portion of Adams Morgan (OA) or neighborhoods along CT or Wisconsin Ave that feed to Deal over Mt Pleasant. I have never understood all the Mt Pleasant praise. Geographically it feels like an isolated little island with a tiny main drag penned in by chaotic Columbia Heights. Of course, it is nice to be right on the park but to me that seems to be the sole benefit. Parts of it are quite far from metro, etc.
I actually didn’t know that Adams Morgan is zoned for Deal and JR. You mean the Kalorama part? The strip along 18th isn’t, right?
NP. We are right on the Adams Morgan/Kalorama border. They may be changing our IB to MacArthur soon. Definitely research this if that’s something you wouldn’t want.
Soon? They just did a boundary study in 2023. The one before that was all the way back in 2013.
Anonymous
09/25/2025 14:36
Subject: Would you move for Deal and J-R?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would take the Kalorama Triangle portion of Adams Morgan (OA) or neighborhoods along CT or Wisconsin Ave that feed to Deal over Mt Pleasant. I have never understood all the Mt Pleasant praise. Geographically it feels like an isolated little island with a tiny main drag penned in by chaotic Columbia Heights. Of course, it is nice to be right on the park but to me that seems to be the sole benefit. Parts of it are quite far from metro, etc.
I actually didn’t know that Adams Morgan is zoned for Deal and JR. You mean the Kalorama part? The strip along 18th isn’t, right?
NP. We are right on the Adams Morgan/Kalorama border. They may be changing our IB to MacArthur soon. Definitely research this if that’s something you wouldn’t want.
Anonymous
09/25/2025 13:57
Subject: Would you move for Deal and J-R?
Ignoring the mean spirited posts…
We live in bounds for Deal & JR. If you’re going to move anyway, and schools are a priority, I would absolutely look at VA and MD (more VA than MD, due to all the redistricting chaos in MCPS). Recognizing that some kids do fine and have good experiences at Deal and JR, we were unhappy with our academic experiences in DCPS and tired of the usual DCPS chaos. Kids are in private now. Hopefully DC schools get their act together, but they were a mess during the pandemic and have not yet fully recovered.
We live in bounds for Deal & JR. If you’re going to move anyway, and schools are a priority, I would absolutely look at VA and MD (more VA than MD, due to all the redistricting chaos in MCPS). Recognizing that some kids do fine and have good experiences at Deal and JR, we were unhappy with our academic experiences in DCPS and tired of the usual DCPS chaos. Kids are in private now. Hopefully DC schools get their act together, but they were a mess during the pandemic and have not yet fully recovered.