Anonymous wrote:McKinley Tech kind of surprised me.

In what way? That they have no waitlist? (really curious what you mean - have my eye on it but not sure it'll be a good enough school in the timeframe we need.

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Anonymous wrote:Cap Hill Cluster schools (Peabody, Watkins, SH) offered a total of 3 seats (Watkins 1st) across 9 by right grade levels. That's a small number for Watkins

In previous years, Watkins waitlist tends to move a lot once the registration deadline passes. Peabody and SH, not so much.

But Watkins has been regularly offering seats in the lottery for years before moving through their waitlist. While some movement would still be expected it looks likely to be less than previous years. Retention rates have been steadily improving.

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Anonymous wrote:Creative Minds seems to be tanking (rightfully so IMO).
2016-17 PK3 433
2017-18 PK3 394
2018-19 PK3 406
2019-20 PK3 212

PK4 also went from 278 last year to 177 this year
K went from 255 to 134

Wow!

Seriously.

+1 so glad and grateful that we got out of there

Ouch. I do notice a lessened interest in CMI in our area. It is no longer passing the "would I drive far for this" test.

MV8 is very nearby and took tons of kids for each of these grades.

That shouldn't have any bearing on how many people applied to CMI. Again, look at ITS, Lee and Cap City who still had similar # of applicants.

Lee have 75 more people on their wait list. Cap city has over a hundred LESS. This is a big fall in numbers, but it's holding it's own among other popular schools. I feel like someone has it in for CMI.

CMI has a 50% decline in almost all their younger grades. Care to show another school like that?

So they've fallen from super popular to just popular. And if you want to see a fall look at SSMA's numbers.

My eyes are bleeding from looking at that. Crikey. I guess the combo of no heat, no air conditioning, no principal has really put people off.

Truly though, how bad is SSMA for someone that otherwise struck out for pre-k 3? Is it "pay for another year of daycare" bad or okay for a year or two while we try for something better?

wow, I don't think it's THAT bad! I know folks happy there. Just goes to show, bad news travels fast.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Creative Minds seems to be tanking (rightfully so IMO).
2016-17 PK3 433
2017-18 PK3 394
2018-19 PK3 406
2019-20 PK3 212

PK4 also went from 278 last year to 177 this year
K went from 255 to 134

Wow!

Seriously.

+1 so glad and grateful that we got out of there

Same, the only parents who are still there are either SN parents or white folks who fear their IB school. The people I know still there are typical folks who move here from the Midwest for the city feel, but don’t actually want to mix with city people.

Looks like Bancroft took all the sibling preference English dominant pre-3 this year, but that leaves 52 inbounds on the waitlist. Even with Briya moving out, I wonder if there's room in 2022 for 70+ in kindergarten.

The classroom experience AT SSMA ranges from fine to fantastic and aftercare is better-than-good in a “let’s put on a show” sort of way. The administrative functions aren’t as dire as they seem on this message board but they are definitely multiple steps below where they should be but aren’t as dire as they seem if you only read this message board. School leadership truly stinks. You just have to weigh it all and make a decision, but for Gods sake don’t just go off of what you read on here.

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Truly though, how bad is SSMA for someone that otherwise struck out for pre-k 3? Is it "pay for another year of daycare" bad or okay for a year or two while we try for something better?

I live in Brookland and we have a lot of friends with kids at SSMA. We've heard positive things about the classroom experience for PK3 and PK4, so I wouldn't say it's "pay for another year of daycare" bad, especially if the location is convenient for your family.

That said, every parent we know at SSMA lotteried their kid for a new school this year, and one planned to send them to their neighborhood school rather than face another year of HVAC failures and communication issues. So it might not be "pay for more daycare" bad but it's worth taking a hard look at whether it's better than your DCPS. (Ignore that advice if your neighborhood school is hard to get into and you already struck out there.)

Hardy MS - 6th grade

2019-20
Apps: 363
Waitlist: 242
Matched: 20

2018-19
Apps: 282
Waitlist: 192
Matched: 15

2017-18
Apps: 246
Waitlist: 159
Matched: 25

No much difference at the 6th grade level. I'm wondering - did they expand the 6th grade class sizes for this next school year?

However for Hardy, the big change is at the 7th & 8th grades:

2019-20
7th grade matches: ZERO
8th grade matches: ZERO

2018-19
7th grade matches: 10
8th grade matches: 1

2017-18
7th grade matches: 30
8th grade matches: 19

2016-17
7th grade matches: 10
8th grade matches: 10

well it depends. How hot or cold is your child willing to get before being upset?

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Creative Minds seems to be tanking (rightfully so IMO).
2016-17 PK3 433
2017-18 PK3 394
2018-19 PK3 406
2019-20 PK3 212

PK4 also went from 278 last year to 177 this year
K went from 255 to 134

Wow!

Seriously.

+1 so glad and grateful that we got out of there

Ouch. I do notice a lessened interest in CMI in our area. It is no longer passing the "would I drive far for this" test.

MV8 is very nearby and took tons of kids for each of these grades.

That shouldn't have any bearing on how many people applied to CMI. Again, look at ITS, Lee and Cap City who still had similar # of applicants.

Lee have 75 more people on their wait list. Cap city has over a hundred LESS. This is a big fall in numbers, but it's holding it's own among other popular schools. I feel like someone has it in for CMI.

CMI has a 50% decline in almost all their younger grades. Care to show another school like that?

So they've fallen from super popular to just popular. And if you want to see a fall look at SSMA's numbers.

My eyes are bleeding from looking at that. Crikey. I guess the combo of no heat, no air conditioning, no principal has really put people off.

Truly though, how bad is SSMA for someone that otherwise struck out for pre-k 3? Is it "pay for another year of daycare" bad or okay for a year or two while we try for something better?

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone help explain the huge increase in waitlist numbers for Garrison? Is it just the new building? I was told it was a great “safety” for PK3 since we are in-boundary but we were waitlisted! Does anyone have a sense of how much the list moves? And when? I wasn’t expecting this but I guess it might be another year of daycare for us...

Your story is similar to ours, H.D. Cooke never had any inbound kids on a waitlist, until this year where it actually waitlisted inbound with siblings attending. We are inbound waitlisted and did not expect this at all. Sigh.

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Anonymous wrote:Can anyone help explain the huge increase in waitlist numbers for Garrison? Is it just the new building? I was told it was a great “safety” for PK3 since we are in-boundary but we were waitlisted! Does anyone have a sense of how much the list moves? And when? I wasn’t expecting this but I guess it might be another year of daycare for us...

I cannot explain why the huge increase, but wanted to give you some home by saying that we applied last year as OOB and were called off the waitlist in mid-summer. We did not take the spot. I also know a family who got called off the waitlist a few weeks after school started, and they happily accepted.

I hear amazing things about the Principal. New facilities, lovely playground, plus engaged, enthusiastic principal I would guess equals huge waitlist numbers.

Nice new principal getting settled in. Nice new renovation. On metro. No more PK3 at Ross at all, so that added some kids to the list.

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Anonymous wrote:Can anyone help explain the huge increase in waitlist numbers for Garrison? Is it just the new building? I was told it was a great “safety” for PK3 since we are in-boundary but we were waitlisted! Does anyone have a sense of how much the list moves? And when? I wasn’t expecting this but I guess it might be another year of daycare for us...

I cannot explain why the huge increase, but wanted to give you some home by saying that we applied last year as OOB and were called off the waitlist in mid-summer. We did not take the spot. I also know a family who got called off the waitlist a few weeks after school started, and they happily accepted.

I hear amazing things about the Principal. New facilities, lovely playground, plus engaged, enthusiastic principal I would guess equals huge waitlist numbers.

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone help explain the huge increase in waitlist numbers for Garrison? Is it just the new building? I was told it was a great “safety” for PK3 since we are in-boundary but we were waitlisted! Does anyone have a sense of how much the list moves? And when? I wasn’t expecting this but I guess it might be another year of daycare for us...

I cannot explain why the huge increase, but wanted to give you some home by saying that we applied last year as OOB and were called off the waitlist in mid-summer. We did not take the spot. I also know a family who got called off the waitlist a few weeks after school started, and they happily accepted.

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone help explain the huge increase in waitlist numbers for Garrison? Is it just the new building? I was told it was a great “safety” for PK3 since we are in-boundary but we were waitlisted! Does anyone have a sense of how much the list moves? And when? I wasn’t expecting this but I guess it might be another year of daycare for us...

Past data does not predict future performance. But you can tell from this link what happened to the wait list the last few years. https://public.tableau.com/profile/aaron2446#!/vizhome/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData/MSDCPublicDisplay

There are no safeties. People, especially those with kids a bit older than yours, will tell you what they believe the safeties are, usually drawing on their own experiences as a prospective PK3 parent. The landscape changes fast.

Of course, there are Pk3 seats open in other parts of the city, if you are willing to commute to them.