I hear that MV has moved for K.

We just got a call from Bruce Monroe for PK3. Turned it down. They must have been through their entire round 1 and round 2 waitlists because we applied after the lottery was over. But we now are happily settled at another school, where we got off the waitlist about a month ago.

Anonymous wrote:PK3 and PK4 have certain ratios to maintain for state law for working with 3 and 4 year olds. By 6, no laws, but kids can handle 24 in a class with two adults. Most DCPS have at least that with one adult. A few more kids in the elementary grades means a few more teachers and some $$ cushion moving forward. Yu Ying created the "bubble grade" the year they moved in by adding what, 80 kids in one grade to create that financial cushion. IT is going to fill its class rosters as full as they can be comfortable with.

DCPS does have mandates in the contract that set a number for max class capacity past PS/PK, but there are also "addendums" that allow schools to adjust that cap under special circumstances.

I wish My School DC would share data about how many of the students who were shut out of the lottery but are now enrolled somewhere.

Just got offered and turned down a 1st grade spot at Inspired Teaching. Can't remember exactly what our number was but I think in the 30s. I didn't expect to be called, but hadn't really focused on it as I applied mostly on a whim. We are actually happy at Maury.

Anonymous wrote:PK3 and PK4 have certain ratios to maintain for state law for working with 3 and 4 year olds. By 6, no laws, but kids can handle 24 in a class with two adults. Most DCPS have at least that with one adult. A few more kids in the elementary grades means a few more teachers and some $$ cushion moving forward. Yu Ying created the "bubble grade" the year they moved in by adding what, 80 kids in one grade to create that financial cushion. IT is going to fill its class rosters as full as they can be comfortable with.

Yu Ying added ~36 kids. The bubble class has 6 classrooms w/18-19 kids instead of 4 classrooms which is their normal size per grade.

PK3 and PK4 have certain ratios to maintain for state law for working with 3 and 4 year olds. By 6, no laws, but kids can handle 24 in a class with two adults. Most DCPS have at least that with one adult. A few more kids in the elementary grades means a few more teachers and some $$ cushion moving forward. Yu Ying created the "bubble grade" the year they moved in by adding what, 80 kids in one grade to create that financial cushion. IT is going to fill its class rosters as full as they can be comfortable with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1
Another first grade parent here. Great kids, great teachers. A few kids moved away, some kids moved to good IB neighborhoods, some didn't follow to permanent site. Not entirely sure of the reasons for the wait list movement being the most of any grade. Know they are adding to size of class to be 24 each, not 21 like in K.

Really? I didn't know this. We have 22. So I guess they're adding more.

Are they adding more to their PK3 and PK4 classes too, or will those still be 22?

Anonymous wrote:+1
Another first grade parent here. Great kids, great teachers. A few kids moved away, some kids moved to good IB neighborhoods, some didn't follow to permanent site. Not entirely sure of the reasons for the wait list movement being the most of any grade. Know they are adding to size of class to be 24 each, not 21 like in K.

Really? I didn't know this. We have 22. So I guess they're adding more.

+1
Another first grade parent here. Great kids, great teachers. A few kids moved away, some kids moved to good IB neighborhoods, some didn't follow to permanent site. Not entirely sure of the reasons for the wait list movement being the most of any grade. Know they are adding to size of class to be 24 each, not 21 like in K.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a piece of advice from one who has btdt, always discuss with the school before declining for these types of issues. I've seen several instances where hrcs pulled the strings to open another spot (as it isn't trumping anyone else) in similar situations,

Thanks for the advice. Trust me, I am kicking myself for making such a hasty decision.

Maybe give them a call and see if there is anything they can do. Generally talking to the school is best.

+1. Call them

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the reasons the first grade is moving so mich more at ITS than other grades ? We were offered a spot.

I'd be curious too. 1st grade has accepted everyone who went through Round 1 and 2 of the lottery (at least it looks that way looking at the waitlist on the ITS website). That's 40+ kids. Is there a problem with the 1st grade teachers? Or a reason for attrition? Or did they add a class?

Not at all. The first grade teachers are fantastic! We had one last year and it was hard for my kid to move to 2nd grade. Even now, she goes back to 1st grade teacher every day for hugs and sharing. There really is not one teacher in the school that isn't amazing. I heard from a friend in 1st grade that 6-7 kids moved (this is certainly a fluke, in our grade, we've never really had more than 1-2 move in on year). Some (I think 4-5) moved far out of state and 1 or 2 moved to Ward 3. I think a few didn't move until a few weeks before school. I'm sure this left the school scrambling. I assume many kids that were high on the WL at IT had a pretty good lottery number, so it's fair to assume they were already in somewhere they ranked equally as high (just an assumption on my part).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a piece of advice from one who has btdt, always discuss with the school before declining for these types of issues. I've seen several instances where hrcs pulled the strings to open another spot (as it isn't trumping anyone else) in similar situations,

Thanks for the advice. Trust me, I am kicking myself for making such a hasty decision.

Maybe give them a call and see if there is anything they can do. Generally talking to the school is best.

I know a few first graders moved out of state.

Anonymous wrote:As a piece of advice from one who has btdt, always discuss with the school before declining for these types of issues. I've seen several instances where hrcs pulled the strings to open another spot (as it isn't trumping anyone else) in similar situations,

Thanks for the advice. Trust me, I am kicking myself for making such a hasty decision.