Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been in the neighborhood long enough (15 years) to know that there are boatloads of lovely people on the Hill, a great many generous and easy-going parents of toddlers and school-age kids with a big vision for humanity. The entitled crowd, including the type of parent hell bent on busting boundary cheaters and PC County address cheaters seeking a good ECE education for their kids, is comprised mainly by relatively recent arrivals, families who came and bought property within the last five years or so. The old timers learned to roll with the punches somewhere along the way. If they'd hadn't, they'd have left.

I've been here 15 years too (ok fine 14). Maybe it is different when they are taking your kid's spot. It is easy to be easy going when it doesn't directly effect you.

How in the hell can you know who "took" your kid's spot? You were #1 on a WL and you know an address cheater personally who got off the WL ahead of you? The spots they give away aren't numbered; in case where DCPS is auctioning off 28 PreK3 spots you can't find out who got took #28, that's not how it works. I know plenty of people on Cap Hill (self included) who were shut out of their ECE program in-boundary for a year or two, parents who know neighborhood address cheaters, and MD address cheaters for that matter, who have never bitched. They cheerfully got on with things elsewhere for PreK3 and sometimes PreK4, too. You play the hand you're dealt.

Easy there...

You are right, the spots aren't numbered 1-28. Therefore if any of those 28 kids was from a cheating family, they would be taking a spot from a kid on the WL.

Yes we had a low number and didn't get in. Yes we "played our hand," and everyone is fine. Still does not make it right for cheaters to cheat.

A great deal is not right in this picture, first and foremost that PG County not offering universal free PreK, or nearly enough Preschool spots to serve low-income families. In second place, I nominate DCPS for blithely allowing scores of elementary schools to continue to fail, with disastrous proficiency pass rates in the mix. Cheaters are just as likely to end up on the WL as to get in. You can note the immorality of cheaters cheating, or you can celebrate your singular access to non means-tested preschool and prek in every area of this great city but Upper NW. To my knowledge, no other American city offers this. You have Tommy Well's tireless advocacy to thank for the opportunity. I don't know a single family outside Upper NW who has been shut out at every preschool or prek within two miles of their house by the start of school in ten years of paying close attention to lottery results.

Come to the Hill where you can throw a rock and hit five families that have been shut out of ECE.

I do not know of a single person to actually get in their inbound ECE from Brent or Maury for PK3. Most people found a less coveted ECE program (Ludlow-Taylor, Van Ness, Payne, Miner) and were happy to get that. This year there are waitlists for Miner, Ludlow, Payne, Van Ness, Maury, BRent, Peabody, etc etc.

NYC is offering free, universal PK4.

Anonymous wrote:

Try going into DC DMV and telling them that because of "cultural differences" and "informal arrangements" there are no "docs." How do you think that's going to work out?

I didn't think so.

So don't make the argument when it comes to the DC public and charter schools.

I know we've moved on but want to circle back here because I think it demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding. Driving is not a legally protected right. Education is. As a result, housing insecure families are able to use whatever documents they have access to, which includes informal letters, to access that education. For the school system to require a level of documentation equivalent to the DMV of a family that is housing insecure, or has custody issues, would almost certainly bring a lawsuit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been in the neighborhood long enough (15 years) to know that there are boatloads of lovely people on the Hill, a great many generous and easy-going parents of toddlers and school-age kids with a big vision for humanity. The entitled crowd, including the type of parent hell bent on busting boundary cheaters and PC County address cheaters seeking a good ECE education for their kids, is comprised mainly by relatively recent arrivals, families who came and bought property within the last five years or so. The old timers learned to roll with the punches somewhere along the way. If they'd hadn't, they'd have left.

I've been here 15 years too (ok fine 14). Maybe it is different when they are taking your kid's spot. It is easy to be easy going when it doesn't directly effect you.

How in the hell can you know who "took" your kid's spot? You were #1 on a WL and you know an address cheater personally who got off the WL ahead of you? The spots they give away aren't numbered; in case where DCPS is auctioning off 28 PreK3 spots you can't find out who got took #28, that's not how it works. I know plenty of people on Cap Hill (self included) who were shut out of their ECE program in-boundary for a year or two, parents who know neighborhood address cheaters, and MD address cheaters for that matter, who have never bitched. They cheerfully got on with things elsewhere for PreK3 and sometimes PreK4, too. You play the hand you're dealt.

Easy there...

You are right, the spots aren't numbered 1-28. Therefore if any of those 28 kids was from a cheating family, they would be taking a spot from a kid on the WL.

Yes we had a low number and didn't get in. Yes we "played our hand," and everyone is fine. Still does not make it right for cheaters to cheat.

A great deal is not right in this picture, first and foremost that PG County not offering universal free PreK, or nearly enough Preschool spots to serve low-income families. In second place, I nominate DCPS for blithely allowing scores of elementary schools to continue to fail, with disastrous proficiency pass rates in the mix. Cheaters are just as likely to end up on the WL as to get in. You can note the immorality of cheaters cheating, or you can celebrate your singular access to non means-tested preschool and prek in every area of this great city but Upper NW. To my knowledge, no other American city offers this. You have Tommy Well's tireless advocacy to thank for the opportunity. I don't know a single family outside Upper NW who has been shut out at every preschool or prek within two miles of their house by the start of school in ten years of paying close attention to lottery results.

Come to the Hill where you can throw a rock and hit five families that have been shut out of ECE.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been in the neighborhood long enough (15 years) to know that there are boatloads of lovely people on the Hill, a great many generous and easy-going parents of toddlers and school-age kids with a big vision for humanity. The entitled crowd, including the type of parent hell bent on busting boundary cheaters and PC County address cheaters seeking a good ECE education for their kids, is comprised mainly by relatively recent arrivals, families who came and bought property within the last five years or so. The old timers learned to roll with the punches somewhere along the way. If they'd hadn't, they'd have left.

I've been here 15 years too (ok fine 14). Maybe it is different when they are taking your kid's spot. It is easy to be easy going when it doesn't directly effect you.

How in the hell can you know who "took" your kid's spot? You were #1 on a WL and you know an address cheater personally who got off the WL ahead of you? The spots they give away aren't numbered; in case where DCPS is auctioning off 28 PreK3 spots you can't find out who got took #28, that's not how it works. I know plenty of people on Cap Hill (self included) who were shut out of their ECE program in-boundary for a year or two, parents who know neighborhood address cheaters, and MD address cheaters for that matter, who have never bitched. They cheerfully got on with things elsewhere for PreK3 and sometimes PreK4, too. You play the hand you're dealt.

Easy there...

You are right, the spots aren't numbered 1-28. Therefore if any of those 28 kids was from a cheating family, they would be taking a spot from a kid on the WL.

Yes we had a low number and didn't get in. Yes we "played our hand," and everyone is fine. Still does not make it right for cheaters to cheat.

Honestly, I'm one of those people who used to not care. Until this story broke, I thought it was all a joke. My children are at an HRCS, and we were unaffected. The only evidence I ever saw was the elderly couple down the street whose children use their address to attend the local DCPS. (I felt sorry for all of them because there's no way we would use that school. It's not over-subscribed.). This story has highlighted a different perspective.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Try going into DC DMV and telling them that because of "cultural differences" and "informal arrangements" there are no "docs." How do you think that's going to work out?

I didn't think so.

So don't make the argument when it comes to the DC public and charter schools.

I know we've moved on but want to circle back here because I think it demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding. Driving is not a legally protected right. Education is. As a result, housing insecure families are able to use whatever documents they have access to, which includes informal letters, to access that education. For the school system to require a level of documentation equivalent to the DMV of a family that is housing insecure, or has custody issues, would almost certainly bring a lawsuit.

Does anyone know how the DC rules compare to Fairfax, Arl, Moco, PG etc?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been in the neighborhood long enough (15 years) to know that there are boatloads of lovely people on the Hill, a great many generous and easy-going parents of toddlers and school-age kids with a big vision for humanity. The entitled crowd, including the type of parent hell bent on busting boundary cheaters and PC County address cheaters seeking a good ECE education for their kids, is comprised mainly by relatively recent arrivals, families who came and bought property within the last five years or so. The old timers learned to roll with the punches somewhere along the way. If they'd hadn't, they'd have left.

I've been here 15 years too (ok fine 14). Maybe it is different when they are taking your kid's spot. It is easy to be easy going when it doesn't directly effect you.

How in the hell can you know who "took" your kid's spot? You were #1 on a WL and you know an address cheater personally who got off the WL ahead of you? The spots they give away aren't numbered; in case where DCPS is auctioning off 28 PreK3 spots you can't find out who got took #28, that's not how it works. I know plenty of people on Cap Hill (self included) who were shut out of their ECE program in-boundary for a year or two, parents who know neighborhood address cheaters, and MD address cheaters for that matter, who have never bitched. They cheerfully got on with things elsewhere for PreK3 and sometimes PreK4, too. You play the hand you're dealt.

Easy there...

You are right, the spots aren't numbered 1-28. Therefore if any of those 28 kids was from a cheating family, they would be taking a spot from a kid on the WL.

Yes we had a low number and didn't get in. Yes we "played our hand," and everyone is fine. Still does not make it right for cheaters to cheat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been in the neighborhood long enough (15 years) to know that there are boatloads of lovely people on the Hill, a great many generous and easy-going parents of toddlers and school-age kids with a big vision for humanity. The entitled crowd, including the type of parent hell bent on busting boundary cheaters and PC County address cheaters seeking a good ECE education for their kids, is comprised mainly by relatively recent arrivals, families who came and bought property within the last five years or so. The old timers learned to roll with the punches somewhere along the way. If they'd hadn't, they'd have left.

I've been here 15 years too (ok fine 14). Maybe it is different when they are taking your kid's spot. It is easy to be easy going when it doesn't directly effect you.

How in the hell can you know who "took" your kid's spot? You were #1 on a WL and you know an address cheater personally who got off the WL ahead of you? The spots they give away aren't numbered; in case where DCPS is auctioning off 28 PreK3 spots you can't find out who got took #28, that's not how it works. I know plenty of people on Cap Hill (self included) who were shut out of their ECE program in-boundary for a year or two, parents who know neighborhood address cheaters, and MD address cheaters for that matter, who have never bitched. They cheerfully got on with things elsewhere for PreK3 and sometimes PreK4, too. You play the hand you're dealt.

Easy there...

You are right, the spots aren't numbered 1-28. Therefore if any of those 28 kids was from a cheating family, they would be taking a spot from a kid on the WL.

Yes we had a low number and didn't get in. Yes we "played our hand," and everyone is fine. Still does not make it right for cheaters to cheat.

A great deal is not right in this picture, first and foremost that PG County not offering universal free PreK, or nearly enough Preschool spots to serve low-income families. In second place, I nominate DCPS for blithely allowing scores of elementary schools to continue to fail, with disastrous proficiency pass rates in the mix. Cheaters are just as likely to end up on the WL as to get in. You can note the immorality of cheaters cheating, or you can celebrate your singular access to non means-tested preschool and prek in every area of this great city but Upper NW. To my knowledge, no other American city offers this. You have Tommy Well's tireless advocacy to thank for the opportunity. I don't know a single family outside Upper NW who has been shut out at every preschool or prek within two miles of their house by the start of school in ten years of paying close attention to lottery results.

Come to the Hill where you can throw a rock and hit five families that have been shut out of ECE.

Anonymous wrote:When whites left the city in the 50s and 60s, did they keep political power from their new perches in MoCo and NoVa?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been in the neighborhood long enough (15 years) to know that there are boatloads of lovely people on the Hill, a great many generous and easy-going parents of toddlers and school-age kids with a big vision for humanity. The entitled crowd, including the type of parent hell bent on busting boundary cheaters and PC County address cheaters seeking a good ECE education for their kids, is comprised mainly by relatively recent arrivals, families who came and bought property within the last five years or so. The old timers learned to roll with the punches somewhere along the way. If they'd hadn't, they'd have left.

I've been here 15 years too (ok fine 14). Maybe it is different when they are taking your kid's spot. It is easy to be easy going when it doesn't directly effect you.

How in the hell can you know who "took" your kid's spot? You were #1 on a WL and you know an address cheater personally who got off the WL ahead of you? The spots they give away aren't numbered; in case where DCPS is auctioning off 28 PreK3 spots you can't find out who got took #28, that's not how it works. I know plenty of people on Cap Hill (self included) who were shut out of their ECE program in-boundary for a year or two, parents who know neighborhood address cheaters, and MD address cheaters for that matter, who have never bitched. They cheerfully got on with things elsewhere for PreK3 and sometimes PreK4, too. You play the hand you're dealt.

Easy there...

You are right, the spots aren't numbered 1-28. Therefore if any of those 28 kids was from a cheating family, they would be taking a spot from a kid on the WL.

Yes we had a low number and didn't get in. Yes we "played our hand," and everyone is fine. Still does not make it right for cheaters to cheat.

A great deal is not right in this picture, first and foremost that PG County not offering universal free PreK, or nearly enough Preschool spots to serve low-income families. In second place, I nominate DCPS for blithely allowing scores of elementary schools to continue to fail, with disastrous proficiency pass rates in the mix. Cheaters are just as likely to end up on the WL as to get in. You can note the immorality of cheaters cheating, or you can celebrate your singular access to non means-tested preschool and prek in every area of this great city but Upper NW. To my knowledge, no other American city offers this. You have Tommy Well's tireless advocacy to thank for the opportunity. I don't know a single family outside Upper NW who has been shut out at every preschool or prek within two miles of their house by the start of school in ten years of paying close attention to lottery results.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been in the neighborhood long enough (15 years) to know that there are boatloads of lovely people on the Hill, a great many generous and easy-going parents of toddlers and school-age kids with a big vision for humanity. The entitled crowd, including the type of parent hell bent on busting boundary cheaters and PC County address cheaters seeking a good ECE education for their kids, is comprised mainly by relatively recent arrivals, families who came and bought property within the last five years or so. The old timers learned to roll with the punches somewhere along the way. If they'd hadn't, they'd have left.

I've been here 15 years too (ok fine 14). Maybe it is different when they are taking your kid's spot. It is easy to be easy going when it doesn't directly effect you.

How in the hell can you know who "took" your kid's spot? You were #1 on a WL and you know an address cheater personally who got off the WL ahead of you? The spots they give away aren't numbered; in case where DCPS is auctioning off 28 PreK3 spots you can't find out who got took #28, that's not how it works. I know plenty of people on Cap Hill (self included) who were shut out of their ECE program in-boundary for a year or two, parents who know neighborhood address cheaters, and MD address cheaters for that matter, who have never bitched. They cheerfully got on with things elsewhere for PreK3 and sometimes PreK4, too. You play the hand you're dealt.

Easy there...

You are right, the spots aren't numbered 1-28. Therefore if any of those 28 kids was from a cheating family, they would be taking a spot from a kid on the WL.

Yes we had a low number and didn't get in. Yes we "played our hand," and everyone is fine. Still does not make it right for cheaters to cheat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been in the neighborhood long enough (15 years) to know that there are boatloads of lovely people on the Hill, a great many generous and easy-going parents of toddlers and school-age kids with a big vision for humanity. The entitled crowd, including the type of parent hell bent on busting boundary cheaters and PC County address cheaters seeking a good ECE education for their kids, is comprised mainly by relatively recent arrivals, families who came and bought property within the last five years or so. The old timers learned to roll with the punches somewhere along the way. If they'd hadn't, they'd have left.

I've been here 15 years too (ok fine 14). Maybe it is different when they are taking your kid's spot. It is easy to be easy going when it doesn't directly effect you.

How in the hell can you know who "took" your kid's spot? You were #1 on a WL and you know an address cheater personally who got off the WL ahead of you? The spots they give away aren't numbered; in case where DCPS is auctioning off 28 PreK3 spots you can't find out who got took #28, that's not how it works. I know plenty of people on Cap Hill (self included) who were shut out of their ECE program in-boundary for a year or two, parents who know neighborhood address cheaters, and MD address cheaters for that matter, who have never bitched. They cheerfully got on with things elsewhere for PreK3 and sometimes PreK4, too. You play the hand you're dealt.

Anonymous wrote:

Try going into DC DMV and telling them that because of "cultural differences" and "informal arrangements" there are no "docs." How do you think that's going to work out?

I didn't think so.

So don't make the argument when it comes to the DC public and charter schools.

I know we've moved on but want to circle back here because I think it demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding. Driving is not a legally protected right. Education is. As a result, housing insecure families are able to use whatever documents they have access to, which includes informal letters, to access that education. For the school system to require a level of documentation equivalent to the DMV of a family that is housing insecure, or has custody issues, would almost certainly bring a lawsuit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing I'd like to point out: maybe it's the statehood thing that gives people in this area such a chip on their shoulder about the borders? But coming from New York City? You know, we'd JOKE about Staten Island, (an actual part of New York City), or New Jersey, or Long Island, Connecticut; but we would never go on such personal crusades against them. I'm sure there are residency cheaters there too--I knew a ton of people in Brooklyn (Note: I DID NOT DO THIS) who rented apartments to get their kids into 321 or 29; or who sublet apartments and used the addresses, used their parent's addresses, etc. I suppose they all are dirty cheating rule-breakers, but I never really gave a damn. I assumed that life was hard enough, short enough, and some things were not my business.

People here seem to spend so much time and energy whining about what they don't have, what other people have, and how unfair it all is. It makes this a really oppressive place to be. I'm considering moving us into Silver Spring, even if it would disrupt my children and their school where they are happy, simply because I am wondering if maybe people there are not quite so miserable and horrible? Thoughts? Is there anywhere in the DMV that isn't full of people shrieking about the people who live five blocks away over a border who are in some way, bad? You guys make Philadelphians look friendly.

Mr. Rogers is from Pittsburgh. I recommend moving there.

I would love to. Trust me, our entire family is poised to decamp from this hellhole if at all possible as soon as we can. Even the things that are relatively positive here are tainted with this aura of classism and entitlement and... all the whining. I am so tired of all the whining. We get it. You want stuff that you don't have. Why don't you have the stuff? Wah. Someone else has the stuff. Maybe they didn't work hard. Wah. Wah. Don't they know you went to Princeton?

Love it!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been in the neighborhood long enough (15 years) to know that there are boatloads of lovely people on the Hill, a great many generous and easy-going parents of toddlers and school-age kids with a big vision for humanity. The entitled crowd, including the type of parent hell bent on busting boundary cheaters and PC County address cheaters seeking a good ECE education for their kids, is comprised mainly by relatively recent arrivals, families who came and bought property within the last five years or so. The old timers learned to roll with the punches somewhere along the way. If they'd hadn't, they'd have left.

I've been here 15 years too (ok fine 14). Maybe it is different when they are taking your kid's spot. It is easy to be easy going when it doesn't directly effect you.

How in the hell can you know who "took" your kid's spot? You were #1 on a WL and you know an address cheater personally who got off the WL ahead of you? The spots they give away aren't numbered; in case where DCPS is auctioning off 28 PreK3 spots you can't find out who got took #28, that's not how it works. I know plenty of people on Cap Hill (self included) who were shut out of their ECE program in-boundary for a year or two, parents who know neighborhood address cheaters, and MD address cheaters for that matter, who have never bitched. They cheerfully got on with things elsewhere for PreK3 and sometimes PreK4, too. You play the hand you're dealt.

Anonymous wrote:+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing I'd like to point out: maybe it's the statehood thing that gives people in this area such a chip on their shoulder about the borders? But coming from New York City? You know, we'd JOKE about Staten Island, (an actual part of New York City), or New Jersey, or Long Island, Connecticut; but we would never go on such personal crusades against them. I'm sure there are residency cheaters there too--I knew a ton of people in Brooklyn (Note: I DID NOT DO THIS) who rented apartments to get their kids into 321 or 29; or who sublet apartments and used the addresses, used their parent's addresses, etc. I suppose they all are dirty cheating rule-breakers, but I never really gave a damn. I assumed that life was hard enough, short enough, and some things were not my business.

People here seem to spend so much time and energy whining about what they don't have, what other people have, and how unfair it all is. It makes this a really oppressive place to be. I'm considering moving us into Silver Spring, even if it would disrupt my children and their school where they are happy, simply because I am wondering if maybe people there are not quite so miserable and horrible? Thoughts? Is there anywhere in the DMV that isn't full of people shrieking about the people who live five blocks away over a border who are in some way, bad? You guys make Philadelphians look friendly.

Mr. Rogers is from Pittsburgh. I recommend moving there.

I would love to. Trust me, our entire family is poised to decamp from this hellhole if at all possible as soon as we can. Even the things that are relatively positive here are tainted with this aura of classism and entitlement and... all the whining. I am so tired of all the whining. We get it. You want stuff that you don't have. Why don't you have the stuff? Wah. Someone else has the stuff. Maybe they didn't work hard. Wah. Wah. Don't they know you went to Princeton?