Three Times More Demand than Pre-K Seats at Georgetown, Glover Park Schools
Both Hyde-Addison and Stoddert Elementary waitlisted in-boundary children in the pre-K lottery.
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Between Georgetown, Burleith and Glover Park, nearly 75 children eligible for pre-K in DC Public Schools in the fall were put on a waitlist for their local school during the annual lottery. DCPS announced the lottery results Friday.
Demand from local children for Stoddert Elementary and Hyde-Addison Elementary outstripped the number of available seats, leaving 72 local children on the waitlist. There were 36 slots—each school accepted one class of 18 children for pre-K—but there were 108 in-boundary children who applied for those slots.
Students in Georgetown had a better chance at Hyde-Addison Elementary where 12 in-boundary children were placed on the wait list, compared to 60 in-boundary students on the waitlist at Stoddert Elementary.
Of the 60 on the wait list at Stoddert, seven of them have a sibling currently attending the Glover Park school.
A total of 169 children were placed on the Stoddert waitlist and 130 are on the list at Hyde-Addison.
Waitlists do sometimes shift during the spring and summer as parents opt to enroll their child at a different school. When a seat becomes available the school contacts parents on the waitlist in order. If they do not receive a response within 5 business days they will move to the next family on the waitlist.
Was your child waitlisted at his or her neighborhood school? What will you do now? Do you think there should be more seats in your local school? Do you think the lottery system is fair?
Patch would like to speak with parents facing tough decisions after the lottery results were posted. If you are interested in sharing your experience, please contact Editor Shaun Courtney at shaun@patch.com or 202-210-9853.
DCPS Fans
11:29 am on Monday, March 11, 2013
Shaun,
This is GREAT news for the parents of Key, Hyde-Allison, Mann and Stoddert. We have been pushed out of Hardy School because it has been a "designated Arts" school for many years, full of out-of-boundary students. It is time for the parents of these schools to unite as one, and if each 5th grade class from these 4 schools filled the seats at Hardy, we would truly have a "Neighborhood School" in our neighborhood. Many parents are disgusted that Hardy does not support the Burleith, Georgetown and Glover Park population, but the time has come - Change is in the air!! The Patch could sponsor a "Town Hall" meeting with Jack Evans and the principals of these elementary schools to hear honest feedback from the parents of these schools. We deserve a neighborhood school that caters to the neighborhood, not to the out-of-boundry population.
M
12:32 pm on Monday, March 11, 2013
As one of the in bound parents on the waitlist at Stoddert, I'm disappointed. I assume everyone is. It's an unfortunate circumstance that our school has the longest in bound waitlist of all the local elementary schools in the area along with the smallest pre-k size. I am interested in finding out how much the neighborhood demographics have shifted. My understanding is that in past years Stoddert was able to accomodate out of boundary families. We've lived here 7 years and there have always seemed to be a lot of young families in the area. If it is a growing area, is the school equipped to handle these 80 or so children for kindergarten next year?
Our plan is to see what happens with the charter lottery in a few weeks. If that doesn't pan out, we'll be staying in the private childcare center we are currently in. I am not expecting the wait list at Stoddert to move at all. And even if it did, we're one of the last in bound families on that list. At least we know we know for sure we won't be getting in. No uncertainty there!
DClark
1:42 pm on Monday, March 11, 2013
It is a shame that Stoddert was reduced to one pre-K class last year, down from two classes this year. Why? Who made this decision, and why was there no (as far as I know) warning about this decision? Parents in-boundery to Stoddert were expecting two pre-K classes again next year, and now it is too late for them to make adequate alternative plans. Several students with older siblings were not able to get in, even with the older sibling preference policy. The DCPS decsion-makers, whoever they are, dropped the ball on this one. The wait list demonstrates a need for three pre-K classes, not a reduction to one.
Shaun Courtney
1:51 pm on Monday, March 11, 2013
Thanks DCLark for your comment. I reached out to Principal Pride and DCPS about the decision. I'll have to check with them about notifying parents in advance, but their reason given was that they are added a Kindergarten class at the expense of a pre-K class because the are required to meet the demand for Kindergarten, which continues to grow. I'll have a post up tomorrow with this and other info. Thanks for your input! -Shaun