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Mr. Alpert's correct in his assertion that school quality will be one of (if not the) fundamental issue for many families deciding to whether or not to stay in the District. We live in Brookland, have two kids (ages 2 and 4) and much want to stay in the city for a veritable litany of social, economic, and environmental reasons. When my first kid was 2 and nearing PS age, I trotted down to the local, soon to be restructured DCPS school and met with everyone including Principal, teachers, head of PTA and ... unfortunately, not a chance would I send my kids there. At least not yet, and for all the reasons thoughtfully described above by some others. Fortunately, we were able to get our daughter into an excellent charter off the lottery and our second kid will be pulled along to the charter when it's time. While we have worries about the logistics (the charter has grown and we are going to have to move with it when it finds a new building) ... the school is safe, warm, demanding, diverse (in terms of race and economics) and my wife and I don't have brutal commutes where we see less of our kids. And yes, we potentially could have managed non-brutal commutes in near-in Silver Spring or Arlington, but not for the same quality of life, house, and neighborhood we are getting in Brookland and, as noted above, in a number of areas the school issue was not entirely solved. At least we don't see it that way and we researched it pretty hard. In any event, if we had not been so fortunate with the charter, we'd be sadly planning to put the house on the market next year before my oldest girl goes to K.
The trick is what happens now and what will happen in the next few years. There's just a silly number of excellent kids below the age of 8 within a block or two of our house in Brookland (15? 20?) -- and not one of them attends a local DCPS school. Most, and it's a diverse bunch, attend charters and a few attend private. And charters seem to be popping up or expanding to meet this demand. But can, will or should such a practice continue apace? I have no idea, but being a parent in the mix, change does seem to be happening fast. See examples such as Mundo Verde, Yu Ying, LAMBs expansion last year, Inspired Teaching, etc. I think blanket conclusions either way ("we are certainly leaving" vs. "it's changing and we'll definitely stay") are premature. So bottom line - this is the big deal for growing a sustainable city and I hope to see the series continue.

by bt&wdog on Jul 17, 2012 3:23 pm • link • report