DC Out of Boundaries Process

Sistermoms

The Out-of-Boundaries Process in the D.C. Public Schools

For many of you who live in the District of Columbia, getting your child into the public school of your choice can be an arduous task. For those fortunate parents who live in a neighborhood with a school that meet's your child's needs, congratulations. For everyone else, you can apply to the D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) for an out-of-boundary (OOB) transfer. You are not assured of securing such a transfer but you can compete for available slots through a lottery process.

Many of you have seen accounts on the news of people standing (and sleeping) in line to gain admission to certain schools. This first-come, first-serve process was in place until two years ago. From experience, I can say definitively that your toes freeze really fast when you are waiting in line at 4:30 in the morning in late January. After a lot debate about the fairness of this process, it was changed in 2003 to a system whereby everyone seeking OOB admission has to submit an application to the DCPS requesting admission to up to 3 OOB schools. These applications are manually entered into a computer and then the computer randomly orders all of the applications for a particular grade and school. These lottery results are matched with a list submitted by the schools of available slots to determine if you get into the school. An example may best illustrate how this works. Key Elementary School tells DCPS that it has 4 OOB slots available for the kindergarten. In the OOB lottery, the computer selects you as number 3 for the kindergarten. Then, because there are 4 slots and you are number 3, you would be offered OOB admissions into Key.

This year, DCPS will take OOB applications beginning on Friday, January 28, 2005. The deadline for applications to be submitted is Saturday, February 28, 2005. Applications are accepted during the week from 8:30 am- 4:30 pm at the Logan Center, 215 G Street, NE (near Union Station). DCPS will accept applications on two Saturdays (February 12th and 25th) from 10 am - 1 pm. Please check the DCPS website (www.k12.dc.us) for changes to this information.

You are notified by the school if you obtain a slot through the lottery, usually by letter. If you receive such a letter, you should follow its instructions on submitting the required documentation as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will be putting your slot at risk.

If your child does not get a slot via the lottery, then the DCPS will send you a letter. You can also check the results of the OOB lottery on the DCPS website. For you really eager beavers out there, you can actually attend the lottery in person and watch the process. This year, the lottery will be held on March 10, 2005 at the Logan Center. DCPS makes computers available at the drawing for you to check the results.

How likely are you to get a slot in this process? Well, it is a lottery, so a certain amount of serendipity is involved. It also depends on which schools that you apply to. Schools in Ward 3 and 4 (so-called "west of the park") often have very few slots per grade. Last year, for example, Mann and Janney Elementary Schools had no slots available for any grade. In addition, a recent article in the Washington Post indicated that the population is growing in some far Northwest neighborhoods with desirable schools, thus possibly further decreasing the number of slots available in the OOB program. Also, other schools (e.g., Shepherd, Takoma Park and Langdon Elementary Schools) in all quadrants of the city that are performing well may have limited room for OOB transfers. Also, pre-kindergarten slots are sometimes difficult to come by because pre-k is not mandatory in the District. On the other hand, some programs have preferred entry points and want children as young as possible so that they can reap the benefit of the entire program. For example, Oyster (bilingual program) and Shepard (Ward 4) have traditionally admitted the majority of OOB transfers in the pre-k.

Having said all of this, many children gain admission to the school of their choice via the OOB program. Some have even gained admission to more than one OOB school! So, there is hope. Also, even if you do not initially get a slot at the lottery, you may get called later in the summer, as the admissions situation often becomes clearer closer to the start of the school year. This is particularly the case if you draw a number close to the cutoff of available slots. You are advised to check with schools, both on and off your original list during the summer before school starts to see if slots have become available.

Some final words of advice. I suggest that you cast your net as wide as possible. Contrary to popular belief, there are good DCPS in every quadrant of the city. Finally, although we agonize over these decisions, it usually works out in the end and we find a place for our children to thrive.

So good luck and see my top ten tips below.

Top Ten Tips on Out-of-Boundary Transfers

1. Get as much information on the schools prior to making OOB choices. The best information about the quality of a school is often obtained from parents. Other statistics about test scores, school demographics as well as information about OOB transfers can be obtained from the DCPS website, www.k12.dc.us. The website also has maps of the school boundaries (in case you have no idea which school is your neighborhood school). Many schools offer open houses in the fall and winter and these sessions provide a lot of information about what a school offers. In addition, many schools have websites.

2. Check the availability of slots at schools prior to submitting your applications. Consider submitting an application to a school that is less competitive in terms of available slots, a "safety school," so to speak.

3. Check with your Sistermoms and other networking sources. Last year, a few Sistermoms had information on slots that became available after the start of the school year.

4. You do not have to stand in line to be one of the first to submit your out-of-boundary applications. DCPS takes the applications for one month. Your applications are treated no differently if you submit it on the first day or the last day. All applications go into the computer for a random lottery.

5. Submit OOB applications to three schools only. If you submit more than three, DCPS will throw out the last one submitted.

6. You will be asked to provide proof that you live in DC prior to your child being admitted to a DCPS. DC has made an effort to crack down on students attending from other jurisdictions.

7. Make sure that the school that you place in the lottery is the type of school that your child is eligible to attend. If you make a mistake and submit the name of a junior high school when your child is in elementary school, DCPS will invalidate this OOB application. Also, be sure to fill out the correct grade for your child and provide the correct contact information.

8. Also, some schools offer special programs (e.g., Montessori and achievement-based junior and senior high schools) that have their own separate admissions process. These programs are outside of the OOB process.

9. If you do not get an OOB transfer, your child may have the right to a transfer under the No Child Left Behind Act. Check the DCPS and US Department of Education websites for details.

10. Consider alternative schools. DC has many charter schools. See DCPS and individual websites for details.

Linda Fleming McGhee is the Education co-chairperson of Sistermoms, Inc. She is a co-founder of the organization, an experienced attorney and a 2005 Psy.D. candidate in Clinical Pyschology from the George Washington University.

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