A pilot pre-school program in the DC Public School system, now entering its third year, is – as predicted in the Master Education Plan – helping to make DCPS "schools of choice" for District residents, but it is also suffering effects of success: waiting lists, registration frustrations and transformations with unintended consequences.

As recently as the 2004/05 school year, DCPS offered only the needs-based HeadStart and a half-dozen Montessori classes for 3-year-olds. For the coming year, Brent, Maury, Peabody and Tyler schools on Capitol Hill all report waiting lists – some of 40 or more students – for their pre-school programs. Because deadlines and prioritizing criteria currently vary by school, however, this can be confusing for parents seeking out-of-boundary spots and is making it difficult for some schools to build their in-boundary enrollment. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a program designed to bring families into DCPS earlier may also be turning off some families while their children are still pre-schoolers.

In addition, the popularity of the program at Brent, for example, has caused parents who do not want a full-day program for their 3-year-olds to worry that fewer spots will be available when their children are ready for pre-kindergarten at age 4. There is also concern that the pre-school programs could circumvent the in-boundary/out-of-boundary process for later grades.

Theoretically, out-of-boundary students enrolled as 3-year-olds – who would have priority as continuing students for the pre-k program – might win out over in-boundary 4-year-olds for limited pre-k classrooms spots. As things stand currently, however, the pre-school programs at Brent and Peabody have generated enough in-boundary applications to create an in-boundary waiting list, effectively shutting out any out-of-boundary students except those with older siblings at these schools. Out-of-boundary students entering at age 3 could also – again, theoretically – continue as kindergartners, thus adding a cohort of out-of-boundary students who entered through a registration process separate from that for mandatory schooling; still, every in-boundary student would be accommodated for kindergarten and later grades.

"I'd rather have these problems to solve than emptying schools," says Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, who pushed for the pre-school program when he was on the School Board. "The success of this pilot program is a hopeful sign for Capitol Hill and a model for the rest of the city."

Popularity's Repercussions
As 3-year-olds slowly alter the composition of some area schools, a program many hoped would foster diversity appears to be creating a new kind of homogeneity. Most prominently, a third cohort of higher-income, white, in-boundary 3-year-olds begins this fall at Brent Elementary School, previously over 95 percent black, lower-income and primarily out-of-boundary. As the school becomes more popular with in-boundary families, housing prices in the Brent area effectively guarantee that the school will lose economic diversity – a value that first attracted some parents to DCPS – unless spots are held for out-of-boundary students. "In this way, we're a victim of our own success," says Brent Neighbors organizer Tessa Muehllehner.

Moreover, outreach success at one school can have repercussions for other Hill schools. Elizabeth Nelson, a long-time volunteer with Maury Elementary School, says Hill families are now applying to several programs in hopes of ensuring a pre-school spot. They often don't decide which school to attend until the last minute, however, and while Nelson believes "Maury should be everybody's first choice," families accepted to both Maury and a more popular school in years past have opted out of Maury late in the process. This has left the school with vacancies, despite a waiting list throughout the summer. Spots might still be available in September, but some families who could have been assets to Maury were frustrated by the process and made other choices, Nelson says.

"There have been some inconsistencies in the enrollment process," says State Board of Education Representative Lisa Raymond. Still, she believes the pre-school pilot is working as intended. "High quality pre-school benefits everyone. A lot of families may be uncertain about their neighborhood school but might try for a 3-year-old what they wouldn't try for an older child. They invest and start from the ground up with the school. And I haven't heard complaints from low-income parents who can't get into a neighborhood pre-school program, if there is one.... Bringing higher-income families into DCPS is not taking anything away from needier children."

In fact, Raymond believes "the city is heading for a full-scale 3-year-old program as schools are realizing that this boosts their enrollment." She notes, however, that the Chancellor's office will now be responsible for such decisions.

Next Steps in Outreach
"That an experiment is already overwhelmed like this means it needs to be expanded," says Wells.

But Muehllehner points out that Brent's program didn't develop instant popularity through DCPS efforts alone. "Volunteers worked hard for a year to get that critical mass of new parents, all coming in together," she says.

Without an outreach push, like those mounted by Brent Neighbors or supporters of Tyler and Maury, Payne Elementary School's pre-school program remained the only one on the Hill without a waiting list as of mid-July. (The longer-standing Montessori program at Watkins is full. Gibbs, Ludlow-Taylor, and Miner in Northeast host HeadStart programs only, and Amidon and Bowen in Southwest have nothing for 3-year-olds.)

"Payne needs an infusion of new energy," Wells says. He believes joining the Cluster – which was proposed for Payne in the MEP but lost a year of planning in the takeover reorganization – could be the "jumpstart" this school needs.

Principal Dennis Homesley agrees. He invites interested parents and neighbors to contact him in the meantime (202-698-3262), however. When Payne re-opens in August, a new library – courtesy of the School Libraries Project – will be available, and "blitz repairs" to the facility are expected soon. Homesley says the school is ready to become whatever involved parents choose to make it.

You Can't Get There from Anywhere
The DCPS Web site, www.k12.dc.us, and the mayor's educationcenter.dc.gov, currently offer no obvious way to find the pilot programs for 3-year-olds. Enrollment information provides no clue for the pre-school parent. Data by school is not accurate for the pre-school level. Information by phone is equally illusive.

"Early Childhood Development" (202-442-5116), from the "Directory and Resource Guide," tells callers to check with individual schools. The same resource guide lists elementary schools which must be searched individually for the pre-school designation; the designation is used at several schools, such as Ludlow-Taylor, which house a HeadStart program but not the DCPS 3-year-old program.

The phone number for out-of-boundary enrollment inquiries (202-442-5099, a shared number) is, disconcertingly answered "Student Intervention"; out-of-boundary inquiries are fielded, but callers are told that pre-school programs are, instead, "specialized programs" with contact through individual schools. The "Specialized School/Programs" tab on the DCPS Web site, however, includes only multi-language and Montessori programs.

The phone number given by the chancellor's office for "Early Childhood Development" (202-727-1839), reaches someone who knows nothing about 3-year-old programs. Telephone book listings are now outdated and/or reach individuals without accurate information about the pilot.

To make matters more difficult, our former School Board representatives – now part of the State Board of Education – are "in transition." Calls to formerly functional phone numbers reach a recording saying, in effect, "they don't live here anymore."

"We don't have an official home," says Lisa Raymond, State Board of Education representative for the region including Capitol Hill. "We do have one staff person," she says, and an office at 441 Fourth St.  NW. For the time being, citizens can reach Raymond at lisa.raymond@dc.gov or on her cell phone, 202-460-9874.

Meetings will be held, beginning in September, to educate the community about the new State Board of Education, Raymond says. In addition, an ombudsman will be appointed by the Mayor's office to help with questions about the schools.

In the meantime, inquiries about pre-school registration should be directed to individual schools. Even where waiting lists are now reported, spots may open up as the school year approaches. This reporter failed to uncover any official source of more general pre-school information.