What to do about schools if you love the home in bad Durham school district?!?!? (to rent, house)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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After looking for a home in Durham (w/ a 2-year-old daughter) we continue to find beautiful homes in areas that have less than reputable schools. One being the 27701 zip with E.K. Powe elementary. We love the area in/around 9th street, and clearly other families live there, but do they all send their kids to private schools? Can anyone living in this general vicinity (old west durham, watts-hillandale, trinity park, areas around duke, 9th st., etc...) with school age children please let me know where you send your children? We are aware of the charter school options, but know that getting into a program is not guaranteed. Would love to know how others have handled this? We are aware of some of the better schools in north and SW durham--these areas are nice, but the areas mentioned previously are more our taste. Thanks in advance!!! Our continued efforts to search in Durham have been fueled by the many wonderful and knowledgeable posters on this forum. Thanks!!
This may not be super helpful. But, I've heard nothing but good things about Club Blvd. Elementary, which is a humanities magnet school and is kind of in that neck of the woods. I have friends who have sent both their kids there via lottery and have loved it.
I can certainly relate to your situation. We just moved to northern Durham, however our favorite part of the city is the areas you've mentioned. Schools were a huge consideration in our move, and we were lucky to have arguably the best ES in Durham Cty in our Zone: Easley. Here's something to consider - DPS has a Choice Program that is pretty liberal. There are at least 2 year round elementary schools and a number of magnets in the Choice Program. You can also request an assignment to a school that's outside of your zone. According to the website, this is mostly meant for "hardships", however I think hardship is rather loosely defined. I don't know if this is true, but I have heard that once you've applied 3x to a school, they'll pretty much let you in. One other thing - there's something called a walk zone, so if you live within a 1/2 of a school (or something like that), you will be eligible for that school's attendence zone. This applies to base schools and magnets, so some homes in that area might be in the Watts Montessori Magnet walk zone. Bottom line, you have tons of choices in DPS, and if those don't pan out, there are a number of private schools in the area.
Does it make sense for you to rent in Durham, apply for attendance at one of the magnet schools, and then once that is secured, move to the house you want?
(And if you don't get in to the magnet, be no worse off for it?)
People that I know at E.K. Powe like it. What are you using for "bad" criteria? Be careful not to listen to "word on the street" but to do your own research, including visiting the school and talking to PTA members. Often there is a fabulous school and family community, and unique school programs, overshadowed by a large group of children that aren't doing well on the tests. So if you are just looking at test scores, you might miss a lot of "good."
Magnet school lotteries are in Jan-Mar, so you've missed it for this year. If you are looking for next year, get on the Durham Public Schools email list and watch carefully for when apps come out.
You can apply for 3 magnet choices. Such is the system, that the common knowledge is that if you don't get your first choice in a highly requested school, you won't get your 2nd or 3rd either. That is, if you put down 3 highly requested schools, and don't get in the first, you've lost your chance to get in the 2nd or 3rd, too, because other people put that as their first choice.
(Magnets are district-wide for Durham. It sounded like a PP implied that the magnets would be different for different areas of Durham--maybe I heard that wrong--but that is not the case. You can apply to any magnet in Durham.)
You can also apply for the year-round school that assigned to your area. All except one of the year-rounds, I believe, have lotteries.
And the third choice is that you can go to your neighborhood school. If your neighborhood school has failed to reach adequate yearly progress (AYP) levels for a certain number of years (I believe 2-3), you will have the choice to go to another short list of schools. I do not know if this applies to E.K. Powe.
It is also a widely known secret that you can request another elementary if you have a good reason. For example, the school you want might have a program that fits your child's needs particularly well.
Charter schools are a different system, and some have lotteries, also held in the winter. Some, like Central Park School for Children, are very competitive.
One used to be able to request a transfer to any school within Durham Public and as long as there was space, you could go. That has changed within the last few months, such that as a pp stated, you have to now show a hardship for a transfer (this doesn't include the year round and magnet lotteries). My boss (faculty member at Duke) sent both kids to EK Powe and generally had a good experience with it. His youngest finished there 2 yrs ago I think. They were very active in the PTA and the school in general. Watts Hillendale has a listserv of its own. I lurk there and sometimes see Powe related posts (usually asking for help with a project etc.). You might see if you can find folks to contact that way.
Here's something to consider - DPS has a Choice Program that is pretty liberal. There are at least 2 year round elementary schools and a number of magnets in the Choice Program. You can also request an assignment to a school that's outside of your zone. According to the website, this is mostly meant for "hardships", however I think hardship is rather loosely defined. I don't know if this is true, but I have heard that once you've applied 3x to a school, they'll pretty much let you in. One other thing - there's something called a walk zone, so if you live within a 1/2 of a school (or something like that), you will be eligible for that school's attendence zone. This applies to base schools and magnets, so some homes in that area might be in the Watts Montessori Magnet walk zone. Bottom line, you have tons of choices in DPS, and if those don't pan out, there are a number of private schools in the area.
Durham currently and historically has had a liberal transfer policy. In the year I've resided here I've often heard school board members state that providing families with options is a priority to DPS. However, it is interesting to note that they are starting to reconsider their liberal transfer policies. For instance if you are requesting to transfer into a school that is at capacity or above they may turn you down based on the lack of space. The new Brightleaf Elementary School (Spring View?) is not accepting all transfers, because they do not want to repeat the problem created at Creekside, where the school was at capacity on day one. And over capacity each year there after.
Since your child is young, you have a very good chance of getting into a magnet or year round school for Kindergarten. After Kindergarten the competition is greater because they have fewer seats open.
Also, since your child is young you have the opportunity to meet others in your neighborhood who are commited to their local school and help turn it around. In my old neighborhood in Portland, a group of parents did this when my oldest was 3. They recruited stay at home parents (even those of us w/ toddlers) who were devoted to the neighborhood to help out the school. The school went from marginal scores to one of the top elementaries in the city. That area of Durham would be a prime location to create this sort of grass roots effort to better EK Powe. IMHO, neighborhood schools are so much more fulfilling for families that magnet schools. (Just my 2 cents.)
Edit: from the previous post looks like that grass roots effort is already under way at EK Powe. Thats great to hear!!!
Wow! Thank you so much for your opinions and advice! It has helped a great deal. As a Social Worker and School of Ed. student, I agree that AYP scores do not show the whole picture. I will take the advice given by many of you to talk to neighborhood families and visit schools before making a decision. Thanks so much!!!
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that you can request another elementary if you have a good reason. For example, the school you want might have a program that fits your child's needs particularly well.
