Washington Latin Public Charter School: A Fall 2027 parent guide

Campus choice

One school, two sites, and a real quality gap

On paper, Washington Latin is a single charter school. In practice, it runs across two separate addresses: 5200 2nd Street NW and 4301 Harewood Road NE, the home of the Anna Julia Cooper campus.

My School DC presents separate middle and upper options. Apply to the exact campus and division.

A place at one campus does not create a cross-campus entitlement.

2nd Street serves Grades 5–12 and is the established campus. The school describes a 740-student target.

Cooper serves Grades 5–10 in 2026–27, moved to its permanent Harewood Road site for 2025–26, and plans to add one grade yearly to reach Grades 5–12 in 2028–29. Its first graduating class has not yet produced outcomes.

In 2024 qualitative reviews, proficient-or-distinguished instruction appeared in 93% of observed 2nd Street Middle classrooms and 92.1% of Upper classrooms. Cooper Middle reached 65.1%.

The authorizer found no material charter violation and imposed no condition. It separately identified Cooper mathematics growth and special-education timing as areas needing attention.

Academics

Classical liberal arts, required Latin, and heavy exams

“Classical” at Washington Latin does not mean antique, traditionalist, or religious. The school runs a contemporary liberal arts curriculum built around democratic citizenship, Greco-Roman history, moral questions, public oratory, and cooperative discussion, taught alongside modern coursework.

Latin begins in the middle-school sequence.

Graduation requires four credits each in English, mathematics, history, and science, alongside three Latin credits and two in another language offered on campus. Students carry at least five academic courses each semester.

Many take six, and some take seven.

Students take MAP growth tests three times a year alongside annual DC CAPE state exams. Grades 7–12 take two-hour finals, with some upper-school projects in place of exams.

Published rules once set finals at 10% of the grade in Grade 7, 15% in Grade 8, and 20% in upper school; newer guidance lets teachers set the weight themselves, and spring MAP scores can also contribute to the final exam mark.

For 2026, 2nd Street required schoolwide summer reading and mandatory mathematics for rising Grades 6 through 8. Cooper required summer reading as well, but kept its 2026 mathematics optional.

Admissions

Grade 5 is the open door; Grades 6 and 9 are locked by continuation

Admissions runs strictly through the centralized My School DC lottery. Washington Latin does not review grades, test applicants, conduct interviews, request recommendations, or condition admission on a visit.

Any DC resident may apply. Rank schools in true preference order.

A higher-ranked offer can replace a lower-ranked match, while a post-lottery application generally joins behind on-time applicants except when a higher preference applies.

Current listed preferences cover an attending sibling, a child of a full-time DC-resident employee, and a sibling already matched or offered from the waitlist. Preferences are campus-specific.

Sibling preference is not a guarantee. It can be especially weak in Grades 6–8 because those grades may have no openings.

A graduating twelfth grader cannot confer the attending-sibling preference. A student does not carry continuation or sibling status across campuses automatically.

Families considering both sites should submit and rank both precise My School DC options.

Prior 2026 lottery: each campus offered 96 Grade 5 seats. The general pools recorded 683 applications at 2nd Street and 636 at Cooper.

These are applications, not necessarily unique children. Those Grade 5 totals included 25 Equitable Access seats at 2nd Street and 27 at Cooper.

By August, the general waitlists had produced three and nine offers, respectively. Both campuses use Equitable Access designated seats for eligible applicants.

My School DC identifies families receiving TANF or SNAP, experiencing homelessness, or in foster care after consent and eligibility matching.

Returning students re-enroll rather than re-enter the lottery. A fifth grader can continue into Grade 6, and an eighth grader can continue into Grade 9 at the same physical campus.

Grade 6 is usually full, and Grade 9 availability reflects departing eighth graders rather than a guaranteed new cohort. Prior Grade 6: 2nd Street matched one Equitable Access applicant and no general applicants.

Cooper matched nobody. Continuing fifth graders filled almost every place.

Prior Grade 9: each campus matched 12 applicants, including four Equitable Access seats. General applications totaled 609 at 2nd Street and 445 at Cooper.

Sibling preference captured every general 2nd Street match. Children may apply to both campuses, pool rules differ, rankings matter, and the workbook counts applications.

New ninth graders are offered a Bridge program covering school transition, Latin, and research methods.

Prior cycle: applications opened December 15, 2025. The high-school deadline was February 2, 2026, the Grades PK3–8 deadline was March 2, and results appeared March 27.

Washington Latin’s standing policy gives generic February 1, March 1, and April 1 dates, but those did not match the 2026 calendar. Fall 2027 dates, lottery day, and seat counts were not yet posted at review, so plan from the live My School DC calendar rather than last year’s.

All-in cost

Tuition-free does not mean cost-free

Tuition is $0. The costs that remain are the bus, aftercare, lunch, and the uniform.

Current 2026–27 school bus service uses fixed community stops, not door-to-door routes. A full-year round trip costs $3,400, with a $3,230 early rate.

Free service is listed for FARMs-eligible students. MAGIS aftercare serves Grades 5–8 until 6 p.m. The Cooper schedule prices one to four weekly days by session.

Four days across all three listed sessions totals $2,880 before late fees. The 2nd Street MAGIS page publishes only first-session prices.

Current breakfast is free. Lunch is listed at $4.75 full price and $2.40 reduced price, with free meals for qualifying students.

Students receive lunch regardless of account balance.

Smaller expenses keep the tab running: required school uniforms (branded polos or patches, approved bottoms, and additional physical-education pieces for Grades 5 and 6), school supplies, calculators, field trips, athletics-related items, replacement books, and some Advanced Placement exams. The school advertises a limited used-uniform sale, not a full-year exchange.

Drop-in aftercare at Cooper costs $25 daily. MAGIS lists a $5-per-minute fee after 6:05 p.m. Upper-school aftercare is not offered in the published model.

Students who qualify for Free and Reduced-Price Meals (FARMs) receive free meals, free bus service, free MAGIS aftercare, and reduced fees for other activities. The school explicitly affirms that no student is excluded for inability to pay.

Daily life

Daily schedule, the Wednesday shift, and the commute

On most days, middle school begins at 8:10 a.m. and dismisses at 3:20 p.m. Upper school lets out slightly earlier, at 3:15 p.m.

Each day packs in advisory, seven academic periods, and lunch. Monday through Thursday, teachers host optional tutorial periods after class for extra help.

The schedule shifts on Wednesday, when both campuses dismiss early: around 2:10 p.m. at 2nd Street and 2:20 p.m. at Cooper.

Eligible DC students ride public transit for free using DDOT’s Kids Ride Free program. Routes differ by campus, and late buses are limited.

There is no late bus on Friday. A Tenleytown late bus serves 2nd Street, while the Eastern Market late option serves both campuses.

Missing 20% of the school day counts as an absence, written documentation must generally arrive by email within three days, and accumulating more than 15 total absences is treated as chronic.

Prior 2023–24 in-seat attendance was 95.68% at 2nd Street Middle, 94.52% at Cooper Middle, and 93.76% at 2nd Street Upper. Audited enrollments were 393, 285, and 356.

The same report listed midyear withdrawal rates of 0%, 0.70%, and 0.84%. Promotion was 100%, 100%, and 99.60%.

Promotion does not measure re-enrollment or student satisfaction.

Support

Inclusion services, reevaluation delays, and wellness

Washington Latin operates as its own local education agency for special education under Child Find, IDEA, and Section 504. Its response-to-intervention framework provides tiered academic, behavioral, and social-emotional interventions through study halls, tutorial periods, and learning specialists.

In OSSE’s FFY 2023 performance report, the school earned a “Leading” overall score of 81.26 points. However, only seven of 26 sampled special-education reevaluations were completed on time—a 26.92% rate against a 100% legal target.

The authorizer’s 2026 review also cited past staffing and continuum concerns at 2nd Street Upper School, though it reported no state or due-process complaints during the review period.

English learners were 7.3% of the LEA in 2024–25. The authorizer found no English-learner enforcement issue. 2nd Street ACCESS results exceeded state comparisons, while Cooper had fewer than ten tested students.

The posted 2022–26 wellness policy describes mental-health staff, confidential spaces, group activities, suicide prevention, and a crisis team. Its stated term ends in 2026.

Advisory gives each student a regular adult contact and academic guidance. It is not a substitute for clinical care.

Published Title IX and student harassment policies outline formal reporting paths, supportive measures, and investigations for misconduct on campus, buses, or school devices. Employees must immediately report suspected abuse or neglect.

The policy warns that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed when a student tells an employee, counselor, or nurse. Anonymous reports can limit the response.

In 2017, police charged a teacher with abusing a nonstudent. The school said it had no evidence of school-based conduct, accepted the resignation, blocked access, and cooperated.

Culture and discipline

Community life, varsity cuts, and discipline reality

In 2024–25, enrollment was 45.4% White, 29.6% Black, 13.5% Hispanic, 9.3% multiracial, and 2.2% Asian, with 14% students with disabilities and 16.6% identified as at-risk. The school maintains an average class size of 17.

Independent reporting in 2019 questioned the school’s low at-risk share during expansion. Current authorizer data still show a lower-needs enrollment profile than many DC schools, while documenting broader access efforts.

Spring 2026 middle and upper sports required tryouts for every listed team. Registration was free, but roster cuts were real.

Noncompetitive wellness courses offer another route for older students who want to stay active without tryouts.

Some upper teams practice off campus five afternoons weekly, with occasional Saturday competition. While campus-to-campus athlete transport is free, families still need a late-home plan.

Current policy describes progressive, individualized consequences and interventions. It also permits searches on reasonable suspicion, in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, expulsion proceedings, and disability protections after cumulative removals.

Prior 2023–24 LEA evidence reported a 2.5% out-of-school suspension rate. Seven of 151 at-risk students were suspended.

At midyear 2024–25, 6% of students with disabilities had an out-of-school suspension, versus 1.3% of other students. The authorizer said the disparity did not persist through year-end.

When a student is suspended, an adult must pick them up from school. Before returning to class, the student must attend a reinstatement conference where parent attendance is strongly urged.

For extreme disciplinary matters, the school’s philosophy allows behavior agreements that condition continued enrollment.

Washington Latin's two campuses and IEP services

Washington Latin runs two campuses, so families should ask about classroom quality at Cooper, math catch-up, and how special-education minutes are delivered.