Updated: 8/9/2026
Schedule
For the upcoming school year we have a new arrival time!
Come to school on time! The instructional day begins at 9:00 AM (enter the building at 8:45 to be in class by 8:55). Students not attending before care may arrive at 8:45 AM for breakfast in the classroom. If you come after 8:55 AM, stop at the security desk or main office to sign in as tardy. Failure to do so may result in your student being marked absent for the day after teachers submit attendance at 8:55 AM. If this happens, please contact the main office so that the attendance record can be corrected.
More information about the arrival time change:
Last January, DCPS WTU members signed a new contract. This contract stated that they were to have a protected 30 minutes of planning each morning. See below:
(23.8.1. The Thirty-Minute Morning Block shall be defined as the period from 8:10 AM until 8:40 AM for all DCPS schools that operate under a traditional instructional schedule (8:45 AM to 3:15 PM).
23.8.2. The Thirty-Minute Morning Block shall be defined as the thirty (30) minutes prior to a five-minute period before the start of the school day for students for all DCPS schools that operate under a non-traditional instructional schedule (anything other than 8:45 AM to 3:15 PM).
This past school year, our schedule was out of compliance with the WTU contract. In May, Van Ness WTU members voted to align the Van Ness's start time to a traditional instructional schedule. This is why the start time has changed.
School dismissal is 3:15 PM. If you do not pick your student up on time, they will be sent to late pick-up.
Before and Aftercare -
Before Care is available between 7:00am and 8:30am
Pick-up for Aftercare is no later than 6:00pm
Before and Aftercare is provided on site through the Future Stars for the 2026-2027 school year. See the note below from their Site Director, and email the Future Stars team at vanness@thefuturestars.net with any questions.
Greetings Van Ness Families,
We are excited to announce that registration for our 2026–2027 Before & After Care Program is now open.
Below, you will find our Parent Guidebook, which contains everything you need to know about next school year, including program details, policies, important dates, and registration instructions. We encourage all families to review the guidebook carefully, as there are several important changes for the upcoming school year.
Before & After Care Pricing Updates
Like many organizations, we continue to experience increases in operating costs. To ensure we can maintain the quality of our programs and services, there will be an increase in monthly Before & After Care tuition for the 2026–2027 school year. We remain committed to keeping Future Stars affordable and accessible for families.
Annual Registration Fee
$40 per child (previously $35)
The registration fee is a one-time annual fee charged at the time of registration and helps support program administration, licensing, and operational costs.
Monthly Rates
Before Care: $140/month (previously $135)
After Care: $290/month (previously $275)
After Care Specials
Due to consistently low enrollment numbers, we will no longer be offering clubs and enrichments. To continue providing students with engaging activities after school, we will be introducing After Care Specials. Similar to the Art and Movement Specials we have offered in the past, students will have opportunities to participate in a variety of structured activities throughout the week. Additional information about these offerings will be shared later this summer.
Financial Assistance & OSSE Vouchers
We are excited to share that Van Ness is now officially OSSE Licensed for 1st and 2nd Grade students, meaning we can accept OSSE Child Care Subsidy Vouchers for those grade levels. We are currently working with OSSE to expand licensing to additional grade bands and will share updates with families as soon as approvals are received.
If your family qualifies for an OSSE Voucher or receives TANF benefits, you must complete the voucher application process through OSSE.
Families who do not qualify for OSSE Vouchers may request a Future Stars Financial Assistance Application by emailing vanness@thefuturestars.net.
Please note that a limited number of Financial Assistance scholarships are available for families who do not qualify for OSSE Vouchers. These scholarships will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
Email Communication Changes
To help us provide faster and more efficient support, we are making an important change to how families communicate with The Future Stars.
Beginning with the 2026–2027 school year, all Van Ness communication should be sent directly to:
As many of you know, The Future Stars will be expanding to additional school locations next year. In order to maintain our 48-hour response model and ensure that families receive timely assistance, all communication must go through our site email address.
There is no need to copy or send emails to individual staff members, including:
Ms. Adina Isaacs
Ms. Mahni Hellams
Sending emails to multiple staff members often slows down the response process and can create delays as messages are routed between team members.
For the fastest service, please send all questions, concerns, registration requests, financial assistance inquiries, and program-related communication directly to vanness@thefuturestars.net. Emails sent to other addresses may experience longer response times, as they will need to be forwarded to the appropriate team member before assistance can be provided.
We know there are several changes for the upcoming school year, and we appreciate your partnership as we continue to grow and improve our programs.
Please take time to review the Parent Guidebook in its entirety. If you have any questions after reading through it, don't hesitate to reach out. We are happy to help and look forward to another amazing year with your family!
Lunch and BREAKFAST
The school provides breakfast and lunch to all students free of charge. (This is new as of February 2020.) Unlike prior years, families do not need to set up accounts to pay for lunch.
Please find the tentative school menus here.
Families can choose to provide lunch from home for students. If you choose to provide lunch to your student they must bring it with them to school. We will not accept drop off lunches from restaurants or orders from delivery services (Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, etc.).
PLEASE NOTE: We are a nut-free school, so please ensure all items from home a free of peanuts and tree nuts.
If your child has dietary restrictions, be sure to complete the request forms. You can find them here. Email the forms to food.dcps@dc.gov or turn them in to our main office and they will be submitted for you.
More information about our food delivery policy
To ensure the safety, security, and smooth operation of our school, students are not permitted to receive food deliveries from third-party services such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, or similar platforms during the school day. Because delivery drivers are not authorized visitors and school staff cannot verify or manage individual deliveries, accepting these orders creates safety and security concerns and disrupts the school day. We encourage families to send students with a packed lunch or make use of our school meal program. If a student forgets their lunch, a parent or guardian may bring it directly to the main office, where school staff will ensure it is delivered appropriately.
Additionally, we ask that parents and guardians do not bring restaurant or fast-food meals to school for students during the school day. While we understand these deliveries are made with the best intentions, they can create distractions in the classroom, lead to feelings of inequity among students, and interrupt instructional time as staff coordinate deliveries. Fast-food meals also present challenges in maintaining a consistent cafeteria environment and can increase the likelihood of food sharing, which poses concerns for students with food allergies and dietary restrictions.
Families are encouraged to send students with a packed lunch in a lunchbox or take advantage of the nutritious meals provided through our school meal program. If a student forgets their lunch, a parent or guardian may bring a packed lunch to the main office, and staff will do their best to give it to the student in a timely manner.
We appreciate your partnership in helping us keep our school safe, equitable, and focused on learning for all students.
Get involved!
As a parent/guardian of a Van Ness student you are automatically a member of the Parent Teacher Organization, and you don’t have to be on the Board of Directors to get involved. Click here to learn more.
Feeder Pattern
A feeder pattern school is one that a student has the right to attend based on their current school. For Van Ness Elementary, that school is Jefferson Academy, followed by Eastern High School. Click on each school to learn more about their school models and curriculum!