Washington Yu Ying feedback

[Anonymous]

Now that Yu Ying has accomplished its first month of operation....Congrats!!! What do parents think about the school?? How do the kids like their new school??

[Anonymous]

So far so good! Our dd loves it. At first she would be upset if it was "chinese day" but now she is happy either way. The teachers are great and it's wonderfully diverse. We're also really pleased with the after care program.

[Anonymous]

Just curious, roughly what percentage of the students at Yu Ying are native Mandarin speakers?
Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Almost none. Not sure what happened with that. I believe it started out planning to be dual immersion but it's definitely not now and that is a drawback. I'll try to get an answer and post back.

[Anonymous]

Are charter schools allowed to admit kids on the basis of language spoken at home? I though that they were only allowed to use lotteries

[Anonymous]

Well, in my child's class I think there are 4 native speakers out of a class of 20. so 20%? Not sure if this figure holds for other classes school wide.

Honestly, I'm not surprised there is not a higher %:
DC has a small Chinese population--many more reside in the suburbs.
Many people don't trust DC charter schools yet and believe that they will not perform, especially brand new schools. Yu Ying is going to have to prove itself first then it may attract more native speakers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are charter schools allowed to admit kids on the basis of language spoken at home? I though that they were only allowed to use lotteries

That's true, but for Yu Ying it didn't apply--the number of applicants did not exceed the spots probably b/c the school was new. So, presumably, it would have been possible to recruit Chinese speaking kids.

[Anonymous]

Charter Schools Face Financial Challenges
National Economic Crisis a Factor


The rapid growth of the District's charter school movement, which accounts for more than a third of the city's public school enrollment, is starting to see signs of cooling because of the national financial crisis, experts in the field say.

Efforts to expand schools face longer roads to completion, hobbled by a smaller pool of potential investors and higher costs for access to capital. Charter officials also worry that recently opened small schools might have trouble securing lines of credit to meet regular business expenses.

The city's 60 charter schools, spread over 92 campuses, receive a per-pupil allotment and an annual facilities allowance from the District, which will total about $360 million this year for an enrollment of about 26,000. The private nonprofit groups that run the schools use those funds for operating costs and often turn to bank loans, along with grants, fundraising and investor tax credits, to finance the construction or renovation of buildings.

Local school officials said they have not heard of a project that has been scuttled. But even charter schools with track records as effective alternatives to traditional public schools find economic conditions more challenging. KIPP DC, which operates four schools in low-income neighborhoods, is trying to line up financing for a $23 million renovation of the former Douglass Transition Academy, a closed public school in Ward 8. It has leased the building as a home for a new high school and early childhood center it wants to open next fall.


Allison Fansler, KIPP DC's president and chief operating officer, said this week that financing for the renovation of leased properties is difficult in the best of circumstances because of the lack of collateral for a bank to fall back on if a loan goes bad. But Fansler said the charter community's traditional banking partners, such as Bank of America, PNC and M&T Bank, have been tentative.

"We're reaching out to build as many relationships as we can," said Fansler, who remained optimistic that a deal can be struck. "There are a lot of ways we can mitigate this, but it's just more complicated and expensive."

Other ventures have been delayed by the economic uncertainty. César Chávez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy had hoped to have a third campus, at the old Bruce School building in Petworth, up and running this fall. Bryan Patten, chief financial officer, said the original plan involved generating money for the renovation through the sale of tax-exempt bonds. In mid-2007, he said, "it was an attractive option, but every time we talked to the bank, the interest rate went up." Eventually, the school secured a conventional construction loan, but it will not be able to occupy Bruce until next fall.

Nationally, the situation is much the same -- schools aren't shut down but delayed, charter operators said. Mike Piscal, founder of the Inner City Education Foundation in Los Angeles, said last week that its campuses would expand from 13 to 35 over the next eight years.

"So far, deals that would be done with 20 percent down now require 30 percent. Deals that would take two to three months are now taking five to six months," he said.

The market meltdown comes at a moment of unusual opportunity for the local charter community. Last month, the District government revised its plans for the use of school buildings closed for low enrollment last year. It issued a new request for expressions of interest in the properties exclusively from charter schools. An earlier request had been opened to other private businesses and had limited the number of charter schools that could participate.

It's not clear how the climate will affect interest in the buildings. Offers are due by Oct. 27.

Charter school officials said they were particularly concerned that some of the new schools that opened this fall with small numbers of students and no track record might have difficulty securing credit for working capital.

At least two in Northeast Washington, Thea Bowman Preparatory Academy and Washington Yu Ying, have fallen short of their projected enrollment, which means their quarterly payment due from the District this month will be lower than anticipated.

"Downward adjustments can have a dramatic impact on cash flow," said Jeremy Williams, finance manager for the Public Charter School Board, adding that he was concerned that the schools would have difficulty borrowing operating capital.

Washington Yu Ying, which offers a Chinese immersion program for prekindergarten, kindergarten and first-grade students, is about 20 short of its projected enrollment of 150. Executive Director Mary Shaffner said she had begun the application process for a line of credit and would raise private money.

Thea Bowman, which has attracted 47 of the 100 fifth- and sixth-graders it expected, has laid off three staff members and cut salaries to make its budget. Principal Mark Cosenza said that the school was at no immediate risk but that he would begin fundraising.

[Anonymous]

I was thrilled to see so much activity on the DC Urban Moms site about Yu Ying!

We are month and half into the school year and it is going very well! We have had two assemblies including one surrounding the Full Moon Festival and another that included a celebration of Confucius' birthday. The children, including my own, are enjoying & learning in both their Chinese and English classes.

There is an article in the Washington Diplomat by Dena Levitz, "Public Alternative", about this year's new charter schools. Washington Yu Ying is featured; you can read the article on their website - http://www.washingtondiplomat.com/October%202008/c2_10_08.html

Sometimes though the press also takes comments out of context, as they did in this Saturday's Washington Post article. Its focus was that charter schools are facing budgetary strains as a result of the current financial climate. The article, pasted in this thread, inferred Yu Ying is facing financial difficulties because we did not make our target enrollment. We are short 19 students from maximum enrollment of 150, but this was not a surprise, and we took our enrollment numbers into consideration in our final budgets developed before school opened. The author neglected to quote my comments about how we still have a positive net
income, although it is smaller that we would have had at full enrollment. We will continue to fundraise as all of the best charter schools do, and we will have a line of credit, as most charters do, to smooth over any unforeseen cash flow issues.

If you are interested in learning more about Yu Ying, please visit our website and join us at our soon-to-be-scheduled open houses in the upcoming months. www.washingtonyuying.org. Thank you for your interest in Washington Yu Ying.

Mary Shaffner
Executive Director
Washington Yu Ying PCS

[Anonymous]

10.19 here. I finally followed up on the question about native Chinese speakers. 14.04 is right, in DC Asians are only 8% of the population and that includes all Asians of course, so there simply isn't the Chinese population here for dual immersion. That being said, the school has close ties with the Chinese community and expects a lot more Chinese applicants this year now that it's better established. Currently Chinese speaking kids make up 10% of the school.

[Anonymous]

I have a child a Yu Ying and can't say enough how much I like it. The curriculum is very well planned in both English and Mandarin, but you'd expect that of an I.B. (applicant) school. What I find so extraordinary is how quickly the children are learning Mandarin. Their little brains are so flexible and so attuned to learning language at this stage, and they don't know it's supposed to be hard. I can't get over what a wonderful opportunity this is: Mandarin really is a language of the future but it's so complex that starting in college is just too late. Having them start when they're young, and learning from native Mandarin speakers, are really such key components to the program. If you're looking at Immersion education for your child go have a tour of Yu Ying. Spanish can be learned in H.S. or college, but by then it's too late for Mandarin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spanish can be learned in H.S. or college, but by then it's too late for Mandarin.

I'm glad you're happy with your school, but this statement is false. It may be harder, yes, but you can still gain fluency if you start in college.

[Anonymous]

I am the previous poster and I apologize if I offended anyone. It is true that you can learn a foreign language at any age if you put your mind to it and I would never want to discourage someone from learning a new language.

My point was really constructed around the opinion of the Chinese community. Mandarin is a tonal language and so proper enunciation is critical. However, the brain, the ears, and the oral flexible become less elastic over time. In order to speak properly accented Mandarin it takes an enormous amount of dedication. For those who do not learn it from native Mandarin speakers while their brains are still young and easily adaptable, it may be nearly impossible to attain the proficiency expected at the highest professional and diplomatic levels. However, this doesn't mean you shouldn't still try to learn some Chinese, so I didn't mean to discourage anyone!

[Anonymous]

Here's a news segment on the school, this is running today on the CBN:

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/476350.aspx

[Anonymous]

My daughter attends Yu Ying (she is a Kindergartner) and we are so pleased with everything about the school! She has learned to speak, read, and write an incredible amount of Mandarin in just 9 weeks! Not only that, but her English literacy skills are developing beautifully as well. The teachers are very impressive, and the Aftercare program is amazing.