Notes from the Meeting w/ Sela Principal & Executive Director
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Anonymous
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Sela PCS
194 days of school 8/26-6/13 Drop off starting at 7:30am. School starts at 8:15am. School is over at 3:15pm. Weds, dismissal is at 1pm. Free after school until 6pm(hw, Israeli dance, Arabic etc.) $20 transportation card yr. Talks of a shuttle bus metro. Breakfast & lunch is included. Calendar on the schools website. They take surveys from the students to see what they like on the menu, what they don't like they tell the food service not to make it an option anymore. Over 90 applicants for pre k alone w/ only 30 spots... Bc of demand they made 60 spots. Thus there will be 3 prek classes. Pre k 20 students (3classes) Two k classes(22 students) 1st grade 12 students (1 class) *No students accepted in 2nd grade and above 2 teachers(1 native Hebrew speaker, 1 English teacher) Prek Hebrew 8-90% of the day Kindergarten+ Hebrew one day/ English the next Assessment test are done the 1st two weeks of school. And an additional 3x during the year. Each individual child will be given goals to reach until their next assessment. Students are moved depending if they have progressed or regressed(?.) Each class will have a "library" in their class. For example, a kindergarten class will have prek, kindergarten & 1st grade level books. Students will choose books according to their accessed reading levels. Morning meeting(every morning.) Students sit in a circle, shake hands n introduce each other(Shalom Karen. Shalom Peter... Talk about their wknd, ride to school, etc.) 20-25 mins a day then go to their seats No desks. Tables only. All signs are in Hebrew and English. Bathroom, rooms, clocks, etc English room & Hebrew room. Students alternate "I do. You do. We do." Teacher demonstrates. Students split in groups. Students come back as a whole. Teacher calls on students to demonstrate what they did/ what they can do. ? "Exit ticket" students write on a piece of paper what they learned. Teacher evaluates each paper to confirm which students comprehended the lesson and if it needs to be repeated/reinforced. Love ?? 6 desktop computers each class 2 smart boards(on wheels) to be shared through out the classes until more are bought in next years budget Uniforms are khaki shorts, pants or skirt/skort w/ navy blue polo shirts w/ school logo($11) Cardigans/ sports wear is maroon Sela is currently going up to 5th grade with plans to go to 8th... DC Charter Public School Board will have an immersion high school. All of the immersion schools will go to this hs(more than likely.) |
Anonymous
| Wow! This sounds great. Thanks for posting. |
Anonymous
It really was! There's another meeting across from the school on Monday at 6:30pm. ? |
Anonymous
Does this mean Sela will feed the DCI??? |
Anonymous
| They said that they have an ongoing dialogue with the current DCI schools about Sela eventually feeding into DCI in 7 or 8 years. They didn't make any promises, but they did say that they were fully committed to expanding Sela (next year with pre-K3 and 2 grade, and then adding a grade every year thereafter) and going up through high school either with DCI, partnering with other immersion schools not in DCI, or alone. This is pretty consistent with what friends at YY have told me they heard about Sela from YY's leadership). |
Anonymous
I'm a YY parent and I think this is great news. Thank you for the update. |
Anonymous
| How are they able to offer free aftercare and meals? |
Anonymous
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For the next meeting, here are some follow-up questions:
What assessment are they using for reading? The DRA2? Will there be a reading/literacy specialist teacher to support classroom teachers, ie coaching, planning, prof development? What is the approach in math--a constructivist one hopefully. The "Morning Meeting" is one part of Responsive Classroom. Will teachers have the full 5-day training? If not, then I would be very concerned. What are they looking for in teachers? How will they be hired? |
Anonymous
All DC schools get funds for free breakfast for all students. In addition, FARMs students get subsidized dinner costs. I doubt food costs will make or break a school generally, given DC and federal subsidies. As a new school, their before and aftercare program is probably not going to be huge. It sounded, reading between the lines, like they looked for and found a cheaper, long-term facility that wasn't in a more "central" Ward 1 location and are using the savings to fund the before and after care program and other "extras" for families. |
Anonymous
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How long did they say they would offer free aftercare?
I ask becasue another start up school (a few years ago) offered free, then lowcost, then a more expensive aftercare as the years went on. |
Anonymous
| Seriously do they have big donors or something? Free meals and aftercare is certainly a drain on finances, even if not huge. I am also wondering how long it will last. That said, I'm interested! |
Anonymous
You sound like an educator. When school leaders go into edu-speak, I tend to tune out. However, thy went through the responsive classroom morning meeting model ad nauseam. I can see how kids would like it, the Sela people seem really excited about. They said that they would be using a reading specialist for "pull-out, push-in" (?) I think with contractors during their first year, and a FTE in year 2. They have early release on Wednesday for coaching/planning, they did say that. There were a lot of questions about math. Their principal is a STEM middle school principal from Baltimore. She talked about smart boards and differentiated instruction in math for GT and struggling students. I don't recall the term constructivist. They have identified teachers, but will not be formally hiring them until the summer. I think they said their start date is June. One thing I thought was interesting is that their principal is African-American female, their Executive Director is a Catholic white male, and their board seems to be (judging from names and Linkedin) racially diverse. They said they will have at least 50% of their staff being native Israelis (for the sake of argument, I will call them white in terms of how Americans use constructs of race and whiteness). I hope they make a commitment to having a diverse teaching force as well. I do wonder how American Jews view having a school lead by non-Jews, and non-Hebrew speakers (though the principal and the ED said they were studying). YY has certainly had a lot of criticism about their leadership. |
Anonymous
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One thing I thought was interesting is that their principal is African-American female, their Executive Director is a Catholic white male, and their board seems to be (judging from names and Linkedin) racially diverse. They said they will have at least 50% of their staff being native Israelis (for the sake of argument, I will call them white in terms of how Americans use constructs of race and whiteness). I hope they make a commitment to having a diverse teaching force as well. I do wonder how American Jews view having a school lead by non-Jews, and non-Hebrew speakers (though the principal and the ED said they were studying). YY has certainly had a lot of criticism about their leadership.
Who cares what American Jewish people think about Sela. Smh. They're teaching a language not a religion. Smh |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| The next meeting isn't a follow up meeting. It's a meeting for families that missed the 1st meeting. Please attend the meeting and share on this forum. Thanks |