Creative Minds Int'l PCS -- "Students at DC charter school lose teacher for second consecutive academic year"

[Anonymous]

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/education/dc-parents-concerned-after-students-lose-their-second-teacher-in-a-row/65-c2942f57-5636-4af2-b498-cf00abc0fa89

Anyone else see this about Creative Minds International Public Charter School? I've heard this place used to be a decent school. I have acquaintances that work there and I only hear negative things about the leadership and some of the staff. Looks like the good people that did remain are now leaving in droves. The people I know there say that the leadership is incompetent which has caused many of the qualified staff to resign (like the teachers in the article). I've heard the qualified teachers that leave are being replaced with unlicensed folks with little experience. Won't be sending my children there.

Not ideal!

[Anonymous]

This happens everywhere, why is this news?

[Anonymous]

The headline and this post seem disingenuous. The teacher last year left in February for maternity leave. They had a consistent long term sub for the rest of the year. Not sure how it occurs to people to act like teachers aren’t allowed to be humans who might need to take maternity leave.

And let me tell you - I work with a lot of area schools and MANY have already lost a teacher this year. This is not unique to CM.

[Anonymous]

I have had kids in DC public charter schools for 14 years and only lost one teacher mid year due to maternity leave. It’s not normal to have a single class disrupted 2 years in a row. I will be mad, too.

[Anonymous]

I think the issue here is less that the teacher is leaving, and more that qualified, experienced teachers are being forced out by unfit admin. I personally know 4 people off the top of my head who loved working at CMI up until the least 2-3 years. Theres been a huge culture shift within the school (created by admin), and I feel terribly for the staff, students, and families.

Kudos to this teacher for doing what they needed to do. Leaving this early in the year isn't an easy choice for any teacher.

[Anonymous]

I mean, it's a weird article. What happened doesn't seem like, in itself, the fault of the school. But we all know CMI has some real issues, has had them for years, and lots of people leave.

[Anonymous]

Shame on WUSA for picking up this story. It's not a unique one, just one that some privileged parent pitched. His kid is welcomed to attend Bruce Monroe.

[Anonymous]

This was happening maybe 5ish years ago at that school. Many staff were quitting mid-year. I’ve always been surprised by all the positive reviews.

[Anonymous]

This definitely isn’t new for this school. That poor teacher honestly. I’m sure that decision couldn’t have been an easy one. Having to leave a class is difficult I’m sure. There is definitely a bigger issue at play here that the article doesn’t even touch on - the administration and the leadership. It’s interesting how there hasn’t been much turnover there, yet their staff come and go. Things have really gone down hill fast there. WUSA should do some digging. Definitely more to be found. Just look at their Glassdoor reviews!

[Anonymous]

What a mess. No waitlist at all for grades K-5! They used to waitlist hundreds of kids for K.

[Anonymous]

Why did they not cover the Deal Science Teacher Situation?

[Anonymous]

This is happening everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Remember when their parents would wax poetic about little Jagger or Juniper attending a Benetton school? This kind of chronic teacher turnover is not normal.

[Anonymous]

I think that what is getting lost in translation here is that these children had two teachers leave in two years with little to no response from the school, and they hire unqualified individuals to cover the classes, causing a deficit in children’s learning. The kindergarten teacher that left was not the one on maternity leave (honestly that shouldn’t have been mentioned in the article at all), it’s the fact that another long standing K teacher left after a few weeks into the school year (very similar to the one that is leaving now) and the school didn’t have a proper replacement for both teachers to cover the maternity leave and the vacancy. The issue is really the school not preparing for the children and not being able to staff their school with qualified individuals. I’m glad I pulled my children when I did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/education/dc-parents-concerned-after-students-lose-their-second-teacher-in-a-row/65-c2942f57-5636-4af2-b498-cf00abc0fa89

Anyone else see this about Creative Minds International Public Charter School? I've heard this place used to be a decent school. I have acquaintances that work there and I only hear negative things about the leadership and some of the staff. Looks like the good people that did remain are now leaving in droves. The people I know there say that the leadership is incompetent which has caused many of the qualified staff to resign (like the teachers in the article). I've heard the qualified teachers that leave are being replaced with unlicensed folks with little experience. Won't be sending my children there.

Not ideal!

The school was never a decent school. Ever. They had a lot of white, upper middle income families attend in the very beginning because it was shiny and new with small classrooms and later nice grounds, but the school was never good.