Mundo Verde Public Charter: Failing on Its Most Basic Mission

[Anonymous]

If you are okay with your child being subject to incessant bullying, physical abuse and receiving a woefully subpar education - all of which the school leadership is complicit - then this is the school for your greatest treasure(s).

My child came to Mundo Verde Public Charter School (Calle Ocho Campus) in the fall, eager for 2nd grade, excelling at math and ready to learn reading and writing. By October, we became alarmed by the reports of the abuse our child was receiving from another child. Everyday. Multiple times per day. No intervention. We gathered her teachers and key administrators to discuss why this was happening and what the school could do to stop it. It was alarming that no one seemed to actually see these acts of abuse until we brought it to light. Our child has attempted to defend herself (we’ve enrolled her in self-defense classes), and when she’s attempted to protect herself, she’s been told by the supervising adults she’s not allowed. The offense can be allowed, but not the defense? At one point, she was even told by one of the supervising adults that she and her attacker needed to make a promise to be friends. What?!

As we approach year’s end, not only is she not at a level to pass into 3rd grade, she’s regressed to where she was before the start of 2nd grade. She’s not meeting the minimum requirements for math. Her reading and writing has improved in English, but she’s not meeting the minimum requirements for reading and writing in Spanish.

Why? There’s been a revolving door of educators. The classrooms and the school overall is a cesspool of chaos. In our child’s classes alone, we lost her lead Spanish teacher in the first three months of the school year. Then, weeks later, her lead English teacher. Then her English fellow (secondary teacher). And at the point where we had six weeks left in the school year, her replacement lead English teacher departed. This coincided with the departure of her lead after-care teacher. The teachers have been sharing with us (the parent community) all year that they are not receiving the support and resources they need. Further, they tell us the school is making promises that the school then breaks.

So many of our fellow parents are having to now find and pay for tutoring to make up for the school’s failure to prepare the kids to progress to the next grade level.

And while it might be easy to point to our experience as a tiny blip in a long record of success for Mundo Verde, let’s look at how the student attrition is as alarming as the attrition rate for the school’s teachers.

During the school year 21/22, there were 30 students at the Calle Ocho campus and 36 students from the Cook campus that were admitted from the MySchoolDC lottery for 2nd grade alone. That’s a total of three entire classes of 2nd grade students across both campuses who left Mundo Verde, making way for kids on the waiting list. I’ve not seen any such influx of students receiving calls from the MySchoolDC Lottery wait list to join any other school.

Parents have written letters to the executive director and board of directors for the school. There’s never a response. There’s never an ounce of concern. There’s never a sense that they have a responsibility to uphold a mission for education to each and every student who walks through their doors. The school leadership knows that the moment 66 kids cycle out, there are 90 more just waiting for a seat at Mundo Verde. The leadership is an example of appalling arrogance.

Mundo Verde Public Charter School has completely lost its way and is an utter failure on its most basic mission.

[Anonymous]

They haven’t lost their way as they’ve already been this. Look back 5-6 years and you will clearly see your testimony is not unique.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They haven’t lost their way as they’ve already been this. Look back 5-6 years and you will clearly see your testimony is not unique.

+1. The school has always been this way, which is why there was such a large parent movement opposed to expansion, and why teachers formed the only union in all of the DCPCS system. Sorry OP, it sounds terribly for your child. I hope you can get out.

[Anonymous]

I'm very sorry for what your daughter is going through. MV has had high teacher turnover, poor classroom control, and behavior and academic issues all along but this sounds especially difficult.

Having said that, the number of waitlist offers doesn't mean that that many children have left MV. It means that many offers were made. Some of the offers were likely declined, resulting in a second or third or fourth offer to fill the same seat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm very sorry for what your daughter is going through. MV has had high teacher turnover, poor classroom control, and behavior and academic issues all along but this sounds especially difficult.

Having said that, the number of waitlist offers doesn't mean that that many children have left MV. It means that many offers were made. Some of the offers were likely declined, resulting in a second or third or fourth offer to fill the same seat.

I thought they were confused on WL vs open seats too. But I looked and OP is not confused. They are opening an alarming # of seats in the lotter (30 or 45 depending on the campus). Whether or not this is an "expansion" or backfilling I do not know, but from a culture perspective it is alarming to add that many kids in a single year. Even more so for a language immersion school.

[Anonymous]

I am so sorry for you and your kid. Good for you for advocating for them and for pulling them out and finding a better option. FWIW, these issues and concerns are not new. 7 years ago we didn't list MV on our lottery list precisely because of reports about unaddressed bullying and lack of classroom management. It is beyond me how a this school admin team was permitted to expand when they seem unable to manage a single school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very sorry for what your daughter is going through. MV has had high teacher turnover, poor classroom control, and behavior and academic issues all along but this sounds especially difficult.

Having said that, the number of waitlist offers doesn't mean that that many children have left MV. It means that many offers were made. Some of the offers were likely declined, resulting in a second or third or fourth offer to fill the same seat.

I thought they were confused on WL vs open seats too. But I looked and OP is not confused. They are opening an alarming # of seats in the lotter (30 or 45 depending on the campus). Whether or not this is an "expansion" or backfilling I do not know, but from a culture perspective it is alarming to add that many kids in a single year. Even more so for a language immersion school.

Oh wow. It may also be that the class size ticks up a bit for upper elementary grades-- I know at a lot of schools it does. But nevertheless, I'm no booster of MV. We seriously considered it because in this town there's no way to get Spanish without making some tradeoffs, but ultimately passed because of exactly the issues on this thread.

[Anonymous]

OP, have you considered filing a complaint with the charter school board? They likely won't do anything (to them, "flexibility" includes the flexibility to operate a bad school) but it's a public service to create a track record for when MV is up for review.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very sorry for what your daughter is going through. MV has had high teacher turnover, poor classroom control, and behavior and academic issues all along but this sounds especially difficult.

Having said that, the number of waitlist offers doesn't mean that that many children have left MV. It means that many offers were made. Some of the offers were likely declined, resulting in a second or third or fourth offer to fill the same seat.

I thought they were confused on WL vs open seats too. But I looked and OP is not confused. They are opening an alarming # of seats in the lotter (30 or 45 depending on the campus). Whether or not this is an "expansion" or backfilling I do not know, but from a culture perspective it is alarming to add that many kids in a single year. Even more so for a language immersion school.

Historically their re-enrollment rates aren't that bad, though. Maybe things have taken a turn for the worse.

https://stossepublicdocsprod.blob.core.windows.net/public-docs/dc-school-report-card/2020-21/profiles/171-1088(Mundo%20Verde%20Bilingual%20PCS%20-%20Calle%20Ocho).pdf

https://stossepublicdocsprod.blob.core.windows.net/public-docs/dc-school-report-card/2020-21/profiles/171-3065(Mundo%20Verde%20Bilingual%20PCS%20-%20J.F.%20Cook).pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very sorry for what your daughter is going through. MV has had high teacher turnover, poor classroom control, and behavior and academic issues all along but this sounds especially difficult.

Having said that, the number of waitlist offers doesn't mean that that many children have left MV. It means that many offers were made. Some of the offers were likely declined, resulting in a second or third or fourth offer to fill the same seat.

I thought they were confused on WL vs open seats too. But I looked and OP is not confused. They are opening an alarming # of seats in the lotter (30 or 45 depending on the campus). Whether or not this is an "expansion" or backfilling I do not know, but from a culture perspective it is alarming to add that many kids in a single year. Even more so for a language immersion school.

Historically their re-enrollment rates aren't that bad, though. Maybe things have taken a turn for the worse.

https://stossepublicdocsprod.blob.core.windows.net/public-docs/dc-school-report-card/2020-21/profiles/171-1088(Mundo%20Verde%20Bilingual%20PCS%20-%20Calle%20Ocho).pdf

https://stossepublicdocsprod.blob.core.windows.net/public-docs/dc-school-report-card/2020-21/profiles/171-3065(Mundo%20Verde%20Bilingual%20PCS%20-%20J.F.%20Cook).pdf

No idea what happened to those links, but you can see the file for each charter school here: https://osse.dc.gov/dcschoolreportcard/schoolsnapshot

[Anonymous]

If you really wanted to measure churn during the school year, compare the ever-enrolled count to the audit count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are okay with your child being subject to incessant bullying, physical abuse and receiving a woefully subpar education - all of which the school leadership is complicit - then this is the school for your greatest treasure(s).

My child came to Mundo Verde Public Charter School (Calle Ocho Campus) in the fall, eager for 2nd grade, excelling at math and ready to learn reading and writing. By October, we became alarmed by the reports of the abuse our child was receiving from another child. Everyday. Multiple times per day. No intervention. We gathered her teachers and key administrators to discuss why this was happening and what the school could do to stop it. It was alarming that no one seemed to actually see these acts of abuse until we brought it to light. Our child has attempted to defend herself (we’ve enrolled her in self-defense classes), and when she’s attempted to protect herself, she’s been told by the supervising adults she’s not allowed. The offense can be allowed, but not the defense? At one point, she was even told by one of the supervising adults that she and her attacker needed to make a promise to be friends. What?!

As we approach year’s end, not only is she not at a level to pass into 3rd grade, she’s regressed to where she was before the start of 2nd grade. She’s not meeting the minimum requirements for math. Her reading and writing has improved in English, but she’s not meeting the minimum requirements for reading and writing in Spanish.

Why? There’s been a revolving door of educators. The classrooms and the school overall is a cesspool of chaos. In our child’s classes alone, we lost her lead Spanish teacher in the first three months of the school year. Then, weeks later, her lead English teacher. Then her English fellow (secondary teacher). And at the point where we had six weeks left in the school year, her replacement lead English teacher departed. This coincided with the departure of her lead after-care teacher. The teachers have been sharing with us (the parent community) all year that they are not receiving the support and resources they need. Further, they tell us the school is making promises that the school then breaks.

So many of our fellow parents are having to now find and pay for tutoring to make up for the school’s failure to prepare the kids to progress to the next grade level.

And while it might be easy to point to our experience as a tiny blip in a long record of success for Mundo Verde, let’s look at how the student attrition is as alarming as the attrition rate for the school’s teachers.

During the school year 21/22, there were 30 students at the Calle Ocho campus and 36 students from the Cook campus that were admitted from the MySchoolDC lottery for 2nd grade alone. That’s a total of three entire classes of 2nd grade students across both campuses who left Mundo Verde, making way for kids on the waiting list. I’ve not seen any such influx of students receiving calls from the MySchoolDC Lottery wait list to join any other school.

Parents have written letters to the executive director and board of directors for the school. There’s never a response. There’s never an ounce of concern. There’s never a sense that they have a responsibility to uphold a mission for education to each and every student who walks through their doors. The school leadership knows that the moment 66 kids cycle out, there are 90 more just waiting for a seat at Mundo Verde. The leadership is an example of appalling arrogance.

Mundo Verde Public Charter School has completely lost its way and is an utter failure on its most basic mission.

Curious, what interventions were suggested for the bullying? Were they tried? Seems so odd that nothing would happen at all after meetings with teachers and leadership.

I’d be upset over that level of turnover alone. We’ve had turnover year to year and lost good teachers at our charter but not mid year except when planned or emergency. Mid year departures to me do suggest a problem with the leadership.

Where are you planning to enroll next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are okay with your child being subject to incessant bullying, physical abuse and receiving a woefully subpar education - all of which the school leadership is complicit - then this is the school for your greatest treasure(s).

My child came to Mundo Verde Public Charter School (Calle Ocho Campus) in the fall, eager for 2nd grade, excelling at math and ready to learn reading and writing. By October, we became alarmed by the reports of the abuse our child was receiving from another child. Everyday. Multiple times per day. No intervention. We gathered her teachers and key administrators to discuss why this was happening and what the school could do to stop it. It was alarming that no one seemed to actually see these acts of abuse until we brought it to light. Our child has attempted to defend herself (we’ve enrolled her in self-defense classes), and when she’s attempted to protect herself, she’s been told by the supervising adults she’s not allowed. The offense can be allowed, but not the defense? At one point, she was even told by one of the supervising adults that she and her attacker needed to make a promise to be friends. What?!

As we approach year’s end, not only is she not at a level to pass into 3rd grade, she’s regressed to where she was before the start of 2nd grade. She’s not meeting the minimum requirements for math. Her reading and writing has improved in English, but she’s not meeting the minimum requirements for reading and writing in Spanish.

Why? There’s been a revolving door of educators. The classrooms and the school overall is a cesspool of chaos. In our child’s classes alone, we lost her lead Spanish teacher in the first three months of the school year. Then, weeks later, her lead English teacher. Then her English fellow (secondary teacher). And at the point where we had six weeks left in the school year, her replacement lead English teacher departed. This coincided with the departure of her lead after-care teacher. The teachers have been sharing with us (the parent community) all year that they are not receiving the support and resources they need. Further, they tell us the school is making promises that the school then breaks.

So many of our fellow parents are having to now find and pay for tutoring to make up for the school’s failure to prepare the kids to progress to the next grade level.

And while it might be easy to point to our experience as a tiny blip in a long record of success for Mundo Verde, let’s look at how the student attrition is as alarming as the attrition rate for the school’s teachers.

During the school year 21/22, there were 30 students at the Calle Ocho campus and 36 students from the Cook campus that were admitted from the MySchoolDC lottery for 2nd grade alone. That’s a total of three entire classes of 2nd grade students across both campuses who left Mundo Verde, making way for kids on the waiting list. I’ve not seen any such influx of students receiving calls from the MySchoolDC Lottery wait list to join any other school.

Parents have written letters to the executive director and board of directors for the school. There’s never a response. There’s never an ounce of concern. There’s never a sense that they have a responsibility to uphold a mission for education to each and every student who walks through their doors. The school leadership knows that the moment 66 kids cycle out, there are 90 more just waiting for a seat at Mundo Verde. The leadership is an example of appalling arrogance.

Mundo Verde Public Charter School has completely lost its way and is an utter failure on its most basic mission.

Curious, what interventions were suggested for the bullying? Were they tried? Seems so odd that nothing would happen at all after meetings with teachers and leadership.

I’d be upset over that level of turnover alone. We’ve had turnover year to year and lost good teachers at our charter but not mid year except when planned or emergency. Mid year departures to me do suggest a problem with the leadership.

Where are you planning to enroll next year?

Meetings and interventions don't help if the teachers and aides don't actually have the skills to manage behavior in the moment. Getting kids on IEPs can help, but it takes time and they won't be able to disclose to other families what they're doing on that end.

[Anonymous]

This is the kind of post people write before they move IB for Oyster. Have you considered DC Bilingual, OP? It's a nice neighborhood, and I think a much better functioning school.

[Anonymous]

Op never said she actually pulled her kid out, btw.