Admin involvement in ES Charters

[Anonymous]

How involved are they at your charter? What does your principal do to be involved and presently engaged with families? What other admin does your school have? What is the effectiveness of their engagement and/or what is the cost of their lack of engagement?

We are currently enrolled at a HRCS with a teacher who is actively engaged in our student’s success. However, we are very disconnected from administration and have not yet met the principal 7 weeks into the year. A single newsletter welcoming us back to school was sent weeks ago.


How important do you find the relationship between admin and families to be? Should this be a red flag?

[Anonymous]

Is your kid happy and thriving? Did you go to back to school night? This has nothing to do with "admin involvement in es charters". I expect, by a least November, admin knows my kids name, and hopefully mine. What specifically are you looking for?

[Anonymous]

In our charter the principal is outside talking to students/families during drop off or pick up. If your kid is in aftercare you
Won’t see her. We also met her during back to school night.

[Anonymous]

I would think this was weird and assume something was wrong. Is there a PTA? Ask around.

[Anonymous]

Is this Capital City? We went most of last year without seeing the lower school principal.

[Anonymous]

Administration at most of the "HRCS" (I hope you understand that this moniker is meant tongue in cheek, yes?) are pretty opaque. My experience is that DCPS tends to do more outreach but even then it's often not a ton (we've been at both). In general, I think the best move it to get involved with the PTO and with the classroom in the ways suggested to you (attend meetings, introduce yourself in any parent listserves, sign up to volunteer in the classroom or to provide support to the classroom as suggested by the teacher, etc.). Over time you will get to know the school's office staff as you communicate with them about forms and absences. Attend school events and you will meet and see the principal and AP and have more chances to interact with them.

It's a process and often it's not until your second or third year at the school that you become a familiar face to them and have some kind of rapport. This is especially true if you are a PK parent -- in DC where kids often change schools via lottery or move, I think the PK parents can sort of run together for admin. They aren't in the classroom with your kid and have fewer opportunities to interact with you. Unless there is some kind of administrative problem (facilities in need of repair, miscommunications over school events or schedules, behavioral issues that are bigger than the classroom, etc.) there isn't a ton of reason for you to interact with them yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our charter the principal is outside talking to students/families during drop off or pick up. If your kid is in aftercare you
Won’t see her. We also met her during back to school night.

+1 at drop off and pick up

[Anonymous]

TR 4th Street Principal is outside at pick-up every morning and almost every afternoon. She's helping kids out of cars, doing impromptu meetings with parents and dancing to the music playing on the portable speaker at the entrance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is your kid happy and thriving? Did you go to back to school night? This has nothing to do with "admin involvement in es charters". I expect, by a least November, admin knows my kids name, and hopefully mine. What specifically are you looking for?

Admin knows 400+ kids names by November? And mine? Admin has been at our school for three years now and probably wouldn't recognize me as student's parent if I ran into them in the grocery store. I think you're expectations are unrealistic.

[Anonymous]

principal is a demanding job. while family engagement efforts are nice, it is also time away from other responsibilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is your kid happy and thriving? Did you go to back to school night? This has nothing to do with "admin involvement in es charters". I expect, by a least November, admin knows my kids name, and hopefully mine. What specifically are you looking for?

Admin knows 400+ kids names by November? And mine? Admin has been at our school for three years now and probably wouldn't recognize me as student's parent if I ran into them in the grocery store. I think you're expectations are unrealistic.

+1, unless the school is tiny (or is a new charter and only has a few grades), I would never expect the principal to know me or my kid by sight.

The relationship that matters is the one with the teacher(s). If your kid doesn't have unique needs or behavioral issues, you may barely interact with the principal over the course of their time at the school. My kid has been at her school for three years and my interactions with the principal involve: (1) attending the virtual "chats" they do a few times a year, (2) some basic interactions outside the school or on BTSN, like brief conversations.

The school is well run so the principal is doing their job. I don't need some kind of special connection there.

[Anonymous]

Executive director at lamb does zero engagement with families. I saw her at dropoff exactly once, never at pickup. Rude, dismissive, patronizing and doesn’t know a bit of spanish.

Principal is there opening doors every day and calling parents. Possibly this is how they divide labor, but only the exec director responds to comments on parentsquare.

[Anonymous]

HOS at my son's HRCS has been in place for a couple of years and I've seen her in person once. Not even sure what she does, tbh. However, all the principals seem to be fairly present.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Executive director at lamb does zero engagement with families. I saw her at dropoff exactly once, never at pickup. Rude, dismissive, patronizing and doesn’t know a bit of spanish.

Principal is there opening doors every day and calling parents. Possibly this is how they divide labor, but only the exec director responds to comments on parentsquare.

Except she hosts monthly charlas with families including this morning. I've also seen her at drop off and pick up. It's fine not to like the ED and to talk about poor experiences you have had with her but to say she has zero engagement with families would be innaccurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Executive director at lamb does zero engagement with families. I saw her at dropoff exactly once, never at pickup. Rude, dismissive, patronizing and doesn’t know a bit of spanish.

Principal is there opening doors every day and calling parents. Possibly this is how they divide labor, but only the exec director responds to comments on parentsquare.

Except she hosts monthly charlas with families including this morning. I've also seen her at drop off and pick up. It's fine not to like the ED and to talk about poor experiences you have had with her but to say she has zero engagement with families would be innaccurate.

She has also been at the monthly Cafecito which rotates between the 14th Street and South Dakota campuses.