Any update on the MV school discipline issues?

[Anonymous]

Funny. Maybe I'm an optimist. I like to hear about positive things, not negative. And if there are negatives, great to hear abou them and not be surprised!

Glad people are having good experiences- but not everyone is, obviously.

We are at another HRCS- and have had a fantastic experience. But guess what- know people are grumbling about the upper grades. We have a lauded DCPS- but chose not to attend in order to have greater diversity. Each to his/her own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MV parent here. I have 2 kids at the school and am very surprised reading all this. My kids are doing great and love school. I am involved at school and please know that what you read on this thread is not the overall feeling at the school. It's been a warm, friendly, and loving environment year after year for my kids and for me.

+1. In the same boat. Love school and have had some very positive and successful several years. I speak to parents on a day to day basis who feel the same. It human nature to want to peel away at that kind of school based happiness. Its just human nature to want the hear things are not good and of course some people will have had a "not so good" experience and can feed that desire. This does not mean that this is the overall experience most kids and parents at the school. Luckily my kids can tell me, both in spanish and in english how glad they are about school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone ever said which children are disruptive- it happens to be all races, boys and girls. (More boys though)

My child is at MV as well- doing ok with some things- not with others. In DC class it's difficult to pay attention, sustain focus due to the ongoing issues. Unfortunately despite kind teachers- it's hard to see how it will improve if after this long kids have yet to internalize the class norms, basics. Instead, one misbehaving student inspires another, then another and so it dissolves...

So happy to have a break.

This is the exact experience my kid has had for years. Its discouraging for everyone. The school genuinely is trying to improve, so far, not so successful. We can all hope and do what we can.

[Anonymous]

We are in the k class that was faced with such a challenging fall. The change of lead teacher upon returning from winter break has resulted in a dramatic change in the climate of the classroom. For the first time in months there is calm- children are soaking up the lessons and having fun at the same time. Kudos to the former teaching fellow for finding a way to step up and encourage this to happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone ever said which children are disruptive- it happens to be all races, boys and girls. (More boys though)

My child is at MV as well- doing ok with some things- not with others. In DC class it's difficult to pay attention, sustain focus due to the ongoing issues. Unfortunately despite kind teachers- it's hard to see how it will improve if after this long kids have yet to internalize the class norms, basics. Instead, one misbehaving student inspires another, then another and so it dissolves...

So happy to have a break.

This is the exact experience my kid has had for years. Its discouraging for everyone. The school genuinely is trying to improve, so far, not so successful. We can all hope and do what we can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in the k class that was faced with such a challenging fall. The change of lead teacher upon returning from winter break has resulted in a dramatic change in the climate of the classroom. For the first time in months there is calm- children are soaking up the lessons and having fun at the same time. Kudos to the former teaching fellow for finding a way to step up and encourage this to happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone ever said which children are disruptive- it happens to be all races, boys and girls. (More boys though)

My child is at MV as well- doing ok with some things- not with others. In DC class it's difficult to pay attention, sustain focus due to the ongoing issues. Unfortunately despite kind teachers- it's hard to see how it will improve if after this long kids have yet to internalize the class norms, basics. Instead, one misbehaving student inspires another, then another and so it dissolves...

So happy to have a break.

This is the exact experience my kid has had for years. Its discouraging for everyone. The school genuinely is trying to improve, so far, not so successful. We can all hope and do what we can.

It's been a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in the k class that was faced with such a challenging fall. The change of lead teacher upon returning from winter break has resulted in a dramatic change in the climate of the classroom. For the first time in months there is calm- children are soaking up the lessons and having fun at the same time. Kudos to the former teaching fellow for finding a way to step up and encourage this to happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone ever said which children are disruptive- it happens to be all races, boys and girls. (More boys though)

My child is at MV as well- doing ok with some things- not with others. In DC class it's difficult to pay attention, sustain focus due to the ongoing issues. Unfortunately despite kind teachers- it's hard to see how it will improve if after this long kids have yet to internalize the class norms, basics. Instead, one misbehaving student inspires another, then another and so it dissolves...

So happy to have a break.

This is the exact experience my kid has had for years. Its discouraging for everyone. The school genuinely is trying to improve, so far, not so successful. We can all hope and do what we can.

It's been a week.

Indeed. But still a marked improvement. Will take it.

[Anonymous]

All great in our first grade class this year (and no major problems last year either).
I'm pretty sure I know which K class had the issues as I've been on almost every school trip this year and also volunteered on picture day and one class was consistently (a lot) rowdier than the rest. Glad the school stepped in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in the k class that was faced with such a challenging fall. The change of lead teacher upon returning from winter break has resulted in a dramatic change in the climate of the classroom. For the first time in months there is calm- children are soaking up the lessons and having fun at the same time. Kudos to the former teaching fellow for finding a way to step up and encourage this to happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone ever said which children are disruptive- it happens to be all races, boys and girls. (More boys though)

My child is at MV as well- doing ok with some things- not with others. In DC class it's difficult to pay attention, sustain focus due to the ongoing issues. Unfortunately despite kind teachers- it's hard to see how it will improve if after this long kids have yet to internalize the class norms, basics. Instead, one misbehaving student inspires another, then another and so it dissolves...

So happy to have a break.

This is the exact experience my kid has had for years. Its discouraging for everyone. The school genuinely is trying to improve, so far, not so successful. We can all hope and do what we can.

It's been a week.

Indeed. But still a marked improvement. Will take it.

Not trying to snark but if you're excited about 5 days of remarkable improvement, that says a lot of how bad things are.

[Anonymous]

How are things with the lead class this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in the k class that was faced with such a challenging fall. The change of lead teacher upon returning from winter break has resulted in a dramatic change in the climate of the classroom. For the first time in months there is calm- children are soaking up the lessons and having fun at the same time. Kudos to the former teaching fellow for finding a way to step up and encourage this to happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone ever said which children are disruptive- it happens to be all races, boys and girls. (More boys though)

My child is at MV as well- doing ok with some things- not with others. In DC class it's difficult to pay attention, sustain focus due to the ongoing issues. Unfortunately despite kind teachers- it's hard to see how it will improve if after this long kids have yet to internalize the class norms, basics. Instead, one misbehaving student inspires another, then another and so it dissolves...

So happy to have a break.

This is the exact experience my kid has had for years. Its discouraging for everyone. The school genuinely is trying to improve, so far, not so successful. We can all hope and do what we can.

It's been a week.

Indeed. But still a marked improvement. Will take it.

Not trying to snark but if you're excited about 5 days of remarkable improvement, that says a lot of how bad things are.

maybe (I'm not there). But the fact the good week occurs when you have a new teacher in charge is giving them hope this isn't a fluke but a corner turned. There is half the year ahead and things could turn out fine.

Support teachers, if they still aren't working out with added support, let them go, and do anything to keep the ones that work out (e.g. give them lot of money).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in the k class that was faced with such a challenging fall. The change of lead teacher upon returning from winter break has resulted in a dramatic change in the climate of the classroom. For the first time in months there is calm- children are soaking up the lessons and having fun at the same time. Kudos to the former teaching fellow for finding a way to step up and encourage this to happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone ever said which children are disruptive- it happens to be all races, boys and girls. (More boys though)

My child is at MV as well- doing ok with some things- not with others. In DC class it's difficult to pay attention, sustain focus due to the ongoing issues. Unfortunately despite kind teachers- it's hard to see how it will improve if after this long kids have yet to internalize the class norms, basics. Instead, one misbehaving student inspires another, then another and so it dissolves...

So happy to have a break.

This is the exact experience my kid has had for years. Its discouraging for everyone. The school genuinely is trying to improve, so far, not so successful. We can all hope and do what we can.

It's been a week.

Indeed. But still a marked improvement. Will take it.

Not trying to snark but if you're excited about 5 days of remarkable improvement, that says a lot of how bad things are.

Really? Teacher had trouble managing classroom. School dealt with it and replaces teacher. Classroom dramatically improved. And you don't think that is sufficient for parents to be happy? It sounds much better to me than what happened in the fancy suburb where I grew up. A couple really bad teachers were able to stick around forever there because of union protections. MV isn't perfect (no school is) but it seems to me that they handled this well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is something to keep in mind when choosing a school.

All those bright shiny teachers that MV hired are cute, but they don't have the classroom experience needed to handle the kids. This is why I've never been attracted to the newer charters. The true test comes when the cute but wiggly 3 year olds turn into huge kids with undiagnosed hyperactivity. New teachers just don't know how to handle this.

Seasoned teachers learn how to redirect their problem students. Seasoned teachers learn that you spend 70% of your time with 2-3 kids so that the other 22 kids in the classroom can actually learn once those 2-3 kids have been settled down. New teachers think each child deserves equal attention and thus fail to spot the problems before they start. Two years ago, my child was in a 2nd grad classroom with a kid who was badly behaved. The seasoned teacher knew how to spot the signs of trouble, and the class functioned pretty well as a whole. In 3rd grade, my son was in the classroom again with this problem child, and the new teacher had no idea what to do and the child ruled the roost; punching and kicking the other kids and throwing chairs.

New charters don't necessarily mean new teachers. In our research there are quite a few "new" charters that have experienced teachers. In fact MV is one of them. We found that some of their teachers are quite experienced. I think ITS average master teacher has like 15 years experience. CMI has a lot of newer teachers but they started the kids really young so have time to grow and they also have very small classes. My thought with MV is just that they are too large. I really wish they would have grown at a better pace.

Fascinating. This PP claimed that there are "quite a few new charters that have experienced teachers," and now we learn that MV doesn't even require a teaching certificate. Things that make you go "HMMMMMMMM...."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is something to keep in mind when choosing a school.

All those bright shiny teachers that MV hired are cute, but they don't have the classroom experience needed to handle the kids. This is why I've never been attracted to the newer charters. The true test comes when the cute but wiggly 3 year olds turn into huge kids with undiagnosed hyperactivity. New teachers just don't know how to handle this.

Seasoned teachers learn how to redirect their problem students. Seasoned teachers learn that you spend 70% of your time with 2-3 kids so that the other 22 kids in the classroom can actually learn once those 2-3 kids have been settled down. New teachers think each child deserves equal attention and thus fail to spot the problems before they start. Two years ago, my child was in a 2nd grad classroom with a kid who was badly behaved. The seasoned teacher knew how to spot the signs of trouble, and the class functioned pretty well as a whole. In 3rd grade, my son was in the classroom again with this problem child, and the new teacher had no idea what to do and the child ruled the roost; punching and kicking the other kids and throwing chairs.

New charters don't necessarily mean new teachers. In our research there are quite a few "new" charters that have experienced teachers. In fact MV is one of them. We found that some of their teachers are quite experienced. I think ITS average master teacher has like 15 years experience. CMI has a lot of newer teachers but they started the kids really young so have time to grow and they also have very small classes. My thought with MV is just that they are too large. I really wish they would have grown at a better pace.

Fascinating. This PP claimed that there are "quite a few new charters that have experienced teachers," and now we learn that MV doesn't even require a teaching certificate. Things that make you go "HMMMMMMMM...."

The PP said there are other charters that have experienced teachers. It was already acknowledged in this thread there are some MV that are not experienced, PP said OTHERS. There are what 5-6 other newer charters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in the k class that was faced with such a challenging fall. The change of lead teacher upon returning from winter break has resulted in a dramatic change in the climate of the classroom. For the first time in months there is calm- children are soaking up the lessons and having fun at the same time. Kudos to the former teaching fellow for finding a way to step up and encourage this to happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone ever said which children are disruptive- it happens to be all races, boys and girls. (More boys though)

My child is at MV as well- doing ok with some things- not with others. In DC class it's difficult to pay attention, sustain focus due to the ongoing issues. Unfortunately despite kind teachers- it's hard to see how it will improve if after this long kids have yet to internalize the class norms, basics. Instead, one misbehaving student inspires another, then another and so it dissolves...

So happy to have a break.

This is the exact experience my kid has had for years. Its discouraging for everyone. The school genuinely is trying to improve, so far, not so successful. We can all hope and do what we can.

It's been a week.

Indeed. But still a marked improvement. Will take it.

Not trying to snark but if you're excited about 5 days of remarkable improvement, that says a lot of how bad things are.

Really? Teacher had trouble managing classroom. School dealt with it and replaces teacher. Classroom dramatically improved. And you don't think that is sufficient for parents to be happy? It sounds much better to me than what happened in the fancy suburb where I grew up. A couple really bad teachers were able to stick around forever there because of union protections. MV isn't perfect (no school is) but it seems to me that they handled this well.

That episode sound reasonable if there were only 1 teacher that had an issue. There are at least 3 classrooms that I know of that are experiencing issues this year. That's not even counting issues with leading grade. Speaks more to the culture and clearly not an isolated issue that you're making it out to be.

[Anonymous]

I hate to resurrect this thread but am listing MV high on our lottery list. How are things going after the winter break? I assume no posts mean there has been some progress with the issues previously cited?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate to resurrect this thread but am listing MV high on our lottery list. How are things going after the winter break? I assume no posts mean there has been some progress with the issues previously cited?

No horse in this race (my kid goes to a different HRCS and we're very, very happy). But you are a fool if you are making any lottery decisions based on the anonymous drivel posted on DCUM. And you're a double fool if you think that the frequency of posts (or lack thereof) is an indication of anything. Go find parents that send their kids to MV (or did) and ask them about the issues and progress.