DCI Parent Petition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you read the full letter and have ever worked under similar leadership, whether in a public or corporate setting, you’ll understand exactly what it’s describing. The fact that more than 100 teachers have left since the ED started speaks for itself.

The teacher retention issue, is the main issue. It doesn't matter if the school is offering the most advanced and most comprehensive list of IB courses and adding APs etc. if staff aren't there to provide high quality instruction and support students. I guess for kids that can walk themselves through curriculum online its okay but good teachers that stay are what will make it a really good middle/high school. No idea if this ED is good for that or not.

[Anonymous]

not a single other school i know of clocks in and out unless it's for the hourly employees. and that includes union schools

[Anonymous]

I don't have a lot of insider info, but I think it's a snowballing kind of a situation. Per my kid's experience, there are a lot of young, inexperienced teachers who are not managing their life well, which probably leads the staff to infantilize them, which leads to a backlash. But that's what you get when you are limited by how much money you can pay your teachers. The good ones leave really quickly, the bad ones stay and become more and more disgruntled.

[Anonymous]

DCI is the school that cannot fail for this board because so many people put their kids in lesser elementary situations in order to eventually make it to DCI and have that be the savior.

The number of signatories and the teacher retention rate should be a real alarm bell for folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you read the full letter and have ever worked under similar leadership, whether in a public or corporate setting, you’ll understand exactly what it’s describing. The fact that more than 100 teachers have left since the ED started speaks for itself.

The teacher retention issue, is the main issue. It doesn't matter if the school is offering the most advanced and most comprehensive list of IB courses and adding APs etc. if staff aren't there to provide high quality instruction and support students. I guess for kids that can walk themselves through curriculum online it's okay but good teachers that stay are what will make it a really good middle/high school. No idea if this ED is good for that or not.

DCI's teacher retention on the school report card is 73% - which is just about the charter average. While it's not great, has there been a decline over the recent years? Or has retention always been an issue (even before this particular ED and/or the union)? I am always surprised that in unionized charter environments pay and retention seem to be lower than in non-unionized ones. Not saying it's a union issue but wondering if the factors that cause staff to move in the direction of unionizing are entrenched and complex.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:not a single other school i know of clocks in and out unless it's for the hourly employees. and that includes union schools

I know many that do for safety and coverage but no of none that automatically reduce pay for salaried workers.

[Anonymous]

I don't at all think this is a relevant point in the bigger scheme of things, but I am a charter school teacher and have always clocked in and out. But then again I trust my admin. Sounds like this gentleman has lost his staff's trust big time. So this small thing is a symptom of a much larger issue.

[Anonymous]

I was looking at the student survey data that OSSE includes in the report card. Hard to know exactly what to make of student reports of their subjective experience, but this is not a great pattern for DCI.

Belonging
Walls 64%
J-R 62%
Banneker 61%
Latin 59%
Basis 48%
DCI 43%

Rigorous expectations
Latin, 78%
Walls, 76%
Banneker, 75%
J-R 70%
Basis 60%
DCI 59%

Safety
Walls 84%
Latin 78%
Banneker 73%
Basis 69%
DCI 56%
J-R 55%

Perseverance
Walls 68%
Banneker 65%
J-R 64%
Latin 62%
Basis 61%
DCI 52%

Self-efficacy
J-R 54%
Latin 52%
Walls 51%
Banneker 50%
Basis 47%
DCI 37%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Basic professional standards" and it's humans with lives who are being threatened with docked pay and consequences if they experience human needs like flat tires, cranky kids who won't move quickly in the morning, late busses. I'm on the outskirts of the DCI community but also in the DC education world, and I've NEVER heard of a school with a clock in system for grown adults. And that's just one aspect of admin infantilizing staff. The school used scare tactics on staff when the opportunity to unionize came up, spreading lies and making staff members feel like their jobs were at risk. The ED took a massive salary while working to ensure support staff like facilities barely make a living wage. The admin has a history of disrespecting their teachers and showing no faith in them. Saying that none of this appears serious is very much misunderstanding the matter and showing the same disrespect to staff that admin is doing.

Teachers are mad because they're expected to show up on time? Seriously?

Clocking in/out is a pretty normal in lots of the working world.

Do you clock in and out of your professional role? It's maybe normal in hourly, waged roles, but not for professionals who can be trusted to do their jobs and be humans. Odd that previous poster's small example is what people are latching onto when, if you read the seven page doc, there are so many more egregious issues.

No dog in this fight but I clock in and I’m a fed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCI is the school that cannot fail for this board because so many people put their kids in lesser elementary situations in order to eventually make it to DCI and have that be the savior.

The number of signatories and the teacher retention rate should be a real alarm bell for folks.

I agree. We would have left our elementary but for the dci feeder pattern. To be honest, dci has been an excellent experience for us and our kids are in the high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the student survey data that OSSE includes in the report card. Hard to know exactly what to make of student reports of their subjective experience, but this is not a great pattern for DCI.

Belonging
Walls 64%
J-R 62%
Banneker 61%
Latin 59%
Basis 48%
DCI 43%

Rigorous expectations
Latin, 78%
Walls, 76%
Banneker, 75%
J-R 70%
Basis 60%
DCI 59%

Safety
Walls 84%
Latin 78%
Banneker 73%
Basis 69%
DCI 56%
J-R 55%

Perseverance
Walls 68%
Banneker 65%
J-R 64%
Latin 62%
Basis 61%
DCI 52%

Self-efficacy
J-R 54%
Latin 52%
Walls 51%
Banneker 50%
Basis 47%
DCI 37%

Did you take the OSSE parent survey? The way the questions and options are written is horrible. Answers are something like if your student doesn't feel safe or belonging 100 percent of the time (which probably no one honestly does, even if it's still 99 percent), safety and belongings get dinged. Some schools prep parents on how to answer and convey that the answers will reflect on the school. DCI does not do that and I'm fact send out it's own internal survey at the same time which is confusing.

There are many valid concerns, but I would not place much faith into this poorly designed and delivered survey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the student survey data that OSSE includes in the report card. Hard to know exactly what to make of student reports of their subjective experience, but this is not a great pattern for DCI.

Belonging
Walls 64%
J-R 62%
Banneker 61%
Latin 59%
Basis 48%
DCI 43%

Rigorous expectations
Latin, 78%
Walls, 76%
Banneker, 75%
J-R 70%
Basis 60%
DCI 59%

Safety
Walls 84%
Latin 78%
Banneker 73%
Basis 69%
DCI 56%
J-R 55%

Perseverance
Walls 68%
Banneker 65%
J-R 64%
Latin 62%
Basis 61%
DCI 52%

Self-efficacy
J-R 54%
Latin 52%
Walls 51%
Banneker 50%
Basis 47%
DCI 37%

Did you take the OSSE parent survey? The way the questions and options are written is horrible. Answers are something like if your student doesn't feel safe or belonging 100 percent of the time (which probably no one honestly does, even if it's still 99 percent), safety and belongings get dinged. Some schools prep parents on how to answer and convey that the answers will reflect on the school. DCI does not do that and I'm fact send out it's own internal survey at the same time which is confusing.

There are many valid concerns, but I would not place much faith into this poorly designed and delivered survey.

Our school is in this list and does no prep of the kind you describe. I think the fact that DCI is at the bottom of every single list and in some cases by a lot (10%+ on 2!) should be alarming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you read the full letter and have ever worked under similar leadership, whether in a public or corporate setting, you’ll understand exactly what it’s describing. The fact that more than 100 teachers have left since the ED started speaks for itself.

The teacher retention issue, is the main issue. It doesn't matter if the school is offering the most advanced and most comprehensive list of IB courses and adding APs etc. if staff aren't there to provide high quality instruction and support students. I guess for kids that can walk themselves through curriculum online it's okay but good teachers that stay are what will make it a really good middle/high school. No idea if this ED is good for that or not.

DCI's teacher retention on the school report card is 73% - which is just about the charter average. While it's not great, has there been a decline over the recent years? Or has retention always been an issue (even before this particular ED and/or the union)? I am always surprised that in unionized charter environments pay and retention seem to be lower than in non-unionized ones. Not saying it's a union issue but wondering if the factors that cause staff to move in the direction of unionizing are entrenched and complex.

That’s an interesting question. I do think that you are right, there’s a lot going on. That said, several of the unions are relatively new and it can take a looooooong time to ratify a contract, and I believe things sort of freeze while that is under way in terms of comp, so that could be another contributing factor for some of the newer unions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you read the full letter and have ever worked under similar leadership, whether in a public or corporate setting, you’ll understand exactly what it’s describing. The fact that more than 100 teachers have left since the ED started speaks for itself.

The teacher retention issue, is the main issue. It doesn't matter if the school is offering the most advanced and most comprehensive list of IB courses and adding APs etc. if staff aren't there to provide high quality instruction and support students. I guess for kids that can walk themselves through curriculum online its okay but good teachers that stay are what will make it a really good middle/high school. No idea if this ED is good for that or not.

DCI has a go retention rate. It’s in the low 90% while overall DC average is 80%. This data was shared with families at the board meeting.

Sure some families might see a teacher leave and get a sub or teacher go on maternity/paternity leave like one of ours but it does not mean there is a big rejection issue with teachers when the data proves otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you read the full letter and have ever worked under similar leadership, whether in a public or corporate setting, you’ll understand exactly what it’s describing. The fact that more than 100 teachers have left since the ED started speaks for itself.

The teacher retention issue, is the main issue. It doesn't matter if the school is offering the most advanced and most comprehensive list of IB courses and adding APs etc. if staff aren't there to provide high quality instruction and support students. I guess for kids that can walk themselves through curriculum online its okay but good teachers that stay are what will make it a really good middle/high school. No idea if this ED is good for that or not.

DCI has a go retention rate. It’s in the low 90% while overall DC average is 80%. This data was shared with families at the board meeting.

Sure some families might see a teacher leave and get a sub or teacher go on maternity/paternity leave like one of ours but it does not mean there is a big rejection issue with teachers when the data proves otherwise.

typo good