Notes from the Meeting w/ Sela Principal & Executive Director

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How long did they say they would offer free aftercare?

I ask becasue another start up school (a few years ago) offered free, then lowcost, then a more expensive aftercare as the years went on.

They seemed to be confident that before/after school care would be concrete in years to come. Bc when asked about a shuttle from the metro, the director stated the researched it would cost them $90,000 for the year. And that they were unsure if that would be something they could fit in their present budget or in the years to come. The director mentioned they wanted to be consistent with what they offered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seriously do they have big donors or something? Free meals and aftercare is certainly a drain on finances, even if not huge. I am also wondering how long it will last. That said, I'm interested!

Meals are given free/reduced/ full price(free, 70 cents, $2.10 was the estimate for breakfast & lunch total) same w/ all DC public schools based on income

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing I thought was interesting is that their principal is African-American female, their Executive Director is a Catholic white male, and their board seems to be (judging from names and Linkedin) racially diverse. They said they will have at least 50% of their staff being native Israelis (for the sake of argument, I will call them white in terms of how Americans use constructs of race and whiteness). I hope they make a commitment to having a diverse teaching force as well. I do wonder how American Jews view having a school lead by non-Jews, and non-Hebrew speakers (though the principal and the ED said they were studying). YY has certainly had a lot of criticism about their leadership.

Who cares what American Jewish people think about Sela. Smh. They're teaching a language not a religion. Smh

Yes yes yes. There was a family there who asked about kosher meals (not offered, but veggie or vegan available); Jewish holidays ("we'll help you catch up if you're out, just like we will help other students who miss school for DCPS approved holidays"); co-operation with Jewish private schools (not going to happen - "we are not a religious school"); they are holding office hours on Saturdays, and seem to be having most of their meetings in an AME church. Give it up, people! As a multi-racial family, we were a little hesitant before the meeting, but the crowd of engaged parents with so many different backgrounds was really inspiring. We felt welcomed. The principal hugged my daughter. The ED gave me his cell phone no. for more questions. This not the experience we have had at open houses or the expo fair for other immersion schools.

[Anonymous]

Well goyem if you want your kids to learn a language that will not be especially useful to them that's your choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well goyem if you want your kids to learn a language that will not be especially useful to them that's your choice.

Troll!

[Anonymous]

NP here but I am also really curious why parents are choosing Sela. Im really not trying to be snarky, just genuinally curious. If you aren't jewish, hebrew is probably one of the least useful languages to teach these days. Or is it that any immersion school is good? or parents just want any new charter option if they have been shut out of other options? The cynic in me is thinking that a lot of parents are assuming Sela will be the only charter in the City to be majority white (due to the hebrew focus) and thats the real draw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How long did they say they would offer free aftercare?

I ask becasue another start up school (a few years ago) offered free, then lowcost, then a more expensive aftercare as the years went on.

They seemed to be confident that before/after school care would be concrete in years to come. Bc when asked about a shuttle from the metro, the director stated the researched it would cost them $90,000 for the year. And that they were unsure if that would be something they could fit in their present budget or in the years to come. The director mentioned they wanted to be consistent with what they offered.

What does this mean "after school care would be concretein years to come"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here but I am also really curious why parents are choosing Sela. Im really not trying to be snarky, just genuinally curious. If you aren't jewish, hebrew is probably one of the least useful languages to teach these days. Or is it that any immersion school is good? or parents just want any new charter option if they have been shut out of other options? The cynic in me is thinking that a lot of parents are assuming Sela will be the only charter in the City to be majority white (due to the hebrew focus) and thats the real draw.

Yes, yes and yes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here but I am also really curious why parents are choosing Sela. Im really not trying to be snarky, just genuinally curious. If you aren't jewish, hebrew is probably one of the least useful languages to teach these days. Or is it that any immersion school is good? or parents just want any new charter option if they have been shut out of other options? The cynic in me is thinking that a lot of parents are assuming Sela will be the only charter in the City to be majority white (due to the hebrew focus) and thats the real draw.

Outside of Jews the only other group of people who might be interested are fundamentalist Christians and religion majors.

I think parents are desperate for good charters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here but I am also really curious why parents are choosing Sela. Im really not trying to be snarky, just genuinally curious. If you aren't jewish, hebrew is probably one of the least useful languages to teach these days. Or is it that any immersion school is good? or parents just want any new charter option if they have been shut out of other options? The cynic in me is thinking that a lot of parents are assuming Sela will be the only charter in the City to be majority white (due to the hebrew focus) and thats the real draw.

Outside of Jews the only other group of people who might be interested are fundamentalist Christians and religion majors.

I think parents are desperate for good charters.

Troll alert! If you had actually gone to the meeting, you would have seen there was a very diverse crowd of families - of all colors, religions, and occupations. We, a non-Jewish family, were previously on the fence because we worried the school would be too white and high-SES, but were totally sold after the event. Great families, great leadership, great facility. No, we're not desperate. Our IB (Shepherd) is pretty good and we are also open/able to go private.

[Anonymous]

So as long as the school is "good", the immersion language part does not matter? There are families that send their kids to language charters when they have no affinity to the language but make it work. Not everyone's cup of tea but if it'll work for your family, good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So as long as the school is "good", the immersion language part does not matter? There are families that send their kids to language charters when they have no affinity to the language but make it work. Not everyone's cup of tea but if it'll work for your family, good luck!

??? No the immersion language part totally matters. We're very excited about it. We don't have a connection to Hebrew, but we're very interested in language immersion, Hebrew language, or otherwise!

[Anonymous]

But the immersion language could be Dutch, Japanese, Finnish, etc. right?

[Anonymous]

Go Hebrew!

[Anonymous]

Hebrew strikes me as far more useful than, say, Dutch. Israel has a high tech industry.