Lee 1st Impressions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let that issue die folks. You are responding to something that is several days old, let's move on.

It may be a few days old, but I don’t think it’s something your school should take lightly. It seems there's a contingent of parents at the school that are determined to be negative and do so in ways that could potentially hurt Lee.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/410508.page

is definitely on my mind as a parent who is thinking about schools for next year.

It was amazing, and not in a good way, to see an incubator school rag so hard on its host school not even 3 weeks in to its first year in existence. The Presidential visit was not a Lee event, it was an IT event that occurred on IT grounds. It’s unfortunate that Lee closed school early, but that’s really the only reason Lee parents might have had to complain; it looks like from a previous post that was at least in part your administration's decision, and should have been taken up with your principal/staff.

Lee is an untried school, a good part of its cache this past year came from the relationship with Inspired. IT gave Lee an unspoken blessing in agreeing to share space, most folks I know who put IT on their lottery lists also put Lee in part because of that interpretation. There was a moment here for Lee to further that relationship by showing support of IT’s event and cheering for their great opportunity, even if it made an inconvenience for one day, and especially since Lee kids now have a playground right outside their door.

Instead, a number of parents decided to head down the road of negativity, publicly antagonizing the school they’ll share space with for the next 2 years, which makes the parent body seem at best difficult, and not savvy enough to realize that disparaging another organization’s success is not something most people want to be associated with or be around. I think this will tarnish Lee’s image, and I’m sure it’s created a hard situation for your staff, who now have to work on rebuilding your reputation with the public (orgs you could partner with, neighborhoods you might move to) and with potential parents as well as salvaging the relationship with IT. Those are energies that will be diverted from supporting your teachers and students.

A lot of the comments Lee parents made on that thread were mean-spirited and backbiting. While it might seem a small thing, for some parents peer groups are very important. It’s unsettling to consider what kinds of attitudes the kids of those parents may bring to school now and as they get older – apples don’t fall far.

I’m sure there are some fabulous families at Lee, but currently they’re outshown by parents who are focused on the wrong things and seem capable of derailing the future success of the school. One thing that’s very clear in DC is that parents can make or break a school -- it doesn’t matter how great the staff or the building, if the parent community doesn’t have its act together it can sink the boat.

I’ll be honest in saying from what I’ve seen thus far Lee has moved from a top pick to maybe a safety school for our family; however, it’s still early on, hoping the parents can move forward in a positive manner and focus their energies on making Lee a really great school.

This is completely overdramatic. One thread on DCUM isn't going to derail the future success of the school. Anyone who drops a school in their rankings based on DCUM needs to have their head examined.

[Anonymous]

At the sat picnic - not one person brought up IT or the closing in a negative way AT ALL. At the picnic, there was lots of sympathetic discussion of kids crying. Do you see how anonymous message boards twist things and are not representative of real life? There isn't some petty, negative set of Lee parents bitching and kvetching and taking umbrage at every comment someone makes. I've met a lot of parents at events over the summer and in the hallways, and everyone that I've met has been is nice and supportive. The school mostly draws from the surrounding neighborhoods, so people are mostly middle-class folk trying to stay in the city that they can hardly afford - in other words, down to earth and committed.

Now, do we need to stop posting so much on here, probably. We aren't coming off well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the sat picnic - not one person brought up IT or the closing in a negative way AT ALL. At the picnic, there was lots of sympathetic discussion of kids crying. Do you see how anonymous message boards twist things and are not representative of real life? There isn't some petty, negative set of Lee parents bitching and kvetching and taking umbrage at every comment someone makes. I've met a lot of parents at events over the summer and in the hallways, and everyone that I've met has been is nice and supportive. The school mostly draws from the surrounding neighborhoods, so people are mostly middle-class folk trying to stay in the city that they can hardly afford - in other words, down to earth and committed.

Now, do we need to stop posting so much on here, probably. We aren't coming off well.

Let me clarify: There isn't some petty, negative set of Lee parents bitching and kvetching and taking umbrage at every comment someone makes IRL. There certainly is on DCUM, and we probably need to tone it down, but the way people post/interact on a message board is not the way they talk and interact IRL. Further, these posts are not how people "really' are; it is how they"really" are on an anonymous message board where 60% of teh posts are bitching and kvetching and taking umbrage at every comment someone makes.

[Anonymous]

Agreed. Good will breeds good will. People will be a lot more supportive of new charters (any of them) that are supportive of their communities and neighbors.

[Anonymous]

I have been posting and my kid isn't at Lee or at IT. I am sure I am not alone in this so you shouldn't assume all the posters--negative or otherwise--are Lee parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let that issue die folks. You are responding to something that is several days old, let's move on.

It may be a few days old, but I don’t think it’s something your school should take lightly. It seems there's a contingent of parents at the school that are determined to be negative and do so in ways that could potentially hurt Lee.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/410508.page

is definitely on my mind as a parent who is thinking about schools for next year.

It was amazing, and not in a good way, to see an incubator school rag so hard on its host school not even 3 weeks in to its first year in existence. The Presidential visit was not a Lee event, it was an IT event that occurred on IT grounds. It’s unfortunate that Lee closed school early, but that’s really the only reason Lee parents might have had to complain; it looks like from a previous post that was at least in part your administration's decision, and should have been taken up with your principal/staff.

Lee is an untried school, a good part of its cache this past year came from the relationship with Inspired. IT gave Lee an unspoken blessing in agreeing to share space, most folks I know who put IT on their lottery lists also put Lee in part because of that interpretation. There was a moment here for Lee to further that relationship by showing support of IT’s event and cheering for their great opportunity, even if it made an inconvenience for one day, and especially since Lee kids now have a playground right outside their door.

Instead, a number of parents decided to head down the road of negativity, publicly antagonizing the school they’ll share space with for the next 2 years, which makes the parent body seem at best difficult, and not savvy enough to realize that disparaging another organization’s success is not something most people want to be associated with or be around. I think this will tarnish Lee’s image, and I’m sure it’s created a hard situation for your staff, who now have to work on rebuilding your reputation with the public (orgs you could partner with, neighborhoods you might move to) and with potential parents as well as salvaging the relationship with IT. Those are energies that will be diverted from supporting your teachers and students.

A lot of the comments Lee parents made on that thread were mean-spirited and backbiting. While it might seem a small thing, for some parents peer groups are very important. It’s unsettling to consider what kinds of attitudes the kids of those parents may bring to school now and as they get older – apples don’t fall far.

I’m sure there are some fabulous families at Lee, but currently they’re outshown by parents who are focused on the wrong things and seem capable of derailing the future success of the school. One thing that’s very clear in DC is that parents can make or break a school -- it doesn’t matter how great the staff or the building, if the parent community doesn’t have its act together it can sink the boat.

I’ll be honest in saying from what I’ve seen thus far Lee has moved from a top pick to maybe a safety school for our family; however, it’s still early on, hoping the parents can move forward in a positive manner and focus their energies on making Lee a really great school.

I'm not going to argue that lee parents are coming off well on DCUM, but let's not overemphasize the world of DCUM. There is no relationship to rebuild between the two schools because some parents bitched on an anonymous message board about IT's perceived role in closing their school for teh day. There is no bad blood between the schools IRL! As I posted in that thread, DCUM is NOT real life (time suck from real life that it may be). Everyone is as pleasant and happy and cooperative as can be IRL. If you take this stuff too seriously, you a are kidding yourself about the way you spend your time.

I also wouldn't base school choices on posts on a anonymous message board - that is nuts. Talk to real people!

Agree. Also, I followed that other thread closely and it was pretty clear that it was just one or possibly two Lee parents that were upset about missing the afternoon of work. There were more negative comments from people who had no connection from the school and several - perfectly natural comments, IMO - from people who were confused and just trying to get info. I've talked to a lot of Lee parents and not one of them was upset in real life about this, and some of them also have children at IT.

I'd also add that I don't think that the ITS connection really played into the decision making process for parents in choosing a school, but I can only really talk for myself.

So please, 1) don't take what you read here to mean anything about the great community that is being built at Lee and between the two schools and 2) don't go reading too much into a couple of comments on a thread from last week and thinking that a couple of people venting has anything to do with the genuinely strong and welcoming community that is evolving at a brand new school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been posting and my kid isn't at Lee or at IT. I am sure I am not alone in this so you shouldn't assume all the posters--negative or otherwise--are Lee parents.

THANK YOU! The most negative posts were from people who were at neither school. Also, the funniest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been posting and my kid isn't at Lee or at IT. I am sure I am not alone in this so you shouldn't assume all the posters--negative or otherwise--are Lee parents.

I know - for some reason I am a big poster in the SS and Sela threads though I have no dog in that fight. I'm clicking away, and then I'm like, "wait, why am spending 10 minutes writing this very impassioned post when I could, really, care less"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been posting and my kid isn't at Lee or at IT. I am sure I am not alone in this so you shouldn't assume all the posters--negative or otherwise--are Lee parents.

THANK YOU! The most negative posts were from people who were at neither school. Also, the funniest.

True but one post that appeared to come from a parent spoke about bring a lawsuit/complaint against IT to the charter board to get IT in trouble. Also, that thread is now locked so there won't be any more comments on that one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been posting and my kid isn't at Lee or at IT. I am sure I am not alone in this so you shouldn't assume all the posters--negative or otherwise--are Lee parents.

THANK YOU! The most negative posts were from people who were at neither school. Also, the funniest.

True but one post that appeared to come from a parent spoke about bring a lawsuit/complaint against IT to the charter board to get IT in trouble. Also, that thread is now locked so there won't be any more comments on that one.

So ONE person posted something rash, and was then talked down, found out more and it wasn't mentioned again and yet it reflects poorly on the entire school?

That thread was locked for a reason. Why are you continuing to argue about this? There is no issue. There is no one to argue with. There is nobody that thinks there is a feud or bad blood between the schools. Some people just want to create drama and others are hell bent on prolonging it.

Stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been posting and my kid isn't at Lee or at IT. I am sure I am not alone in this so you shouldn't assume all the posters--negative or otherwise--are Lee parents.

THANK YOU! The most negative posts were from people who were at neither school. Also, the funniest.

True but one post that appeared to come from a parent spoke about bring a lawsuit/complaint against IT to the charter board to get IT in trouble. Also, that thread is now locked so there won't be any more comments on that one.

So ONE person posted something rash, and was then talked down, found out more and it wasn't mentioned again and yet it reflects poorly on the entire school?

That thread was locked for a reason. Why are you continuing to argue about this? There is no issue. There is no one to argue with. There is nobody that thinks there is a feud or bad blood between the schools. Some people just want to create drama and others are hell bent on prolonging it.

Stop.

PP you quoted. I have not posted on this thread. I was only sharing that I felt the same way after reading that thread than many other posters. There was more than one negative posts from parents. Outside looking in, it did not look good especially if you later found out IT had nothing to do with it. I was also looking at both schools. A few oddballs don't represent the whole school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been posting and my kid isn't at Lee or at IT. I am sure I am not alone in this so you shouldn't assume all the posters--negative or otherwise--are Lee parents.

THANK YOU! The most negative posts were from people who were at neither school. Also, the funniest.

True but one post that appeared to come from a parent spoke about bring a lawsuit/complaint against IT to the charter board to get IT in trouble. Also, that thread is now locked so there won't be any more comments on that one.

So ONE person posted something rash, and was then talked down, found out more and it wasn't mentioned again and yet it reflects poorly on the entire school?

That thread was locked for a reason. Why are you continuing to argue about this? There is no issue. There is no one to argue with. There is nobody that thinks there is a feud or bad blood between the schools. Some people just want to create drama and others are hell bent on prolonging it.

Stop.

PP you quoted. I have not posted on this thread. I was only sharing that I felt the same way after reading that thread than many other posters. There was more than one negative posts from parents. Outside looking in, it did not look good especially if you later found out IT had nothing to do with it. I was also looking at both schools. A few oddballs don't represent the whole school.

A few oddball posts don't represent the whole school. And that post may not even have been from a lee parent!

[Anonymous]

Did anyone make it to the Lee open house tonight? I was heading out but didn't make it for myriad reasons. Interested in PK3. Was the open house worth your time?

[Anonymous]

Bump

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone make it to the Lee open house tonight? I was heading out but didn't make it for myriad reasons. Interested in PK3. Was the open house worth your time?

DW went and said it was really eye-opening about how different Montessori is from traditional education. We're still on the fence about how we feel about Montessori, but it was definitely informative!