SELA teacher exodus

[Anonymous]

When does Sela's lease end? How did they manage to lease such a large building as such a new and small school? Who owns their building? Their debt service must be large.

[Anonymous]

It is my understanding they leased from Douglas Development with a 5 year lease, each year increasing in rent costs. Without SS they are clearly unable to afford to remain open.

At the start of the 14-15 school year all of the teachers salaries were rolled back because of low enrollment so they didn't get the salaries that were initially promised. One teacher told me that at the time of her contract signing the salary was significantly lower than what she had been told by the HOS a few days prior at hire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is my understanding they leased from Douglas Development with a 5 year lease, each year increasing in rent costs. Without SS they are clearly unable to afford to remain open.

At the start of the 14-15 school year all of the teachers salaries were rolled back because of low enrollment so they didn't get the salaries that were initially promised. One teacher told me that at the time of her contract signing the salary was significantly lower than what she had been told by the HOS a few days prior at hire.

Oh hell naw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is my understanding they leased from Douglas Development with a 5 year lease, each year increasing in rent costs. Without SS they are clearly unable to afford to remain open.

At the start of the 14-15 school year all of the teachers salaries were rolled back because of low enrollment so they didn't get the salaries that were initially promised. One teacher told me that at the time of her contract signing the salary was significantly lower than what she had been told by the HOS a few days prior at hire.

Oh hell naw.

well, that's why they left . . . you gotta pay your people.

[Anonymous]

So what do they do when the SS lease ends? Maybe they should switch buildings with SS and lease the smaller side or relinquish/transfer the lease to SS.

[Anonymous]

Whoa

[Anonymous]

With questionable "grants" at a time when they're cash strapped it seems like outside Jewish agencies are jumping in to help cash flow. It's like buying new deck furniture for the titanic.

[Anonymous]

I thought the school did not have or desire a religious affiliation?

[Anonymous]

It doesn't from what I understand, but many of its "supporters" do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought the school did not have or desire a religious affiliation?

Technically it doesn't, but in practice, Hebrew instruction is central to Jewish religious practice and Israeli culture but has few applications outside of that. Only about 9 million people speak it worldwide, most of whom are in Israel. In the US a couple of hundred thousand people speak it as a first language. Israel has an impressive tech industry but Hebrew isn't necessary to do business.

That leaves two types of families who would be interested: people who want the Hebrew that is part of religious practice (but can't won't pay for expensive Jewish day schools) and families who will sign up for a well-run charter with a base of middle-class families supporting it, even if the target language won't have practical use for careers in the U.S.

Noted education advocate Diane Ravitch, who is Jewish herself and has family members in Jewish day schools, wrote a compelling article about why these Hebrew immersion schools are problematic: http://dianeravitch.net/2013/08/03/jewish-charter-schools-a-bad-idea-whose-time-has-come/comment-page-1/

These immersion schools are a thinly-veiled way to get taxpayers to foot the bill for language instruction that is useful only for religion. Although I agree with Ravitch's thesis, I believe the real losers aren't church-state separation supporters like myself. The real losers are lower-income DC families for whom a school like this is the only accessible charter, and while preferable to a failing school does not offer them the benefits of a widely-spoken language such as Spanish, Mandarin, French, Arabic, Russian, German, or Japanese, all of which can open doors for a bilingual person.

I say this as a Jewish person who has many family members active in their synagogues and day schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the school did not have or desire a religious affiliation?

Technically it doesn't, but in practice, Hebrew instruction is central to Jewish religious practice and Israeli culture but has few applications outside of that. Only about 9 million people speak it worldwide, most of whom are in Israel. In the US a couple of hundred thousand people speak it as a first language. Israel has an impressive tech industry but Hebrew isn't necessary to do business.

That leaves two types of families who would be interested: people who want the Hebrew that is part of religious practice (but can't won't pay for expensive Jewish day schools) and families who will sign up for a well-run charter with a base of middle-class families supporting it, even if the target language won't have practical use for careers in the U.S.

Noted education advocate Diane Ravitch, who is Jewish herself and has family members in Jewish day schools, wrote a compelling article about why these Hebrew immersion schools are problematic: http://dianeravitch.net/2013/08/03/jewish-charter-schools-a-bad-idea-whose-time-has-come/comment-page-1/

These immersion schools are a thinly-veiled way to get taxpayers to foot the bill for language instruction that is useful only for religion. Although I agree with Ravitch's thesis, I believe the real losers aren't church-state separation supporters like myself. The real losers are lower-income DC families for whom a school like this is the only accessible charter, and while preferable to a failing school does not offer them the benefits of a widely-spoken language such as Spanish, Mandarin, French, Arabic, Russian, German, or Japanese, all of which can open doors for a bilingual person.

I say this as a Jewish person who has many family members active in their synagogues and day schools.

Thank you PP. You just eloquently stated pretty much every aspect of Sela that had me scratching my head about why it was approved and being opened from Day 1. Now the question is, is PCSB aware of the concerns, do parents know this about teachers leaving (if it's true), and what is being done for next steps? Will there be school next year, and if so, who will be teaching? If I were a parent, I'd have camped out at the Head of School's office as soon as I heard any of these rumors of mass teacher exodus.

[Anonymous]

No one is at the school- just the receptionist. How do I get information about next year?

[Anonymous]

Wish I knew too. This is crazy.

[Anonymous]

Maybe they are just closed for the summer.

[Anonymous]

Maybe they are just closed for the summer.