Shake Up at SSMA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I unfortunately also heard the same thing. Some guides had still not heard whether their contracts would be renewed.... in June! I truly wonder if there will be any guides left. In the primary classes 3 out of 6 will be gone, and SSMA did not send any representatives to hiring fairs this year.

I asked an SSMA admin if reports were true, and the response was that only one is leaving. So who is right? Where are you getting your information from?

I'm not the PP but I also know that several guides are leaving. Admin is going to be the last to know since they are the problem. Guides leaving will tell admin when it is most convenient financially to do so because they fear retaliation.

Ask your guide if he or she is coming back if you have a good relationship with them.

One more thing: some guides were not asked back. And admin knows this. They are not being straight with you.

One guide. One. One who spoke up

[Anonymous]

The admin. specifically Ed director has yet to be transparent or truthful about the state of staffing. Here is what is known through documentation and through parents specifically asking guides if they plan to return. 1 guide officially resigned, 2 guides did not have contracts renewed, and 2 guides have told their parents that they are not returning. That is a total of 5 not returning. This is only one additional to what was listed on the SSMACA FB page due to their contract not being renewed last week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I unfortunately also heard the same thing. Some guides had still not heard whether their contracts would be renewed.... in June! I truly wonder if there will be any guides left. In the primary classes 3 out of 6 will be gone, and SSMA did not send any representatives to hiring fairs this year.

I asked an SSMA admin if reports were true, and the response was that only one is leaving. So who is right? Where are you getting your information from?

All the admin are leaving except one. So who is there to speak to? Oh, you think all this is not real.. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I unfortunately also heard the same thing. Some guides had still not heard whether their contracts would be renewed.... in June! I truly wonder if there will be any guides left. In the primary classes 3 out of 6 will be gone, and SSMA did not send any representatives to hiring fairs this year.

I asked an SSMA admin if reports were true, and the response was that only one is leaving. So who is right? Where are you getting your information from?

All the admin are leaving except one. So who is there to speak to? Oh, you think all this is not real.. Oh well.

Yes, the only admin coming back except the ED and her personal friend, who is now the Senior Director, is the woman who oversaw the nap room problems. The ED is trying to build a staff loyal to her. Everyone else will leave or be forced out. Both guides who spoke out to the board about their grievances were not asked back.

Also the Senior Director has no early learning education experience and no Montessori background. Her main qualification is her personal relationship with the ED.

That's how Shining Stars is run now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I unfortunately also heard the same thing. Some guides had still not heard whether their contracts would be renewed.... in June! I truly wonder if there will be any guides left. In the primary classes 3 out of 6 will be gone, and SSMA did not send any representatives to hiring fairs this year.

I asked an SSMA admin if reports were true, and the response was that only one is leaving. So who is right? Where are you getting your information from?

All the admin are leaving except one. So who is there to speak to? Oh, you think all this is not real.. Oh well.

No, I’m an incoming PK3 parent with no official communications from the school about any of this and trying to make sense of this thread. I’m concerned, but given that this is anonymous, I want to know how to verify this. I don’t have friends who are SSMA parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I unfortunately also heard the same thing. Some guides had still not heard whether their contracts would be renewed.... in June! I truly wonder if there will be any guides left. In the primary classes 3 out of 6 will be gone, and SSMA did not send any representatives to hiring fairs this year.

I asked an SSMA admin if reports were true, and the response was that only one is leaving. So who is right? Where are you getting your information from?

All the admin are leaving except one. So who is there to speak to? Oh, you think all this is not real.. Oh well.

No, I’m an incoming PK3 parent with no official communications from the school about any of this and trying to make sense of this thread. I’m concerned, but given that this is anonymous, I want to know how to verify this. I don’t have friends who are SSMA parents.

Join the SSMACA Facebook page.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I unfortunately also heard the same thing. Some guides had still not heard whether their contracts would be renewed.... in June! I truly wonder if there will be any guides left. In the primary classes 3 out of 6 will be gone, and SSMA did not send any representatives to hiring fairs this year.

I asked an SSMA admin if reports were true, and the response was that only one is leaving. So who is right? Where are you getting your information from?

All the admin are leaving except one. So who is there to speak to? Oh, you think all this is not real.. Oh well.

Yes, the only admin coming back except the ED and her personal friend, who is now the Senior Director, is the woman who oversaw the nap room problems. The ED is trying to build a staff loyal to her. Everyone else will leave or be forced out. Both guides who spoke out to the board about their grievances were not asked back.

Also the Senior Director has no early learning education experience and no Montessori background. Her main qualification is her personal relationship with the ED.

That's how Shining Stars is run now.

The woman in charge of nap who oversaw the faces against the wall incidents and other inappropriate care only has a high school diploma. I don't think she has the proper training to be running nap time. Does she have any childhood or early learning certification at all? I wonder.

I noticed the board letter to parents suggested she had been reassigned. That's not true though.

[Anonymous]

one thing you can do now - the guides whose contracts were not removed - gently but effusively send their praise to the ED. Talk about how great they have been and how much your child is looking forward to having them again next year (play dumb that you don't know they haven't been given an offer yet).

You will be there next year if you are lottery losers, so get the best you can for your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I unfortunately also heard the same thing. Some guides had still not heard whether their contracts would be renewed.... in June! I truly wonder if there will be any guides left. In the primary classes 3 out of 6 will be gone, and SSMA did not send any representatives to hiring fairs this year.

I asked an SSMA admin if reports were true, and the response was that only one is leaving. So who is right? Where are you getting your information from?

All the admin are leaving except one. So who is there to speak to? Oh, you think all this is not real.. Oh well.

No, I’m an incoming PK3 parent with no official communications from the school about any of this and trying to make sense of this thread. I’m concerned, but given that this is anonymous, I want to know how to verify this. I don’t have friends who are SSMA parents.

You won't receive any notification from the school. There motto is that if we don't say anything no one will know. You may be able to join the PTO FB page. The majority of the info you are reading is coming from more than reliable sources. So you know what you are getting if you proceed.

[Anonymous]

If all of this is true, why hasn't my waitlist number moved more?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If all of this is true, why hasn't my waitlist number moved more?

Most of this blew up after the May enrollment deadline and after the private school application cycle was over. Many families, including mine, are scrambling to find another option for next year. Until we have something secured we will remain on the list of returning students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all of this is true, why hasn't my waitlist number moved more?

Most of this blew up after the May enrollment deadline and after the private school application cycle was over. Many families, including mine, are scrambling to find another option for next year. Until we have something secured we will remain on the list of returning students.

We're likely going to go to St. Anthony's... if they will take us. We need to make sure our family's financials are moved around first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all of this is true, why hasn't my waitlist number moved more?

Most of this blew up after the May enrollment deadline and after the private school application cycle was over. Many families, including mine, are scrambling to find another option for next year. Until we have something secured we will remain on the list of returning students.

We're likely going to go to St. Anthony's... if they will take us. We need to make sure our family's financials are moved around first.

nice school. there is also christian family montessori, which is affordable and not "too" christian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents just received an email from the board about corrective action it plans to take in trying to communicate better with the SSMA community. The letter also outlined some steps SSMA admin will take to make sure employee grievances are heard and looked into.

While I welcome these measures, I am skeptical. And the reason I'm skeptical is because of the way the board email described a situation at SSMA which I'm familiar with.

They said "A quick synopsis, during a period encompassing the first quarter of the 2017/18 school year: It was observed that the policy guidelines and practice for nap time was not being observed. The complaints were troubling indeed. Parents and staff who observed the discretions followed the reporting guidelines, unfortunately the reporting official did not take corrective action at the time of reporting. This occasioned a reassignment of responsibilities, retraining and reassignment of personnel and confirmed retraining of new staff on assignment in the nap room."

That's false. The people who oversaw nap when these things occurred are STILL overseeing nap right now. I know this for a fact.

So it's clear to me that SSMA admin is feeding the board false information to protect itself. The admin person overseeing the PAs responsible for the nap problems - people yanking kids by their arms, forcing kids to stand with their faces against the wall, and not allowing kids to read if they can't fall asleep - is still in her role.

The more I write this, the angrier I get. It's a travesty these things happened. And it's more galling that the party responsible is not being reprimanded or reassigned.

People need to know what's going on at Shining Stars. Even the board doesn't know. Or they wouldn't have written these things.

Parents of the nappers involved have now confirmed on the SSMACA Facebook page that the woman who was responsible for nap when all these incidents occurred is the Director of Compliance and that she is still in her role. She has not been re-assigned. Has she or the PAs responsible for all this been trained? These are serious questions.

These parents had to come out and clarify because the head of the SSMA school board said flat out that the facts in the email were right. But they weren't.
He also said he had to cancel the upcoming meeting with the Community Association to clarify all these nagging issues. Very disappointing. So far, nothing I see inspires confidence that anything has changed at Shining Stars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents just received an email from the board about corrective action it plans to take in trying to communicate better with the SSMA community. The letter also outlined some steps SSMA admin will take to make sure employee grievances are heard and looked into.

While I welcome these measures, I am skeptical. And the reason I'm skeptical is because of the way the board email described a situation at SSMA which I'm familiar with.

They said "A quick synopsis, during a period encompassing the first quarter of the 2017/18 school year: It was observed that the policy guidelines and practice for nap time was not being observed. The complaints were troubling indeed. Parents and staff who observed the discretions followed the reporting guidelines, unfortunately the reporting official did not take corrective action at the time of reporting. This occasioned a reassignment of responsibilities, retraining and reassignment of personnel and confirmed retraining of new staff on assignment in the nap room."

That's false. The people who oversaw nap when these things occurred are STILL overseeing nap right now. I know this for a fact.

So it's clear to me that SSMA admin is feeding the board false information to protect itself. The admin person overseeing the PAs responsible for the nap problems - people yanking kids by their arms, forcing kids to stand with their faces against the wall, and not allowing kids to read if they can't fall asleep - is still in her role.

The more I write this, the angrier I get. It's a travesty these things happened. And it's more galling that the party responsible is not being reprimanded or reassigned.

People need to know what's going on at Shining Stars. Even the board doesn't know. Or they wouldn't have written these things.

Parents of the nappers involved have now confirmed on the SSMACA Facebook page that the woman who was responsible for nap when all these incidents occurred is the Director of Compliance and that she is still in her role. She has not been re-assigned. Has she or the PAs responsible for all this been trained? These are serious questions.

These parents had to come out and clarify because the head of the SSMA school board said flat out that the facts in the email were right. But they weren't.
He also said he had to cancel the upcoming meeting with the Community Association to clarify all these nagging issues. Very disappointing. So far, nothing I see inspires confidence that anything has changed at Shining Stars.

Just out of curiosity, what was the issue in the nap room exactly?