SELA teacher exodus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate that the original posting was concerning, but I think this has gone on a bit long and a bit far without any corroboration with this story. I am strongly considering sending my son to Sela next year for PK3. On the plus side, I spoke to two teachers from Sela who taught the PK4 classes this year. I also spoke with a recent parent whose child was in PK4.

Both the teachers and the PK4 parent were so effusively positive that I am basically shocked to read these postings, and I question these postings. Are these all real? Are all of them from concerned parents? Is it possible that some of these are from internet trolls with an axe to grind?

One teacher is one of the Hebrew teachers who left for Israel this year. He left because his wife finished her post-doc at a local university, and she got a permanent position in Israel. His wife's sister is a good friend of mine from graduate school. I don't see why he would lie to me. The other teacher I spoke with is staying. She is a Hebrew teacher and she said she only knew of two Hebrew teachers who are leaving. She told me the only teachers that left were those who had to for family reasons. Both teachers were so positive that it seemed that they saw Sela as part of their personal identities. The PK4 teacher who had to move back to Israel actually told me that he will always feel like he is part of the Sela family. To me, it sounds like a major endorsement from a person who would still be teaching at Sela if family circumstances allowed him to stay in the US.

In addition, in the email that the principal sent to parents at the end of the year, Dr. Arthurs announced that two new hires would be Hebrew teachers with over 12 years of experience. Those new teachers are not on short-term visas, so they are likely to stay for some time. While the school had a number of postings for new jobs, some of those postings may very well have been for the two new teachers that Dr. Arthurs announced. Moreover, the school is expanding by adding PK3 classrooms. This does not sound like a school that is in disarray.

Regarding the issue of immersion, I am going to directly quote from the email:

"As you know, we are expanding and will offer Pre-K3 during the upcoming school year. Pre-K3 and Pre-K4 students will still receive full Hebrew immersion, while also receiving approximately an hour of English each day from a Pre-K English-speaking teacher (similar to this school year). Kindergarten students will still receive Hebrew Language instruction about 50% of their instructional time each day instead of receiving Hebrew all day on one day and English all day on the next day."

I don't have any information about the rest of the school, but for now, that's not my concern. Sela is a new school, and it had a rocky first year. But, in my understanding, the second year went quite well. Dr. Arthurs seems to be a great addition, and she is an administrator who earned the admiration of the teachers I spoke to. Moreover, I found her to be extremely nice, personable, and caring.

I think as parents, you have to decide what you want for your children. Immersion for the PK classes is seemingly assured. Immersion seems like a good idea to me. I will think about the kindergarten class and beyond when I need to.

I can't say much about how the front office works at Sela. I send emails to the principal. She answers my emails. Not within seconds but within a very reasonable amount of time. I know that they can't answer some things easily. For instance, there was an RFP for transport services. They are supposed to come up with a response for that RFP by July 31st, as per the public document. So, until they know, I am not sure that they can answer the questions.

My one fear is that this DCUrbanMom thread will scare off parents who would otherwise have sent their kids to Sela. I don't know if that is the case, however, because I can't verify anything

But one thing I do know. My quote above is a direct quote from Dr. Arthurs' email to parents, sent on June 21st. It starts off: "Dear Awesome Sela Families,"

If you were a Sela parent, or a parent whose child matched at Sela for next year, you probably received that message from Dr. Arthurs. So, you know at least that my posting is genuine. About these other people, I can't be sure. Is there any other evidence that you can provide to suggest that you are who you say you are? Is there

Moreover, are you talking about facts? Do you know actual teachers, or are you spreading other people's rumors?

Their first year didn't go well. Fine. But, the second year (i.e. last year) sounds like it went pretty well, and I want to focus on the future anyway. If you have concerns, by all means, post them, but let's not hear from people who are against the very idea of a Hebrew charter school (would they be against a Danish charter school? or a Quechua charter school?). Parents can decide for themselves about things like that. The questions that are legitimate are: does Sela do a good job at what it claims to do? Does it educate its kids with love and with love of its target language? Does it prepare its students for their future?

Those are the real questions. I wish I knew more parents at Sela. I don't. But the one parent I do know loved it. The only problem she had was the location -- it was too far from home, and so she is changing schools for her child. But that said, if the logistics weren't a problem, she would continue at Sela. Why is there so much negativity on this thread? How can these people that I know, who have absolutely no reason to lie to me, be wrong?

I think this thread is full of trolls, and I am deeply suspicious of the negative posters who are stating unverifiable rumors.

While this is a lovely and passionate post, it is important to note that you are NOT, in fact, a SELA parent. Therefore, your opinion isn't any more valid than the opinions from people you consider trolls.

It's all well and good that you have "friends" who teach there or who you think are in the know, but you really are no more knowledgeable than any other anonymous poster here and it's important to point out your biases, as you wish to point out the biases of others.

[Anonymous]

???? ????.

[Anonymous]

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

While this is a lovely and passionate post, it is important to note that you are NOT, in fact, a SELA parent. Therefore, your opinion isn't any more valid than the opinions from people you consider trolls.

It's all well and good that you have "friends" who teach there or who you think are in the know, but you really are no more knowledgeable than any other anonymous poster here and it's important to point out your biases, as you wish to point out the biases of others.

The fact that my son matched at Sela makes me an incoming prospective Sela parent. The point is that some current Sela parents have been ignored when they made positive statements, and that the original posting was proven to be untrue.

In addition, I have three reliable connections to Sela, which I enumerated above.

I really, really want real information. Not trolls. After speaking with Sela parents and teachers, I found out that there were a lot of negative falsehoods that were spread on this spread, and virtual hysteria, based on a false rumor (or at best, possibly a misunderstanding?). What does that have to do with bias?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

While this is a lovely and passionate post, it is important to note that you are NOT, in fact, a SELA parent. Therefore, your opinion isn't any more valid than the opinions from people you consider trolls.

It's all well and good that you have "friends" who teach there or who you think are in the know, but you really are no more knowledgeable than any other anonymous poster here and it's important to point out your biases, as you wish to point out the biases of others.

The fact that my son matched at Sela makes me an incoming prospective Sela parent. The point is that some current Sela parents have been ignored when they made positive statements, and that the original posting was proven to be untrue.

In addition, I have three reliable connections to Sela, which I enumerated above.

I really, really want real information. Not trolls. After speaking with Sela parents and teachers, I found out that there were a lot of negative falsehoods that were spread on this spread, and virtual hysteria, based on a false rumor (or at best, possibly a misunderstanding?). What does that have to do with bias?

Not any of the recent above posters, but unless you're saying "All is well, they'll open and be fully staffed and have leadership", AND saying how you know it... unless you are saying all of that, any current or prospective parent should be concerned and should be asking for more information directly from the school, from the Sela Board, and from PCSB. I agree with you that DCUM should not be considered by anyone as the final, official source on anything, but there has been enough confirmed flight of both families and teachers in the 1st 2 years of Sela that in no way can you say DCUM scares anyone off. If it turns out things are as bad as alleged in this thread, if I was a current or prospective parent I'd be grateful to have been alerted here, since one thing that seems to definitely be true is the school is not being forthcoming about information on next year.

[Anonymous]

The school has always been forthcoming with me. The principal directly emails me back, promptly, and has answered any questions that I have had. There is actually NO confirmed flight of teachers this year, because that never happened. (I even heard from one Sela parent that a beloved teacher who thought about leaving to go back to Israel decided to extend her visa by another year and will be back in the Fall).
The school is expanding to add PK3, and only has one grade with open spaces on MySchoolDC. Contact the school yourself, but someone is actually making up problems that don't exist. The school had a rocky first year, but I have no indication that the second year went badly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school has always been forthcoming with me. The principal directly emails me back, promptly, and has answered any questions that I have had. There is actually NO confirmed flight of teachers this year, because that never happened. (I even heard from one Sela parent that a beloved teacher who thought about leaving to go back to Israel decided to extend her visa by another year and will be back in the Fall).
The school is expanding to add PK3, and only has one grade with open spaces on MySchoolDC. Contact the school yourself, but someone is actually making up problems that don't exist. The school had a rocky first year, but I have no indication that the second year went badly.

You are not doing any current or interested families any favors by trying to play down the challenges of both the 1st year and this year. I repeat what I said above: unless you're assuring all that the school will open this fall fully-staffed and fully enrolled and that there will not be a significant number of new teachers, then you are not stating why parents shouldn't be concerned.

As for the 2nd year, every single family I know personally who was there (which was 3 families last year, more the year before) jumped ship the first chance they got. There is SIGNIFICANT family turnover from year 1 to year 2, and now from year 2 to year 3. That is nothing to dismiss or play down. It's real, and it speaks way louder than anything on DCUM.

So once and for all, poster who has been calling people trolls and saying things are fine, are you saying that a significant number of teachers are not leaving, and are you saying that a significant number of families from last year did not jump ship to other schools going into this year? And if you are saying that, please be specific about your sources. General comments like "the school has been forthcoming" is NOT the same as saying "I spoke to _______ and they assured me that only 3 teachers left from last year".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You are not doing any current or interested families any favors by trying to play down the challenges of both the 1st year and this year. I repeat what I said above: unless you're assuring all that the school will open this fall fully-staffed and fully enrolled and that there will not be a significant number of new teachers, then you are not stating why parents shouldn't be concerned.

As for the 2nd year, every single family I know personally who was there (which was 3 families last year, more the year before) jumped ship the first chance they got. There is SIGNIFICANT family turnover from year 1 to year 2, and now from year 2 to year 3. That is nothing to dismiss or play down. It's real, and it speaks way louder than anything on DCUM.

So once and for all, poster who has been calling people trolls and saying things are fine, are you saying that a significant number of teachers are not leaving, and are you saying that a significant number of families from last year did not jump ship to other schools going into this year? And if you are saying that, please be specific about your sources. General comments like "the school has been forthcoming" is NOT the same as saying "I spoke to _______ and they assured me that only 3 teachers left from last year".

I don't think I provided general comments. I provided very specific comments, and I directly copied and pasted from the email that the principal sent to new and returning families on June 21st, which stated that two teachers, who were both named, were leaving. One of which I spoke with directly. I think I was pretty specific about my sources. Why do I have to justify anything to you anyway?

This feels a bit like talking to a birther or some other conspiracy theorist. How do you prove a negative? As in, this supposed exodus has not and never was happening... Moreover, as was pointed out earlier, you can check out MySchoolDC to see the available spaces. And, as I recall, the handful of spaces available were for kindergarten, and the other grades were full.

Multiple people have posted here stating that the school is doing reasonably well, and I am hearing nothing but negative and disparaging comments from you... Oddly, without any specifics about where your information is coming from. Am I not being specific enough?

Honestly, this is getting tiresome.

[Anonymous]

Well hopefully this post will put it to rest. We were matched and enrolled at Sela. I emailed the HOS directly about these rumours. She replied within 20 min on her first day of vacation (yes she is on vacation - we all deserve one). Dr Arthurs has corroborated just about everything the PP has posted. The teachers that have left told the school at the start of the previous school year. The K teacher that left is perusing another career. The 1st and 2nd grade teachers, prek 4 teachers and IAs are all returning. The enrollment is up (to date) and the school has hired or are in process of hiring the remaining staff. The school will be up and running for 2015 school year.

Short of copying and pasting the entire email (which I don't feel obligated to do) that is the status in a nutshell. I can't say if the teachers gave the real reasons for leaving or not, but I feel confident in the information the PP put out there and that the school will be open on the first day of school. I think that if any families are reading this and have questions to email the school directly. The new head of operations is there all day, everyday and the school is open 830-1230.

I agree this is getting tiresome.

[Anonymous]

Bump

[Anonymous]

We received a promising email from Dr. Authors this morning. It spells out the new hires and also states that there are 150 students enrolled at Sela for this coming school year. As an incoming PK3 family, her email gives us a great deal of hope, which honestly had been dwindling after reading these posts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school has always been forthcoming with me. The principal directly emails me back, promptly, and has answered any questions that I have had. There is actually NO confirmed flight of teachers this year, because that never happened. (I even heard from one Sela parent that a beloved teacher who thought about leaving to go back to Israel decided to extend her visa by another year and will be back in the Fall).
The school is expanding to add PK3, and only has one grade with open spaces on MySchoolDC. Contact the school yourself, but someone is actually making up problems that don't exist. The school had a rocky first year, but I have no indication that the second year went badly.

You are not doing any current or interested families any favors by trying to play down the challenges of both the 1st year and this year. I repeat what I said above: unless you're assuring all that the school will open this fall fully-staffed and fully enrolled and that there will not be a significant number of new teachers, then you are not stating why parents shouldn't be concerned.

As for the 2nd year, every single family I know personally who was there (which was 3 families last year, more the year before) jumped ship the first chance they got. There is SIGNIFICANT family turnover from year 1 to year 2, and now from year 2 to year 3. That is nothing to dismiss or play down. It's real, and it speaks way louder than anything on DCUM.

So once and for all, poster who has been calling people trolls and saying things are fine, are you saying that a significant number of teachers are not leaving, and are you saying that a significant number of families from last year did not jump ship to other schools going into this year? And if you are saying that, please be specific about your sources. General comments like "the school has been forthcoming" is NOT the same as saying "I spoke to _______ and they assured me that only 3 teachers left from last year".

np here. My charter, which is not in any trouble at all but is, like sela, new, also lost AT LEAST three families for other charters (immersion, closer ones). So that doesn't seem significant to me. It is CRAZY that this thread is about an "exodus" of teachers and went on and on about how all the teachers left; and ten it turns out on, on page a zillion, to be untrue. Here's what I think. Sela has such a bad rep on this board (who knows why) that no dcumers go and so no one there was able to shoot this ridiculous thread, full of rumor and innuendo down. I hope Sela makes it. We need another immersion charter. And jewish language and culture is as important object of study for our kids as Spanish or Chinese (and I'm not jewish or spanish or chinese).

[Anonymous]

150! Kudos to doubling the enrollment.

[Anonymous]

I noticed today that SELA is hiring for a ton of teaching positions. I assume immediately, because the ads didn't state otherwise. What's going on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I noticed today that SELA is hiring for a ton of teaching positions. I assume immediately, because the ads didn't state otherwise. What's going on?

Trying to make trouble again? There are 2 positions listed on Sela's website -- an early childhood Hebrew-speaking teaching and a substitute teacher? I'm a parent of a Sela student and we are as happy as can be.