Inspired Teaching School

[Anonymous]

Is it really that much trouble to post the wait-list online? It seems to me that it's a lot easier than being swamped with phone calls and emails.... Well not if you don't bother responding...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it really that much trouble to post the wait-list online? It seems to me that it's a lot easier than being swamped with phone calls and emails.... Well not if you don't bother responding...

You may want to reconsider attending a new charter, it can be frustrating!

[Anonymous]

I've spoken with enough educational experts to strongly believe that this is going to be a great school for my children and perhaps one of the best schools in the city.

Am I frustrated right now with their lack of responsiveness—Yes! However, I'm committed. I'm going to put my work boots on and do everything I can to help push this school to the top of the hill. I think we all should anticipate that—out the gate-- everything isn’t going to be the way we’d like it.

However, unlike other start ups, Inspired Teaching has a firm foundation and good resources to build upon. A colleague of mine was the chair of a top suburban high school science department. When I mentioned Inspired Teaching, her eyes got wide and she went on and on about how wonderful the Center was and said that her award winning program was based on the Inspired Teaching model. Her only problem was that she couldn’t get all of the teachers to “buy” into it. She said they would tell her-- to her face-- that it was too much work. She thought, the idea of an entire school where all of the teachers are on board with the philosophy of the program, and are willing to do the hard work, would be phenomenal.

Those of us who are on board for the fall, have to be willing to help the school reach its potential. I want the best for my children (without shelling out $30k a year) and I’m willing to put in as much time as I can spare so that they can have a great school experience..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've spoken with enough educational experts to strongly believe that this is going to be a great school for my children and perhaps one of the best schools in the city.

Am I frustrated right now with their lack of responsiveness—Yes! However, I'm committed. I'm going to put my work boots on and do everything I can to help push this school to the top of the hill. I think we all should anticipate that—out the gate-- everything isn’t going to be the way we’d like it.

However, unlike other start ups, Inspired Teaching has a firm foundation and good resources to build upon. A colleague of mine was the chair of a top suburban high school science department. When I mentioned Inspired Teaching, her eyes got wide and she went on and on about how wonderful the Center was and said that her award winning program was based on the Inspired Teaching model. Her only problem was that she couldn’t get all of the teachers to “buy” into it. She said they would tell her-- to her face-- that it was too much work. She thought, the idea of an entire school where all of the teachers are on board with the philosophy of the program, and are willing to do the hard work, would be phenomenal.

Those of us who are on board for the fall, have to be willing to help the school reach its potential. I want the best for my children (without shelling out $30k a year) and I’m willing to put in as much time as I can spare so that they can have a great school experience..

PP here, you have the right attitude and yoy are seeing the "big picture".. Buckle up for the ride, and be thankful you got in now! Don't sweat the small stuff! Good luck..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've spoken with enough educational experts to strongly believe that this is going to be a great school for my children and perhaps one of the best schools in the city.

Am I frustrated right now with their lack of responsiveness—Yes! However, I'm committed. I'm going to put my work boots on and do everything I can to help push this school to the top of the hill. I think we all should anticipate that—out the gate-- everything isn’t going to be the way we’d like it.

However, unlike other start ups, Inspired Teaching has a firm foundation and good resources to build upon. A colleague of mine was the chair of a top suburban high school science department. When I mentioned Inspired Teaching, her eyes got wide and she went on and on about how wonderful the Center was and said that her award winning program was based on the Inspired Teaching model. Her only problem was that she couldn’t get all of the teachers to “buy” into it. She said they would tell her-- to her face-- that it was too much work. She thought, the idea of an entire school where all of the teachers are on board with the philosophy of the program, and are willing to do the hard work, would be phenomenal.

Those of us who are on board for the fall, have to be willing to help the school reach its potential. I want the best for my children (without shelling out $30k a year) and I’m willing to put in as much time as I can spare so that they can have a great school experience..

DITTO!!! I am so excited for the fall!

[Anonymous]

Another Ditto. I've also experienced the decline in responsiveness. I think they set aside some time after the lottery etc where that was their main focus (responding to parent concerns etc) but now the clock is ticking and they are finalizing the aftercare program, lunch provider, furnishings for the school etc. Like others I heard from two teachers I knew that this was likely to be the next IT (no pun intended) school. So I'm trying to keep the big picture in mind. Even though I AM sweating the details a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another Ditto. I've also experienced the decline in responsiveness. I think they set aside some time after the lottery etc where that was their main focus (responding to parent concerns etc) but now the clock is ticking and they are finalizing the aftercare program, lunch provider, furnishings for the school etc. Like others I heard from two teachers I knew that this was likely to be the next IT (no pun intended) school. So I'm trying to keep the big picture in mind. Even though I AM sweating the details a bit.

I have a dog in neither fight. Have you looked at the numbers of desperate parents on waitlists? There's room for both M.V. and I.T. to be the next hot schools. In fact, there's probably room for 2 or 3 more. Next year, when there isn't a YY bubble and 2 brand new promising schools, is going to be scary.

[Anonymous]

Ditto here. I think that the school is going to rock...and that the effort parents will be putting in to help make this school amazing doesn't even compare to what we would need to do to "fix" some of our neighborhoods schools (as we've been told we need to do in another thread on this forum).

[Anonymous]

For those of you who are on the waitlist and still sweating, check in with the school mid next week. My understanding is that, that's when they should have that last round of waitlist cut offs reconciled.

If you received an email in the last week then you were probably called off the waitlist because someone called in to decline a spot and you were next on the list.

I don't believe they've finished going through the list of people who didn't turn in their applications from this last round, so once they do that we should see some movement again.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if there is a school uniform policy at ITS?

[Anonymous]

Zoe said no uniforms at one of the open houses.

[Anonymous]

Too bad. It sure makes getting dressed easier in the morning.

[Anonymous]

We called the school yesterday and found out that DS has moved up 8 places on the PS3 waitlist since last week.

[Anonymous]

Good news! Received "unofficial" confirmation that all my children now have a spot at ITS for the Fall. Two of my children are just starting out, so nothing to lose there but, I'm rolling the dice and moving my 3rd grader out of her current DCPS school (which by the way I'm very happy with), in the hopes that this will be an even better fit for her. She's GT and I believe would do well in the ITS model. I just wonder what mix of students they're going to get in that 3rd grade class since I'm sure most parents who are happy with their child's current school wouldn't take the leap of faith that I'm about to make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Too bad. It sure makes getting dressed easier in the morning.

I don't think the cookie-cutter "needs discipline" type of environment which uniforms project would be pedagogically consistent with the kind of school I.T. wants to be.