Startling Creative Minds Vacancies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

Wow an emergency town hall!!!

Can someone please describe the contents of the secret meeting? I couldn’t attend.

Someone sent out very detailed notes by email. If you were a CMI parent you would have gotten them.

To the people who say this is all Golnar’s fault: what do you mean? I have kids at CMI, have been there since the old building, and I have not had any problems with her. Granted I haven’t interacted with her all that much but I find all the bashing very opaque, vague, and mysterious.

I find the secrecy about the town hall meeting very strange given that this is a public school and parents who were deciding where to lottery have an interest in knowing what's going on at the school. Even the timing of the town hall, so that lottery lists functionally had to be fixed before any information could leak out...

Also a CMI parent here and I think you're paranoid. It was an emergency town hall because there was a lot of frustration about the lack of communication regarding staff turnover. The school responded fairly quickly with this town hall and detailed notes were sent out the next day. I definitely agree that the school is having problems with turnover, but the vilification of Golnar on this board is bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

Wow an emergency town hall!!!

Can someone please describe the contents of the secret meeting? I couldn’t attend.

Someone sent out very detailed notes by email. If you were a CMI parent you would have gotten them.

To the people who say this is all Golnar’s fault: what do you mean? I have kids at CMI, have been there since the old building, and I have not had any problems with her. Granted I haven’t interacted with her all that much but I find all the bashing very opaque, vague, and mysterious.

I find the secrecy about the town hall meeting very strange given that this is a public school and parents who were deciding where to lottery have an interest in knowing what's going on at the school. Even the timing of the town hall, so that lottery lists functionally had to be fixed before any information could leak out...

Also a CMI parent here and I think you're paranoid. It was an emergency town hall because there was a lot of frustration about the lack of communication regarding staff turnover. The school responded fairly quickly with this town hall and detailed notes were sent out the next day. I definitely agree that the school is having problems with turnover, but the vilification of Golnar on this board is bizarre.

Whatever their issues are, huge kuddos to the school admins for holding an emergency town hall in response to families' frustration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

Wait what???? A PS3 teacher "too new and frazzled?"
Did you just call a lottery-made class of Ps3 students "a horrible mix of rowdy kids"??? Three-year olds????

Can someone else provide us a different perspective on that teacher and that class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

Wow an emergency town hall!!!

Can someone please describe the contents of the secret meeting? I couldn’t attend.

Someone sent out very detailed notes by email. If you were a CMI parent you would have gotten them.

To the people who say this is all Golnar’s fault: what do you mean? I have kids at CMI, have been there since the old building, and I have not had any problems with her. Granted I haven’t interacted with her all that much but I find all the bashing very opaque, vague, and mysterious.

I find the secrecy about the town hall meeting very strange given that this is a public school and parents who were deciding where to lottery have an interest in knowing what's going on at the school. Even the timing of the town hall, so that lottery lists functionally had to be fixed before any information could leak out...

Also a CMI parent here and I think you're paranoid. It was an emergency town hall because there was a lot of frustration about the lack of communication regarding staff turnover. The school responded fairly quickly with this town hall and detailed notes were sent out the next day. I definitely agree that the school is having problems with turnover, but the vilification of Golnar on this board is bizarre.

Whatever their issues are, huge kuddos to the school admins for holding an emergency town hall in response to families' frustration.

Wouldn't it have been great if it did not boil to that point. Regular communication that is open / honest / transparent goes a long way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

Wow an emergency town hall!!!

Can someone please describe the contents of the secret meeting? I couldn’t attend.

Someone sent out very detailed notes by email. If you were a CMI parent you would have gotten them.

To the people who say this is all Golnar’s fault: what do you mean? I have kids at CMI, have been there since the old building, and I have not had any problems with her. Granted I haven’t interacted with her all that much but I find all the bashing very opaque, vague, and mysterious.

I find the secrecy about the town hall meeting very strange given that this is a public school and parents who were deciding where to lottery have an interest in knowing what's going on at the school. Even the timing of the town hall, so that lottery lists functionally had to be fixed before any information could leak out...

Also a CMI parent here and I think you're paranoid. It was an emergency town hall because there was a lot of frustration about the lack of communication regarding staff turnover. The school responded fairly quickly with this town hall and detailed notes were sent out the next day. I definitely agree that the school is having problems with turnover, but the vilification of Golnar on this board is bizarre.

Whatever their issues are, huge kuddos to the school admins for holding an emergency town hall in response to families' frustration.

Wouldn't it have been great if it did not boil to that point. Regular communication that is open / honest / transparent goes a long way.

DC charters must have dulled my expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

Wow an emergency town hall!!!

Can someone please describe the contents of the secret meeting? I couldn’t attend.

Someone sent out very detailed notes by email. If you were a CMI parent you would have gotten them.

To the people who say this is all Golnar’s fault: what do you mean? I have kids at CMI, have been there since the old building, and I have not had any problems with her. Granted I haven’t interacted with her all that much but I find all the bashing very opaque, vague, and mysterious.

I find the secrecy about the town hall meeting very strange given that this is a public school and parents who were deciding where to lottery have an interest in knowing what's going on at the school. Even the timing of the town hall, so that lottery lists functionally had to be fixed before any information could leak out...

Also a CMI parent here and I think you're paranoid. It was an emergency town hall because there was a lot of frustration about the lack of communication regarding staff turnover. The school responded fairly quickly with this town hall and detailed notes were sent out the next day. I definitely agree that the school is having problems with turnover, but the vilification of Golnar on this board is bizarre.

Whatever their issues are, huge kuddos to the school admins for holding an emergency town hall in response to families' frustration.

Wouldn't it have been great if it did not boil to that point. Regular communication that is open / honest / transparent goes a long way.

+1 million

[Anonymous]

I wish the best for CMI and its families, but I think anyone who thinks this amount of upheaval is normal is likely kidding themselves because they don't have another option to fall back on. I am confident there will be more changes before next year but I hope it shakes out well so students have positive experiences.

[Anonymous]

The school gave all teachers offers in February and then explained in a tactful email that there would be no negotiation because a great HR firm had been very thoughtful about the offers and thus no need for further conversations with employees. So, what happens when you give a bunch of under appreciated teachers below-market offers, strip away their negotiating power, and then give them 6 months to shop the offer around town? But sure, kuddos on the emergency town halls.

[Anonymous]

People just love to bash this school. I wonder if the numbers will of applicants this year will be dropping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school gave all teachers offers in February and then explained in a tactful email that there would be no negotiation because a great HR firm had been very thoughtful about the offers and thus no need for further conversations with employees. So, what happens when you give a bunch of under appreciated teachers below-market offers, strip away their negotiating power, and then give them 6 months to shop the offer around town? But sure, kuddos on the emergency town halls.

Is this true? As a teacher I’m flummoxed by this! I would leave as well. How is this good for anyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school gave all teachers offers in February and then explained in a tactful email that there would be no negotiation because a great HR firm had been very thoughtful about the offers and thus no need for further conversations with employees. So, what happens when you give a bunch of under appreciated teachers below-market offers, strip away their negotiating power, and then give them 6 months to shop the offer around town? But sure, kuddos on the emergency town halls.

Is this true? As a teacher I’m flummoxed by this! I would leave as well. How is this good for anyone?

She's a bully. She's superficial and kind until you express disagreement and then she attacks. She stacked the "independent" board with these methods, calling emergency meetings but only with some members to vote out other members who "crossed" her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

OP here, this, to me, is not drama and histrionics. This is a real problem. And it isn't the first time such departures have happened mid-year. But my original question was answered, the DCPCB won't do anything. It is up to the board.

Agreed. SEVEN teachers MID-year??? What??? This isn't a particularly large school. That's like 10%+ of the teachers in the school, no?

What makes you think they're hiring for these positions for the current school year.

I teach at a different school, and we've already filled several positions for next year. This is hiring season for teachers.

They're adding a whole new middle school grade, so of course they need new middle school teachers.

Having said that, many school post every category of position at this point in the year, so that when contracts from teachers are returned (or not) they'll have a stack of resumes ready to go. The fact that a job is listed doesn't mean that it will even ben available.

[Anonymous]

Is this true? I feel like so much is made up on DCUM. Did 7 teachers quit? Did 6 staff quit? Is the board stacked? Is this just a rumour mill? Why do people even care?

[Anonymous]

The numbers are right — some quit and got jobs elsewhere, some were fired, and 2 or 3 moved out of the area. Although the high turnover mid-year stinks for a multitude of reasons, I can see the forest through the trees and recognize that many of the changes really are for the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two rivers has a similar number of vacancies, although I don't know how their population compares to CMI. https://tworiverspcs.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx

Two Rivers is growing a school at Young so have to fill new teacher and assistant positions every year. Is CMI expanding?