What is going on at Lowell School?

[Anonymous]

It is true that the Faculty and Staff are very unhappy and you will continue to see a mass exodus. However, you will also see more families leave as well, enrollment was down this year and it will be down more next year.

If what you are suggesting is true, then everybody who apply to Lowell this year will automatically get it, right?

[Anonymous]

I think this just speaks to what happens when a school changes heads. I know that some families had big issues with the previous heads, and you will see postings on DCUM that reflect that. And, now, some will have issues with the new head. If you leave a job it is often because you are unhappy about some aspect, possibly a new boss, and others at your workplace are fine with the change. Or if not, there is a change of employers. Not necessarily a good or bad thing in either case.

I work in an academic department at a University and in my time there, there have been several heads of dept. changes and several mass exoduses to go along with!

But we have been at Lowell through this transition, and I would not call the turnover a mass exodus.

As for "what is going on at Lowell School??" I don't think it is anything unusual! This year we have received two e-mails about two staff changes. One teacher took a leave of absence to deal with a death in the family. The other is L. leaving, and I am glad to know that Lowell will have the time to find a better person for the job.

I am sure that some teachers will change over at the end of the year, that is just life at any job.

If the OP is someone looking at Lowell, I suggest that you bring up these concerns with the admin, but otherwise, I don't think they will affect your time at Lowell should you choose to enroll.

[Anonymous]

PP

Well said.

Every institution goes through changes and a parent's job is to make sure the school is still the right fit for their child AND to teach their child how to adjust to change - positive, negative and neutral.

[Anonymous]

As a member of the Lowell teaching staff I can assure you that most teachers are quite happy at Lowell and very dedicated to our children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a member of the Lowell teaching staff I can assure you that most teachers are quite happy at Lowell and very dedicated to our children.

Applicant parent here. Seeking genuine info. from current & former staff, as well as current & past parents--Is the inclusion philosophy just lip service, or do the teachers and admin. really try to accommodate students who learn differently, or who have a disability? What about same-sex families, and mixed race families? We had heard it was one truly diverse, inclusive school community (unlike the hundreds of other schools that just say they are, then are not)

Please help us before we make the wrong decision! Thanks...

[Anonymous]

[Applicant parent here. Seeking genuine info. from current & former staff, as well as current & past parents--Is the inclusion philosophy just lip service, or do the teachers and admin. really try to accommodate students who learn differently, or who have a disability? What about same-sex families, and mixed race families? We had heard it was one truly diverse, inclusive school community (unlike the hundreds of other schools that just say they are, then are not)

Please help us before we make the wrong decision! Thanks...

Current parent here...Lowell is diverse, that is not lip service. As for learning disabilities, I would say that they can and do handle some diabilities well, but I know several families whose kids have more serious problems that have had to go elsewhere after K or 1st grade (like to Lab, not GDS). I think Lowell as a school is recognizing that they can not serve all kids well and I think they are making more of an effort to identify the kids that have problems that they won't be able to handle down the road.

The head of school has said that she likes to have classes of kids from all ends of the learning spectrum and that it makes a richer class to include kids with different learning styles and abilities. In my child's class, a cluster of kids have mild learning issues and/or OT type things going on and it is not taking away from my child's experience in any way, if that is a concern for anyone.

So, I would say that you have to evaluate your child and their abilities as well as the school does and be honest with yourself as to whether your kid would really be better off at a school that is designed to help kids with learning difficulties. I think it is harder to move them after a few years when they have friends and feel like they are a part of the community.

[Anonymous]

We were at Lowell for a few years under the previous head, so this is historical information that hopefully has no current relevance. What we found in the case of our child was gross overdiagnosing of learning issues. We were told our child had all sorts of issues. We had oodles of expensive testing done none of which showed anything like what the teachers were claiming was going on with our child. We changed schools and no one has ever again in any way suggested that our child had these sorts of issues. Hopefully now that the preschool teachers are better qualified, this kind of problem is a thing of the past.

[Anonymous]

If you left your job, would you want your reasons discussed publicly on the internet? Why not have a conversation like this by picking up the telephone to call a current parent, or having a cup of coffee with a current parent? There's nothing wrong with wanting the information, but to speculate publicly over why a specific individual left employment at a specific school seems unfair.

[Anonymous]

Is L gone already? Was she asked to leave?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is L gone already? Was she asked to leave?

If you read the prior entries, you'll see that she's staying through the end of the year and the notification said she's leaving for personal reasons.

[Anonymous]

It was mentioned that teachers in the pre-primary were asked to leave because they did have the proper credentials. Let me assure you that this is not the case. Lowell's pre-primary is a licensed day care and has to adhere to all DC laws and licensing regulations. I also want to add that Lowell sent out a letter last year to parent's asking for more donations or they would have to cut staff. They got more donations and still cut staff. They cut the staff in Pre-primary because they are not fully enrolled.

[Anonymous]

I am sure that Lowell's preprimary staff were all properly trained to abide by day care licensing requirements. At the time we were there though, many of the teachers did not have BAs let alone graduate degrees in early childhood ed. I think many had minimal formal training in education and some of those who did have more formal training were woefully out of date.

I hope this has all changed under the new administration.

[Anonymous]

Looks like Lowell has huge turnover problem!