Mundo Verde parents, pls step in
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Anonymous
You mean in the past three months? 17 teachers left? Is this at P or 8th? |
Anonymous
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pmIcVwha4keJI6ioeBXuUgVuDpncvz1M/view I think it’s across both campuses. I have one friend who’s child is on their third teacher, and another who is on the second. I think it was the MV8 principal leaving without notice that really threw things off, though Mundo Verde has always had higher turnover rates than other schools. |
Anonymous
Implosion? Your problem is that parents of ~ 700 students chose MV over their IB. Most people commenting here are just saying what they “heard”. Even OP has no idea what is the problem, because even when some staff has left, they kids are still learning and having a great time ! My kid’s teacher left and then he got a better one. I haven’t had any issues and I don’t know anyone that is leaving the school or going back to their IB (as you can see the IB isn’t even an option for OP). |
Anonymous
I don’t have a child at MV but according to their documented retention numbers they aren’t losing abnormally excessive teachers or students. Perhaps I am missing something. I have kids at another language charter and it’s not amazing right now. I am a teacher outside of the district and our school district is also struggling to staff and retain teachers. No one wants to teach right now. |
Anonymous
You are correct. MV has a very high retention rate. Their rate for students is one of the highest in the city. There will always be some parents who are unhappy and they likely are very vocal here repeatedly. But numbers don’t lie. |
Anonymous
| Someone should bookmark this thread and come back in a year to see how the retention rate is. People fought to get in, then left, other charter schools in the past. It’s not a great sign when both campuses are clearing waitlists when they hadn’t in the past. |
Anonymous
I am Pp with kids at another charter. I see threads like this about MV every year and yet their retention rate seems pretty stable. Honestly, I hear complaints all around this year. So They will leave MV in droves and go somewhere else doing an equally subpar job? |
Anonymous
Maybe it's just my social cohort getting older, but I'm hearing a ton of complaints about MV right now and more than I've ever heard before. Teachers quitting but also kids performing poorly on academic testing. |
Anonymous
Teachers are quitting and kids are performing poorly this year everywhere because of 18 months of DL, especially at the elementary level. Have you not looked at the disastrous data of learning loss that DCPS put out?? |
Anonymous
Teachers are quitting but there seem to be an awful lot quitting MV. And everyone knows about the citywide learning loss in general, but to think your own child is on track and then find out they aren't is a shock. Sometimes 3rd grade can be a rude awakening for parents. |
Anonymous
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MV teachers form the core of my social group. Turnover seems really high right now compared to past years - it constantly sounds like someone new is leaving... But from the complaints i hear, the reasons teachers are leaving is nothing that seems like it wouldn't be an issue at other charters right now, so it's hard not to believe other schools aren't dealing with the same. Here's what I hear MV teachers complain about.
1. Having to supervise kids at lunch, when this is supposed to be their free time/planning time. This seems to be because of insufficient staff and happens regularly. 2. Having to walk 10 minutes each way to get to and from recess at a public park. It's stressful taking a group of 20+ kids down DC streets everyday. The school needs dedicated recess staff, preferably so teachers can use recess for planning. Or put recess space on campus. 3. Insufficient coaching for all teachers and support for new teachers. Not the quality of what is there, but rather the amount of it that is available. 4. Pay. At least some of the teachers leaving are going to DCPS and making $10-20k more. Some don't even want to leave, but how can they not??? For those not going to DCPS, they've decided that with a tight labor market, slaving away 55 hours a week at a hard job making $55k per year isn't worth it - they'll easily find something else that's less stressful. 5. Kids seem to have lost a lot of basic "how to be in school" skills over the pandemic, making the job a lot more difficult. And for what it's worth, some parents seem to have, too. 6. Sometimes young teachers quickly realize they are in the wrong profession, and there is not much there to help them get through the year. Sometimes they quit. Whether or not they do, the situation generates extra work for their colleagues. A lot of these issues are issues related to a tight labor market, and are mostly outside the school's control. I don't have the same social circle teaching in other schools, but it just seems like these are mostly things that all charters, and to some extent all schools in general, would be going through right now. |
Anonymous
Well, some schools do have their own playground or a playground much closer. The MV playground situation has been exactly the same distance for all the years the school has been there, so I don't know why it would suddenly be a problem now. But it is not a problem common to most schools. I noticed MV P St's enrollment decreased relative to last year. Perhaps that is why they had to cut back on staff? Do you know of any reason? Charter teachers do love to complain about pay. But remember, in DCPS in the MV area you may be dealing with a much higher at-risk population, possibly overcrowded rooms, having no aide, and taking new kids mid-year. The pay is higher but it can be a harder job in those ways. |
Anonymous
| My kid's mid-elementary teacher is leaving. She's not the first. MV has a too big growth, didn't take the time to stabilize problem. |
Anonymous
Yes, but isn't this happening at schools all around the city? If the teacher is moving to another teaching job, presumably it is because a teacher at that school left. It may be true that MV has grown to quickly, but I don't see the causality between that and the teacher leaving. Teachers leaving seems to be happening everywhere. And to the PP who mentioned the benefit of having an aide at charter schools - what aide? The random person they rotate out every couple weeks? These jobs pay so poorly no school can keep them staffed right now, and any time one shows an ounce of promise they are promoted to lead teacher to replace a teacher who has left. At least at my kids' school, there is an aide in name only. Not much use if the lead teacher needs to re-train someone new how to do the job and how their classroom works every month. |
Anonymous
Well, it does happen at other schools, but not to the extent it has been happening at MV. MV parents are used to it, but other schools have better retention. Not every teacher vacancy is the result of a teacher quitting their job. Sometimes it is the result of a school expanding, like Stokes EE for example needs to hire new teachers every year. And sometimes teachers leave for reasons other than being dissatisfied with their school, like reaching retirement age or for medical reasons. It's really unusual for a school to have several teachers quit mid-year like has been happening at MV. As for aides, in my experience there is some turnover but definitely not every couple of weeks. Our school (Langley) has some turnover but many aides stay for years if not decades. It's sad to me that your aides are being promoted to lead teacher-- if they were really qualified to teach they could easily get a teaching job somewhere. And if your aide turnover is so fast that the aides aren't actually helpful, why do you have aides in the budget at all? This is a great example of how high turnover and questionable financial decisions combine to put a school on a downward spiral. |