HD Cooke
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Anonymous
| If you have kids there do you like it? If you live IB do you send your kids there? |
Anonymous
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Here is a lengthy thread asking the same question.
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/451885.page#6963586 |
Anonymous
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http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/466907.page#6854810
Two informative comments in this thread. |
Anonymous
| Thanks!! |
Anonymous
| We are IB and send our child there. We like the shook a lot, and next year there will be even more IB families. Happy to answer questions. |
Anonymous
| What middle school is associated with it? |
Anonymous
It feeds into Lincoln Middle School, at CHEC. If you do not want to go to CHEC because of their lack of English-only track, your other option is Cardozo. |
Anonymous
What grade are your child and these other IB families' children in? We've heard positive comments from PK3 and PK4 parents, but have yet to meet any K or 1st grade families who are IB. |
Anonymous
41% of the school is IB. You can't have been trying to hard to find one. |
Anonymous
There are a lot of in boundary families in every grade. The boundary is very diverse, so if you are asking about middle-income families, that is a different question. There is no doubt that at Cooke and many other schools, there are greater concentrations of middle-income families in the lower grades. |
Anonymous
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If you would like to speak with parents of upper grade children, please contact the school/PTO. I haven't seen any current parents of children older than kindergarten next year (and I think I'm the only one) posting on this board. Maybe they read and simply do not post, I don't know.
If you have questions about early childhood education or the school culture more generally, I'm happy to answer any questions you have. If you reach out to the PTO, we can put you in touch with someone from the upper grades. |
Anonymous
| I heard a lot of teachers/staff are leaving this year. Is that true? If so, why? |
Anonymous
I haven't heard who is leaving so can't say whether that rumor is true. But in general I would expect high turnover in any school after a principal's first year, especially at a school like Cooke where the prior principal did not leave by choice. The new principal has a clear mandate to improve the school in a way that the last principal simply did not care about. |
Anonymous
Our art teacher and librarian left mid-year last year but both positions have been filled. I know that at least one of the kindergarten teachers is leaving, though I don't know which one or why because it hasn't been publicly announced yet. There may be some departures in the upper grades as well, though I have not heard specifically who, when or why. As for the general "why", any time a school administration changes, there is going to be teacher turnover. Some staff are always attached to the previous administration. Some staff who had neutral feelings about the previous administration will dislike any changes made by the new administration (which is what happened with our librarian) and will leave as a result. We got a new principal this time last year. Teachers' contracts for the year were already in place. I appreciate the teachers who finished out the year rather than leaving the kids in the lurch mid-year. I will say that the school culture at Cooke this past year under the new administration has been very different than it was the year before. There has been increased focus on rules - a discipline policy put in place, uniform policy enforced, etc. I can understand how people who appreciated the more lax "community" environment from years past might have disliked that, while people who felt that the previous environment was chaotic and not conducive to educating kids would be relieved at the changes. |
Anonymous
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There is a significant staff turnover this year which isnto be expected under any regime change. However to even remotely suggest that the previous principal left under pressure is not accurate. She had just had a small baby and was looking for something new. Additionally, if you really look at what's happening in the building now those who say that there is a focus on discipline and more rules must not spend any time outside of early childhood. Visit the upper grades where children are running the building, being contained in a back room and assulting the adults. While things are different, few if any of us would say things are better.
The new principal has a target group of parents to please which the previous principal refused to do. Cooke will look different after the principal gets rid of all of the children and staff of color. Just watch the majority of her new hires this year. ultuote=Anonymous]
I haven't heard who is leaving so can't say whether that rumor is true. But in general I would expect high turnover in any school after a principal's first year, especially at a school like Cooke where the prior principal did not leave by choice. The new principal has a clear mandate to improve the school in a way that the last principal simply did not care about. |