Mundo Verde Public Charter: Failing on Its Most Basic Mission

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i feel so sad for the families that are lured in based on the rumors and false pictures painted during the open houses.

MV (and maybe other charters) need to be held to account for making false claims. During the MV open house, I remember an elaborate slide show of photos from field trips to Rock Creek Park (though I think they haven't been there in many many years), and our tour guide, when asked what the teacher turnover rate was, said something along the lines of "teachers are very happy and rarely leave." At the Bancroft DCPS open house when someone asked an identical question, the principal pulled out the data and said "86%"

it makes it so hard for parents to get a clear idea of what kind of school they are entering when the open houses are full of exaggerations and falsehoods... then you end up with someone like OP feeling so devasted. I have so many friends who entered MV with such high hopes and they are ALL gone now, and left very disgusted and disappointed.

How can this school be held to account?

There is really no accountability for charters short of egregiously bad test scores or outright fraud. But if MV parents would stop defending it and tell prospective parents the actual truth, that might help by damaging the school enough that the board intervenes.

If you search these boards, you'll find lots of parents speaking the truth about the school, dating back YEARS. Many passionately testified at the hearing about the expansion plan because they saw the revolving door of teachers, lack of transparency, poor discipline, etc. The school was a mess and in the hole financially, so its solution was to expand to get more per pupil funding. It just replicated the mess. But none of the people with pre-K kids playing the lottery back then wanted to hear it. I think I was accused of wanting to pull the ladder up behind me. Someone might have called me racist. We were just speaking the truth and hoping others could learn from our mistake. Oh well.

We are at another charter--with what sounds like similar issues to MV. I'm constantly stunned at how some parents continue to be in utter denial at the reality of the discipline and academic issues at our school. It's bizarre--it's like they don't question obvious issues in front of them.

They're in denial because they don't want to move, don't have a better option, and don't want to admit to themselves that they made the wrong choice. It's stunning how little incoming preschool parents research the upper elementary grades. And how blatantly people will lie to preschool parents about what their school is really like. People will tell the truth anonymously, but not in person within their own community unless they really, really trust the person they're talking with.

It’s not so simple. Most schools are great for early years so parents will speak highly of their school. It’s also confusing when you don’t know what it should be like, having never had a child in school before, and doubly so when COVID hit and everything became very opaque.

It takes a lot to tank a school in local public opinion. Think SSMA. Most of the time you’ll hear local parents in upper grades speak both positively and negatively of a school. It isn’t like hiding the truth but different experiences.

Our experience at LAMB has been mixed and that’s what I often tell people as well. I wouldn’t sugar coat it. Most neighbors speaking one ok one are blatantly honest, I’ve found, and the good bad and ugly. What we don’t tend to have are a lot of other options.

This is true at MV as well. We are a MV family and so far the school has worked great for our kids. These issues are very classroom specific. So some people are having a great experience and some other people, like Op, are not. The school has to work on these issues. The board members are parents from MV, so it’s in their best interest to have a good school.

+1. Our DC at MV is doing great and above grade level on all subjects except Spanish which is on grade level. We have been with the campus since it opened and DC has had great teachers in the past. There wasn’t much teacher turnover that I know of until this year with the pandemic. It’s been a tough year back for teachers everywhere and higher turnover in general.

Anyway, I agree with PP that it’s classroom specific. I’m not saying the school doesn’t have issues that they can improve upon. It’s unfortunate what OP is experiencing but I don’t think OP’s experience is representative of the majority of families at the school.

I would think every parent would be interested in knowing exactly why the school allows the situation to persist and how they can protect this student, regardless of what a great experience their student is having. The willingness to look the other way is disturbing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i feel so sad for the families that are lured in based on the rumors and false pictures painted during the open houses.

MV (and maybe other charters) need to be held to account for making false claims. During the MV open house, I remember an elaborate slide show of photos from field trips to Rock Creek Park (though I think they haven't been there in many many years), and our tour guide, when asked what the teacher turnover rate was, said something along the lines of "teachers are very happy and rarely leave." At the Bancroft DCPS open house when someone asked an identical question, the principal pulled out the data and said "86%"

it makes it so hard for parents to get a clear idea of what kind of school they are entering when the open houses are full of exaggerations and falsehoods... then you end up with someone like OP feeling so devasted. I have so many friends who entered MV with such high hopes and they are ALL gone now, and left very disgusted and disappointed.

How can this school be held to account?

There is really no accountability for charters short of egregiously bad test scores or outright fraud. But if MV parents would stop defending it and tell prospective parents the actual truth, that might help by damaging the school enough that the board intervenes.

If you search these boards, you'll find lots of parents speaking the truth about the school, dating back YEARS. Many passionately testified at the hearing about the expansion plan because they saw the revolving door of teachers, lack of transparency, poor discipline, etc. The school was a mess and in the hole financially, so its solution was to expand to get more per pupil funding. It just replicated the mess. But none of the people with pre-K kids playing the lottery back then wanted to hear it. I think I was accused of wanting to pull the ladder up behind me. Someone might have called me racist. We were just speaking the truth and hoping others could learn from our mistake. Oh well.

We are at another charter--with what sounds like similar issues to MV. I'm constantly stunned at how some parents continue to be in utter denial at the reality of the discipline and academic issues at our school. It's bizarre--it's like they don't question obvious issues in front of them.

They're in denial because they don't want to move, don't have a better option, and don't want to admit to themselves that they made the wrong choice. It's stunning how little incoming preschool parents research the upper elementary grades. And how blatantly people will lie to preschool parents about what their school is really like. People will tell the truth anonymously, but not in person within their own community unless they really, really trust the person they're talking with.

It’s not so simple. Most schools are great for early years so parents will speak highly of their school. It’s also confusing when you don’t know what it should be like, having never had a child in school before, and doubly so when COVID hit and everything became very opaque.

It takes a lot to tank a school in local public opinion. Think SSMA. Most of the time you’ll hear local parents in upper grades speak both positively and negatively of a school. It isn’t like hiding the truth but different experiences.

Our experience at LAMB has been mixed and that’s what I often tell people as well. I wouldn’t sugar coat it. Most neighbors speaking one ok one are blatantly honest, I’ve found, and the good bad and ugly. What we don’t tend to have are a lot of other options.

This is true at MV as well. We are a MV family and so far the school has worked great for our kids. These issues are very classroom specific. So some people are having a great experience and some other people, like Op, are not. The school has to work on these issues. The board members are parents from MV, so it’s in their best interest to have a good school.

+1. Our DC at MV is doing great and above grade level on all subjects except Spanish which is on grade level. We have been with the campus since it opened and DC has had great teachers in the past. There wasn’t much teacher turnover that I know of until this year with the pandemic. It’s been a tough year back for teachers everywhere and higher turnover in general.

Anyway, I agree with PP that it’s classroom specific. I’m not saying the school doesn’t have issues that they can improve upon. It’s unfortunate what OP is experiencing but I don’t think OP’s experience is representative of the majority of families at the school.

I would think every parent would be interested in knowing exactly why the school allows the situation to persist and how they can protect this student, regardless of what a great experience their student is having. The willingness to look the other way is disturbing.

And it’s just dumb luck. No way would I put my school where it’s a coin flip if it will be chaos. Nor would I support a school knowing other children are having that experience.

[Anonymous]

This has all been the ED's MO for years: ignore problems, don't rely to communications, act like everything's rosy and gaslighting people who think otherwise. It's great when your kid's classroom is somehow immune to it but even then, the teachers are drained from all of it, even if your kid is ok.

[Anonymous]

*reply

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel pretty helpless as a MV parent (not OP). Parents made heartbreaking appeals for basic safety at the MV public comment board meeting, and the response at the most recent board meeting was to emphasize the board’s primary responsibility in ensuring fiduciary responsibility. They take absolutely no responsibility for ensuring proper leadership, student safety, or student learning. They do not even acknowledge written comments by parents, let alone respond meaningfully. There is also not a real parent organization. MV works to prevent meaningful organization my parents under the guise of “equity.” There is really nowhere to turn.

Is there a video or transcript of this anywhere?

I don't think so. The Zoom video was recorded, but I can't find it online anywhere. The meeting minutes just include a summary of the topics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i feel so sad for the families that are lured in based on the rumors and false pictures painted during the open houses.

MV (and maybe other charters) need to be held to account for making false claims. During the MV open house, I remember an elaborate slide show of photos from field trips to Rock Creek Park (though I think they haven't been there in many many years), and our tour guide, when asked what the teacher turnover rate was, said something along the lines of "teachers are very happy and rarely leave." At the Bancroft DCPS open house when someone asked an identical question, the principal pulled out the data and said "86%"

it makes it so hard for parents to get a clear idea of what kind of school they are entering when the open houses are full of exaggerations and falsehoods... then you end up with someone like OP feeling so devasted. I have so many friends who entered MV with such high hopes and they are ALL gone now, and left very disgusted and disappointed.

How can this school be held to account?

There is really no accountability for charters short of egregiously bad test scores or outright fraud. But if MV parents would stop defending it and tell prospective parents the actual truth, that might help by damaging the school enough that the board intervenes.

If you search these boards, you'll find lots of parents speaking the truth about the school, dating back YEARS. Many passionately testified at the hearing about the expansion plan because they saw the revolving door of teachers, lack of transparency, poor discipline, etc. The school was a mess and in the hole financially, so its solution was to expand to get more per pupil funding. It just replicated the mess. But none of the people with pre-K kids playing the lottery back then wanted to hear it. I think I was accused of wanting to pull the ladder up behind me. Someone might have called me racist. We were just speaking the truth and hoping others could learn from our mistake. Oh well.

We are at another charter--with what sounds like similar issues to MV. I'm constantly stunned at how some parents continue to be in utter denial at the reality of the discipline and academic issues at our school. It's bizarre--it's like they don't question obvious issues in front of them.

+1. At a beloved by DCUM standards charter and can’t believe the disorganization and discipline issues.

[Anonymous]

Teachers are leaving because they want a DCPS position or one in a surrounding county that has better benefits and a pension. I work in NoVA dual language school and we constantly have teachers from DC charters (Mundo, DCB, Stokes) moving here. They want benefits and long term security. We also have two Bruce Monroe teachers here for the PP who thinks BM is the best. The teachers that stay don’t have the qualifications to go elsewhere. So charters are filled with the least qualified to handle behavioral and academic struggles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i feel so sad for the families that are lured in based on the rumors and false pictures painted during the open houses.

MV (and maybe other charters) need to be held to account for making false claims. During the MV open house, I remember an elaborate slide show of photos from field trips to Rock Creek Park (though I think they haven't been there in many many years), and our tour guide, when asked what the teacher turnover rate was, said something along the lines of "teachers are very happy and rarely leave." At the Bancroft DCPS open house when someone asked an identical question, the principal pulled out the data and said "86%"

it makes it so hard for parents to get a clear idea of what kind of school they are entering when the open houses are full of exaggerations and falsehoods... then you end up with someone like OP feeling so devasted. I have so many friends who entered MV with such high hopes and they are ALL gone now, and left very disgusted and disappointed.

How can this school be held to account?

At what point are parents as consumers responsible for their choices? In the example you gave where MV sidestepped the question about teacher retention, parents need to notice that just like they would when buying insurance or any other good or service. If a school has a reputation of losing teachers and having unrelenting bullying problems and their answers don't suggest a plan to address those matters, but instead pretend they don't exist then that in and of itself is a warning sign. None of this is to suggest that OP is responsible for her kid being bullied or to make excuses for the school's apparent failure to address the issue. My argument however is that, at least as regards MV, the fact that these issues persist and they don't even acknowledge them is a warning sign unto itself. An open house is a marketing event. What parent doesn't know that going in?

+10000 I can't understand how such a large portion of a population of highly educated people are not more skeptical of the lack of transparency and naked marketing behind most of these charter schools.

I have no clue how you read what I posted and interpreted it as an indictment of charters specifically. You really ought to try and get your anti-charter bias under control. All schools engage in marketing at open houses. They are putting their best foot forward and trying their best to mask issues and weaknesses. The responsibility falls on parents to be discerning consumers.

i know you will see this as anti-charter bias, but I would ask you to attend open houses at a number of DCPS schools and MV's -- I have, and I found the DCPS spiels were much more reality based, and numbers based, and detailed, whereas MV and a few other charters were exaggeration, broad mission descriptions and outright lies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are leaving because they want a DCPS position or one in a surrounding county that has better benefits and a pension. I work in NoVA dual language school and we constantly have teachers from DC charters (Mundo, DCB, Stokes) moving here. They want benefits and long term security. We also have two Bruce Monroe teachers here for the PP who thinks BM is the best. The teachers that stay don’t have the qualifications to go elsewhere. So charters are filled with the least qualified to handle behavioral and academic struggles.

LOL nobody thinks a DCPS Title 1 is the best, let alone DCPS Central Office. But many are still better than Mundo Verde.

[Anonymous]

Our child is in this same class that op is referring to and we have had a night and day different experience. Yes there has been teacher turnover, but I don’t know what the admin can do to address that when teachers are leaving for higher paying dcps jobs or jobs closer to home. This has been an incredibly difficult year for teachers and so while the rate of change has been bad, it seems concentrated in this one class. Our kid is exceeding all academic expectations, and many of the other kids in the class are as well. Reading at 4th and 5th grade level and doing extremely hard math problems. The specials teachers are amazing, and the general environment is wonderful, with caring teachers and admin.

Not to diminish the op’s experience, but the reports of bullying I have heard on the what’s app chats always lack specificity in a way that makes me not understand what is going on. Just that the kids feelings were hurt, or was run into during recess. It raises questions as to whether the parents are confusing bullying with actual children engaging in growing up and playing. We have actually gotten concerned in the other direction, that this culture of fear around being accused of being a bully has forced kids to withdraw and be incredibly careful when they engage with their peers lest any action be misinterpreted. We have been at Calle ocho since the day it opened and have been so appreciative of the opportunities it has presented and the kindness of the staff. I really hope ops experience improves, but frankly it sounds like it won’t and they should consider other options. The idea that they believe that a second grade classroom is so full of bullying that their kid is in need self defense seems frankly misguided and unlikely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child is in this same class that op is referring to and we have had a night and day different experience. Yes there has been teacher turnover, but I don’t know what the admin can do to address that when teachers are leaving for higher paying dcps jobs or jobs closer to home. This has been an incredibly difficult year for teachers and so while the rate of change has been bad, it seems concentrated in this one class. Our kid is exceeding all academic expectations, and many of the other kids in the class are as well. Reading at 4th and 5th grade level and doing extremely hard math problems. The specials teachers are amazing, and the general environment is wonderful, with caring teachers and admin.

Not to diminish the op’s experience, but the reports of bullying I have heard on the what’s app chats always lack specificity in a way that makes me not understand what is going on. Just that the kids feelings were hurt, or was run into during recess. It raises questions as to whether the parents are confusing bullying with actual children engaging in growing up and playing. We have actually gotten concerned in the other direction, that this culture of fear around being accused of being a bully has forced kids to withdraw and be incredibly careful when they engage with their peers lest any action be misinterpreted. We have been at Calle ocho since the day it opened and have been so appreciative of the opportunities it has presented and the kindness of the staff. I really hope ops experience improves, but frankly it sounds like it won’t and they should consider other options. The idea that they believe that a second grade classroom is so full of bullying that their kid is in need self defense seems frankly misguided and unlikely.

Please stop the cap and providing false hope. This is why parents keep on falling into the trap year after year. Although you have been lucky during your time at MV, the behavioral issues and classroom management has and continues to be a problem. We are no longer at MV. Our first 2 years were great but year 3 (2nd grade) was the worst. I had to leave work on 4 separate occasions to my child up from school after receiving a call from the nurse advising that my child had been attacked by another student (it was a different student 3/4 times). This was just before the pandemic. The families that opposed the expansion did so for a reason. The teachers that organized the union did so for a reason. My child’s peers that stuck it out (and have a little over a year left at the school) are only doing so because they are still guaranteed spots at DCI, but those that also have younger kids are planning on pulling those kids out as soon as the older one matriculates to DCI. I took a look at the faculty/staff and barely recognize anyone because there has been so much turnover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child is in this same class that op is referring to and we have had a night and day different experience. Yes there has been teacher turnover, but I don’t know what the admin can do to address that when teachers are leaving for higher paying dcps jobs or jobs closer to home. This has been an incredibly difficult year for teachers and so while the rate of change has been bad, it seems concentrated in this one class. Our kid is exceeding all academic expectations, and many of the other kids in the class are as well. Reading at 4th and 5th grade level and doing extremely hard math problems. The specials teachers are amazing, and the general environment is wonderful, with caring teachers and admin.

Not to diminish the op’s experience, but the reports of bullying I have heard on the what’s app chats always lack specificity in a way that makes me not understand what is going on. Just that the kids feelings were hurt, or was run into during recess. It raises questions as to whether the parents are confusing bullying with actual children engaging in growing up and playing. We have actually gotten concerned in the other direction, that this culture of fear around being accused of being a bully has forced kids to withdraw and be incredibly careful when they engage with their peers lest any action be misinterpreted. We have been at Calle ocho since the day it opened and have been so appreciative of the opportunities it has presented and the kindness of the staff. I really hope ops experience improves, but frankly it sounds like it won’t and they should consider other options. The idea that they believe that a second grade classroom is so full of bullying that their kid is in need self defense seems frankly misguided and unlikely.

Please stop the cap and providing false hope. This is why parents keep on falling into the trap year after year. Although you have been lucky during your time at MV, the behavioral issues and classroom management has and continues to be a problem. We are no longer at MV. Our first 2 years were great but year 3 (2nd grade) was the worst. I had to leave work on 4 separate occasions to my child up from school after receiving a call from the nurse advising that my child had been attacked by another student (it was a different student 3/4 times). This was just before the pandemic. The families that opposed the expansion did so for a reason. The teachers that organized the union did so for a reason. My child’s peers that stuck it out (and have a little over a year left at the school) are only doing so because they are still guaranteed spots at DCI, but those that also have younger kids are planning on pulling those kids out as soon as the older one matriculates to DCI. I took a look at the faculty/staff and barely recognize anyone because there has been so much turnover.

Re-read PP’s post. Her child is in the same class as OP and having a different experience and perception of the problem that OP is experiencing.

[Anonymous]

Why would you tell the OP to leave rather than trying to help solve the problem?

[Anonymous]

In fact I didn’t, I said that I had a different experience and perception, and that I wasn't sure they would change their mind so they may want to look at different options. I also don’t know what the motivation was for this original post. Does smearing the school and the teachers help in any way solve the problem they perceive? Or does it just result in a worse reputation for a school, lessening it’s resources and ability to serve the kids? Constantly bashing the school on these forums seems the worst possible way to actually solve any perceived problems they may have, and I think it is incredibly important that a diverse set of voices who have had different experiences also share their good experiences rather than allow the conversation about this school be dominated only by people who have had negative experiences.

[Anonymous]

There are several former families posting here. We spend seven years at MV. My older child went from prek- 5th and we pulled my second child. I know dozens and dozens of parents who tried to solve similar problems, and all left in frustration. These are families who joined the school in the first or second year if its existence with nothing but enthusiasm and hope. And families who joined a few years later, hoping for the best. All tried to change things when they saw problems arise. They had senior roles in the Padres parent organization, They tried to stop expansion. They supported the forming of the union. They volunteered in the classrooms.

The administration shuts down dissent and is secretive about what's going on. And then they craft some spin-doctored talking points that don't address any of the concerns families raise. It is not a situation that can be changed, unless the senior administration is replaced.

I know two families who pulled kids mid-year this year because things were untenable.

Leave now or leave later.