trouble at the DC JCC again?

[Anonymous]

I am a former teacher at the DCJCC and the administration made my life a living h-ll! Madeline was not the problem.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how (if at all) the Madoff scandel and the imapact on the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington's endowment will trickle to the JCC pre-school program?

[Anonymous]

I know for a fact that local Jewish non-profits have taken a trickle-down hit due to the Madoff situation. I would assume it will trickle to the JCC - but not sure how that would impact the pre-school.

[Anonymous]

For the record I have no dog in this fight.

Tuesday I was with my son at Stead park and we watched a class from the JCC come. This was around 11am. The children were approximately 5 in age.

There were four teachers there a taller female brunette teacher, a shorter female brunette teacher, a blond female teacher with glasses, and a male teacher with a beard. For almost 20 minutes I watched the two brunette teachers stand and chat with each other in complete disregard of the children under their care. It took one child falling off the playground set to knock them out of their reverie.

On the other hand the blond teacher and the male teacher were interacting and playing with the children. They were doing exactly what you would hope and want from the teachers you place your children with.

I tell you this story in case your children are in their classes so that you know whom you should be commending and whom you should be leery of.

If the teachers read this or are told of this, I hope it serves as warning to do a better job.

[Anonymous]

Someone on this board who has children at DCJCC ... perhaps you can share this with your director? If this was the case at my child's school, I'd like to have it noted...
I'm sure it's not uncommon, but worth it for teachers to have a reminder ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone on this board who has children at DCJCC ... perhaps you can share this with your director? If this was the case at my child's school, I'd like to have it noted...
I'm sure it's not uncommon, but worth it for teachers to have a reminder ...

This is my daughter's class and I don't think that there is anything to report. There are 14 kids in the class and two regular teachers, which is plenty for these well-behaved kids. Probably the other two are there to escort the children from the JCC to Stead, which involves crossing 16th Street. Stead Park is fenced, so once they are in there, there's not a ton for a teacher to do. If the extras are standing around talking, so what? The children go to the park to blow of steam, not to be taught anything. Two teachers were playing with them, and two more were on hand in case of an emergency. If those teachers had been "helping," the child still would have fallen off. Kids fall off of playground equipment whether you are watching them or not. Go to a playground some time and watch the kids playing. Most parents and nannies aren't sitting right on top of the kids. You see mothers on benches chatting with each other, and intervening in the event of a fight or a fall. Two teachers would have been enough, and two were playing with them.

I also don't buy that the teachers have to be focusing every minute because it's school and they're paid; JCC is open 10 hours per day and these teachers work long, hard days. In turn the kids get teacher attention/focus for huge stretches considering their age, and are happy to play with each other without adults in the mix during park time.

If what PP saw is reportable behavior, no parent or nanny in this city would measure up.

[Anonymous]

So who was watching your child while you stared at the two inattentive teachers for almost 20 minutes?

[Anonymous]

Don't be ridiculous (if you can help it).

[Anonymous]

i think the 21:48 poster is mistaken. i am pretty sure this is also my son's class. what the original poster is describing is two classes combined on the playground. all four teachers there were thus responsible for students. the J does not, at least as far as i can tell, have extra teachers on hand for things and i have never heard of or seen teachers sent to the playground just to escort kids to and from the school. i don't want to go into detail, but i am sure i can name all four teachers from the physical descriptions provided.

i agree that the teachers should not be expected to hover over the kids every minute, esp when they are outside running around. but i would hope for a little more involvement and oversight than what was described.

[Anonymous]

I'm just reading the tail-end of this discussion, but wanted to point out that DC JCC teachers have had a problem with paying attention to their students on the playground for years now. I was so worried that I wrote about this 1.5 years ago when I used to take my baby to the park. It saddens me that no corrective action was taken. It is extremely important to stay vigilant outdoors, especially since Stead Park is a public place and the kids are running around like little chickens with their heads cut off.

[Anonymous]

I'm glad you all warned us!