Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am so surprised that my post elicited such hostile comments. I was not aware that parental involvement and school administration efficiency were controversial topics. Thank you for the helpful information about 990s and Guidestar. I also appreciate more information about the charter schools. We currently live in Brookland due to family obligations but are open to moving to another DC neighborhood if we do not match in the school lottery. We are definitely a family willing to donate $8k to the school every year and volunteer as necessary.
OP, the reason you're getting hostility is that in poor neighborhoods especially, parental involvement and fundraising are not the same thing. My child goes to a school with fairly high parental engagement. We have a PTO that does some stuff, including raise money, but the donations come in $15-$30 increments, for the most part. Occasionally, we get a big donation of $100+, but if you looked at our financials, what you'd see is a lot of little fundraisers to pay for specific events. I think we have <$1000 in the bank right now. But we have more parent volunteers than we need for every event we have. People show up to volunteer in their kids' classrooms, they show up to volunteer at events, and they'll give $10, $15, $20 because that's what they have to give.
I think that the best plan for you would be to visit your IB school and think about it with first hand information. Add the charters to your list, because they are mostly going to meet your criteria. Then if you are not placed somewhere that meets your approval, you can look into moving.
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}