Creative Minds for pk3/pk4?

[Anonymous]

Learned about CMI at EdFest. Loved talking with their Reps. Loved hearing about the school. Went to their Open House last night, and was left underwhelmed. We looking for a PK3 and PK4 class. Any CMI parents out there with success stories?

[Anonymous]

What put you off during the open house?

[Anonymous]

I have a friend who has a PK4. They lost their music teacher this winter. He was not thrilled losing a valuable teacher. My friend and I also talked about behavior. He is starting to notice some bad habits with his daughter. I would have some questions about behavior management and what the music program will look like going forward. Again, I don’t have a child there these were topics that came up a few days ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Learned about CMI at EdFest. Loved talking with their Reps. Loved hearing about the school. Went to their Open House last night, and was left underwhelmed. We looking for a PK3 and PK4 class. Any CMI parents out there with success stories?

Just be careful about asking questions like that in here. Some people will tell you negative lies just to prevent you from putting certain popular schools on your lottery list to lighten the competition. Lots of these posters won't have your best interest in mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What put you off during the open house?

I'm not the OP, but I had a similar impression from the open house last night. It was fine, but I did not love the building at all, particularly the ECE classrooms. Very small, kind of messy, and definitely a basement vibe, though they do have windows. I doubt it would cause me to not list them, but it wasn't really what I was expecting.

[Anonymous]

I have two kids at CMI and have been happy with it, particularly the outside space and their inclusion of kids with special needs. The teachers my kids have had have been really good, reachable, and talented.

That said, it's true that the school has lost a number of good teachers, including the music teacher recently. I don't know if the turnover rate is statistically higher than at other schools but there were some I was sad to see go.

Re the facilities, I like most of the ECE classrooms a lot. The open house was at night, but during the day most of them have great sunlight. There are two of them (I think?) that have only north-facing windows which are not as bright and cheerful.

[Anonymous]

RE teacher turnover, charter schools must include that data in their annual reports to the DCPCSB.

The information won't be up to the moment, but you can compare across schools.

It also lists the high, low and average teacher salary. CMI's salaries are on the low end.

http://www.dcpcsb.org/report/evaluating/charter-school-annual-reports

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RE teacher turnover, charter schools must include that data in their annual reports to the DCPCSB.

The information won't be up to the moment, but you can compare across schools.

It also lists the high, low and average teacher salary. CMI's salaries are on the low end.

http://www.dcpcsb.org/report/evaluating/charter-school-annual-reports

This. I'm surprised if any teacher stays beyond 3-4 years to build resume and make more elsewhere. Their small classroom sizes have already increased to cover expenses. There is no way that they will retain quality teachers with the peanuts they pay the teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RE teacher turnover, charter schools must include that data in their annual reports to the DCPCSB.

The information won't be up to the moment, but you can compare across schools.

It also lists the high, low and average teacher salary. CMI's salaries are on the low end.

http://www.dcpcsb.org/report/evaluating/charter-school-annual-reports

This. I'm surprised if any teacher stays beyond 3-4 years to build resume and make more elsewhere. Their small classroom sizes have already increased to cover expenses. There is no way that they will retain quality teachers with the peanuts they pay the teachers.

Well a glance at CMI’s 990s show that they aren’t skimping in executive salaries. They just hired two new executives this year too, my guess is they have about half a million locked up in salary and benefits for the top 3-4 admin, which makes it tough to give your star teachers a competitive salary.

[Anonymous]

My child had a class with the new music teacher (he’s been at part-time at the school for a few years, in summer school) and he’s great!

[Anonymous]

The teacher turnover is almost yearly and the staff hate it there.

Most of the class for one year left and lots of families will be leaving this year.

Bullying problems.

You will get a lot of parents who will tell you how much they love it. But mostly because they are upper middle class parents who just don’t have enough to afford private, but want to seem like they go to a private school.

Go anywhere else.

[Anonymous]

Ditto. It is really a shame.

[Anonymous]

What do you mean by most of the class left? Most of the students? Which grade? Or do you mean teachers? How bad is the bullying?

[Anonymous]

I have multiple children at CMI and there is no bullying in any of their classes. What grade are you referring to? In what grade did the whole class leave? What are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

I have one kid at CMI and my second will start next year. We really like it. My older child has some special needs and the school was really good at identifying them and working with us to establish an IEP. The ECE classrooms are small, but they use the space really well and aren’t in there all day (two recesses, specials, etc).

The teachers leaving have been very disappointing. I wish they would pay them much more, as it is hard to retain quality teachers for lower pay. That said there are really great teachers there and the energy of the school is good.