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Turnover @ Lowell???
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Anonymous
| I have no connection to Lowell but I am the parent of a child with mild special needs and I know for a fact that it is absolutely untrue that Lowell "does not have children with special needs." For years, Lowell has welcomed some children with special needs and has tried to be inclusive. Unfortunately, their philosophy hasn't been the best fit for many of these kids. Most special needs kids, even with mild needs, require a lot of structure and Lowell has a fairly unstructured approach. Historically, this has meant that their heart is in the right place, but they can't really meet the needs of many of these kids. I am not speaking specifically to what is going on now, just generally. We did not look at Lowell for our DC for these very reasons. |
Anonymous
Former and current Lowell teachers, are you able to elaborate more on the 'issues' that affect your decisions to 'move on'? Please, as possible future parents, don't let us dish out $$ to have unsatisfied teachers teach our young kids! Is it the admin? Head? Lack of support for 'all those SN kids'? |
Anonymous
| PP-current teacher here (not Lowell). It is NOT common for teachers to talk about how unhappy they are at their school and/or with administration (anonymous or not). So if teachers are expressing their dissatisfaction with the school (administration), it is a STRONG signal to parents to essentially "beware". When a school experiences significant turnover of staff, the administration will NEVER tell you what is actually going on. Staff leaving in double digits is a BIG RED FLAG. However, I can understand why parents may not know what is really going on. Look for things such as how many teachers attend the school's auction or other major events that is NOT part of their contracts, the number of faculty and staff that have left in previous years (double digits is NEVER a good sign-NEVER!!), ask them to describe the relationship that the Head has with their faculty, what direction do they see that the school is going, etc. |
Anonymous
|
To expand on PP, bitching and griping is one thing (though still concerned). But when the bitching and griping leads to action, as in teachers leaving, that is even MORE concerning.
To determine whether or not to be concerned, you should look at the explanations given by administration and try to read between the lines. If a lot of teachers happen to be moving out of the area, those things happen. If you have teachers leaving for similar roles at nearby schools, that is a ALOT more concerning. A teacher generally only makes a parallel move in the same area if it is a matter of happiness, comfort, or support (rather are salaries that far apart). |
Anonymous
| Hi -- can someone provide an update on the current year -- whether this turnover issue has persisted, and whether the replacements have turned out well? We are considering sending our child to Lowell for kindergarten and I'd love to hear if there do seem to be continuing feelings of "dysfunctionality" or lack of support for teachers from the administration. |
Anonymous
| Lowell will have a new team of Kindergarten teachers. Not sure why they are leaving. |
Anonymous
|
There is one new K teacher coming. The one that is leaving is moving out of state, the other two are staying and are excellent.
Other than that there are no other open teacher positions other than adding faculty. Hope that helps you 22:42 |
Anonymous
| The one K teacher that is leaving has only been there 2 years. She is young and leaving due to her husband's job. The other two teachers have been there a really long time and excellent (the one leaving was excellent too). |
Anonymous
| PP-The Kindergarten teacher that is leaving has been there for two years. The other two teachers are virtually new to the school. What is long about that?????? |
Anonymous
| The two other Kindergarten teachers (Wendy and Carolina) have been there a long time. Same with the 1st grade teachers. Not sure about PP. |
Anonymous
| PP-Maybe you need to make a designation between teachers and teacher assistants. Carolina is a teacher assistant. And NO, Wendy has NOT been there a long time-sorry. |
Anonymous
| Turnover will continue to be an issue at Lowell until they get their act together. Toxic work environment for teachers. People will continue to jump ship to better work environments as long as admin keeps its head in the sand about the real issues for teacher leaving. I wasn't even offered an exit interview to discuss my reasons for leaving except to be asked, "How can we spin this for parents so it doesn't sound bad?" |
Anonymous
|
Who are you people, since you are obviously not Lowell parents. Wendy is not even a K teacher and she has been at the school for over 5 years. PP former worker who is bashing Lowell yet again...get over it and move on! We have one lead teacher leaving this year because her husband's job moved to another state. That is hardly indicative of a toxic work environment where people are fleeing in droves...Also, FYI, I have had many jobs in my life and 0 "exit interviews"
The other two K teachers are new-ish. One is on her second year at Lowell and the other is just finishing her first. But they are both great teachers, so if I were having my child enter that grade i would be fine with it. |
Anonymous
I think I know who you are. You write just like you talk. I could detect that whine all the way from Dupont to Kalmia. |
Anonymous
| K has probably seen the most turnover. 8 different head teachers (and counting) over 4 years in 3 classrooms. Yikes. |