Creative Minds feedback

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello! We have a very low WL number for prek3 at Creative Minds and would love some feedback. The location is good for us and like that it seems safe. Test scores are not great and I read here about over enrollment, plus there’s no HS feeder. We’d love Spanish immersion, but that didn’t pan out with our lottery numbers. Is this yet another school where upper middle class kids go for a few years and then bail when academics and behavior issues become an issue? I don’t think we will get off the waitlist anywhere else. Thoughts from parents whose kids attend? TIA!

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As a former teacher and parent of Creative Minds, I would absolutely not recommend this school to anyone… especially past prek-3. During my time there, I was asked to cover up a lot of grievances that could have really altered the trajectory of the school. The leaders of the school, the ED, the Chief Academic Officer, and the operations manager, have no real understanding on how to run the school. If you speak up against them, they retaliate. Students with specific learning needs are not being serviced and parents are being lied to that service hours are being met. The Chief Academic Officer has no degree in educational leadership or experience. Her degree is in human development. No one has any leadership skills and it shows. Teachers are coming and going faster than a freight train and it’s because of the way leadership works. I pulled my child out and they are now excelling in their new school. I would not recommend this place to my worst enemy.

[Anonymous]

I second this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello! We have a very low WL number for prek3 at Creative Minds and would love some feedback. The location is good for us and like that it seems safe. Test scores are not great and I read here about over enrollment, plus there’s no HS feeder. We’d love Spanish immersion, but that didn’t pan out with our lottery numbers. Is this yet another school where upper middle class kids go for a few years and then bail when academics and behavior issues become an issue? I don’t think we will get off the waitlist anywhere else. Thoughts from parents whose kids attend? TIA!

.

As a former teacher and parent of Creative Minds, I would absolutely not recommend this school to anyone… especially past prek-3. During my time there, I was asked to cover up a lot of grievances that could have really altered the trajectory of the school. The leaders of the school, the ED, the Chief Academic Officer, and the operations manager, have no real understanding on how to run the school. If you speak up against them, they retaliate. Students with specific learning needs are not being serviced and parents are being lied to that service hours are being met. The Chief Academic Officer has no degree in educational leadership or experience. Her degree is in human development. No one has any leadership skills and it shows. Teachers are coming and going faster than a freight train and it’s because of the way leadership works. I pulled my child out and they are now excelling in their new school. I would not recommend this place to my worst enemy.

Whew! Wildly scathing review! Care to share age range of your child and where (school) they ended up succeeding?

[Anonymous]

We pulled our kid out of prek3 after 2 months last year because she was injured. It’s not safe. They are understaffed and the admin admitted the playground is not safe and they don’t have appropriate coverage. The classroom was chaotic and my kid was not happy. Avoid. It’s really unfortunate given the location and setting but it was a really poor experience for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello! We have a very low WL number for prek3 at Creative Minds and would love some feedback. The location is good for us and like that it seems safe. Test scores are not great and I read here about over enrollment, plus there’s no HS feeder. We’d love Spanish immersion, but that didn’t pan out with our lottery numbers. Is this yet another school where upper middle class kids go for a few years and then bail when academics and behavior issues become an issue? I don’t think we will get off the waitlist anywhere else. Thoughts from parents whose kids attend? TIA!

.

As a former teacher and parent of Creative Minds, I would absolutely not recommend this school to anyone… especially past prek-3. During my time there, I was asked to cover up a lot of grievances that could have really altered the trajectory of the school. The leaders of the school, the ED, the Chief Academic Officer, and the operations manager, have no real understanding on how to run the school. If you speak up against them, they retaliate. Students with specific learning needs are not being serviced and parents are being lied to that service hours are being met. The Chief Academic Officer has no degree in educational leadership or experience. Her degree is in human development. No one has any leadership skills and it shows. Teachers are coming and going faster than a freight train and it’s because of the way leadership works. I pulled my child out and they are now excelling in their new school. I would not recommend this place to my worst enemy.

Whew! Wildly scathing review! Care to share age range of your child and where (school) they ended up succeeding?

Scathing but TRUTH. I am a different former employee and happy to hear some people speaking out. I didn't have a child at the school when I was there but everything else is the same that I saw in my experience there.

[Anonymous]

I’m yet another former employee and the executive director, business manager and academic director, have no academic training. One from a weapons company, another from sanitation department of DC, and 3rd was a parent who taught some elementary PE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello! We have a very low WL number for prek3 at Creative Minds and would love some feedback. The location is good for us and like that it seems safe. Test scores are not great and I read here about over enrollment, plus there’s no HS feeder. We’d love Spanish immersion, but that didn’t pan out with our lottery numbers. Is this yet another school where upper middle class kids go for a few years and then bail when academics and behavior issues become an issue? I don’t think we will get off the waitlist anywhere else. Thoughts from parents whose kids attend? TIA!

.

As a former teacher and parent of Creative Minds, I would absolutely not recommend this school to anyone… especially past prek-3. During my time there, I was asked to cover up a lot of grievances that could have really altered the trajectory of the school. The leaders of the school, the ED, the Chief Academic Officer, and the operations manager, have no real understanding on how to run the school. If you speak up against them, they retaliate. Students with specific learning needs are not being serviced and parents are being lied to that service hours are being met. The Chief Academic Officer has no degree in educational leadership or experience. Her degree is in human development. No one has any leadership skills and it shows. Teachers are coming and going faster than a freight train and it’s because of the way leadership works. I pulled my child out and they are now excelling in their new school. I would not recommend this place to my worst enemy.

Wow! Thank you for this.

I have several friends who ended up "winning" the lottery and starting PK3 there... every single one has since left and landed at a school where their kid is thriving (often a DCPS WOTP). One said her child learned absolutely nothing in her 3rd grade year at CMI.

[Anonymous]

I am yet another former employee at CMI and I too would steer well clear of this school. Despite numerous complaints to the CMI board by teachers and complaints to the PCS board, the 3 aforementioned people who run the school still remain employed although it is more than obvious that their complete lack of leadership skills have contributed to the school's downfall. The working environment is one of disrespect, hostility and fear, which of course impacts the quality of the teaching and the experience of the students. While I was there I witnessed teacher’s bullying one another, weed smoking on school property, sexual harassment of some staff members and inappropriate relations between staff. I know for a fact that all these things were brought to the attention of the 3 at the top. Some were addressed, some were not. Most of them were ignored or covered up. I know every school has its growing pains but the fact that after 10 years this school continues to get worse instead of better should raise come serious questions. I would caution any parent considering placing their child at CMI. Ask questions and don’t settle for glossy, manufactured answers. Ask about the high turnover in both school directors and teachers. Ask about the status of the non-existent international curriculum (a huge draw for families). Ask about the status of Conscious Discipline. Ask about the increasingly poor test scores. Ask about the rates of bullying in the upper grades and ask about teacher satisfaction. It’s beyond time that something is done about the 3 at the top so that the school can be put on a new and fresh trajectory. The students, staff and families deserve it.

[Anonymous]

So when do things really begin to fall apart? In terms of (1) academics and (2) behavioral issues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So when do things really begin to fall apart? In terms of (1) academics and (2) behavioral issues?

Things at CMI aren't together enough for them to fall apart at a specific grade. It depends on which teachers they have and how well the teachers are able to handle the culture and chaos. The people described in the posts above should not be making decisions about any child's education, whether the child is 3 or 13.

[Anonymous]

All three of my kids went to CMI for PreK and LOVED it (so do we)!!! It feels like family. I feel like my kids are safe and loved. The PreK teachers are outstanding! Many of the teachers have advanced degrees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All three of my kids went to CMI for PreK and LOVED it (so do we)!!! It feels like family. I feel like my kids are safe and loved. The PreK teachers are outstanding! Many of the teachers have advanced degrees.

What grades are they in now at CMI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former CMI parent here -

generally feedback:
- CMI had a cult following from when it opened in 2012 till about 2019. In 2019 MV8 opened its doors and it was an obvious choice for a lot of the CMI current families or families that would have gone there otherwise (similar location, but plus Spanish immersion and DCI feeder ... no brainer).
- The biggest fault of CMI is that its its too "in the middle" -- no immersion, no feeder, sad test scores -- because of this there really isn't a good reason to go there over your DCPS and parents are really forced to take a shot at the lottery every year ... which causes an extreme amount of student turnover.
3. With all of that said, the campus is lovely and you will be completely happy there in prek3/4 .. you will just likely want to lottery out as you age up.

Also a former CMI parent and definitely part of the early cult. All this is true.

This is fascinating, why was it a cult and what went wrong?

In 2008 Dc started offering free prek, With universal free pre-k where was more incentive to stay in the city for longer. DC then had a huge Baby boom (especially in the greater petworth area) where you could still easily afford a 3+ bedroom row house in the 2010s. - but a lot of the DCPS elementary schools, at that time, weren't really considered (by Upper Middle Class) a place you would be willing to send your 3 year old -- (Powell hadn't renovated, John lewis, formally West hadn't renovated, poor test schools etc) .. so charters Boomed. CMI opening in 2012 was the perfect timing for all of those upper middle class families, that would never send their kid to DCPS, but would happily all go to CMI's private school like campus for free. Now, 11 years later.. DCPS has improved greatly, way more better charters have opened, there are early education campuses (like military), and tons of daycares that offer free prek ..... there is literally no good reason to go CMI unless you lose the lottery.

Spot on.

Unfortunate even with the DCPS improvements and other better charters, that area (and most of the city) still have the feeder concerns.

Maybe that can be fixed with Wells for that part of the city?

I'm super unclear on why CMI isn't one of those "better charters"-- I would think having a few years' head start would be an advantage.

The re-enrollment and test score numbers speak for themselves here. But specifically, they had a questionable administration until 2020 who had a heavy focus on special education. They also doubled down on some very very strict covid polices that made a lot of people jump ship in Fall 21.

It wasn’t that she (and let’s be honest,it was the principal who decided) focused on special education. She focused on one type of SE (for her own son) to the detriment of all others. Dyslexics were not supported and several parents of kids with autism were referred out.

Her kid also ran wild throughout the school interrupting other classes.

This is true. Signed parent of a dyslexic kid who left because the “support” was horrible.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the posts here. Last year, my PK3 kiddo learned nothing at CMI and is thriving in PK4 at a DCPS school WOTP.
I have no idea what they did all day, the teacher was clueless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former CMI parent here -

generally feedback:
- CMI had a cult following from when it opened in 2012 till about 2019. In 2019 MV8 opened its doors and it was an obvious choice for a lot of the CMI current families or families that would have gone there otherwise (similar location, but plus Spanish immersion and DCI feeder ... no brainer).
- The biggest fault of CMI is that its its too "in the middle" -- no immersion, no feeder, sad test scores -- because of this there really isn't a good reason to go there over your DCPS and parents are really forced to take a shot at the lottery every year ... which causes an extreme amount of student turnover.
3. With all of that said, the campus is lovely and you will be completely happy there in prek3/4 .. you will just likely want to lottery out as you age up.

Also a former CMI parent and definitely part of the early cult. All this is true.

This is fascinating, why was it a cult and what went wrong?

In 2008 Dc started offering free prek, With universal free pre-k where was more incentive to stay in the city for longer. DC then had a huge Baby boom (especially in the greater petworth area) where you could still easily afford a 3+ bedroom row house in the 2010s. - but a lot of the DCPS elementary schools, at that time, weren't really considered (by Upper Middle Class) a place you would be willing to send your 3 year old -- (Powell hadn't renovated, John lewis, formally West hadn't renovated, poor test schools etc) .. so charters Boomed. CMI opening in 2012 was the perfect timing for all of those upper middle class families, that would never send their kid to DCPS, but would happily all go to CMI's private school like campus for free. Now, 11 years later.. DCPS has improved greatly, way more better charters have opened, there are early education campuses (like military), and tons of daycares that offer free prek ..... there is literally no good reason to go CMI unless you lose the lottery.

Spot on.

Unfortunate even with the DCPS improvements and other better charters, that area (and most of the city) still have the feeder concerns.

Maybe that can be fixed with Wells for that part of the city?

I'm super unclear on why CMI isn't one of those "better charters"-- I would think having a few years' head start would be an advantage.

The re-enrollment and test score numbers speak for themselves here. But specifically, they had a questionable administration until 2020 who had a heavy focus on special education. They also doubled down on some very very strict covid polices that made a lot of people jump ship in Fall 21.

It wasn’t that she (and let’s be honest,it was the principal who decided) focused on special education. She focused on one type of SE (for her own son) to the detriment of all others. Dyslexics were not supported and several parents of kids with autism were referred out.

Her kid also ran wild throughout the school interrupting other classes.

This is true. Signed parent of a dyslexic kid who left because the “support” was horrible.

I hope that you found a good spot somewhere else. We had a good experience getting our dyslexic daughter support at Inspired Teaching.