Mundo Verde parents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MV outdoor space should be completed by the fall. Yes, MV offers 2 summer camps sessions. Each session is 2 weeks (4 weeks total).

Outdoor space does NOT consist of a playground

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the topic at hand, can any MV parents chime in on the expanded spots due to a budget shortfall?

They are filling up all the spaces in the same way that most charters do when they have more space. It won't create an oversized class in the long-term; it is just making the school the size it will be now instead of next year. Seems like a good plan, and to do otherwise would shortchange everyone by having the whole school pay the price for leaving seats empty.

They are not leaving seats empty. They are creating new seats they hadn't anticipated for financial reasons.

Every time there is a bump in space, there is a bump in real estate costs and a bump in available spaces. If the school can accommodate 500 students, then they are paying for real estate for 500 students. Thus, they need to fill all 500 spaces. Anything less is sunk real estate costs, which as you know are expensive here. The new building will be open, so they need to fill it. They had not announced how they were going to do that for next year, but they have always discussed filling the spaces as soon as the space became open. Go back and look at all the materials from the past couple years if you don't believe me. This to me seems like the best way to do it, as they have the ability to do it without creating an extra large grade as yu ying did or adding classes in upper grades, which has proven more difficult in the past.

This is not a result of budget cuts. The budget cuts are causing other changes, however, such as the restructuring of the administration by cutting Topaz's position.

The new building will house the 6 PreK classes this year. Next year it will also house the K classes as well. The $15M they are using for renovations is deducted from their lease. So for the next approx. 15 years they will not have a lease to pay...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From my understanding, they were going to fill those seats in K during SY17-18; now they are filling them a year early, in PK, which makes sense from an immersion standpoint. What I don't totally understand is how the teacher-hiring process will work. Do you hire 4 extra teachers for the additional 2 PK classes in SY 15-16, then move those teachers to K the next year? Or just hire those teachers for a single year since K already has 4 teams of teachers and fellows. Anyway, I think the move makes a lot of sense even if it was done out of financial necessity. On another subject, why aren't more of us talking about how horrible Muriel Bowser is for screwing over so many kids? A similar scramble to deal with a reduced budget is occurring at our IB DCPS as well.

From my understanding they will be giving internal people "promotions" to fill the teacher vacancies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my understanding, they were going to fill those seats in K during SY17-18; now they are filling them a year early, in PK, which makes sense from an immersion standpoint. What I don't totally understand is how the teacher-hiring process will work. Do you hire 4 extra teachers for the additional 2 PK classes in SY 15-16, then move those teachers to K the next year? Or just hire those teachers for a single year since K already has 4 teams of teachers and fellows. Anyway, I think the move makes a lot of sense even if it was done out of financial necessity. On another subject, why aren't more of us talking about how horrible Muriel Bowser is for screwing over so many kids? A similar scramble to deal with a reduced budget is occurring at our IB DCPS as well.

From my understanding they will be giving internal people "promotions" to fill the teacher vacancies

That sounds very appropriate considering the cadre of current fellows and associates that have acquired strong experience in their current roles and are familiar with MV mission and curriculum, and most importantly with the needs of the students and families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my understanding, they were going to fill those seats in K during SY17-18; now they are filling them a year early, in PK, which makes sense from an immersion standpoint. What I don't totally understand is how the teacher-hiring process will work. Do you hire 4 extra teachers for the additional 2 PK classes in SY 15-16, then move those teachers to K the next year? Or just hire those teachers for a single year since K already has 4 teams of teachers and fellows. Anyway, I think the move makes a lot of sense even if it was done out of financial necessity. On another subject, why aren't more of us talking about how horrible Muriel Bowser is for screwing over so many kids? A similar scramble to deal with a reduced budget is occurring at our IB DCPS as well.

From my understanding they will be giving internal people "promotions" to fill the teacher vacancies

That sounds very appropriate considering the cadre of current fellows and associates that have acquired strong experience in their current roles and are familiar with MV mission and curriculum, and most importantly with the needs of the students and families.

No horse in this race, but jeez! You should work in their PR and communication office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my understanding, they were going to fill those seats in K during SY17-18; now they are filling them a year early, in PK, which makes sense from an immersion standpoint. What I don't totally understand is how the teacher-hiring process will work. Do you hire 4 extra teachers for the additional 2 PK classes in SY 15-16, then move those teachers to K the next year? Or just hire those teachers for a single year since K already has 4 teams of teachers and fellows. Anyway, I think the move makes a lot of sense even if it was done out of financial necessity. On another subject, why aren't more of us talking about how horrible Muriel Bowser is for screwing over so many kids? A similar scramble to deal with a reduced budget is occurring at our IB DCPS as well.

From my understanding they will be giving internal people "promotions" to fill the teacher vacancies

That sounds very appropriate considering the cadre of current fellows and associates that have acquired strong experience in their current roles and are familiar with MV mission and curriculum, and most importantly with the needs of the students and families.

No horse in this race, but jeez! You should work in their PR and communication office.

No, I don't work for MV, but as a parent of an MV student, I feel confident with the quality of instruction and support that DC receives from both her teacher and the fellow teacher. So, I am hoping they do promote from within for the reasons explained above.

[Anonymous]

They historically have hired from within whenever possible. Their fellows are actually generally pretty well qualified, so many become great teachers in their own right after a year or two under a different lead. But there are generally some new teachers too who sometimes come in with a bang. The first grade cadre this year has great examples of both types of hires.

[Anonymous]

I'm still trying to understand all this. So the class sizes will go from what to what? 22 to 24? To absorb 44 new students it seems like the class sizes starting in K next year will be substantially larger...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm still trying to understand all this. So the class sizes will go from what to what? 22 to 24? To absorb 44 new students it seems like the class sizes starting in K next year will be substantially larger...

The class sizes for grades 2 and under are not changing, nor are they projected to. Normally the 44 additional students in the two new classes would be added in kindergarten. This year they won't be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm still trying to understand all this. So the class sizes will go from what to what? 22 to 24? To absorb 44 new students it seems like the class sizes starting in K next year will be substantially larger...

The class sizes for grades 2 and under are not changing, nor are they projected to. Normally the 44 additional students in the two new classes would be added in kindergarten. This year they won't be.

.

So what happens above grade 2?

[Anonymous]

I would LOVE if we could keep our first grade teachers for second grade. They have been fantastic this year. What are the odds?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm still trying to understand all this. So the class sizes will go from what to what? 22 to 24? To absorb 44 new students it seems like the class sizes starting in K next year will be substantially larger...

The class sizes for grades 2 and under are not changing, nor are they projected to. Normally the 44 additional students in the two new classes would be added in kindergarten. This year they won't be.

.

So what happens above grade 2?

The memo on the other mv thread explains. For 3rd, it is 24 kids per class with either two main teachers (a regular main teacher and a special Ed lead) or a teacher and a fellow). This makes a lot of sense given the unique situation in that cohort, and I wouldn't count on this being a permanent change. The fourth grade will have 20 kids per class with a lead teacher and one shared fellow. As this is the first year we have had fourth, I'm not sure if this was always the plan or not. My guess would be yes given how other grades have been structured.

[Anonymous]

CMI has a summer program that runs for four weeks and they teach IPC units, a continuation of the regular curriculum, and there is a reading block and a math block each day. It is only open to current students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would LOVE if we could keep our first grade teachers for second grade. They have been fantastic this year. What are the odds?

Probably low that we would keep them all, but maybe one per class. I would bet serious money that at least one if not more of the fellows were leads next year. They are some pretty incredible teachers in first grade. I try to remind myself that we have had others that we have loved just as much and bond that we haven't really liked.

[Anonymous]

None that we haven't liked and thought were very good.