Reply to Creative Minds Families - thoughts, comments?

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[quote=Anonymous]Hi OP, I'm a third year CMI parent and my kids will be returning in the fall. We have been really happy there, and I'm actually really optimistic about the positive changes the school is making.  You may have heard the founder/principal left and we've had an interim principal this year.  He has just been named the permanent principal (Executive Director) after an extensive search process with lots of parent/staff input and he's great.  He sees the areas where the school needs to grow and has plans for how to strategically work on improving the most critical areas first and then moving to the next areas.  The school is also working on a strategic plan for the next 3 years or so, led by the Board and an outside firm.

Our PK3 experiences have been awesome.  I'm crazy about my preschooler's teaching team.  They are so warm and patient and nurturing and excited about helping 3 year olds learn in a way that's fun.  My favorite parts about the school are the families, the warm community feel, and the wonderful playground/outdoor space.  I love the monthly parent coffees in the lobby.  We do monthly teacher appreciation activities.

Breakfast is provided and we buy lunch, which I think is provided by the Stokes cafeteria.  My child has a food allergy and receives a special allergen-free meal every day.  My kids seem to really like the food.  We also do aftercare, which has been mostly pretty good.  I like that my younger kids get to stay in small classroom-sized groups and aren't mixed in with older kids with hardly any teachers, and it has been a nice way to get to spend time with kids in other classes.  They have clubs in aftercare, which is a nice way for the kids to get to do dance or yoga once a week (different ones most days).  There are 2 recesses per day for the younger kids, plus one more in aftercare.

We had a Math Night and a Literacy Night this year, which was actually really fun.  There were math themed and literacy themed games and activities that were really creative.  We had a movie night where the kids watched a recent movie in one room and parents could get away to socialize in another room.  These types of events are really nice and have been a great way to get to know the families of my kids' friends and classmates.  The auction in the spring is fun, although was cancelled this year due to the pandemic.  It's a nice community.

The school certainly has issues it's working on, but the Board, the administration, the staff, and parents are all working on them in a way I haven't seen in the prior 2 years we've been there.  They have significantly improved transparency and it's helping.  I'm always shocked by the CMI bashers on DCUM because it's really not the experience we've had and most other families I know have had.  I'm concerned about test scores as much as anyone, but I think they will improve over the next couple of years and CMI is awesome for early childhood.

Happy to have you join us in the fall!

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