Reply to Lee 1st Impressions

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Let that issue die folks.  You are responding to something that is several days old, let's move on.[/quote]

It may be a few days old, but I don’t think it’s something your school should take lightly. It seems there's a contingent of parents at the school that are determined to be negative and do so in ways that could potentially hurt Lee.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/410508.page

is definitely on my mind as a parent who is thinking about schools for next year.

It was amazing, and not in a good way, to see an incubator school rag so hard on its host school not even 3 weeks in to its first year in existence. The Presidential visit was not a Lee event, it was an IT event that occurred on IT grounds. It’s unfortunate that Lee closed school early, but that’s really the only reason Lee parents might have had to complain; it looks like from a previous post that was at least in part your administration's decision, and should have been taken up with your principal/staff.

Lee is an untried school, a good part of its cache this past year came from the relationship with Inspired. IT gave Lee an unspoken blessing in agreeing to share space, most folks I know who put IT on their lottery lists also put Lee in part because of that interpretation. There was a moment here for Lee to further that relationship by showing support of IT’s event and cheering for their great opportunity, even if it made an inconvenience for one day, and especially since Lee kids now have a playground right outside their door.

Instead, a number of parents decided to head down the road of negativity, publicly antagonizing the school they’ll share space with for the next 2 years, which makes the parent body seem at best difficult, and not savvy enough to realize that disparaging another organization’s success is not something most people want to be associated with or be around. I think this will tarnish Lee’s image, and I’m sure it’s created a hard situation for your staff, who now have to work on rebuilding your reputation with the public (orgs you could partner with, neighborhoods you might move to) and with potential parents as well as salvaging the relationship with IT. Those are energies that will be diverted from supporting your teachers and students.

A lot of the comments Lee parents made on that thread were mean-spirited and backbiting. While it might seem a small thing, for some parents peer groups are very important. It’s unsettling to consider what kinds of attitudes the kids of those parents may bring to school now and as they get older – apples don’t fall far.

I’m sure there are some fabulous families at Lee, but currently they’re outshown by parents who are focused on the wrong things and seem capable of derailing the future success of the school. One thing that’s very clear in DC is that parents can make or break a school -- it doesn’t matter how great the staff or the building, if the parent community doesn’t have its act together it can sink the boat.

I’ll be honest in saying from what I’ve seen thus far Lee has moved from a top pick to maybe a safety school for our family; however, it’s still early on, hoping the parents can move forward in a positive manner and focus their energies on making Lee a really great school.[/quote]

This is completely overdramatic. One thread on DCUM isn't going to derail the future success of the school. Anyone who drops a school in their rankings based on DCUM needs to have their head examined.[/quote]

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