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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am the PP nurse. I never worry about bills.  I make a helluva lot of money.

What planet do people around here live on that 100K is not an amazing amount of money??[/quote]

The ones that live in CC and Potomac, drive expensive cars, and belong to country clubs. Warped sense of reality. I know as my husband is a native and one of them (thinks $370K gross for us is "poor")

Parents we have met so far have been down to earth and nice. Getting to know them has been great. I've found the communication from the school to be good, I get things (art work, communications from the school) sent home every day, and my kid has really enjoyed the immersion program. [quote]I find it really interesting that people have had a negative experience since I haven't talked to one parent who has, not that it doesn't happen of course. Just not to anyone I know. [/quote][/quote]

In my experience, a lot of us were thinking the same thing but didn't want to be the complainer at birthday parties, etc.  Once people started hinting at stuff, the floodgates opened and there are a lot of people with similar complaints.  It's not a bad experience, per se.  Just an overall underwhelming experience when it comes to community involvement.  I mean, did anyone notice that they did not advertise the Columbus Day open house at all?  It wasn't on the school calendar, no flyer came home, and they didn't put it into the weekly email until the night before.  The longer you stay at OTES the longer you realize that they don't want parents involved.  To many parents that's absolutely fine or even preferable, but I hoped for a little more.

[/quote]

DP, not new to OTES, and this year is the first they haven't publicized the Open House more widely.  I thought it was a little unusual, but [b]otherwise NBD.
[/b]
I don't have the feeling they don't want parents involved.  They may be sensitive to which groups of parents (usually the higher educated, often white but not always families) have the bandwidth to be involved and not want them to take over.  That dynamic happens in other schools and is a tough one.  Also, I am fine with parent involvement but I have *zero* interest in pushy parents running the show.  I've seen that at friends' schools and it's appalling.  I'd prefer the administration keep all parents slightly at arms' length than bend over backwards to meet the demands of the loud ones.  It's a much harder balance to strike than many people realize.[/quote]

[b]It's a big deal to families who missed it because it's their first year in MCPS and they work on Columbus Day[/b] (which is most people except those who work for the Government.)

The point is well taken that it's a hard balance to strike when it comes to overly pushy/controlling parents with too much time on their hands.  I also know that teachers/administration have enough to do on a daily basis without figuring this stuff out.  But I do feel disappointed that the infrastructure isn't there to get good volunteers in.  I went to the first PTA meeting and there was literally nothing to do or sign up for, except a vague offer to help with International Night in the spring (but no explanation of what International Night is for first year parents.)  The entire meeting was an hour long presentation by the principal on the new Special Ed. program that was thrust upon the school.

I know it's a hard balance in general, and I know that no matter where you go there will be pushy complainers.  But I also think that it's valid to respectfully want more involvement in your child's school (something that most teachers complain parents don't do enough of!).  I already know of one family who left after a year because of the lack of communication from the school. [/quote]

I get that.

As for the rest, I sincerely hope you're conveying your (reasonable) constructive feedback to the PTA.  It does no good to complain on these kinds of forums and nothing IRL.  I mean, if the principal didn't present on the new Special Education program, which is a big deal, parents would complain about not getting any information about it.  Run for PTA positions in the future, and do it differently.  We've already had a few events this year: the picnic, and the K-2 social.  We went to the former but not the latter and had a great time.  What I've found is that you need to build your community at the school; as we've reached out to other families, we've gotten to know them better and we feel more connected.  I'm sure some schools do more of that proactive connecting and for better and worse, OTES isn't one of them.  To me, the benefits outweigh that potential drawback, but I also get that other parents feel differently.

Anyone who would leave OTES after one year because of lack of communication probably needs more hand-holding than any public school can provide.  There may be pushy complainers everywhere, but many schools in this area have WAY more than OTES.[/quote]

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