Reply to Shepherd vs. ITS

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here — thank you all so much for these responses. This has been an incredibly helpful set of perspectives.  This is leaving me feeling much more settled about the decision, should we be faced with one in the fall. Guess I’ll start hunting down good deals on white shirts and blue bottoms! Go Mustangs![/quote]

Please don’t just rely on this list. There are plenty of boosters on this thread who talk and talk about how great Shepherd is and maybe it really IS for their children. But there are plenty of us who live here and didn’t continue past a year. There are teachers who are great and others who will never leave no matter how many parents find their poor demeanor the antithesis of what teachers are supposed to be. And sure, you might get that at another neighborhood school too. But not at a place like ITS. Excellence in teaching is their core focus. Again, talk to your neighbors....please! Ask them their experience. And don’t discount what they say, or DON’T say, like I did. Looking back, there were signs I shouldn’t have sent my child there and I wish I would have listened. Walking to school is my more important than having a welcoming and loving school environment, each and every day. [/quote]

NP here. This is a very real problem. There's a reason so many of our neighbors tried Shepherd and left. We're IB for Shepherd and have to make the choice between Shepherd and a HRC for the Fall too. We have a few weeks left until May 1 and we're torn. The commute would be an issue, and it's nice to have closer ties with neighborhood classmates. It's just not the same at charters where the classmates are all over the city.

There are benefits to walking to school, having school friends in the neighborhood, and being close by for volunteering, PTA meetings, etc. But Shepherd is NOT a progressive school and employs many out of date practices that are in direct conflict with accepted socio emotional practices. There are some bad teachers and the leadership does little to fix this situation. The bad teachers love the principal because she just leaves them alone. They know the principal blindly supports them even when multiple parents provide evidence of their performance issues. There's too much homework. The leadership doesn't welcome input from parents. It's a shame because Shepherd could be such a great school, but there's been a long history of ineffective principals.

That said, Shepherd just got approval for a new Vice Principal position and the benefits of the neighborhood school are still there. It's just that Shepherd isn't even close to operating on the same level as many of the other Deal/Wilson feeders and the current Principal isn't on the path to get us there.

We'll probably stick with Shepherd and try to be a part of the positive change. It's just very difficult to make headway when the leadership won't work with us and some booster parents are working against us by claiming everything is already great.[/quote]

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