Reply to What's it like to be in a new charter school in its first year?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. Thank you SO much for the considered replies. Some of these describe issues that never would have occurred to me at all. DC will only be three years old, but I'm not sure I'll have the mental or emotional energy to deal with such roller-coaster things this fall, given that I'll probably be in a new job and also have other stressful things on my plate.

To 12:37, I'd love to hear more about how the issues were different at your "under-enrolled, dilapidated, and somewhat under-invested DCPS" school. That describes our other choice, except for the under-enrolled part.

Someone brought up the taxing aspects of dealing with other parents, too, which is one of the things that hadn't occurred to me. I guess it would be a very different set of parents at a charter school vs. a DCPS school. One perhaps TOO involved and assertive and opinionated, and the other perhaps not involved enough?[/quote]

Sorry, not checking regularly. I'm 12:37, how posted on the first page regarding our comparative experience in both a first year charter (not DC) and a DCPS, returning to answer your follow-up question. I'll try to use similar bullets as I did further up:

- Leadership: While maybe less passionate and outgoing, the principal obviously worked on an established timeline, knew when it was time to recruit, time to discuss the budget, time to prepare for tests, time to evaluate teachers etc. While the school hadn't been very active, there were a number of pre-established school events (back to school night, fall festival, various competitions). It wasn't a matter to reinvent everything from scratch but to tweak, add, and subtract. To give you some examples, new parents weren't crazy about the beauty pageant, so no one craved to hold on to it. On the other hand, there weren't any visible fundraisers, so an existing event was tweaked to turn it into one. The principal, although in a bit of a learning curve regarding parental involvement, had established channels to simply up the ante on various fronts. New initiatives, such as a school newsletter could be tacked on to existing ones, such as the principals newsletter.
- Parents: Maybe due to the nature of public schools, the new parents, even those with first-borns in the system, were relaxed about their experience. Just as someone mentioned regarding first-year charters, they knew it wasn't perfect and were willing to put up with some of it. But maybe by contrast, those who threw themselves into the mix didn't first have to sort out very basic things (such as whether to cut grapes or not) because there were established standard-operating procedures. For better, not only for worse, procedures bring quick closures to non-essential discussions. Open a manual, as downtown, and that's the extent of it. The involved kind could then direct their energy to more essential questions on how to get playground equipment updated, lobby for a renovation plan, recruit new parents, establish a culture of involvement at all levels. None of that was a walk in the park but I found more rewarding, less studded with set-backs and empty loops. Also, I feel that I actually had something to say. My voice wasn't drowned out because frankly there just weren't that many of us and for the above reasons not whinging about parking spaces and goldfish.
- Organization: The focus didn't need to be on building an organization nor on the building per se, although a many later spent long waking hours helping plan a school renovation, but on filling in what was in place, re-appointing and broadening PTA involvement, unearthing LSAT participation, increasing the frequency of communications. While some administrative procedures seemed unbearable, at least they were in place. No need to hire and train all new staff and worry about burn-out. Instead, the focus could be placed on checking on those in the building and making adjustments as needed. We were fortunate to have mostly great teachers already, some very traditional ones but great and open to adapting and trying out new ways so long as they fit in with their practices. Since not everybody started anew, there was a lot of diversity among the staff regarding age, experience, background. While I didn't connect with all of them, I always found someone I connected with. While I do think we had some downright ineffective teachers (and to this day tests scores to prove it), they quickly left and there was never a safety concern, the same way I had experienced it our new charter.  
- Contrary to our new charter, where a flashy curriculum lacked bones and follow-through, our DCPS seemed to have none, which was a little unsettling at first. But I quickly realized that a lot was solidly in place, it just didn't have a name, which I thought was a little easier to solve. In naming and advertising things, we could then focus on some of the disconnect and gaps, rather than feeling we had to help build every single thing from scratch. In all, I felt like discussions were directed at improving and complementing not constantly rethinking the whole of it. This made for a lot of steady continuity. Still not perfect, with ample opportunity to sit back and relax a little.
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