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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. Inside of DC's classroom is great, the teachers are highly trained, innovative and committed professionals.  However, the school administration and 1/2 of the families are a mess. No clear direction for the school, denial about dysfunctional processes, and too many parents satisfied with the status quo. I guess I drank the Kool-Aid but after 3 years I do not see any hope of improvement on the horizon. [/quote]

If inside my child's classroom is great, the teachers are super, and the child is happy and learning, then I personally wouldn't mind as much about administrative challenges - or would be motivated to get involved and figure out how to work with them. But my own priority is feeling like my kid is having a good experience. Of course, I don't know what kind of dysfunction you mean and how it might impact your kid down the line. [/quote]
As someone dealing with something similar, you may have missed the "1/2 of the families are a mess" line. It may sound terrible to outsiders, but when you have to deal with it in person it is a challenge. It means that you cannot have an effective PTA to support the school. It means that half the kids are unprepared every day, which means that the quality of instruction your DC receives suffers as a result. It increases the daily struggle significantly and it means a lot more than people recognize. And when that is the situation you are faced with, the only outcome you can control is to leave. We are going to do it too.[/quote]

1/2 of the families are a mess can mean:  
Your child will be exposed to an increase in aggressive behavior (seen siblings beat the crap out of each other while the mom sat there and said nothing) or K student being sucker punched by a peer
daily fights - this is happening at a Tier 1 charter MS as the "Scholars" are figuring out the new social order

If you have a child who can tune it out - great.  But why - if given the option would you put your child in the environment daily?  [/quote]

It depends how bad it is and how the administration is working to fix it.

We had some negative behavior (class disruption, pushing, hitting) in our elementary school last year.  The principal was on it and made some pretty notable staffing changes.  A couple of teachers are gone and there's now a new dean of students who works both directly with the students and with teachers on classroom management.  So far this year it's been much better.

Why would I do that?  My kids will learn to be resilient and not give up / run at the first sign of trouble.  And I have no idea what kind of problems are beneath the surface at whatever new school I could choose and I don't know if the principal and teachers will be as open to working on the issues.[/quote]

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