Anonymous
Post 03/06/2026 10:56     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think it’s interesting that both CMI and TR across the city are on the downswing. I never had a kid at either but I am part of the 2010s cohort where both were considered very positive options for PK. I feel like the intervening years have shown that a PK-8 school cannot succeed if its focus is mainly on happy-happy-joy-joy notions of project based nurturing, unless there is also a core of academic focus.


Yes, I remember those days! I totally agree with you, but would add that TR really struggled administratively with the expansion and operating across three schools. Slow re-opening after Covid was also a factor. And the improvement of DCPS in the area.

Another poster on a different thread pointed out that MV and YY expansion as well as Latin expansion impacted CMI and I suspect TR felt some of this as well. Somehow ITDS is doing okay and I'm not sure why. Maybe because of leadership differences. Maybe because ITDS has pretty real academics to go along with the woo.


ITDS has “teaching” right there in the name and they seem to take the actual delivery of knowledge to children seriously. The other ones just see themselves as SEL/social justice conduits.
Anonymous
Post 03/06/2026 09:08     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
Anonymous wrote:I think it’s interesting that both CMI and TR across the city are on the downswing. I never had a kid at either but I am part of the 2010s cohort where both were considered very positive options for PK. I feel like the intervening years have shown that a PK-8 school cannot succeed if its focus is mainly on happy-happy-joy-joy notions of project based nurturing, unless there is also a core of academic focus.


Yes, I remember those days! I totally agree with you, but would add that TR really struggled administratively with the expansion and operating across three schools. Slow re-opening after Covid was also a factor. And the improvement of DCPS in the area.

Another poster on a different thread pointed out that MV and YY expansion as well as Latin expansion impacted CMI and I suspect TR felt some of this as well. Somehow ITDS is doing okay and I'm not sure why. Maybe because of leadership differences. Maybe because ITDS has pretty real academics to go along with the woo.
Anonymous
Post 03/06/2026 07:20     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
I think it’s interesting that both CMI and TR across the city are on the downswing. I never had a kid at either but I am part of the 2010s cohort where both were considered very positive options for PK. I feel like the intervening years have shown that a PK-8 school cannot succeed if its focus is mainly on happy-happy-joy-joy notions of project based nurturing, unless there is also a core of academic focus.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2026 14:15     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
The board barely meets, had not met since early November. They had a 1 hour and 17 minute meeting in January, where it appears most of the meeting was listening to reports. Not a single action item.
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2026 10:21     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
A few more interesting nuggets from the January CMI board meeting minutes:

New teachers hired for three classes.
Net loss of $824,000 for the fiscal year, ouch.
PCSB projected 10% enrollment decline for CMI's next budget.
Citywide enrollment projected to drop by 5% (!!!)
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 21:57     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
Ahem, based on the other recent CMI thread, I think the shrinking numbers are more due to the poor quality of their education rather than city rates and competition with other schools. If even half of what folks wrote is true, it is a pretty scary picture…
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:31     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
Okay... Latin's pretty hard to get into, not sure how many CMI kids would have enough lottery luck. Mundo Calle Ocho has all its grades now and is no longer taking a lot of new kids. Same with YY. So I could see this being a factor for PK3-K, but not after that. And those preschools are hard to get into, too. So I guess I question how hard they're cutting into CMI's market share.


https://edscape.dc.gov/page/student-enrollment-pathways Scroll down to the second display and you can see a lot more specifics.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:09     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
Anonymous wrote:They took a hit in MS with Latin opening a new campus nearly across the street last year and starting at grade 5; YuYing also opened up 40+ new seats in PK - both schools are right across the property and have strong demand. With the birth rate lower, increased new seats directly in their neighborhood they are going to see shifts to enrollment patterns. Mundo is also near by and opening up more seats.


So what you're saying is those schools are more appealing than CMI, at least to some people.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:02     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
Anonymous wrote:They took a hit in MS with Latin opening a new campus nearly across the street last year and starting at grade 5; YuYing also opened up 40+ new seats in PK - both schools are right across the property and have strong demand. With the birth rate lower, increased new seats directly in their neighborhood they are going to see shifts to enrollment patterns. Mundo is also near by and opening up more seats.


You seem knowledgeable. What is CMI going to do to balance their budget? How do they avoid having a disproportionately high occupancy cost?
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 19:55     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
They took a hit in MS with Latin opening a new campus nearly across the street last year and starting at grade 5; YuYing also opened up 40+ new seats in PK - both schools are right across the property and have strong demand. With the birth rate lower, increased new seats directly in their neighborhood they are going to see shifts to enrollment patterns. Mundo is also near by and opening up more seats.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 17:52     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:bump. What's going on?


Birth rate is declining. Also isn’t there a net population loss post pandemic and post changes to federal agencies and federal policies?


Yes, but CMI's enrollment decline has been going on since the high point of 587 in school year 22-23. And plenty of schools are not experiencing a decline.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 17:51     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
Anonymous wrote:bump. What's going on?


Birth rate is declining. Also isn’t there a net population loss post pandemic and post changes to federal agencies and federal policies?
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 17:36     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
People are realizing that there are better options. It's too bad that cmi isn't good at education, because it does have a nice building and grounds.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 17:34     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
bump. What's going on?
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 12:18     Subject: CMI update: enrollment down to 445 (was 528 last year)
CMI finally got their October and November board meeting minutes up. So much transparency!

The interesting part is that enrollment for the current year is 445. Down from 528 last year, 580 the year before that. They seem to have balanced their budget with staffing cuts but still, not good.