Anonymous wrote:I heard a lot of teachers/staff are leaving this year. Is that true? If so, why?

Our art teacher and librarian left mid-year last year but both positions have been filled. I know that at least one of the kindergarten teachers is leaving, though I don't know which one or why because it hasn't been publicly announced yet. There may be some departures in the upper grades as well, though I have not heard specifically who, when or why.

As for the general "why", any time a school administration changes, there is going to be teacher turnover. Some staff are always attached to the previous administration. Some staff who had neutral feelings about the previous administration will dislike any changes made by the new administration (which is what happened with our librarian) and will leave as a result. We got a new principal this time last year. Teachers' contracts for the year were already in place. I appreciate the teachers who finished out the year rather than leaving the kids in the lurch mid-year.

I will say that the school culture at Cooke this past year under the new administration has been very different than it was the year before. There has been increased focus on rules - a discipline policy put in place, uniform policy enforced, etc. I can understand how people who appreciated the more lax "community" environment from years past might have disliked that, while people who felt that the previous environment was chaotic and not conducive to educating kids would be relieved at the changes.

Anonymous wrote:I heard a lot of teachers/staff are leaving this year. Is that true? If so, why?

I haven't heard who is leaving so can't say whether that rumor is true. But in general I would expect high turnover in any school after a principal's first year, especially at a school like Cooke where the prior principal did not leave by choice. The new principal has a clear mandate to improve the school in a way that the last principal simply did not care about.

I heard a lot of teachers/staff are leaving this year. Is that true? If so, why?

If you would like to speak with parents of upper grade children, please contact the school/PTO. I haven't seen any current parents of children older than kindergarten next year (and I think I'm the only one) posting on this board. Maybe they read and simply do not post, I don't know.

If you have questions about early childhood education or the school culture more generally, I'm happy to answer any questions you have. If you reach out to the PTO, we can put you in touch with someone from the upper grades.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are IB and send our child there. We like the shook a lot, and next year there will be even more IB families. Happy to answer questions.

What grade are your child and these other IB families' children in? We've heard positive comments from PK3 and PK4 parents, but have yet to meet any K or 1st grade families who are IB.

There are a lot of in boundary families in every grade. The boundary is very diverse, so if you are asking about middle-income families, that is a different question. There is no doubt that at Cooke and many other schools, there are greater concentrations of middle-income families in the lower grades.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are IB and send our child there. We like the shook a lot, and next year there will be even more IB families. Happy to answer questions.

What grade are your child and these other IB families' children in? We've heard positive comments from PK3 and PK4 parents, but have yet to meet any K or 1st grade families who are IB.

41% of the school is IB. You can't have been trying to hard to find one.

Anonymous wrote:We are IB and send our child there. We like the shook a lot, and next year there will be even more IB families. Happy to answer questions.

What grade are your child and these other IB families' children in? We've heard positive comments from PK3 and PK4 parents, but have yet to meet any K or 1st grade families who are IB.

Anonymous wrote:What middle school is associated with it?

It feeds into Lincoln Middle School, at CHEC. If you do not want to go to CHEC because of their lack of English-only track, your other option is Cardozo.

What middle school is associated with it?

We are IB and send our child there. We like the shook a lot, and next year there will be even more IB families. Happy to answer questions.

Thanks!!

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/466907.page#6854810

Two informative comments in this thread.

Here is a lengthy thread asking the same question.


http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/451885.page#6963586

If you have kids there do you like it? If you live IB do you send your kids there?