Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

Wow an emergency town hall!!!

Can someone please describe the contents of the secret meeting? I couldn’t attend.

Someone sent out very detailed notes by email. If you were a CMI parent you would have gotten them.

To the people who say this is all Golnar’s fault: what do you mean? I have kids at CMI, have been there since the old building, and I have not had any problems with her. Granted I haven’t interacted with her all that much but I find all the bashing very opaque, vague, and mysterious.

I find the secrecy about the town hall meeting very strange given that this is a public school and parents who were deciding where to lottery have an interest in knowing what's going on at the school. Even the timing of the town hall, so that lottery lists functionally had to be fixed before any information could leak out...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

Wow an emergency town hall!!!

Can someone please describe the contents of the secret meeting? I couldn’t attend.

Someone sent out very detailed notes by email. If you were a CMI parent you would have gotten them.

To the people who say this is all Golnar’s fault: what do you mean? I have kids at CMI, have been there since the old building, and I have not had any problems with her. Granted I haven’t interacted with her all that much but I find all the bashing very opaque, vague, and mysterious.

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

Wow an emergency town hall!!!

Can someone please describe the contents of the secret meeting? I couldn’t attend.

Actually, the head of the school is acting like she is running a private school and that she can just do whatever she wants without any public accountability. CMI is a public School -it is not her private corporation.

If you want the perfect school environment, then send your kids to private schools.

Former CMI parent here -the head of school needs to go and then CMI can move forward. The school will continue to lose support if the Board does not find a new leader for the school. It may not seem like a big deal while your kids are only in PreK, but it is a really big deal as you begin to move through elementary school.

Anonymous wrote:Former CMI parent here, the issues stem from leadership. Staff who leave stay in teaching, but are not able to work for the head of school.

Many parents who leave do so because there is no place for them in the mandatory system the head of school creates.

CMI is for sheep who quietly follow whatever they are told.

What mandatory system?

Former CMI parent here, the issues stem from leadership. Staff who leave stay in teaching, but are not able to work for the head of school.

Many parents who leave do so because there is no place for them in the mandatory system the head of school creates.

CMI is for sheep who quietly follow whatever they are told.

ITS started a year ahead of CMI but had more grades to start with so while ITS had an 8th grade in 2016, CMI is expanding to 8th next year. CMI is feeling the pains of their rapid growth but I think things will start settling down as the school is addressing retention issues and the rate of growth slows down.

I think CMI opened the same year or close to ITS and I've always compared them since they have same grades served and small(ish) community. Here are ITS's openings. Only one middle school science teacher opening. The rest are support. I wonder if CMI and ITS can learn from each other. Particularly in the middle school space. I know ITS pays their teachers more. I always had reservations with CMI claiming their niche was going to be small classrooms. Doesn't seem financially sustainable.

http://www.inspiredteachingschool.org/who-we-are/employment-opportunities/#openings-list

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

OP here, this, to me, is not drama and histrionics. This is a real problem. And it isn't the first time such departures have happened mid-year. But my original question was answered, the DCPCB won't do anything. It is up to the board.

Agreed. SEVEN teachers MID-year??? What??? This isn't a particularly large school. That's like 10%+ of the teachers in the school, no?

Anonymous wrote:A part-time garden coordinator? A human resources manager?

These are very unusual positions for a school of this size. Raises even more questions

The sky is falling! LOL. I liked to garden, I should apply.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

OP here, this, to me, is not drama and histrionics. This is a real problem. And it isn't the first time such departures have happened mid-year. But my original question was answered, the DCPCB won't do anything. It is up to the board.

CMI parent here. The administration has acknowledged the high staff turnover this year and admit that there were a lot of challenges as the school grew a lot (and too quickly IMO). The staff were spread thin. The school is currently and continuously addressing the issues. The board is also aware of the issues. CMI is not a horrible school as some folks pictures it to be. I know other schools have faced similar issues. It may take a bit of time but I trust the things will eventually resolve itself. CMI is a wonderful school despite all the unpleasant things you read here on DCUM. Families may have a different experience at the school but personally, my kids are still happy and thriving. If eventually, we feel like things are not improving despite all the things that the administration is doing, we will definitely look into moving, otherwise, we are happy to stay.

Anonymous wrote:I went to the emergency town hall on staff retention at Cmi last night. Just this school year — in the middle of the school year— they lost 7 teachers and 6 administrators. The teachers at CMI are mostly great (except the ps 3 teacher who was too new and frazzled to handle a horrible mix of rowdy kids). The problem, however is the school’s founder/Director. Until she leaves, all the hr consultants in the world won’t make a difference. She is cold and toxic. That said, cmi is not a horrible school.. it’s going through growing pains and it’s showing big time. They need support and help. I’m confident that it can live up to its own standards again when the founder leaves .

OP here, this, to me, is not drama and histrionics. This is a real problem. And it isn't the first time such departures have happened mid-year. But my original question was answered, the DCPCB won't do anything. It is up to the board.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What precipitated an emergency town hall?

CMI parents are sworn to secrecy and promised not to tell......

In all seriousness, I have a friend who was a teacher - the founder needs to go BUT ......... Founders get to make their own rules.

NP: Not if the Board fulfills their legal and ethical obligations.