The only thing I've heard about the CMI that raises red flags is that they're quick to place a child on an IEP. I have a friend who transferred her child out and the new school questioned why the kid was on one at all.

Good memories what exactly? Why’d you leave?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, where are all the “my child has blossomed” CMI parents?

Focused on our kids. Why don’t you find some enrichment activity for your kid instead of gleefully seeking the downfall of a school.

This x 1000.

Even though we left this summer, we are not happy to see the downfall of our school. We have good memories for 5 years and believe CMI will overcome these growing pains.

Former family, also have mostly good memories.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, where are all the “my child has blossomed” CMI parents?

Focused on our kids. Why don’t you find some enrichment activity for your kid instead of gleefully seeking the downfall of a school.

This x 1000.

Even though we left this summer, we are not happy to see the downfall of our school. We have good memories for 5 years and believe CMI will overcome these growing pains.

Anonymous wrote:So, where are all the “my child has blossomed” CMI parents?

Focused on our kids. Why don’t you find some enrichment activity for your kid instead of gleefully seeking the downfall of a school.

So, where are all the “my child has blossomed” CMI parents?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I’d definitely start by investigating how much the multiple executive staff members get paid, and the consultants, and then how much they’re paying in severance to the various leaders they had to fire. Turnover is so expensive for an organization even when the employees are low paid and not entitled to any severance... think how much time the school has to invest in hiring and training and retraining. Also when a bunch of admin left in the fall they replaced them with consultants. That’s so much more expensive than a salary position

You can look these up on the 990s. The Head of School in 15-16 made just under 150k. That's not obscene.

For a competent ED this salary would not be obscene.

How much in 17-18?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I’d definitely start by investigating how much the multiple executive staff members get paid, and the consultants, and then how much they’re paying in severance to the various leaders they had to fire. Turnover is so expensive for an organization even when the employees are low paid and not entitled to any severance... think how much time the school has to invest in hiring and training and retraining. Also when a bunch of admin left in the fall they replaced them with consultants. That’s so much more expensive than a salary position

You can look these up on the 990s. The Head of School in 15-16 made just under 150k. That's not obscene.

For a competent ED this salary would not be obscene.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I’d definitely start by investigating how much the multiple executive staff members get paid, and the consultants, and then how much they’re paying in severance to the various leaders they had to fire. Turnover is so expensive for an organization even when the employees are low paid and not entitled to any severance... think how much time the school has to invest in hiring and training and retraining. Also when a bunch of admin left in the fall they replaced them with consultants. That’s so much more expensive than a salary position

This. And how cozy their relationship with the consultants. What a racket.

Paid Floortime 225k in 15-16

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I’d definitely start by investigating how much the multiple executive staff members get paid, and the consultants, and then how much they’re paying in severance to the various leaders they had to fire. Turnover is so expensive for an organization even when the employees are low paid and not entitled to any severance... think how much time the school has to invest in hiring and training and retraining. Also when a bunch of admin left in the fall they replaced them with consultants. That’s so much more expensive than a salary position

You can look these up on the 990s. The Head of School in 15-16 made just under 150k. That's not obscene.

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I’d definitely start by investigating how much the multiple executive staff members get paid, and the consultants, and then how much they’re paying in severance to the various leaders they had to fire. Turnover is so expensive for an organization even when the employees are low paid and not entitled to any severance... think how much time the school has to invest in hiring and training and retraining. Also when a bunch of admin left in the fall they replaced them with consultants. That’s so much more expensive than a salary position

This. And how cozy their relationship with the consultants. What a racket.

Yeah, I’d definitely start by investigating how much the multiple executive staff members get paid, and the consultants, and then how much they’re paying in severance to the various leaders they had to fire. Turnover is so expensive for an organization even when the employees are low paid and not entitled to any severance... think how much time the school has to invest in hiring and training and retraining. Also when a bunch of admin left in the fall they replaced them with consultants. That’s so much more expensive than a salary position

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CMI reaching 8th grade this year should help the finances, e.g., the specials teachers for upper elementary and middle only taught up to 7th grade last year but will teach up to 8th grade this year. Additionally, this year begins the graduation of grades with only 2 classes and the grades with 3 classes will soon begin reaching upper elementary and then middle which should also help financially.

If I’m not mistaken, ITS has the same model and just getting to some middle grades with two classes per grade. I don’t recal if their financials were ever as dire. They also pay their teachers significantly more. I’m at a loss figuring out CMI.

Director's car?

I cannot believe I just read 13 pages. What a waste on so many levels, starting with my time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Floor-time and services aimed towards autism spectrum students may be a compelling need, but
how many such students are there really at CMI, 10-15 percent?

Impossible to know. 28% of students have IEPs but all we know is the bands of service hours they qualify for (e.g. 67% of all the CMI students with IEPs are level 1, so less than 10 hours per week).

And there are no independent, peer reviewed studies showing floortime is necessarily more effective than other interventions.

If CMI wants to tout its commitment to students with SN, they should follow Bridges and go through the process to create a SN preference for the lottery.

Are you sure? I thought this was their whole schtick.

Yes that is the intervention that CMI has built their program around. However, to date, there are NO independent studies of the Floortime program (e.g. peer-reviewed, published literature) and health insurance won't reimburse for it. Floortime with give you anecdotal data that they've compiled into reports, and many parents swear by it.

That’s because it’s similar to a cult. But it only works for one type of kid. If you are at CMI and your child has other needs, well - best of luck.

There’s more to it than that, but it isn’t an academic intervention. It is designed to help improve social engagement and joint attention — critical skills for children with autism. But if, for example, your child has dyslexia, dyscalculia, a speech disorder unrelated to autism, it won’t help one bit.

And that is why some CMI parents swear by it for their SN kids and others are bitterly disappointed.

and adhd? Perhaps that is why it works so well for my friend's son. They are well into elementary and very happy.

And it's not a magic elixir for ASD kids. Not by a long shot, and the school lacks depth to deliver services and coherent SPED interventions in house. The school's chaotic and dysfunctional environment as a whole can be really difficult for ASD/ADHD kids, both socially and academically. My ASD/ADHD DD is happier now that she's in a traditional DCPS school than she ever was at CMI and is making rapid social and academic progress after years of stalling out and declining, all the while being told by a revolving door of staff at CMI that she was the problem and this was as good as she'd ever be able to do and we should count ourselves lucky to be there. I strongly discourage other ASD parents from the school now; we wasted so much time and energy. And we were there for a long time.