I wonder if getting the Executive Director out of the building helped there? She always resented funds spent on Special Ed, but it seemed as if the staff tried to do right by kids and families.

Anonymous wrote:I only want to add to PP about Special Education at YY. From the description, it sounds scary - All those Teach for America people with little experience. Don't be. I was skeptical about YY Sp Ed when I learned my child has special needs and needed services/IEP after enrolling.

Experienced or not, Sp Ed does a very good job and goes out of their way to meet the needs of the kids there providing FAPE in an immersion environment. Because they are young, they are more open to best practices and trying whatever is necessary to make it work for the kids even beyond what could be found at the best of the WOP publics.

My kid is in an mainstream inclusive K classroom with a ratio of 18:3 in both English and Mandarin classroom with a bilingual Mandarin speaking Sp Ed teacher assigned to the Chinese classroom.

We are very pleased with Sp Ed at YY and even my kid's developmental pediatrician and high priced consultant are impressed.

I agree. The changes they have implemented in Special Ed over the past year are nothing short of a 180 change for the better.

I only want to add to PP about Special Education at YY. From the description, it sounds scary - All those Teach for America people with little experience. Don't be. I was skeptical about YY Sp Ed when I learned my child has special needs and needed services/IEP after enrolling.

Experienced or not, Sp Ed does a very good job and goes out of their way to meet the needs of the kids there providing FAPE in an immersion environment. Because they are young, they are more open to best practices and trying whatever is necessary to make it work for the kids even beyond what could be found at the best of the WOP publics.

My kid is in an mainstream inclusive K classroom with a ratio of 18:3 in both English and Mandarin classroom with a bilingual Mandarin speaking Sp Ed teacher assigned to the Chinese classroom.

We are very pleased with Sp Ed at YY and even my kid's developmental pediatrician and high priced consultant are impressed.

I'm one of the original families and we have found that YY has no higher teacher retention rate than any other charter school in their first 5 years of operation. We've had some great teachers who have stayed, some who were great and left after one year, and others who were not good at all. Overall, the teaching staff suffers from lack of experience in its ranks and leadership. But they, like many new teachers, often are successful by trying to make up for it with enthusiasm and long hours. Sometimes that works well and they achieve success, and sometimes it burns them out and they leave. It is the normal process of charter schools. The low pay, coupled with leadership and hiring issues already mentioned on here, doesn't attract very many experienced teachers. Several of the English teachers, special education teachers, the vice principal and the special education coordinator are Teach for America so they get some outside support, but they arrive with only a month's worth of teaching experience. They hold and maintain very high standards for the kids and work their butts off to try to attain them, but they just don't always have the ways to achieve them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PP who said that the preK and K grades are like a different group entirely. There isn't a lot of mixing from those grades with the older grades. Many of us who have been around for more than a year or two have seen Chinese teachers leave mid-year. It happened in my DC's class twice. It has happened somewhere in the school every year it has been open. There are plenty more teachers who will stick out the year and not come back. This goes for experienced and new teachers alike, although there are far fewer experienced teachers in geeral. Bt high turn over is endemic to charter schools because of the high-pressure environment combined with very low wages.

Yu Ying actually has a high retention rate.

PP, keep telling yourself that so you will eventually believe it's true. And we'll keep laughing at you.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PP who said that the preK and K grades are like a different group entirely. There isn't a lot of mixing from those grades with the older grades. Many of us who have been around for more than a year or two have seen Chinese teachers leave mid-year. It happened in my DC's class twice. It has happened somewhere in the school every year it has been open. There are plenty more teachers who will stick out the year and not come back. This goes for experienced and new teachers alike, although there are far fewer experienced teachers in general. But high turn over is endemic to charter schools because of the high-pressure environment combined with very low wages.

Yu Ying actually has a high retention rate.

18:36 we are in PreK, not in the lottery process. Teacher definitely seems inexperienced.

I agree with the PP who said that the preK and K grades are like a different group entirely. There isn't a lot of mixing from those grades with the older grades. Many of us who have been around for more than a year or two have seen Chinese teachers leave mid-year. It happened in my DC's class twice. It has happened somewhere in the school every year it has been open. There are plenty more teachers who will stick out the year and not come back. This goes for experienced and new teachers alike, although there are far fewer experienced teachers in general. But high turn over is endemic to charter schools because of the high-pressure environment combined with very low wages.

Well, I'm a parent in the jumbo K class and everyone I know are happy as clams with the school. Spoke with a bunch of parents at a birthday party this Friday and no one expressed concerns about the teachers, admins or any of the other concerns mentioned ad nauseum on DCUM. Thrilled about DCI mostly.

If you have concerns, you can worry about it after you get offered a spot.

15:46...better to compare to the second year of any other profession. They have things they need to learn. Teachers in my life tell me it takes at Lear to the third year to really know what you are doing.

And when you are a new parent nobody else is entrusting their kid to you.

Yes, I have concerns.

I know one of them personally because my cousin's roommate tried to ask her out recently. She scared him off by telling him that she's an illegal alien.

Anonymous wrote:Yes I noticed at least one of the PreK teachers bios says she has been teaching PreK for one year. Ugh.

There are some parents on my block who have only been parents for one year. Can you imagine how much they must suck? Ugh. Everyone knows that beginning somewhere makes you useless. Take you for example, you were a shitty parent when your oldest was still a baby, right?

Anonymous wrote:Really? None of my DC teachers left in the middle of the year and DC chinese teacher and assistant teacher are still at the school.

Mine neither - and I have children in more than one grade.

As has been noted earlier, you can make up anything you want on the internet - and when you don't have to stand behind what you say, much less prove it.

You know that 3 of the teachers are illegal aliens, don't you? And I don't mean from another country, I mean from another planet. I swear it's true, and now you can too - because you read it on the internet.

That's pretty common everywhere. Hope you find another job soon and thank for sharing your perspective!

Did it occur to you that I could work there and can't afford to get out?