Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can’t be held to account. Families have been trying for years. There is just no accountability in the charter system. Mundo Verde’s reputation is getting out in the community, which is why they’re clearing waitlists in Kindergarten and up.

This is such a tired and worn out line of thought. As if DCPS Central was all over underperforming schools, admins and teachers. Remember a few years ago when a JO Teacher was abusing and bullying kids and after much public outcry there was a public hearing where students bravely stood up and spoke about their experiences, and DCPS moved the teacher to SH...where those bullied kids were going to be! One could argue that at least with charters there is accountability because if enrollment drops they lose money. DCPS schools are not punished for enrollment.

In DCPS funding is connected to enrollment, just not on a tight per capita basis. But there absolutely is a financial consequence for enrollment loss. DCPS also has an ombudsperson, Instructional Superintendents, the LSAT groups, and sometimes more powerful PTOs than charters have. And DCPS leadership can fire the principal and APs if it wants to. At charters the board of the charter itself has some power but there aren't a lot of other places to turn.

Again, your argument that somehow these checks and balances are specific to DCPS are nonsense. Charter boards can also fire principals and APs if they want to, and bad teachers can be removed (except for those with unions). The same cannot be said for DCPS. If a charter can't fill seats it dies for lack of funding. DCPS cannot just shutter schools. Note that PCSB has closed schools, DCPS has not (at least in last 10 years or so). And you yada-yada over the per capita funding but that is a current fiscal reality with direct financial consequences that simply don't apply to DCPS. Show me one example where the leadership of a DCPS school has been changed due to those channels you cite?

If enough parents stop sending their kids to a charter it dies, period. The same binary statement cannot be made for DCPS.

1) DCPS absolutely does close schools. For example, it recently Washington Metropolitan in 2020. So you are wrong. I think before that the most recently closed school was Shaed. Lately DCPS hasn't wanted to, because the overall student population has been steady or growing (aside from COVID) and they have to plan for the long-term future and provide seats for all who want them. And DCPS does not close a school unless it has a realistic plan for where the students will end up, without overcrowding any of its other schools. Charters don't have that responsibility, they can just close and it's not their problem what happens to the kids or the impact on other schools.

2) Parents at Cleveland have been complaining about their principal for a while. Now they are getting a new principal. Coincidence? Maybe. DCPS tends to offer principals the opportunity to resign first, and keep these things private, but they definitely do fire principals when they want to. It's technically called a "non-renewal notice".

3) DCPS budgets are open to the public at https://dcpsbudget.com/. It's not a literal per capita formula, but many budget functions are tied to enrollment and a school with declining enrollment will be impacted. You can look at the budget formulas yourself if you want. Now, the decrease due to enrollment may be offset by some other increase in funding for some other reason, but that can be true at charters too.

4) LSATs, the Ombudsperson, and Instructional Superintendents are unique to DCPS. As is the office of the Chancellor. You might find some similar structure in a few charters but overall there are just fewer places to turn with your complaints and concerns. There's the board of your school, the parent org of your school (which usually has little real power) and the PCSB which hardly ever intervenes. Aside from that you're out of luck. You might not get what you want in the DCPS system anyway, but there are more places to try.

Instructional Superintendents? That's the hill you want to die on? Take a look at what was done at JO Wilson and get back to me.

Nobody's saying that ISs are great or that they do things the right way. Just that it's an avenue parents can use to raise concerns, and charter parents don't have anything analogous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i feel so sad for the families that are lured in based on the rumors and false pictures painted during the open houses.

MV (and maybe other charters) need to be held to account for making false claims. During the MV open house, I remember an elaborate slide show of photos from field trips to Rock Creek Park (though I think they haven't been there in many many years), and our tour guide, when asked what the teacher turnover rate was, said something along the lines of "teachers are very happy and rarely leave." At the Bancroft DCPS open house when someone asked an identical question, the principal pulled out the data and said "86%"

it makes it so hard for parents to get a clear idea of what kind of school they are entering when the open houses are full of exaggerations and falsehoods... then you end up with someone like OP feeling so devasted. I have so many friends who entered MV with such high hopes and they are ALL gone now, and left very disgusted and disappointed.

How can this school be held to account?

At what point are parents as consumers responsible for their choices? In the example you gave where MV sidestepped the question about teacher retention, parents need to notice that just like they would when buying insurance or any other good or service. If a school has a reputation of losing teachers and having unrelenting bullying problems and their answers don't suggest a plan to address those matters, but instead pretend they don't exist then that in and of itself is a warning sign. None of this is to suggest that OP is responsible for her kid being bullied or to make excuses for the school's apparent failure to address the issue. My argument however is that, at least as regards MV, the fact that these issues persist and they don't even acknowledge them is a warning sign unto itself. An open house is a marketing event. What parent doesn't know that going in?

+10000 I can't understand how such a large portion of a population of highly educated people are not more skeptical of the lack of transparency and naked marketing behind most of these charter schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i feel so sad for the families that are lured in based on the rumors and false pictures painted during the open houses.

MV (and maybe other charters) need to be held to account for making false claims. During the MV open house, I remember an elaborate slide show of photos from field trips to Rock Creek Park (though I think they haven't been there in many many years), and our tour guide, when asked what the teacher turnover rate was, said something along the lines of "teachers are very happy and rarely leave." At the Bancroft DCPS open house when someone asked an identical question, the principal pulled out the data and said "86%"

it makes it so hard for parents to get a clear idea of what kind of school they are entering when the open houses are full of exaggerations and falsehoods... then you end up with someone like OP feeling so devasted. I have so many friends who entered MV with such high hopes and they are ALL gone now, and left very disgusted and disappointed.

How can this school be held to account?

There is really no accountability for charters short of egregiously bad test scores or outright fraud. But if MV parents would stop defending it and tell prospective parents the actual truth, that might help by damaging the school enough that the board intervenes.

If you search these boards, you'll find lots of parents speaking the truth about the school, dating back YEARS. Many passionately testified at the hearing about the expansion plan because they saw the revolving door of teachers, lack of transparency, poor discipline, etc. The school was a mess and in the hole financially, so its solution was to expand to get more per pupil funding. It just replicated the mess. But none of the people with pre-K kids playing the lottery back then wanted to hear it. I think I was accused of wanting to pull the ladder up behind me. Someone might have called me racist. We were just speaking the truth and hoping others could learn from our mistake. Oh well.

We are at another charter--with what sounds like similar issues to MV. I'm constantly stunned at how some parents continue to be in utter denial at the reality of the discipline and academic issues at our school. It's bizarre--it's like they don't question obvious issues in front of them.

They're in denial because they don't want to move, don't have a better option, and don't want to admit to themselves that they made the wrong choice. It's stunning how little incoming preschool parents research the upper elementary grades. And how blatantly people will lie to preschool parents about what their school is really like. People will tell the truth anonymously, but not in person within their own community unless they really, really trust the person they're talking with.

It’s not so simple. Most schools are great for early years so parents will speak highly of their school. It’s also confusing when you don’t know what it should be like, having never had a child in school before, and doubly so when COVID hit and everything became very opaque.

It takes a lot to tank a school in local public opinion. Think SSMA. Most of the time you’ll hear local parents in upper grades speak both positively and negatively of a school. It isn’t like hiding the truth but different experiences.

Our experience at LAMB has been mixed and that’s what I often tell people as well. I wouldn’t sugar coat it. Most neighbors speaking one ok one are blatantly honest, I’ve found, and the good bad and ugly. What we don’t tend to have are a lot of other options.

This is true at MV as well. We are a MV family and so far the school has worked great for our kids. These issues are very classroom specific. So some people are having a great experience and some other people, like Op, are not. The school has to work on these issues. The board members are parents from MV, so it’s in their best interest to have a good school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i feel so sad for the families that are lured in based on the rumors and false pictures painted during the open houses.

MV (and maybe other charters) need to be held to account for making false claims. During the MV open house, I remember an elaborate slide show of photos from field trips to Rock Creek Park (though I think they haven't been there in many many years), and our tour guide, when asked what the teacher turnover rate was, said something along the lines of "teachers are very happy and rarely leave." At the Bancroft DCPS open house when someone asked an identical question, the principal pulled out the data and said "86%"

it makes it so hard for parents to get a clear idea of what kind of school they are entering when the open houses are full of exaggerations and falsehoods... then you end up with someone like OP feeling so devasted. I have so many friends who entered MV with such high hopes and they are ALL gone now, and left very disgusted and disappointed.

How can this school be held to account?

There is really no accountability for charters short of egregiously bad test scores or outright fraud. But if MV parents would stop defending it and tell prospective parents the actual truth, that might help by damaging the school enough that the board intervenes.

If you search these boards, you'll find lots of parents speaking the truth about the school, dating back YEARS. Many passionately testified at the hearing about the expansion plan because they saw the revolving door of teachers, lack of transparency, poor discipline, etc. The school was a mess and in the hole financially, so its solution was to expand to get more per pupil funding. It just replicated the mess. But none of the people with pre-K kids playing the lottery back then wanted to hear it. I think I was accused of wanting to pull the ladder up behind me. Someone might have called me racist. We were just speaking the truth and hoping others could learn from our mistake. Oh well.

We are at another charter--with what sounds like similar issues to MV. I'm constantly stunned at how some parents continue to be in utter denial at the reality of the discipline and academic issues at our school. It's bizarre--it's like they don't question obvious issues in front of them.

They're in denial because they don't want to move, don't have a better option, and don't want to admit to themselves that they made the wrong choice. It's stunning how little incoming preschool parents research the upper elementary grades. And how blatantly people will lie to preschool parents about what their school is really like. People will tell the truth anonymously, but not in person within their own community unless they really, really trust the person they're talking with.

It’s not so simple. Most schools are great for early years so parents will speak highly of their school. It’s also confusing when you don’t know what it should be like, having never had a child in school before, and doubly so when COVID hit and everything became very opaque.

It takes a lot to tank a school in local public opinion. Think SSMA. Most of the time you’ll hear local parents in upper grades speak both positively and negatively of a school. It isn’t like hiding the truth but different experiences.

Our experience at LAMB has been mixed and that’s what I often tell people as well. I wouldn’t sugar coat it. Most neighbors speaking one ok one are blatantly honest, I’ve found, and the good bad and ugly. What we don’t tend to have are a lot of other options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i feel so sad for the families that are lured in based on the rumors and false pictures painted during the open houses.

MV (and maybe other charters) need to be held to account for making false claims. During the MV open house, I remember an elaborate slide show of photos from field trips to Rock Creek Park (though I think they haven't been there in many many years), and our tour guide, when asked what the teacher turnover rate was, said something along the lines of "teachers are very happy and rarely leave." At the Bancroft DCPS open house when someone asked an identical question, the principal pulled out the data and said "86%"

it makes it so hard for parents to get a clear idea of what kind of school they are entering when the open houses are full of exaggerations and falsehoods... then you end up with someone like OP feeling so devasted. I have so many friends who entered MV with such high hopes and they are ALL gone now, and left very disgusted and disappointed.

How can this school be held to account?

There is really no accountability for charters short of egregiously bad test scores or outright fraud. But if MV parents would stop defending it and tell prospective parents the actual truth, that might help by damaging the school enough that the board intervenes.

If you search these boards, you'll find lots of parents speaking the truth about the school, dating back YEARS. Many passionately testified at the hearing about the expansion plan because they saw the revolving door of teachers, lack of transparency, poor discipline, etc. The school was a mess and in the hole financially, so its solution was to expand to get more per pupil funding. It just replicated the mess. But none of the people with pre-K kids playing the lottery back then wanted to hear it. I think I was accused of wanting to pull the ladder up behind me. Someone might have called me racist. We were just speaking the truth and hoping others could learn from our mistake. Oh well.

We are at another charter--with what sounds like similar issues to MV. I'm constantly stunned at how some parents continue to be in utter denial at the reality of the discipline and academic issues at our school. It's bizarre--it's like they don't question obvious issues in front of them.

They're in denial because they don't want to move, don't have a better option, and don't want to admit to themselves that they made the wrong choice. It's stunning how little incoming preschool parents research the upper elementary grades. And how blatantly people will lie to preschool parents about what their school is really like. People will tell the truth anonymously, but not in person within their own community unless they really, really trust the person they're talking with.

It’s not so simple. Most schools are great for early years so parents will speak highly of their school. It’s also confusing when you don’t know what it should be like, having never had a child in school before, and doubly so when COVID hit and everything became very opaque.

It takes a lot to tank a school in local public opinion. Think SSMA. Most of the time you’ll hear local parents in upper grades speak both positively and negatively of a school. It isn’t like hiding the truth but different experiences.

Our experience at LAMB has been mixed and that’s what I often tell people as well. I wouldn’t sugar coat it. Most neighbors speaking one ok one are blatantly honest, I’ve found, and the good bad and ugly. What we don’t tend to have are a lot of other options.

It's hard because older-kid parents have some credibility with incoming parents, but their review of the preschool program isn't going to be up-to-date. There are schools that are improving for now (see Langley, Garrison), but that emphatically does not mean that all schools are improving or changing very fast-- Mundo isn't, at least not in a good way. Preschool parents tend to be pretty clueless and think "Well, these aged 3rd and 4th grade parents are raising concerns, but my child won't reach those grades for 5 more years so surely things will improve". But things don't.

Anonymous wrote:I feel pretty helpless as a MV parent (not OP). Parents made heartbreaking appeals for basic safety at the MV public comment board meeting, and the response at the most recent board meeting was to emphasize the board’s primary responsibility in ensuring fiduciary responsibility. They take absolutely no responsibility for ensuring proper leadership, student safety, or student learning. They do not even acknowledge written comments by parents, let alone respond meaningfully. There is also not a real parent organization. MV works to prevent meaningful organization my parents under the guise of “equity.” There is really nowhere to turn.

Anonymous wrote:This is the kind of post people write before they move IB for Oyster. Have you considered DC Bilingual, OP? It's a nice neighborhood, and I think a much better functioning school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel pretty helpless as a MV parent (not OP). Parents made heartbreaking appeals for basic safety at the MV public comment board meeting, and the response at the most recent board meeting was to emphasize the board’s primary responsibility in ensuring fiduciary responsibility. They take absolutely no responsibility for ensuring proper leadership, student safety, or student learning. They do not even acknowledge written comments by parents, let alone respond meaningfully. There is also not a real parent organization. MV works to prevent meaningful organization my parents under the guise of “equity.” There is really nowhere to turn.

This is all true of most charters (maybe dcps too I wouldn’t know). If you can’t get the ear of your leadership, you have no recourse. Some PTOs try to be more activist and usually get shut down. You learn quickly that it doesn’t work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i feel so sad for the families that are lured in based on the rumors and false pictures painted during the open houses.

MV (and maybe other charters) need to be held to account for making false claims. During the MV open house, I remember an elaborate slide show of photos from field trips to Rock Creek Park (though I think they haven't been there in many many years), and our tour guide, when asked what the teacher turnover rate was, said something along the lines of "teachers are very happy and rarely leave." At the Bancroft DCPS open house when someone asked an identical question, the principal pulled out the data and said "86%"

it makes it so hard for parents to get a clear idea of what kind of school they are entering when the open houses are full of exaggerations and falsehoods... then you end up with someone like OP feeling so devasted. I have so many friends who entered MV with such high hopes and they are ALL gone now, and left very disgusted and disappointed.

How can this school be held to account?

There is really no accountability for charters short of egregiously bad test scores or outright fraud. But if MV parents would stop defending it and tell prospective parents the actual truth, that might help by damaging the school enough that the board intervenes.

If you search these boards, you'll find lots of parents speaking the truth about the school, dating back YEARS. Many passionately testified at the hearing about the expansion plan because they saw the revolving door of teachers, lack of transparency, poor discipline, etc. The school was a mess and in the hole financially, so its solution was to expand to get more per pupil funding. It just replicated the mess. But none of the people with pre-K kids playing the lottery back then wanted to hear it. I think I was accused of wanting to pull the ladder up behind me. Someone might have called me racist. We were just speaking the truth and hoping others could learn from our mistake. Oh well.

We are at another charter--with what sounds like similar issues to MV. I'm constantly stunned at how some parents continue to be in utter denial at the reality of the discipline and academic issues at our school. It's bizarre--it's like they don't question obvious issues in front of them.

They're in denial because they don't want to move, don't have a better option, and don't want to admit to themselves that they made the wrong choice. It's stunning how little incoming preschool parents research the upper elementary grades. And how blatantly people will lie to preschool parents about what their school is really like. People will tell the truth anonymously, but not in person within their own community unless they really, really trust the person they're talking with.

It’s not so simple. Most schools are great for early years so parents will speak highly of their school. It’s also confusing when you don’t know what it should be like, having never had a child in school before, and doubly so when COVID hit and everything became very opaque.

It takes a lot to tank a school in local public opinion. Think SSMA. Most of the time you’ll hear local parents in upper grades speak both positively and negatively of a school. It isn’t like hiding the truth but different experiences.

Our experience at LAMB has been mixed and that’s what I often tell people as well. I wouldn’t sugar coat it. Most neighbors speaking one ok one are blatantly honest, I’ve found, and the good bad and ugly. What we don’t tend to have are a lot of other options.

Anonymous wrote:I feel pretty helpless as a MV parent (not OP). Parents made heartbreaking appeals for basic safety at the MV public comment board meeting, and the response at the most recent board meeting was to emphasize the board’s primary responsibility in ensuring fiduciary responsibility. They take absolutely no responsibility for ensuring proper leadership, student safety, or student learning. They do not even acknowledge written comments by parents, let alone respond meaningfully. There is also not a real parent organization. MV works to prevent meaningful organization my parents under the guise of “equity.” There is really nowhere to turn.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i feel so sad for the families that are lured in based on the rumors and false pictures painted during the open houses.

MV (and maybe other charters) need to be held to account for making false claims. During the MV open house, I remember an elaborate slide show of photos from field trips to Rock Creek Park (though I think they haven't been there in many many years), and our tour guide, when asked what the teacher turnover rate was, said something along the lines of "teachers are very happy and rarely leave." At the Bancroft DCPS open house when someone asked an identical question, the principal pulled out the data and said "86%"

it makes it so hard for parents to get a clear idea of what kind of school they are entering when the open houses are full of exaggerations and falsehoods... then you end up with someone like OP feeling so devasted. I have so many friends who entered MV with such high hopes and they are ALL gone now, and left very disgusted and disappointed.

How can this school be held to account?

There is really no accountability for charters short of egregiously bad test scores or outright fraud. But if MV parents would stop defending it and tell prospective parents the actual truth, that might help by damaging the school enough that the board intervenes.

If you search these boards, you'll find lots of parents speaking the truth about the school, dating back YEARS. Many passionately testified at the hearing about the expansion plan because they saw the revolving door of teachers, lack of transparency, poor discipline, etc. The school was a mess and in the hole financially, so its solution was to expand to get more per pupil funding. It just replicated the mess. But none of the people with pre-K kids playing the lottery back then wanted to hear it. I think I was accused of wanting to pull the ladder up behind me. Someone might have called me racist. We were just speaking the truth and hoping others could learn from our mistake. Oh well.

We are at another charter--with what sounds like similar issues to MV. I'm constantly stunned at how some parents continue to be in utter denial at the reality of the discipline and academic issues at our school. It's bizarre--it's like they don't question obvious issues in front of them.

They're in denial because they don't want to move, don't have a better option, and don't want to admit to themselves that they made the wrong choice. It's stunning how little incoming preschool parents research the upper elementary grades. And how blatantly people will lie to preschool parents about what their school is really like. People will tell the truth anonymously, but not in person within their own community unless they really, really trust the person they're talking with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i feel so sad for the families that are lured in based on the rumors and false pictures painted during the open houses.

MV (and maybe other charters) need to be held to account for making false claims. During the MV open house, I remember an elaborate slide show of photos from field trips to Rock Creek Park (though I think they haven't been there in many many years), and our tour guide, when asked what the teacher turnover rate was, said something along the lines of "teachers are very happy and rarely leave." At the Bancroft DCPS open house when someone asked an identical question, the principal pulled out the data and said "86%"

it makes it so hard for parents to get a clear idea of what kind of school they are entering when the open houses are full of exaggerations and falsehoods... then you end up with someone like OP feeling so devasted. I have so many friends who entered MV with such high hopes and they are ALL gone now, and left very disgusted and disappointed.

How can this school be held to account?

There is really no accountability for charters short of egregiously bad test scores or outright fraud. But if MV parents would stop defending it and tell prospective parents the actual truth, that might help by damaging the school enough that the board intervenes.

If you search these boards, you'll find lots of parents speaking the truth about the school, dating back YEARS. Many passionately testified at the hearing about the expansion plan because they saw the revolving door of teachers, lack of transparency, poor discipline, etc. The school was a mess and in the hole financially, so its solution was to expand to get more per pupil funding. It just replicated the mess. But none of the people with pre-K kids playing the lottery back then wanted to hear it. I think I was accused of wanting to pull the ladder up behind me. Someone might have called me racist. We were just speaking the truth and hoping others could learn from our mistake. Oh well.

We are at another charter--with what sounds like similar issues to MV. I'm constantly stunned at how some parents continue to be in utter denial at the reality of the discipline and academic issues at our school. It's bizarre--it's like they don't question obvious issues in front of them.