Anonymous wrote:Looks like parents are sending an open letter to the Dr. R and the Board about all the issues.

I would love to see it if someone is willing to post it.

Looks like parents are sending an open letter to the Dr. R and the Board about all the issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complain to: Mayor; DME; Grosso, Mendelsohn; PCSB Board Chair; PCSB Director; Washington Post Education reporters; write a memo and hit send.

I’m a parent and I’ve sent things to multiple of those individuals.

No response?

Anonymous wrote:Complain to: Mayor; DME; Grosso, Mendelsohn; PCSB Board Chair; PCSB Director; Washington Post Education reporters; write a memo and hit send.

I’m a parent and I’ve sent things to multiple of those individuals.

Complain to: Mayor; DME; Grosso, Mendelsohn; PCSB Board Chair; PCSB Director; Washington Post Education reporters; write a memo and hit send.

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone friendly with the Administration sent them the link to this thread with a "we may have a PR problem brewing"

The Director is not seeing this problem very clearly. I think she truly believes it's just a small group of troublemaking parents. In the past she has called them (us?) yuppies and racists. There was a recent "chat and chew" where a few parents really tried to make her understand that this is real. I doubt it sunk in, because at this point to accept any truth in the parent's complaints is to accept some significant competence issues on her part. It's easier to keep blaming others than to accept that you've screwed things up pretty badly.

As for the Board, they are completely disengaged. This is a resume item for most of them. They haven't had a meeting (with a quorum) for months, if at all, this school year. Messages have privately been sent to some board members that they have a problem that they need to get in front of. We will see if they take that to heart.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who is on the board that they don't do anything about this? Is it just the director's friends or something? Reading through the last few pages of this thread it seems crazy that they'd let all this go by without doing more for the parents.

I’ve had a number of conversadions with the Board Chair and he is combative, unwilling to see the parent’s frustration, and unwilling to challengr Dr. R.

I have yet to meet a family that plans to stay if they get something else. Many folks are moving or trying to lottery out.

I've had similar interactions with him. Just a nasty person all around. I also hear his family is moving to Maryland so he'll hopefully be gone soon.

Anonymous wrote:Who is on the board that they don't do anything about this? Is it just the director's friends or something? Reading through the last few pages of this thread it seems crazy that they'd let all this go by without doing more for the parents.

I’ve had a number of conversadions with the Board Chair and he is combative, unwilling to see the parent’s frustration, and unwilling to challengr Dr. R.

I have yet to meet a family that plans to stay if they get something else. Many folks are moving or trying to lottery out.

Anonymous wrote:Who is on the board that they don't do anything about this? Is it just the director's friends or something? Reading through the last few pages of this thread it seems crazy that they'd let all this go by without doing more for the parents.

http://www.shiningstarspcs.org/our-school/board-of-directors.html

I had a child at SSMA in 2013-2014, which was the year that they fired the founding executive director and subsequently lost the founding principal (his wife). That was done with very little communication to the parent community. They hired Dr. Rodriguez that year and she was off-putting from the very beginning. That spring/summer, the school prematurely announced a new location not once but twice and both times, the location fell through. The location drama started after the lottery was already closed, so people had limited options for finding new schools if they wanted to do so. At that time, the Board was not helpful at all. They were responsible for the terrible communication surrounding the dismissal of the founding ED, and when the parent community approached them about it, we were essentially told that our feedback was unwelcome.

At least a handful of people who were on the Board at that time are still on the Board now. They hired Dr. R, and I have no reason to believe that they will waver in their support of her. I agree that it seems crazy, but this issue is not new. It has been 5 years of drama one way or another. People stick around because their children generally have good classroom experiences or they care so much about Montessori that they will tolerate a school with poor planning, poor communication, and poor engagement skills in order for their child to attend a Montessori school.

Who is on the board that they don't do anything about this? Is it just the director's friends or something? Reading through the last few pages of this thread it seems crazy that they'd let all this go by without doing more for the parents.

Same song, same verse...the majority of issues were laid out during the previous pages of this thread. I guess some of you thought the parents were exaggerating. A great deal of time and energy were spent trying to make it better and fix issues. Prepare to depart and save yourself the frustration.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SSMA parents with children in grades 3-5 could also not allow their children to sit for PARCC.

DC does not have a formal opt out process but you could use unexcused absences for this -- and combine with media outreach.

Press release headline -- "80% of parents at charter school will refuse to allow their children to sit for PARCC exam until the administration and board do x, y, z.

"Quote from Larla's frustrated but determined mom and dad. ... etc"

If SSMA's participation rate in PARCC plummets, that would raise eyebrows at the PCSB and OSSE and the Board may have to do something.

Another option -- protests and pickets every day, before school.

Invite the media and give them something to cover.

But you must have a clear ask / demand. Not just 'better leadership.'

I fear retribution against my children if we lean too far in on this. I suspect I'm not alone.

What would they do? Beat them? Expel them? Take away recess? Unlikely. And if they did something that awful, you document it and file a federal civil rights case (easy, online form, no lawyers needed). It isn't as if grades in elementary school really count for anything.

All the polite stuff hasn't worked (PTO meetings, posting on the school listserv, complaining on DCUM).

You can treat little kids poorly without beating or expelling them. In fact, all kids of any change. I wouldn't want my child in a hostile environment. No school is perfect but SSMA doesn't want to change. Time to find another school.

Has anyone friendly with the Administration sent them the link to this thread with a "we may have a PR problem brewing"

Anonymous wrote:How about all the parents get together and withhold "intent to reenroll" forms. If a significant number do this the school may realize they have a problem

They would have to be accompanied by everyone completing lottery applications for another school. Schools are told how many people from their school are entering the lottery, but not the names.

Withholding the forms without taking the step to apply elsewhere is meaningless.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SSMA parents with children in grades 3-5 could also not allow their children to sit for PARCC.

DC does not have a formal opt out process but you could use unexcused absences for this -- and combine with media outreach.

Press release headline -- "80% of parents at charter school will refuse to allow their children to sit for PARCC exam until the administration and board do x, y, z.

"Quote from Larla's frustrated but determined mom and dad. ... etc"

If SSMA's participation rate in PARCC plummets, that would raise eyebrows at the PCSB and OSSE and the Board may have to do something.

Another option -- protests and pickets every day, before school.

Invite the media and give them something to cover.

But you must have a clear ask / demand. Not just 'better leadership.'

I fear retribution against my children if we lean too far in on this. I suspect I'm not alone.

What would they do? Beat them? Expel them? Take away recess? Unlikely. And if they did something that awful, you document it and file a federal civil rights case (easy, online form, no lawyers needed). It isn't as if grades in elementary school really count for anything.

All the polite stuff hasn't worked (PTO meetings, posting on the school listserv, complaining on DCUM).