Anonymous
12/25/2024 15:31
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
Haha, no. I wouldn’t have taken that approach in the first place if I had such vague grievances.
Anonymous
12/25/2024 14:50
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
Anonymous wrote:The petition was circulated to the school community unsigned. Who are the authors? Why was it anonymous?
If you wrote something that incoherent and fight-picking, would you want your name on it?
Anonymous
12/25/2024 11:46
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
The petition was circulated to the school community unsigned. Who are the authors? Why was it anonymous?
Anonymous
12/25/2024 10:55
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
I’m not sure what assumptions PP thinks people are making, but if all the parents who signed this are Black, so what? it still tells me nothing about the legitimacy of these particular complaints - especially when an even larger number of Black parents disagree. And, unlike the letter writers, do so publicly.
Anonymous
12/25/2024 10:39
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
The parents who drafted and circulated the petition (and signed it) are all Black. There are white parents who have complaints, too. There are both Black and white parents who love the school. There are parents of all hues who love the teachers (but dislike the administrators). DCUM’s clutch is making facile assumptions, but in this case, wrong.
Anonymous
12/25/2024 09:58
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
“ Seems unlikely that the parents who are actively rooting against its existence and success are AT the school now, though, no?”
1) why not? It’s a solid local option so it could attract parents for whom the Hebrew is an annoying add-on, rather than a selling point
2) what about this bravely anonymous note convinced you this was authored by the parent of an enrolled student, as opposed to a very motivated troll, or someone with an enrolled student in their orbit who isn’t an actual parent?
1) why not? It’s a solid local option so it could attract parents for whom the Hebrew is an annoying add-on, rather than a selling point
2) what about this bravely anonymous note convinced you this was authored by the parent of an enrolled student, as opposed to a very motivated troll, or someone with an enrolled student in their orbit who isn’t an actual parent?
Anonymous
12/25/2024 09:47
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
Anonymous wrote:"Pick one:
A. The parents complaining are white and concerned about their own group's success, because it's always the wealthiest and most educated who complain first.
B. It's taken this long for everyone to be unhappy and grumble enough that they've come up with a petition.
C. Both."
Just to state the obvious, this list leaves out option 4: Sela is a Hebrew language school that centers Israeli culture and geography. There is a non-zero chance there are people out there who are actively rooting against its existence and success. Is it impossible to have legitimate concerns? of course not. Is it possible that the concerns are not being expressed in good faith? Again: the odds aren't zero. And then there's the big gray middle zone: as with so much else related to Israel, it's possible to have a legitimate concern expressed disproportionately and in bad faith, subconsciously or otherwise.
Seems unlikely that the parents who are actively rooting against its existence and success are AT the school now, though, no?
Anonymous
12/25/2024 08:30
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
"Pick one:
A. The parents complaining are white and concerned about their own group's success, because it's always the wealthiest and most educated who complain first.
B. It's taken this long for everyone to be unhappy and grumble enough that they've come up with a petition.
C. Both."
Just to state the obvious, this list leaves out option 4: Sela is a Hebrew language school that centers Israeli culture and geography. There is a non-zero chance there are people out there who are actively rooting against its existence and success. Is it impossible to have legitimate concerns? of course not. Is it possible that the concerns are not being expressed in good faith? Again: the odds aren't zero. And then there's the big gray middle zone: as with so much else related to Israel, it's possible to have a legitimate concern expressed disproportionately and in bad faith, subconsciously or otherwise.
A. The parents complaining are white and concerned about their own group's success, because it's always the wealthiest and most educated who complain first.
B. It's taken this long for everyone to be unhappy and grumble enough that they've come up with a petition.
C. Both."
Just to state the obvious, this list leaves out option 4: Sela is a Hebrew language school that centers Israeli culture and geography. There is a non-zero chance there are people out there who are actively rooting against its existence and success. Is it impossible to have legitimate concerns? of course not. Is it possible that the concerns are not being expressed in good faith? Again: the odds aren't zero. And then there's the big gray middle zone: as with so much else related to Israel, it's possible to have a legitimate concern expressed disproportionately and in bad faith, subconsciously or otherwise.
Anonymous
12/24/2024 11:49
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
As a current parent with two happy kids at Sela, I agree with the above.
Anonymous
12/24/2024 11:18
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
Ok, it's attrition, and the middle school issue is baked in I agree. But you can't just say "oh, it's attrition" without addressing the reasons for the attrition, which come right back to quality issues at Sela. Why did people want a "stronger" charter? Probably because they didn't think Sela was strong. Why did they want private school? Because they didn't feel Sela was meeting their needs. See?
For the benefit of any families who might be considering the school, let me elaborate. Based on our family's experience in the early childhood grades at Sela, here are some reasons that we saw other families leave:
- Families wanting a "stronger" charter: I put this in quotes for a reason because in my opinion, it was often what people perceive a "stronger" school to be (e.g. schools with longer wait lists in Ward 5, better facilities, etc.). As a family, we were more focused on what was happening in our child's classroom from year to year and again, that experience was very positive.
- When I mentioned private school, this was a handful of families who went to Jewish day schools.
- In the PreK years, we saw some families leave for schools closer to their home. (Sela pulls heavily from Brookland/Petworth, but my child's class also had students with much longer commutes.)
- And I wouldn't underestimate the lack of a middle school feeder that causes families to reevaluate in grades 1-3. Of course, Sela should improve its academic outcomes but with its grade enrollment distribution, it will always be more challenging to demonstrate impact because the school has too small of a cohort of students who attended from PreK to fifth grade.
Of course, the above isn't data-based but anecdotal from our experience, but I think it's valuable to share. I do not think the attrition at Sela was always linked to the actual quality of the student/family experience. We had a wonderful time at the school and will always be grateful to its leadership and teachers for a great academic start for our child.
Anonymous
12/24/2024 09:34
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
Anonymous wrote:I'm a former Sela parent who moved outside of DC, but my child had an excellent time in the early elementary grades.
In my opinion, the biggest issue at Sela is the lack of retention in the older grades. It would be an option for folks in early elementary but then they would seek other paths. My sense is that it was for a mix of reasons: lack of a middle school feeder, pursuing private school, trying to get into a "stronger" charter. I always thought that the lack of retention was a self-perpetuating problem; if we hadn't moved, I also wasn't sure that I would have wanted for my child to stay with such a small cohort.
Because of this, I always thought that judging the school by solely academic performance was tricky. Since DC testing begins in third grade, it was really measuring the academic experience of about 22% of the school since enrollment is skewed so heavily to the younger grades. For what it's worth, my child became an excellent reader, in part thanks to the teaching at Sela. That experience isn't going to be reflected in the data.
Finally, I was very involved with the school community, and there was a small group of parents who complained about everything (and I mean everything!). At times, their concerns were legitimate and sometimes they were not, but the feedback was always presented in the most negative/over-the-top way possible. I would be willing to bet that some of these folks are involved in this petition and take it with a grain of salt. The number of signatures is quite telling.
Sometimes, my husband and I see the issues at our current elementary in a large public school district and have a chuckle about how that group of Sela parents would react. I hope these parents either get more meaningfully involved in the school or find another school that may suit their needs better. But having attended many Sela PTSA meetings, something tells me they will be unhappy everywhere they go.
Ok, it's attrition, and the middle school issue is baked in I agree. But you can't just say "oh, it's attrition" without addressing the reasons for the attrition, which come right back to quality issues at Sela. Why did people want a "stronger" charter? Probably because they didn't think Sela was strong. Why did they want private school? Because they didn't feel Sela was meeting their needs. See?
Anonymous
12/24/2024 09:32
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The stats are not hard to understand. The growth score is each kid's score this year minus their score last year, and then compared to that same information for other same-grade kids in DC. The performance score is how kids at Sela did on the CAPE.
But I have no idea, as a parent, what is causing the numbers to be bad. Which is what you've been asking whenever a parent says they had a good experience. And it's also a weird thing to be harping on on this thread, given that it's barely mentioned in the petition (or not at all mentioned, depending on how you read it) and they also put forth no explanations or solutions.
I think it's hard for parents to know why or what to do about it. Parents just don't have access to the data, nor do they have the expertise as educators, to pinpoint what the problem is. And if the problem is poor teaching by specific teachers, that's not going to be socially acceptable to say out loud. So I don't have the expectation that parents would do that even when they do publicly identify a problem.
Anonymous
12/24/2024 07:22
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
Anonymous wrote:The stats are not hard to understand. The growth score is each kid's score this year minus their score last year, and then compared to that same information for other same-grade kids in DC. The performance score is how kids at Sela did on the CAPE.
But I have no idea, as a parent, what is causing the numbers to be bad. Which is what you've been asking whenever a parent says they had a good experience. And it's also a weird thing to be harping on on this thread, given that it's barely mentioned in the petition (or not at all mentioned, depending on how you read it) and they also put forth no explanations or solutions.
Anonymous
12/24/2024 00:23
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
I'm a former Sela parent who moved outside of DC, but my child had an excellent time in the early elementary grades.
In my opinion, the biggest issue at Sela is the lack of retention in the older grades. It would be an option for folks in early elementary but then they would seek other paths. My sense is that it was for a mix of reasons: lack of a middle school feeder, pursuing private school, trying to get into a "stronger" charter. I always thought that the lack of retention was a self-perpetuating problem; if we hadn't moved, I also wasn't sure that I would have wanted for my child to stay with such a small cohort.
Because of this, I always thought that judging the school by solely academic performance was tricky. Since DC testing begins in third grade, it was really measuring the academic experience of about 22% of the school since enrollment is skewed so heavily to the younger grades. For what it's worth, my child became an excellent reader, in part thanks to the teaching at Sela. That experience isn't going to be reflected in the data.
Finally, I was very involved with the school community, and there was a small group of parents who complained about everything (and I mean everything!). At times, their concerns were legitimate and sometimes they were not, but the feedback was always presented in the most negative/over-the-top way possible. I would be willing to bet that some of these folks are involved in this petition and take it with a grain of salt. The number of signatures is quite telling.
Sometimes, my husband and I see the issues at our current elementary in a large public school district and have a chuckle about how that group of Sela parents would react. I hope these parents either get more meaningfully involved in the school or find another school that may suit their needs better. But having attended many Sela PTSA meetings, something tells me they will be unhappy everywhere they go.
In my opinion, the biggest issue at Sela is the lack of retention in the older grades. It would be an option for folks in early elementary but then they would seek other paths. My sense is that it was for a mix of reasons: lack of a middle school feeder, pursuing private school, trying to get into a "stronger" charter. I always thought that the lack of retention was a self-perpetuating problem; if we hadn't moved, I also wasn't sure that I would have wanted for my child to stay with such a small cohort.
Because of this, I always thought that judging the school by solely academic performance was tricky. Since DC testing begins in third grade, it was really measuring the academic experience of about 22% of the school since enrollment is skewed so heavily to the younger grades. For what it's worth, my child became an excellent reader, in part thanks to the teaching at Sela. That experience isn't going to be reflected in the data.
Finally, I was very involved with the school community, and there was a small group of parents who complained about everything (and I mean everything!). At times, their concerns were legitimate and sometimes they were not, but the feedback was always presented in the most negative/over-the-top way possible. I would be willing to bet that some of these folks are involved in this petition and take it with a grain of salt. The number of signatures is quite telling.
Sometimes, my husband and I see the issues at our current elementary in a large public school district and have a chuckle about how that group of Sela parents would react. I hope these parents either get more meaningfully involved in the school or find another school that may suit their needs better. But having attended many Sela PTSA meetings, something tells me they will be unhappy everywhere they go.
Anonymous
12/23/2024 17:27
Subject: Petition to Change Sela Leadership
The stats are not hard to understand. The growth score is each kid's score this year minus their score last year, and then compared to that same information for other same-grade kids in DC. The performance score is how kids at Sela did on the CAPE.