Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is the first year with automatic K rights to Payne. Payne is a really good school option and Watkins is also very nearby. But I imagine that the upper grades non-immersion population is probably already dwindling now before being fully phased out because its well-know the school is transitioning to being full-immersion.

To be 100% honest, the non-immersion sides population is higher than the immersion side in the upper grades which we may or may not continue to see but has historically happened even before Dr. Brann arrived.

Without a strong middle school option, parents are still moving their children in the upper grades.

Anonymous wrote:I think this is the first year with automatic K rights to Payne. Payne is a really good school option and Watkins is also very nearby. But I imagine that the upper grades non-immersion population is probably already dwindling now before being fully phased out because its well-know the school is transitioning to being full-immersion.

Anonymous wrote:Some of this is nonsense. The new and improved CAPE scores still include the students on the Creative Arts track as it hasn’t been phased out on that level yet. The improved scores are a result of teachers and staff working very hard with students. I would love someone to show the comparison of scores of PARCC pre-Covid era and then make this determination.

Also, Chisholm lost at least 14 staff members this year, including ones on the Spanish side that weren’t old. I think that staff at the time of PARCC or CAPE plus attendance supports should all be evaluated within this as Chisholm has seen a lot of movement in the last several years.

Dr. Brann is great to you all that don’t know the other side of her and probably won’t. People stay because they love the school and community. Also, historically the inbound population was majority black. For so many white, privileged families and other affluent families to come in and essentially take over and not want to look at educating this population equitably at Chisholm speaks volumes and is ridiculous.

PS. That’s why you guys aren’t getting an education campus. You can’t get everything you want, which also your precious Dr. Brann doesn’t support the expansion either. Now go cry to mama.

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that Dual Language Program and everything Principal Brann is doing is working. People complain about older staff leaving? Good riddance! All you parents complaining about the school? You are part of the problem! Parents that don't see the value in another language are definitely part of the problem. If it negatively affected test scores is one thing. The crazy thing is it not only did not affect them negatively, test scores have risen! The more of you difficult parents leave, the better the test scores of the school become. The more of you leave, the less I see bullying in the school. The big problem Chisolm had has been close minded, stubborn, racist, and angry parents and the more of you leave the better the school becomes. And I hope they do make the middle school happen. Would be great. We need a middle school option that performs better than Elliot Hine and Jefferson, so we can all stop fighting to make it to Basis Middle School on a prayer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the school is sooo great, why are 11 staff members leaving?!?!

I used to employed at Shirley. Loved my students. Did not care too much about Brann. She is a parent pleaser and could care less about CERTAIN staff members.

Changing the program at the school was a terrible decision as well.

I moved on to greener pastures.

Did you not speak Spanish? Because I actually think the decision to convert to all dual language was the right one, but obviously a ton of English only teachers (understandably) left and were unhappy about it.

Not the PP but am curious as to why you think the conversion was a good idea? Especially with the proposal being voted down by the community the previous year and Brann sneakily submitted it again.

Anonymous wrote:Also, the logistics of hiring a bunch of new bilingual teachers is a serious challenge. I know several bilingual teachers, at Chisholm and another unnamed school, and their Spanish language skills are not impressive. Like, first gen born in the US, and they speak Spanglish.

I know a nonprofit that has a really hard time recruiting bilingual social workers in DC. The workforce of Spanish teachers is just not here.[/quote

This was not our experience at Chisolm - (2 years ago - there for 4 years). I remember there was one teacher that was not fluent, but she left in the middle of the year. Everyone else were native spanish speakers.