Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP - why not CM? Is it bc the teachers are young?

Young teachers. But more than that I did not like the head of school's answers to my questions about cultural competency.

This. And I felt like the very young teachers were enthusiastic but felt like the administration was cold and unengaged

The administration seemed surprised and cold when Spanish speaking parents came to the orientation. The parents were left to have their children translate for them. The school was in Columbia Heights so they should have been prepared for interpretation or made other accommodations.

Are you kidding me? Is Columbia Heights a part of the USA? Then I don't understand why the 'spanish speaking parents' should expect any kind of special accomodation. They moved the the US so they need to learn English and, before you accuse me of racism, I am an immigrant but do not expect anyone to speak Russian to me when I go to school orientation meetings.

Not the PP you're responding to, but you're right, you shouldn't expect anyone to speak Russian to you. HOWEVER, this school is in Columbia Heights, which has been traditionally dominant Spanish-speakers for decades. To not even have anyone on hand to answer questions of non-English speaking Spanish families simply shows how clueless or uninterested the school is in engaging those families. "Expecting" it may be too strong a word, but it certainly says plenty that the school itself didn't think of it.

I grew up in DC, and am close to 50. As a teenager, Columbia Heights was one of my hangout spots. Columbia Heights has been traditionally for immigrants from Africa, Carribbean, and Latin American countries. Why are you only focusing on the Spanish. Many families to CH spoke French and Amharic. Would you also advocate on their behalfs.

Sure, I'd be happy to. But tell me some numbers - while I know there is a notable African immigrant population, I don't know DC or CH specifically to have such a large number of Amharic-speaking families that a school based in CH should anticipate non-English speaking parents to come to a Creative Minds open house. I myself have gone to many open houses and while there have definitely been parents at a few who you could tell weren't catching everything that was said (hell, I'm born here and have 2 degrees and I didn't catch everything that was said!), but Spanish is the only language I saw parents come in any numbers and need some assistance understanding what's going on. CH has a history of wonderful diversity, but numbers still matter. How big is the Amharic-speaking community compared to the Spanish-speaking community of CH? Or any other language other than English compared to Spanish in CH?

Per Boundary briefing materials:

OSSE student level data indicated that about 10% (7,854 public school students) lived in families where a language other than English was spoken in the home. Although 6,063 or 77% indicated that Spanish was the language spoken at home, there were 79 other languages from Akan to Yoruba that were reported. The second most report language, after Spanish, was Amharic, but only 331 families reported that Amharic was the language spoken in their home out of the 7,854 public school students.
http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Policy%20Brief%203_The%20Landscape%20for%20Student%20Assignment%20and%20School%20Choice_Jan%20DRAFT_0.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SWS - I know everyone says otherwise, but I got a very cold reception from the open house.

Plenty of reasons someone might want to rule SWS out, but lack of warmth is not one of them. You must have gotten someone on a bad day. I'd have left this alone if you said he school was TOO warm or too -- many other things. But cold it is not.

Oh, I don't know. Long time SWS parent here. I think there is something to the level of warmth corresponding to whether you are seem in tune with the SWS vibe. I'm not trying to be coy about race or SES, but there are some parents, my DH included, who finds the SWS schtick eye-roll worthy and he never felt much warmth there. We loved it for DD though. I also think that people who don't respond to the Principal consistently. He is great, and I worked as a parent volunteer with him for hundreds of hours, but I'm not sure his warmth is spread universally. IMHO.

Anonymous wrote:SWS - I know everyone says otherwise, but I got a very cold reception from the open house.

Plenty of reasons someone might want to rule SWS out, but lack of warmth is not one of them. You must have gotten someone on a bad day. I'd have left this alone if you said he school was TOO warm or too -- many other things. But cold it is not.

Back to the OP's original question, we ruled out a number of well-regarded schools because we knew we could not make the location logistics work. To some extent, we didn't want to fall for a place and then turn it down. (This was under the old apply-to-as-many-places-as-you-want system).

Anonymous wrote:Re: Spanish interpretation.

Our EotP DCPS is not a dual language school, but we do have a significant percentage of in bounds families who speak English as a second (or third) language. Because most of them are native Spanish speakers, we try to translate things into Spanish as often as possible so that the school is accessible to those families. We also have several families who speak Vietnamese at home. We are trying to figure out a good way to make PTA meetings accessible to those families, but since we do not have any staff who speak Vietnamese, it's tricky.

The point of an open house is to be welcoming and convey information about your school.

In the case of a DCPS where there is neighborhood preference and you know your client base in advance, this makes perfectly good sense. In the case of a city-wide charter, it does not necessarily make sense. A spanish speaking person who lives on the same block as Creative Minds has no better chance of being at the school than anyone else. The same cannot be said of a neighborhood DCPS. With the DCPS you know your neighborhood and know in advance the demographics of the people likely to show up at an Open House. The same cannot be said for a city-wide charter.

Re: Spanish interpretation.

Our EotP DCPS is not a dual language school, but we do have a significant percentage of in bounds families who speak English as a second (or third) language. Because most of them are native Spanish speakers, we try to translate things into Spanish as often as possible so that the school is accessible to those families. We also have several families who speak Vietnamese at home. We are trying to figure out a good way to make PTA meetings accessible to those families, but since we do not have any staff who speak Vietnamese, it's tricky.

The point of an open house is to be welcoming and convey information about your school.

^^ Which brings us back to the origin of this thread, and yes is a reason not to be interested in a popular school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP - why not CM? Is it bc the teachers are young?

Young teachers. But more than that I did not like the head of school's answers to my questions about cultural competency.

This. And I felt like the very young teachers were enthusiastic but felt like the administration was cold and unengaged

The administration seemed surprised and cold when Spanish speaking parents came to the orientation. The parents were left to have their children translate for them. The school was in Columbia Heights so they should have been prepared for interpretation or made other accommodations.

Are you kidding me? Is Columbia Heights a part of the USA? Then I don't understand why the 'spanish speaking parents' should expect any kind of special accomodation. They moved the the US so they need to learn English and, before you accuse me of racism, I am an immigrant but do not expect anyone to speak Russian to me when I go to school orientation meetings.

Totally agree. The bolded is getting real old. Do we want to change the rest of the US into Miami where US citizens are treated like foreigners in their own country because they can't speak Spanish.

Wow! The responses - if from CM folks - is making my point. It is my family's preference that a school I send my child to can treat a diversity of students and parents with respect. I am not telling you what kind of environment you should want for your child.

You are responding to me. I am not a CM parent. Have no interest in the school. My post was about the overall atmosphere that we are getting to a place that if you cannot speak Spanish or accommodate, as you state, Spanish in the USA, something is inherently wrong. Why? If I move to Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Honduras, etc I would have to learn the language without accomodations. I don't know if you have lived in Miami, but it is difficult for a non-college educated person to obtain decent employment. In some areas, it is difficult for college edcuated kids to obtain first employment without Spanish language background. Why are they treated like second-class citizens because they cannot speak Spanish? That's what your initial post advocates for a future DC.

It's called the free market. If your client base speaks Spanish, you have to too. You Republicans are fond of the free market, but your platform isn't consistent with it on a lot of issues like immigration and women's reproductive health.

But their "client base" does not speak Spanish. It is a city-wide charter that happens to be in Columbia Heights and will move out of Columbia Heights to Petworth. So all DC residents are their client base. I could see the problem with this if ALL city wide charters had Spanish interpretation, or if you were advocating for translation in Amharic and Spanish and Vietnamese, to name a few of the languages, but this argument is ridiculous. I could see if it were Mundo Verde or DC Bilingual, which does indeed have the Spanish speaking component and actively recruits Spanish-speaking families.

At any rate, if that is what turns you off about CMI, don't apply. To each her own. Every charter is not for every person. The CMI community is welcoming and diverse in every sense of the word.

I am starting to wonder if some of this attitude towards the Head of School is because she is not the typical liberal, white fuzzy do gooder woman the DCUM majority population is used to dealing with.

No, that's not it. Without naming the other 2 charters, (because I wasn't the one to name CM in this thread either), I have been to open houses and school expos and met 2 other popular charter Heads of Schools that were definitely NOT" warm, fuzzy, do gooders" from the ways they presented themselves. Can't comment on whether they were "liberal" or not because a) I didn't ask, b) they didn't identify their political affiliations, and c) I know better than to make assumptions about a Principal's personal political beliefs or agenda based on what they say about their school at an open house. And yet, I was still impressed by them because the atmosphere of the school was welcoming, the Heads of School were able to answer the actual questions asked by their audience, they didn't seem to have an attitude about it (they just weren't warm or fuzzy by a longshot), and what they said made sense.

I was turned off by CM's Head of School because she seemed to have an attitude, she didn't answer 2 curriculum questions directly, and her presentation was not just "not warm and fuzzy" but actually off-putting. But as you've pointed out, I can think what I want, I just don't apply. And that's exactly what happened in this last round of lotteries: we didn't apply. And won't next year when we are looking at PK3 for our youngest to see if we end up at a better school than now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP - why not CM? Is it bc the teachers are young?

Young teachers. But more than that I did not like the head of school's answers to my questions about cultural competency.

This. And I felt like the very young teachers were enthusiastic but felt like the administration was cold and unengaged

The administration seemed surprised and cold when Spanish speaking parents came to the orientation. The parents were left to have their children translate for them. The school was in Columbia Heights so they should have been prepared for interpretation or made other accommodations.

Are you kidding me? Is Columbia Heights a part of the USA? Then I don't understand why the 'spanish speaking parents' should expect any kind of special accomodation. They moved the the US so they need to learn English and, before you accuse me of racism, I am an immigrant but do not expect anyone to speak Russian to me when I go to school orientation meetings.

Not the PP you're responding to, but you're right, you shouldn't expect anyone to speak Russian to you. HOWEVER, this school is in Columbia Heights, which has been traditionally dominant Spanish-speakers for decades. To not even have anyone on hand to answer questions of non-English speaking Spanish families simply shows how clueless or uninterested the school is in engaging those families. "Expecting" it may be too strong a word, but it certainly says plenty that the school itself didn't think of it.

I grew up in DC, and am close to 50. As a teenager, Columbia Heights was one of my hangout spots. Columbia Heights has been traditionally for immigrants from Africa, Carribbean, and Latin American countries. Why are you only focusing on the Spanish. Many families to CH spoke French and Amharic. Would you also advocate on their behalfs.

Sure, I'd be happy to. But tell me some numbers - while I know there is a notable African immigrant population, I don't know DC or CH specifically to have such a large number of Amharic-speaking families that a school based in CH should anticipate non-English speaking parents to come to a Creative Minds open house. I myself have gone to many open houses and while there have definitely been parents at a few who you could tell weren't catching everything that was said (hell, I'm born here and have 2 degrees and I didn't catch everything that was said!), but Spanish is the only language I saw parents come in any numbers and need some assistance understanding what's going on. CH has a history of wonderful diversity, but numbers still matter. How big is the Amharic-speaking community compared to the Spanish-speaking community of CH? Or any other language other than English compared to Spanish in CH?

We learn to speak English

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP - why not CM? Is it bc the teachers are young?

Young teachers. But more than that I did not like the head of school's answers to my questions about cultural competency.

This. And I felt like the very young teachers were enthusiastic but felt like the administration was cold and unengaged

The administration seemed surprised and cold when Spanish speaking parents came to the orientation. The parents were left to have their children translate for them. The school was in Columbia Heights so they should have been prepared for interpretation or made other accommodations.

Are you kidding me? Is Columbia Heights a part of the USA? Then I don't understand why the 'spanish speaking parents' should expect any kind of special accomodation. They moved the the US so they need to learn English and, before you accuse me of racism, I am an immigrant but do not expect anyone to speak Russian to me when I go to school orientation meetings.

Totally agree. The bolded is getting real old. Do we want to change the rest of the US into Miami where US citizens are treated like foreigners in their own country because they can't speak Spanish.

Wow! The responses - if from CM folks - is making my point. It is my family's preference that a school I send my child to can treat a diversity of students and parents with respect. I am not telling you what kind of environment you should want for your child.

You are responding to me. I am not a CM parent. Have no interest in the school. My post was about the overall atmosphere that we are getting to a place that if you cannot speak Spanish or accommodate, as you state, Spanish in the USA, something is inherently wrong. Why? If I move to Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Honduras, etc I would have to learn the language without accomodations. I don't know if you have lived in Miami, but it is difficult for a non-college educated person to obtain decent employment. In some areas, it is difficult for college edcuated kids to obtain first employment without Spanish language background. Why are they treated like second-class citizens because they cannot speak Spanish? That's what your initial post advocates for a future DC.

It's called the free market. If your client base speaks Spanish, you have to too. You Republicans are fond of the free market, but your platform isn't consistent with it on a lot of issues like immigration and women's reproductive health.

Well I am not a Republican. Do you always stereotype and fail miserably?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP - why not CM? Is it bc the teachers are young?

Young teachers. But more than that I did not like the head of school's answers to my questions about cultural competency.

This. And I felt like the very young teachers were enthusiastic but felt like the administration was cold and unengaged

The administration seemed surprised and cold when Spanish speaking parents came to the orientation. The parents were left to have their children translate for them. The school was in Columbia Heights so they should have been prepared for interpretation or made other accommodations.

Are you kidding me? Is Columbia Heights a part of the USA? Then I don't understand why the 'spanish speaking parents' should expect any kind of special accomodation. They moved the the US so they need to learn English and, before you accuse me of racism, I am an immigrant but do not expect anyone to speak Russian to me when I go to school orientation meetings.

Totally agree. The bolded is getting real old. Do we want to change the rest of the US into Miami where US citizens are treated like foreigners in their own country because they can't speak Spanish.

Wow! The responses - if from CM folks - is making my point. It is my family's preference that a school I send my child to can treat a diversity of students and parents with respect. I am not telling you what kind of environment you should want for your child.

You are responding to me. I am not a CM parent. Have no interest in the school. My post was about the overall atmosphere that we are getting to a place that if you cannot speak Spanish or accommodate, as you state, Spanish in the USA, something is inherently wrong. Why? If I move to Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Honduras, etc I would have to learn the language without accomodations. I don't know if you have lived in Miami, but it is difficult for a non-college educated person to obtain decent employment. In some areas, it is difficult for college edcuated kids to obtain first employment without Spanish language background. Why are they treated like second-class citizens because they cannot speak Spanish? That's what your initial post advocates for a future DC.

It's called the free market. If your client base speaks Spanish, you have to too. You Republicans are fond of the free market, but your platform isn't consistent with it on a lot of issues like immigration and women's reproductive health.

But their "client base" does not speak Spanish. It is a city-wide charter that happens to be in Columbia Heights and will move out of Columbia Heights to Petworth. So all DC residents are their client base. I could see the problem with this if ALL city wide charters had Spanish interpretation, or if you were advocating for translation in Amharic and Spanish and Vietnamese, to name a few of the languages, but this argument is ridiculous. I could see if it were Mundo Verde or DC Bilingual, which does indeed have the Spanish speaking component and actively recruits Spanish-speaking families.

At any rate, if that is what turns you off about CMI, don't apply. To each her own. Every charter is not for every person. The CMI community is welcoming and diverse in every sense of the word.

I am starting to wonder if some of this attitude towards the Head of School is because she is not the typical liberal, white fuzzy do gooder woman the DCUM majority population is used to dealing with.

I am a CMI parent and the school is amazing. My kid learns a ton every day and has a diverse cohort of kids. He learns Spanish and chinese. The head of school knows each child and family and had made us feel very welcome.

As to the original question, I am not interested in any school that has large class sizes. Unfortunately, that Knocks out all jklm's aside from Mann.

I don't know anything about CM, but expecting a city-wide non-immersion charter school to be prepared to make this accommodation is ridiculous.

We are a dual-language home with a grandparent who does not speak English and she missed most everything at the open houses we went to, and it never crossed any of our minds to have a problem with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SWS - I know everyone says otherwise, but I got a very cold reception from the open house.

That's funny (to me). It's the only DCPS that I am interested in.

I should add - that is convenient, because I also am/could be interested in Murch. Otherwise we are only interested in immersion schools, particularly LAMB, Mundo Verde, and Yu Ying.

Two Rivers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP - why not CM? Is it bc the teachers are young?

Young teachers. But more than that I did not like the head of school's answers to my questions about cultural competency.

This. And I felt like the very young teachers were enthusiastic but felt like the administration was cold and unengaged

The administration seemed surprised and cold when Spanish speaking parents came to the orientation. The parents were left to have their children translate for them. The school was in Columbia Heights so they should have been prepared for interpretation or made other accommodations.

Are you kidding me? Is Columbia Heights a part of the USA? Then I don't understand why the 'spanish speaking parents' should expect any kind of special accomodation. They moved the the US so they need to learn English and, before you accuse me of racism, I am an immigrant but do not expect anyone to speak Russian to me when I go to school orientation meetings.

Totally agree. The bolded is getting real old. Do we want to change the rest of the US into Miami where US citizens are treated like foreigners in their own country because they can't speak Spanish.

Wow! The responses - if from CM folks - is making my point. It is my family's preference that a school I send my child to can treat a diversity of students and parents with respect. I am not telling you what kind of environment you should want for your child.

You are responding to me. I am not a CM parent. Have no interest in the school. My post was about the overall atmosphere that we are getting to a place that if you cannot speak Spanish or accommodate, as you state, Spanish in the USA, something is inherently wrong. Why? If I move to Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Honduras, etc I would have to learn the language without accomodations. I don't know if you have lived in Miami, but it is difficult for a non-college educated person to obtain decent employment. In some areas, it is difficult for college edcuated kids to obtain first employment without Spanish language background. Why are they treated like second-class citizens because they cannot speak Spanish? That's what your initial post advocates for a future DC.

It's called the free market. If your client base speaks Spanish, you have to too. You Republicans are fond of the free market, but your platform isn't consistent with it on a lot of issues like immigration and women's reproductive health.

But their "client base" does not speak Spanish. It is a city-wide charter that happens to be in Columbia Heights and will move out of Columbia Heights to Petworth. So all DC residents are their client base. I could see the problem with this if ALL city wide charters had Spanish interpretation, or if you were advocating for translation in Amharic and Spanish and Vietnamese, to name a few of the languages, but this argument is ridiculous. I could see if it were Mundo Verde or DC Bilingual, which does indeed have the Spanish speaking component and actively recruits Spanish-speaking families.

At any rate, if that is what turns you off about CMI, don't apply. To each her own. Every charter is not for every person. The CMI community is welcoming and diverse in every sense of the word.

I am starting to wonder if some of this attitude towards the Head of School is because she is not the typical liberal, white fuzzy do gooder woman the DCUM majority population is used to dealing with.