Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 15:18     Subject: Mundo Verde parents?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes, but the Y program is not an extension of IT's philosophy or teaching methodology. That is why we will not attend the summer camp and are only somewhat satisfied with aftercare.

The Y hires nice people, loving towards their students, but who don't have the level of engagement or training with early childhood education that is desirable. Very uneven. Also unhappy with excessive use of timeouts instead of redirection or, perhaps, anticipating kids behavior.

Fwiw, the school has a "hotel" for cellphones brought in by kids during the school day. This should be replicated for Y staff as well so that they can be reunited at the end of their shift.


I've seen the Y staff on the playground after school and they could not be less engaged with the kids. Not impressed.


Couldn't disagree more. Y staff appear to be very engaged IMO.


Have you watched them on the playground? I have and regularly see kids throwing stones, kids getting hurt, kids behaving aggressively toward classmates and others on the playground and other poor behavior due to lack of supervision. All while the Y staff sit on a bench looking bored.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 14:08     Subject: Mundo Verde parents?
I send my kids to LAMB, but MV was my second choice. So obviously I think the school is awesome. That said, I think that it's a great idea to have more kids come in at pk3. I chose LAMB over MV because I liked that the
majority of kids had those extra years of Spanish.

Good job MV!
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 12:02     Subject: Mundo Verde parents?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes, but the Y program is not an extension of IT's philosophy or teaching methodology. That is why we will not attend the summer camp and are only somewhat satisfied with aftercare.

The Y hires nice people, loving towards their students, but who don't have the level of engagement or training with early childhood education that is desirable. Very uneven. Also unhappy with excessive use of timeouts instead of redirection or, perhaps, anticipating kids behavior.

Fwiw, the school has a "hotel" for cellphones brought in by kids during the school day. This should be replicated for Y staff as well so that they can be reunited at the end of their shift.


I've seen the Y staff on the playground after school and they could not be less engaged with the kids. Not impressed.


Couldn't disagree more. Y staff appear to be very engaged IMO.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 11:18     Subject: Re:Mundo Verde parents?
Thanks again, that is very good to know. I assumed we would have new teachers until I read your previous post, then I got a little hopeful ... I can't imagine a more skilled teacher than ours -- and to think we came to MV expecting 22-year-old know-nothings!
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 11:09     Subject: Re:Mundo Verde parents?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:From my understanding, they were going to fill those seats in K during SY17-18; now they are filling them a year early, in PK, which makes sense from an immersion standpoint. What I don't totally understand is how the teacher-hiring process will work. Do you hire 4 extra teachers for the additional 2 PK classes in SY 15-16, then move those teachers to K the next year? Or just hire those teachers for a single year since K already has 4 teams of teachers and fellows. Anyway, I think the move makes a lot of sense even if it was done out of financial necessity. On another subject, why aren't more of us talking about how horrible Muriel Bowser is for screwing over so many kids? A similar scramble to deal with a reduced budget is occurring at our IB DCPS as well.


The general that they have been following (which is still in flux as seen in the upper grade changes) calls for smaller pre-3 and pk-4 classes with an influx in both pk-4 and k. They had a choice as to how they would fill the available spots for next year, and they chose to fill these in early.

As for teacher hiring, very few of the MV teachers have traditionally remained in the same grade for every year. In fact, the model that they have chosen has the teachers rolling with the students for a couple grades at a time so that they lose the transition period in the beginning of the year. This is one reason that they now have combined pre-3/pk-4 classes. Because of the growth, that has only happened in a few instances, but unless things have changed, it remains a goal to roll the teachers with the students whenever possible (and, when it makes sense; for instance, 2 of the 3 pk-4 teachers rolled with the students a couple years ago, but the third didn't because he really specialized in the younger kids enough to make sense for him to remain). Thus, I don't think that it will change their hiring process at all.

Preach.


Thanks for this! I would be so thrilled if we somehow got the same teacher next year. Do they tend to keep cohorts of kids together as well? My DD is in K so I am thinking about transition to 1st.


When they did it before, they kept the cohorts for the most part. Then the next year, when the teachers all changed, the cohorts were mixed more. It has worked out beautifully. Although I too am hoping that we can do it again this year, as I would absolutely love to have our first grade teachers again, I wouldn't get my hopes up, as they are still growing, and it's anybody's guess. I will say though that you would be very lucky to get either set of current first grade teachers next year if it turns out that way instead. Even the families who hated to leave their beloved teachers who they had for two years (and the sadness was very palpable for some of the parents) have been very happy with the first grade teachers this year.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 10:40     Subject: Re:Mundo Verde parents?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:From my understanding, they were going to fill those seats in K during SY17-18; now they are filling them a year early, in PK, which makes sense from an immersion standpoint. What I don't totally understand is how the teacher-hiring process will work. Do you hire 4 extra teachers for the additional 2 PK classes in SY 15-16, then move those teachers to K the next year? Or just hire those teachers for a single year since K already has 4 teams of teachers and fellows. Anyway, I think the move makes a lot of sense even if it was done out of financial necessity. On another subject, why aren't more of us talking about how horrible Muriel Bowser is for screwing over so many kids? A similar scramble to deal with a reduced budget is occurring at our IB DCPS as well.


The general that they have been following (which is still in flux as seen in the upper grade changes) calls for smaller pre-3 and pk-4 classes with an influx in both pk-4 and k. They had a choice as to how they would fill the available spots for next year, and they chose to fill these in early.

As for teacher hiring, very few of the MV teachers have traditionally remained in the same grade for every year. In fact, the model that they have chosen has the teachers rolling with the students for a couple grades at a time so that they lose the transition period in the beginning of the year. This is one reason that they now have combined pre-3/pk-4 classes. Because of the growth, that has only happened in a few instances, but unless things have changed, it remains a goal to roll the teachers with the students whenever possible (and, when it makes sense; for instance, 2 of the 3 pk-4 teachers rolled with the students a couple years ago, but the third didn't because he really specialized in the younger kids enough to make sense for him to remain). Thus, I don't think that it will change their hiring process at all.

Preach.


Thanks for this! I would be so thrilled if we somehow got the same teacher next year. Do they tend to keep cohorts of kids together as well? My DD is in K so I am thinking about transition to 1st.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 10:37     Subject: Mundo Verde parents?
Anonymous wrote:Yes, but the Y program is not an extension of IT's philosophy or teaching methodology. That is why we will not attend the summer camp and are only somewhat satisfied with aftercare.

The Y hires nice people, loving towards their students, but who don't have the level of engagement or training with early childhood education that is desirable. Very uneven. Also unhappy with excessive use of timeouts instead of redirection or, perhaps, anticipating kids behavior.

Fwiw, the school has a "hotel" for cellphones brought in by kids during the school day. This should be replicated for Y staff as well so that they can be reunited at the end of their shift.


I've seen the Y staff on the playground after school and they could not be less engaged with the kids. Not impressed.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 10:31     Subject: Re:Mundo Verde parents?
Anonymous wrote:From my understanding, they were going to fill those seats in K during SY17-18; now they are filling them a year early, in PK, which makes sense from an immersion standpoint. What I don't totally understand is how the teacher-hiring process will work. Do you hire 4 extra teachers for the additional 2 PK classes in SY 15-16, then move those teachers to K the next year? Or just hire those teachers for a single year since K already has 4 teams of teachers and fellows. Anyway, I think the move makes a lot of sense even if it was done out of financial necessity. On another subject, why aren't more of us talking about how horrible Muriel Bowser is for screwing over so many kids? A similar scramble to deal with a reduced budget is occurring at our IB DCPS as well.


The general that they have been following (which is still in flux as seen in the upper grade changes) calls for smaller pre-3 and pk-4 classes with an influx in both pk-4 and k. They had a choice as to how they would fill the available spots for next year, and they chose to fill these in early.

As for teacher hiring, very few of the MV teachers have traditionally remained in the same grade for every year. In fact, the model that they have chosen has the teachers rolling with the students for a couple grades at a time so that they lose the transition period in the beginning of the year. This is one reason that they now have combined pre-3/pk-4 classes. Because of the growth, that has only happened in a few instances, but unless things have changed, it remains a goal to roll the teachers with the students whenever possible (and, when it makes sense; for instance, 2 of the 3 pk-4 teachers rolled with the students a couple years ago, but the third didn't because he really specialized in the younger kids enough to make sense for him to remain). Thus, I don't think that it will change their hiring process at all.

Preach.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 10:25     Subject: Re:Mundo Verde parents?
From my understanding, they were going to fill those seats in K during SY17-18; now they are filling them a year early, in PK, which makes sense from an immersion standpoint. What I don't totally understand is how the teacher-hiring process will work. Do you hire 4 extra teachers for the additional 2 PK classes in SY 15-16, then move those teachers to K the next year? Or just hire those teachers for a single year since K already has 4 teams of teachers and fellows. Anyway, I think the move makes a lot of sense even if it was done out of financial necessity. On another subject, why aren't more of us talking about how horrible Muriel Bowser is for screwing over so many kids? A similar scramble to deal with a reduced budget is occurring at our IB DCPS as well.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 10:21     Subject: Mundo Verde parents?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Back to the topic at hand, can any MV parents chime in on the expanded spots due to a budget shortfall?


They are filling up all the spaces in the same way that most charters do when they have more space. It won't create an oversized class in the long-term; it is just making the school the size it will be now instead of next year. Seems like a good plan, and to do otherwise would shortchange everyone by having the whole school pay the price for leaving seats empty.


They are not leaving seats empty. They are creating new seats they hadn't anticipated for financial reasons.


Every time there is a bump in space, there is a bump in real estate costs and a bump in available spaces. If the school can accommodate 500 students, then they are paying for real estate for 500 students. Thus, they need to fill all 500 spaces. Anything less is sunk real estate costs, which as you know are expensive here. The new building will be open, so they need to fill it. They had not announced how they were going to do that for next year, but they have always discussed filling the spaces as soon as the space became open. Go back and look at all the materials from the past couple years if you don't believe me. This to me seems like the best way to do it, as they have the ability to do it without creating an extra large grade as yu ying did or adding classes in upper grades, which has proven more difficult in the past.

This is not a result of budget cuts. The budget cuts are causing other changes, however, such as the restructuring of the administration by cutting Topaz's position.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 10:16     Subject: Mundo Verde parents?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Back to the topic at hand, can any MV parents chime in on the expanded spots due to a budget shortfall?


They are filling up all the spaces in the same way that most charters do when they have more space. It won't create an oversized class in the long-term; it is just making the school the size it will be now instead of next year. Seems like a good plan, and to do otherwise would shortchange everyone by having the whole school pay the price for leaving seats empty.


They are not leaving seats empty. They are creating new seats they hadn't anticipated for financial reasons.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 08:58     Subject: Mundo Verde parents?
Anonymous wrote:Back to the topic at hand, can any MV parents chime in on the expanded spots due to a budget shortfall?


They are filling up all the spaces in the same way that most charters do when they have more space. It won't create an oversized class in the long-term; it is just making the school the size it will be now instead of next year. Seems like a good plan, and to do otherwise would shortchange everyone by having the whole school pay the price for leaving seats empty.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 06:54     Subject: Mundo Verde parents?
Back to the topic at hand, can any MV parents chime in on the expanded spots due to a budget shortfall?
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2015 03:20     Subject: Mundo Verde parents?
Yes, but the Y program is not an extension of IT's philosophy or teaching methodology. That is why we will not attend the summer camp and are only somewhat satisfied with aftercare.

The Y hires nice people, loving towards their students, but who don't have the level of engagement or training with early childhood education that is desirable. Very uneven. Also unhappy with excessive use of timeouts instead of redirection or, perhaps, anticipating kids behavior.

Fwiw, the school has a "hotel" for cellphones brought in by kids during the school day. This should be replicated for Y staff as well so that they can be reunited at the end of their shift.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2015 14:25     Subject: Mundo Verde parents?
Both Lee and Shining Stars offer a camp run by MOMIES (this year both at the Lee location). The camp was offered by the school but administered and run by MOMIES and reflective of Montessori principals and the values of the schools.

ITS bought in the Y to offer their camp. No difference.