Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the YY poster who mentioned moving to MA. We'll be sad to leave YY, warts and all, including their dearth of Mandarin speaking administrators: That issue only seems to be an issue on DCUM from people who don't have kids at YY. I have never heard this complaint from anyone at YY although I have heard other complaints - but no school is perfect... and overall the families I know are pretty happy there which is shown by the low attrition.

Unlike some others here, I like the administration as is and welcome the new AP and SN Coordinator since it reflects the community we live in. Yu Ying is an immersion school in DC where the majority of kids are AA. It is not a Chinese immersion school for Chinese people, it really isn't.

It is mostly non-YY parents.

They should take another PPs advice and start their own "perfect" Chinese immersion school.

The assignments praising "President" Mao that the admins couldn't read could be construed as a wake-up call. The teacher's still on board, but now that she's been busted by a mom who actually reads characters, maybe she'll tone down her paens to Communism.

I see YY's embarrassing leadership situation, and dearth of bilingual students (although DC supports a small bilingual Chinese immigrant community) as a wake-up call. The city obviously isn't nearly as serious about improving school quality as it should be.

To my knowledge, in the burbs and other cities, school systems don't hire admins who can't read or speak immersion languages being taught. They scour North America to find them. That's how the Quebecois Maury principal came to this area - Fairfax recruited her from Canada to head up a new French immersion program, although she had no prior US school admin experience. It's no secret that she wouldn't head up Stokes because the one-way immersion set-up there doesn't do it for her. This country has to compete economically on a global stage.

Anonymous wrote:I'm the YY poster who mentioned moving to MA. We'll be sad to leave YY, warts and all, including their dearth of Mandarin speaking administrators: That issue only seems to be an issue on DCUM from people who don't have kids at YY. I have never heard this complaint from anyone at YY although I have heard other complaints - but no school is perfect... and overall the families I know are pretty happy there which is shown by the low attrition.

Unlike some others here, I like the administration as is and welcome the new AP and SN Coordinator since it reflects the community we live in. Yu Ying is an immersion school in DC where the majority of kids are AA. It is not a Chinese immersion school for Chinese people, it really isn't.

It is mostly non-YY parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe it. More and more US colleges teach Mandarin, including writing to Chinese immigrants and ABCs who already speak well. There are bright sparks in their 30s around the country who are well-qualified and would come to DC for the adventure of running YY for what they're paying. Oyster-Adams just hired a 28 year old newbie principal.

YY parent here. You are suggesting that we fire the head of school just so that we can recruit a newbie principal who's looking for an adventure? Um, no. While I would like to see Chinese admins at some point, I'm much more interested in continuity of operations at this point, thanks very much.

This X 1,000

Think about it, you're clamoring to keep admins who run an immersion language school without a firm grasp of the language or culture being taught on the assumption that nobody on the planet could do a better job (despite the fact that around 1.7 billion speak the language in question). I speak decent Italian. If this set-up were found at an Italian public immersion ES, I'd use my favorite Italian word for ridiculous and stay away.

Where did anyone say no one on the planet could do it better? The point is it's not a change you make when things are going well. And neither you or anyone else who's posted so far has proven that the rising 6th graders have poor Mandarin language skills and no grasp on culture. What matters most is what's being delivered to students on a daily basis. It is a feat to set up and run a structure where a school that delivers what YY does does it this well today. You only risk putting the school in new hands if there is something key the kids aren't getting. Where is your proof of that and that all the risks of changing leadership are worth it? No one in any thread I've read here criticizing the current Admins can point to what dramatic, guaranteed changes to what hAppens in the classrooms will come from this change. Which means... So far it would be crazy to replace her.

I really don't get all of these parents that spend precious time arm chair quarterbacking and ranting about Yu Ying. Not interested? Fine, don't apply. Move on. There are far more important things in life to fret over. The axe some parents have to grind is just mind-boggling.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe it. More and more US colleges teach Mandarin, including writing to Chinese immigrants and ABCs who already speak well. There are bright sparks in their 30s around the country who are well-qualified and would come to DC for the adventure of running YY for what they're paying. Oyster-Adams just hired a 28 year old newbie principal.

YY parent here. You are suggesting that we fire the head of school just so that we can recruit a newbie principal who's looking for an adventure? Um, no. While I would like to see Chinese admins at some point, I'm much more interested in continuity of operations at this point, thanks very much.

This X 1,000

Think about it, you're clamoring to keep admins who run an immersion language school without a firm grasp of the language or culture being taught on the assumption that nobody on the planet could do a better job (despite the fact that around 1.7 billion speak the language in question). I speak decent Italian. If this set-up were found at an Italian public immersion ES, I'd use my favorite Italian word for ridiculous and stay away.

No, I'm saying that of the many challenges that face YY, this is not paramount to me. There are PLENTY of YY staff with a firm grasp of the language and culture. You make it sound like they're teaching with some Rosetta stone CDs and a Chinese menu.

Anonymous wrote:Apples and oranges, again.

Or maybe just logic, good planning and seriousness of purpose vs. a concept that sounds much better on paper than it is in real life, given the exigencies of DC ed reform politics.

YY has achieved every unbelievable goal they have set out to achieve, right? They achieve what they set out to do time and time again, against the odds and with excellent outcomes. Ergo, it must simply not be a goal of the school to have Chinese speakers in leadership.

I'm the YY poster who mentioned moving to MA. We'll be sad to leave YY, warts and all, including their dearth of Mandarin speaking administrators: That issue only seems to be an issue on DCUM from people who don't have kids at YY. I have never heard this complaint from anyone at YY although I have heard other complaints - but no school is perfect... and overall the families I know are pretty happy there which is shown by the low attrition.

Unlike some others here, I like the administration as is and welcome the new AP and SN Coordinator since it reflects the community we live in. Yu Ying is an immersion school in DC where the majority of kids are AA. It is not a Chinese immersion school for Chinese people, it really isn't.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe it. More and more US colleges teach Mandarin, including writing to Chinese immigrants and ABCs who already speak well. There are bright sparks in their 30s around the country who are well-qualified and would come to DC for the adventure of running YY for what they're paying. Oyster-Adams just hired a 28 year old newbie principal.

YY parent here. You are suggesting that we fire the head of school just so that we can recruit a newbie principal who's looking for an adventure? Um, no. While I would like to see Chinese admins at some point, I'm much more interested in continuity of operations at this point, thanks very much.

This X 1,000

Think about it, you're clamoring to keep admins who run an immersion language school without a firm grasp of the language or culture being taught on the assumption that nobody on the planet could do a better job (despite the fact that around 1.7 billion speak the language in question). I speak decent Italian. If this set-up were found at an Italian public immersion ES, I'd use my favorite Italian word for ridiculous and stay away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe it. More and more US colleges teach Mandarin, including writing to Chinese immigrants and ABCs who already speak well. There are bright sparks in their 30s around the country who are well-qualified and would come to DC for the adventure of running YY for what they're paying. Oyster-Adams just hired a 28 year old newbie principal.

And that.... proves beyond doubt how ignorant you are. If you really think the new Principal of O-A is "newbie" to school administration, you a) don't know her resume; b) don't know her; and c) have not got a damn clue about how hard it is to find excellent school Admins. She will be awesome, but she is one of the last people you could call a "Newbie" and it's a LOT easier to find Spanish-speaking rock stars to head up an American school like O-A than it is Mandarin-speaking rockstars. Hell, finding rockstar Principals for non-bilingual schools is a huge mega challenge.

Ok, now it's easier to read your posts and be clear that you don't know anything about hiring quality Administrators so of course, you think it's easy. Nuff said.

Calm down. The O-A principal is a newbie to O-A. Nobody is arguing that it would be easy to hire strong Mandarin-speaking admins for YY. PPs are arguing that it could be done if the political will were there.

You are not reading PP's post. This person is clearly saying "newbie" to being a Principal at all, because they also mention "bright sparks in their 30s... who would move for the adventure of running YY". Yes, this person is saying it would be easy and that there are plenty of "ABC's out there" who could run the school. Ask anyone who has worked in either a great or a miserable school: it is the farthest thing from easy, and if a school is running relatively well it's only a change you make because what you are changing to is that much more important than the leadership you have. Where is the evidence of what exactly would be dramatically better if YY made the change for that reason?

Anonymous wrote:Apples and oranges, again.

Or maybe just logic, good planning and seriousness of purpose vs. a concept that sounds much better on paper than it is in real life, given the exigencies of DC ed reform politics.

You figured it out. YY is just a lark with no seriousness of purpose.

Apples and oranges, again.

Or maybe just logic, good planning and seriousness of purpose vs. a concept that sounds much better on paper than it is in real life, given the exigencies of DC ed reform politics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe it. More and more US colleges teach Mandarin, including writing to Chinese immigrants and ABCs who already speak well. There are bright sparks in their 30s around the country who are well-qualified and would come to DC for the adventure of running YY for what they're paying. Oyster-Adams just hired a 28 year old newbie principal.

YY parent here. You are suggesting that we fire the head of school just so that we can recruit a newbie principal who's looking for an adventure? Um, no. While I would like to see Chinese admins at some point, I'm much more interested in continuity of operations at this point, thanks very much.

This X 1,000

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe it. More and more US colleges teach Mandarin, including writing to Chinese immigrants and ABCs who already speak well. There are bright sparks in their 30s around the country who are well-qualified and would come to DC for the adventure of running YY for what they're paying. Oyster-Adams just hired a 28 year old newbie principal.

And that.... proves beyond doubt how ignorant you are. If you really think the new Principal of O-A is "newbie" to school administration, you a) don't know her resume; b) don't know her; and c) have not got a damn clue about how hard it is to find excellent school Admins. She will be awesome, but she is one of the last people you could call a "Newbie" and it's a LOT easier to find Spanish-speaking rock stars to head up an American school like O-A than it is Mandarin-speaking rockstars. Hell, finding rockstar Principals for non-bilingual schools is a huge mega challenge.

Ok, now it's easier to read your posts and be clear that you don't know anything about hiring quality Administrators so of course, you think it's easy. Nuff said.

Calm down. The O-A principal is a newbie to O-A. Nobody is arguing that it would be easy to hire strong Mandarin-speaking admins for YY. PPs are arguing that it could be done if the political will were there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is greener in MoCo. The principals speak excellent Chinese, and the teachers, who are paid and trained well, tend to stick around for years. Most teachers are ABCs with strong ties to the local ethnic community, which is very involved in the programs. Standards are considerably higher--for math, English and, yes, Mandarin--and there isn't a non-immersion track. Roughly one-quarter of the kids mainly speak Chinese at home (far more in 5th grade than K, because bilingual children test in to replace drop-outs). Best of all, parents aren't driven to these programs to escape low-performing neighborhood elementary schools, so no there's almost no admissions rate race. You don't meet many MoCo immersion parents who don't know basics about the US Chinese immigrant experience, and China itself, like you do at YY.

That's not true. The school has a general comprehensive school and the chinese immersion school. The chinese immersion is basically a school within a school.

The MoCo Potomac and College Gardens Mandarin immersion programs don't bump kids from an immersion Mandarin track to a non-immersion track like YY does. They don't have many low SES kids to start with, but the ones they take are given the resources and help to keep up with high SES peers, including summer camp in China.

Apples and oranges, again.