Anonymous
Post 10/25/2014 14:39     Subject: Re:Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:AA CM parent again. I will actually raise the website issue with the principal.

I admit that I personally really liked that the website had children of various ethnicities - that may be because I probably value the idea of a school that values diversity more broadly and the international perspective, than the specific racial demographics in DC. But I can also see how another parent might interpret things differently. I know that the website doesn't currently use pictures of CM students - those are the pics from the original website that was up before the school opened. I assume they had to pay to use each of the pics (thus why there are only a handful) and tried to select a really diverse group (kinda reminds me of Benetton ad). It might be time to consider changing that.

I know this might be hard to do, but I'm wondering if you can give examples of the types of things a school does that makes you feel welcome or unwelcome and that you think are tied to race/ethnicity. I'm not necessarily thinking about just CM, but at all the schools. No need to name schools b/c I don't want this to turn into an attack on various schools. Just trying to get more details to pass along so folks can critically think about these concerns.


What ever happened with this? I see the websight was never changed in spite of more than one person bringing it up directly to the administration.


I see very few pictures of kids at all on the website.
Anonymous
Post 10/25/2014 07:43     Subject: Re:Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
Anonymous wrote:AA CM parent again. I will actually raise the website issue with the principal.

I admit that I personally really liked that the website had children of various ethnicities - that may be because I probably value the idea of a school that values diversity more broadly and the international perspective, than the specific racial demographics in DC. But I can also see how another parent might interpret things differently. I know that the website doesn't currently use pictures of CM students - those are the pics from the original website that was up before the school opened. I assume they had to pay to use each of the pics (thus why there are only a handful) and tried to select a really diverse group (kinda reminds me of Benetton ad). It might be time to consider changing that.

I know this might be hard to do, but I'm wondering if you can give examples of the types of things a school does that makes you feel welcome or unwelcome and that you think are tied to race/ethnicity. I'm not necessarily thinking about just CM, but at all the schools. No need to name schools b/c I don't want this to turn into an attack on various schools. Just trying to get more details to pass along so folks can critically think about these concerns.


What ever happened with this? I see the websight was never changed in spite of more than one person bringing it up directly to the administration.
Anonymous
Post 03/29/2014 01:35     Subject: Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
Anonymous wrote:I don't get why some people think that the only people who care about the web page issue are African American. Is it inconceivable to folks that white people might care too?


As an AA parent (but not a CM parent), it is definitely conceivable. It can also still be surprising (in a good way) to actually encounter white people who do care. It's not an assumption I ever ever make, because I've been shown the opposite way too many times. But yes it's very conceivable, and very good to see in this case!
Anonymous
Post 03/29/2014 00:14     Subject: Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
I don't get why some people think that the only people who care about the web page issue are African American. Is it inconceivable to folks that white people might care too?
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2014 22:45     Subject: Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
Thanks. I am the poster who asked the question. I genuinely wanted to know. I just use DCUM for school research/commentary during this lottery process.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2014 20:58     Subject: Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
Anonymous wrote:Okay, so good to know, there is more than one AA parent responding. So do you and CM parents in general just monitor the threads to comment?


I'm a CM parent, not sure if the color of my skin matters to you? I'm on DCUM pretty regularly because it's fun and interesting and because I enjoy some of the crazy. When I see posts about my child's school, my neighborhood, or other things that interest me...I post. Or, I don't.

It's really how these interwebz work.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2014 19:09     Subject: Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
Anonymous wrote:Okay, so good to know, there is more than one AA parent responding. So do you and CM parents in general just monitor the threads to comment?


I think this person believes that once you're in CM you have no reason to read or post in this forum.

Sounds like irritated envy.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2014 18:37     Subject: Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
Anonymous wrote:Okay, so good to know, there is more than one AA parent responding. So do you and CM parents in general just monitor the threads to comment?


Not from CM but another top charter. I generally comment on the threads about my kids schools, but I read the rest of the threads for the gossip. I wouldn't call that monitoring so much as participating.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2014 17:09     Subject: Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
Anonymous wrote:15:44 I thought the whole point of this site was to get feedback from actual parents of kids in these schools?


I know, right? Or are we just all supposed to speculate and project...oh wait, that's exactly what we do!
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2014 17:07     Subject: Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
15:44 I thought the whole point of this site was to get feedback from actual parents of kids in these schools?
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2014 16:10     Subject: Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
Anonymous wrote:Okay, so good to know, there is more than one AA parent responding. So do you and CM parents in general just monitor the threads to comment?


Not sure if that question makes sense.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2014 15:44     Subject: Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
Okay, so good to know, there is more than one AA parent responding. So do you and CM parents in general just monitor the threads to comment?
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2014 13:45     Subject: Re:Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
Anonymous wrote:That African American parents are identifying themselves at such (because the issues and questions being raised make race relevant), doesn't mean that it's just ONE parent responding.

Let me put this to rest, there are at least 2 of us! lol!


Must be more, I have 6 AA students in my child's class (although I haven't match up color of parents with color of kids).
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2014 13:43     Subject: Re:Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
That African American parents are identifying themselves at such (because the issues and questions being raised make race relevant), doesn't mean that it's just ONE parent responding.

Let me put this to rest, there are at least 2 of us! lol!
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2014 13:40     Subject: Creative Minds - Unified Lottery?
Anonymous wrote:Can any CM parents comment on the experience or lack thereof of the teachers? It seems that the majority of the teachers do not have more than three to five years of experience. This is in stark contrast to the DCPS schools that I toured (Eaton and Hearst) that seem to have more teachers with longer years in service. This concerns me because often younger teachers are not so good at handling differences.


I only have direct experience so far with PS and PK teachers, but I have been thoroughly impressed with the quality and commitment of the teachers. It's an interesting question regarding whether having less teaching experience is correllated to not handling differences well. I haven't seen that, given that CM is very focused on individual children's needs and the different ways that children learn. I'm also thinking that younger teachers are actually more likey to have engaged these issues in their undergrad and grad school education classes that now offer that coursework as part of the standard curriculum. I've also heard of many examples of teachers (not at CM) who don't handle difference well (particularly regardling AA boys) and none of them were young or inexperienced.