CASD Charter School Survey

CASD School Survey

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Answered 94

Skipped 298

Person	Comment
1
2	My child must feel safe and I need to know that his needs are being met! Children were yelling at teachers, threatening teachers and bullying kids. Children that need learning support and have an IEP were not getting the services they were entitled to! Frankly got tired of waiting for the adults to be able to do their jobs without worrying about parents who’s child was a problem having more rights then the rest.
3	We just moved! And once again I will state that we moved due to the current administration. I taught in coatesville for 10 years and left due to the problems that the district is facing under this administration. Teacher morale is at an all time low and there are no resources/supports. Special education in the district is a disaster! I’m a coatesville alumni and former teacher and I’m so sad for the district that I used to fight for.
4	Na
5	Without a change in the parenting nothing will ever change. CASD will continue to lose those paying huge taxes to prop up this joke of a school district.
6	We were at Rainbow for 6 years and loved it. We had concerns for South and choose to leave. Considering returning for HS but a lot needs to happen.
7	Superintendent has ruined the school with lack of supports, lack of discipline, she lies and twists everything and she has cost us taxpayers way too much money and cant afford them anymore
8	Would rather not because of past problems with board members
9
10	I'd vote for anyone who stops the insane tax increases. New facilities isn't the answer... Happier teachers, parents and safer kids within current budget would do it
11	The staff at Caln were great. They tried really hard. But it was obvious that they were most concerned with low performing students. Kids in the middle and up were not challenged.
12	We did all elementary schooling in CASD and were satisfied (2006-20016). We attempted and completed 1 year at South Brandywine Middle school with our eldest. That was when our experience changed enough to look at alternative school options and decided that we would not consider CASD middle school and above for our children.
13	Region 3 boardmembers doing a great job
14	Kid 1- in CASD. Was in gifted/accelerated classes and has done well. Kid 2- Private school. 2015-2016 new math, gifted teacher was removed (we had been receiving her help from the middles school awhile our student was in elementary). No move leveling in classes in middle school which created discipline issues and terrible learning environments. After months of meetings and discussion and no answers we decided to remove him. Kid 3 - Private School. Needed a smaller class size and classes where there were little to no disruptions/behavior issues. Middle school was back to offering leveled classes but still wasn’t comfortable after kid 2 experience.  Kid 3- still in CASD and looking at our options.
15	We are moving to DASD bc of the STEM opportunity
16	The current administration's policies regarding discipline, curriculum choices as well as their classroom management mandates are destroying this district. The permissive policies regarding discipline are creating unsafe conditions for both students and staff, not to mention the instructional time that is being lost. There are significant curricular deficiencies; among the worst, the CPM math program is doing Coatesville students a terrible disservice. (Students are making the honor roll in Coatesville, only to find when they move to another school that they are significantly behind their grade level peers.) Parents and students have voiced concerns, and we have been dismissed, lied to, and our concerns disregarded. Our children only get one chance to receive their primary education. Policies and curriculum that are not working need to be addressed and changed immediately.
17	Stop the board and admin bashing!
18	n/a
19	We had a good experience at Reeceville but the school rapidly declined after Cathy VanVooren left. Discipline issues were a major problem that following year. We considered continuing our child in North Brandywine, but didn’t like the principal’s comments during our GIEP and were concerned our child would not get what he needed to be challenged. He is thriving at USP and scored advanced on the Algebra keystone as a 6th grader - a class the NBMS principal was reluctant to let him into.
20	Had every intention of enrolling our child in CASD until heard first hand accounts from people with families in the district or who had just pulled their kids out. Then got more involved to find out what was going on.  After learning more, decided we would not be enrolling in CASD due to the direction it has taken in the past few years.
21	n/a
22	At your board meeting you turned off the microphone. I'm a tax payer, and this district is completely ridiculous. Corrupt, mismanaged, monetarily mismanaged, and a complete mess. I'm sure the board remembered me. I stood with my collegium students.
23	I would be more than happy to talk about why we are not having our son attend coatesville. My husband and I graduated from coatesville and have owned our home here almost 8 Years and lived here over 10 and most of our youth. I'm an active voter and community member.
24	#AGCS
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26	I'm autistic, and my child is not, but they have some of the related sensory processing disorder. Bullying was also happening at EF based on our Jewish religion, uncle's homosexuality, and child's NOT playing along with gendered expectations. Teen has since come out as agender, asexual, and aromantic. At USP, there are hijabi teens and NO harassment. I'm not bringing my teen back to a bullying atmosphere.
27	I have had 1go through and graduate, and pulled two and put them in private school for very different reasons. The survey only allows one time completion.
28	My child attended Rainbow for kindergarten after doing early intervention in a CCIU program. Even though I explained all of his issues and that I did not believe a typical kindergarten would work he had to do the entire year anyway. The school year started with the Autistic Support class canceled and no one was notified. Administration and the other teachers (including specials) were trained in any type of special education. They had no where for him to deescalate. I was called almost everyday. Picked him up early often because they didn’t know what else to do. There were times I was called in the morning to ask to keep him home because certain teachers/administrators would be absent that day. He was also suspended.
29	My husband and I are both Coatesville graduates. We bought a home in Coatesville hoping things would turn around after Como left. Surprisingly, they seemed to have gotten even worse. We decided to move this summer prior to registering for K so our children could attend public school, just not Coatesville.
30	We live close enough to Downingtown schools to hear sporting events and the bands playing. And yet we are being held hostage by CASD. We don’t live in the Coatesville community. If the school board truly cared about our children, they would properly let our neighborhood be re-districted to Downingtown’s district. It’s apparent that they don’t, so why would I ever send my child there? Thank you.
31	My son regressed in many areas after being at CASD for one year. CASD is lacking majorly in the special education department.
32	I would LOVE to see the CASD be as desirable as our surrounding districts. But, as long as bullying is tolerated and students with discipline history are allowed to remain in the CASD, the reputation of CASD being dangerous for students to attend will remain. Also, if the district could identify as “desirable” in someway, we would love the opportunity to consider the middle/high school as a positive option for our family. What DOES the CASD have to offer that surrounding districts, private schools, and charters do not? NOTHING.
33	n/a
34	KHE was not the main problem for us while we were there . It was going to North and beyond in the system seeing the problems it faced. First year at AGCS was all catchup for them in math and english. So far behind the standards yet they had been Honor Roll at KHE. Not the fault of KHE faculity, they have no choice to teach the cirriculm chosen by Taschner and the board.
35	honestly we would not ever consider sending our kids to CASD, not because of the district itself, but because we love the AGCS and CCDC so very much for our kids. Both of those schools are packed full with caring staff, passionate teachers and great kids.
36	Despite the difficulties of the district I have felt they have impacted my middle and high schooler much less. When my older children went to Reeceville it was great, however, I saw a significant decline in the building with the closing of Gordon (back in 2007), new superintendent, poorly implemented inclusion practices and principal turn over. My children often commented about how much worse the school had gotten since they entered in K. I’m curious to see how the blending of Friendship teachers and new principal will be over the next year. My goal is to absolutely transition my child back into the district for middle/high school. I’ve seen how much there is to offer in terms of music/arts and sports and want him to have the same opportunities.
37
38	When my kids attended caln they were bullied (including torn clothing), with no discipline for the child who attacked my daughter. And a boy in my sons class brought in drugs to school and was handing them out.  This is not an environment I want my children in. My sons teacher was very rude and impatient with him too. Which made it even more upsetting and difficult.
39	Our family gave it our all before we left; volunteering a lot, donating money, communicating with both the school and at the superintendent level. . . Everybody at CASD marched themselves into this situation because they had plenty of people in the community warning them that they were not happy before abandoning the ship.
40	The entire city needs revamping. I would never live in casd with the taxes and issues casd have. Casd has such a bad reputation that we moved just to make sure our children were in a safe environment. It's not just casd it's the entire city.
41	As I mentioned before, the big issues for me are a severe lack of financial management and leadership. This and all the conflict about the superintendents (past and current) has created an atmosphere of hate and conflict. I go to board meetings and there is no colaboration, rather non-stop negative discourse. CASD=Anger and disagreement at every angle. Why would I want my children educated in that environment? Lastly, I have tried to sell my home 3 different times to get out of this school district, but cannot because who wants to bring a family into a 5 bedroom house in a failing district?
42	The coatesville school district is just a crazy-expensive playground membership program to me. You take a lot of tax money and I'm fairly certain most of it is being stolen through corruption.
43	N/a
44	It’s ashame how the district is being ran.
45	The teachers are not being supported and Coatesville is losing a lot of great educators or have educators who can’t teach due to what is going on in Coatesville. There is no accountability or discipline.
46	CASD needs a total overhaul...I have 4 children ...3 who attended Coatesville and graduated. It is sad to see the lack of improvement over the years.
47	We moved into this area 5 years ago with every intention of sending our children to CASD. That has all changed in the past 2 years. We understand that no district is perfect but as it stands right now, we will not be sending our children to CASD. However, if things were to change and improve, we would consider returning.
48	Rainbow Elementary was a great school with great teacher. However, South Brandywine lacked the curriculum needed for my middle school child to succeed. The lack of school supplies, direction from the superintendent and current math program are the main reasons I left. I watched my kids math scores drop over a two year span before a made the decision to move school. I hope some major changes will be made from the top down in the CASD.
49	n/a
50	We have 5 children. We homeschooled for 11 years and then enrolled 4 of the 5 children at AGCS. Our oldest attended CASH and graduated in 2014. Our family choose homeschooling for many reasons but it was not a rejection of CASD. It was the right choice for our family. I experienced health problems in 2014 and decided to send the children to school. My decision to send them to AGCS was not a rejection of CASD. The small class size, integrated campus and STEM program were all reasons we chose the charter school. It was a good transition for kids who had been homeschooled to enter the traditional school environment. I respect and appreciate the teachers in the Coatesville schools. The narrative that people chose charter schools because they don't "like" the home district is just not accurate.
51	I will never send my kids to a district so corrupt and poorly managed that it taxes at a rate substantially higher than surrounding districts, but can't even get their act together enough to allocate that money to the schools properly.
52	I asked my son why he was afraid to ask his teacher to tie his shoes... He replied, "my teacher said tell your mom to tie your shoes" (that was one of a few red flags). As a Coatesville graduate maybe I could reply with better grammar :) they focus entirely way too much on behavior. BUT it all starts at home these teachers are frustrated. I know some of these mom's out in the streets. They pay no attention to their children...  When they come to school, they are so confused. Reality to these children is only survival. Just being honest.
53	I have a lot to say about my daughters experience in CASD. I'm not ready to spill it all on social media, not am I able to at the present time. I will say that we did try to "rediscover Coatesville" after a year at a cyber school. It was the absolute WORST thing we could have done to our child. My sons fared a little bit better, making it through 2nd grade mostly unscathed, but more days then not he got off the bus either angry or crying.
54	Need a safer environment. Bad teachers and I ’m scared to send my daughter to a school that has bad kids with no discipline and support from parents. Look at the nearby school districts compared to CASD school rating. Will never send my child to CASD.
55	Downingtown hasn’t raised their taxes in years and yet their children are excelling. What is coatesvilles excuse? No aides in the kindergarten rooms but a million dollar football stadium. They lost sight of what’s important and sadly what’s important is our children.
56	No
57	Thank you, proud Coatesville 92’ grad that very reluctantly moved both kids to PJP. Would love to come back...
58	n/a
59	n/a
60	.
61	My children went to Collegium. I took them out for 3rd and 4th (youngest) and 7th and 8th (oldest). The worst experience for both my children. The principal at North is an Idiot. And be glad that the one from Friendship went to another district. Special education was non existant. My youngest was bullied by his teacher in 3rd grade, thankfully she retired. My children soar at Collegium. I should have never removed them from Collegium. Funny thing is a Coatesville teacher was the one who raved about Coatesville (this was the deciding factor for us) but yet she has never had her children in any Coatesville school.  I should had known that was a sign. You couldn't pay me a million dollars to ever have my children attend any Coateaville school EVER!
62	I would never send my kids back to CASD unless they cleaned house. It will, unfortunately, take many years to get CASD back to a school district that it was. The education is great and never once had an issue with the education. My son was assulted more than 3x and nothing was ever done about it so I pulled him out mid day after he was attacked for the 3+ time. I shouldn’t have a fear that my child will be beat up in school for no reason.
63	I planned to move my gifted younger daughter for high school because of the wider range of courses available until my far less academic child chose to return to the charter school due to the low academic and discipline standards. My oldest would love to be in a larger school that didn't require uniforms, but as much as she does not love school she wasn't willing to sacrifice her education for football games and comfortable clothes. I also heard about students in the gifted class at the high school receiving "incomplete" due solely to the loss of their teacher. I would not put my child in a school that had such disregard for the students' welfare. I was disgusted by the attitude of the Superintendent and the President of the Board.
64	I am not originally from this area, so I did plenty of research on he area schools. CASD compared poorly to every other nearby school district. I want my kids to have a better education and I have no faith in CASD to turn their district around.
65	When I hear negative things from staff that backup the impressions I have from friends, that’s a pretty bad thing. I wasn’t a fan of another local public school either so this isn’t just a CASD problem, but CASD is significantly worse than the other local district. I don’t have the impression that the leadership has any reality to what’s actually going on and willing to make hard decisions to improve the district. Sadly, despite the efforts of the teachers and staff, CASD has become a joke around Chester County. The leadership team needs to be totally replaced because the current crew isn’t making things better.
66
67
68	If you have a child that does not have special needs we have found CASD to be adequate. However, we have had many issues with having our children’s IEP followed or even reviewed by the district. We further we frustrated with the fact that our children receive third party speech, OT and behavioral therapy. All 3rd party therapists were willing to talk to the district (appropriate consent forms were filled out), however, dispite providing multiple people with their contact information. Not one person whether it be at the school or district level contacted the third parties. Further, communications received have tended to be form letters vs personalized for the student. So that has resulted in additional confusion as the communication has either been inaccurate or incomplete. In order to send my children back to CASD, significant improvements in special education coordination/communication with parents is needed.
69
70	I pay taxes to East Fallowfield township, but I’m zoned for Caln. With Calns reputation, my kids will not go there
71	Smaller schools with more community focus and feel would make us feel more secure in sending our children to the public schools. We have heard too many stories of theft, drugs, etc. in the schools that do not happen in the private schools
72	We were also not pleased with the student-led teaching model in math. Math needs to be explained by a teacher, not figured out by kids who have never done it before.
73	Not only has the mismanagement of the schools made them unusable, it has made the taxes so high the community is unlivable. Our property value has been destroyed. A relative has a house in T/E assessed at 5 times our home's assessment and we pay virtually the same amount in school taxes. We plan to move from the district largely due to the schools and impact of the taxes. Mismanaging tens of millions of dollars should be considered criminal.
74	CASD's treatment of its teachers is not really addressed in this survey. As a public educator in another district, I refuse to send my children to a district that appears to actively work against its teachers. Give them a contract. Support them. They are the ones making the difference with the children in the district. Until they are treated as professionals worthy of adequate compensation and support, I am unlikely to enroll my children in CASD schools.
75	I went to Coatesville and did not have as many issues as I do now being a parent. The parents need to care more about their children and be more on top of the children’s behaviors because it affects my children’s education. The teachers are doing the best they can with the tools they have.
76	I would be more than happy to provide additional information, as long as it is kept confidential. Thank you for providing a survey to ask the right questions.
77
78	It’s not a tax money problem it’s a leadership, strategy and vision problem. In addition to all regions of the district being combined into one HS.
79	Kids love AGCS. They have no interest in returning to Coatesville
80	Academics seem fine. My concern is the social atmosphere and lack of respect/bullying in the schools.
81
82
83	I am a Coatesville Alum. I went through kings highway, north brandywine and 9/10 & CASH. I was treated differently when i wasn’t a student athlete, the kids who were did the bare min. To get through, while I had to do twice as much. I also felt my classes were very disruptive by rude students and the teachers never were able to keep command of their class without being labeled racist. It always felt the students were in charge more than the teachers and officials. And I felt my curriculum was based on what would be taught on the PSSAs and incentives were only given to those who got certain scores because it makes the school look better as a whole. While I had great amazing teachers at all of the schools, unfortunately the cons out weight the pros, and I don’t want my child to be a number or a statistic for the district. I am very happy with Collegium, it’s just unfortunate I can’t be proud of my alum.
84	Its coatesville. While I understand not all of coatesville is bad, I cant fathom sending my kid to school there with the type of city it is.
85	asbestos, taking longer than 60 days to have an assessment done for an Iep, lack of mental support hardly any mental help at South and the district was in deplorable conditions.
86	Why, nothing ever changes people in the district only hear what they want to hear and only change what they want to change it's all about politics so why would I leave a contact number Point Blank!
87	My children will be starting avon grove charter in 2 days. Looking forward to my 3 children getting a better education.
88	The Superintendent has destroyed the district making it impossible for quality educators to get the job done! She is hiding numerous settlements made due to her wrongful actions, wasting millions of dollars. The school board is run by an individual who never attended college nor had any post High School Education. The district has gone so far downhill it’s inconceivable!
89	I feel the district could benefit from employing social workers/family coaches for each building.
90	My kids are at their new school, and they come home excited about weird things. "The bathroom has 5 sinks and they all work. And you can control the temperature of the water!" or "Nobody curses at this school" "Nobody gets out of their seats or yells at the teacher" and the latest "Even when kids are being mean, if you ask them to stop, they actually stop. At Kings Highway, it just got worse".
91
92
93
94	Under no circumstances would I ever send my kids to CASD and don't see that changing. Dr. Taschner does not care about our district and has shown that over and over again. Most of the board members do not represent the taxpayers and follow her lead. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Employees are miserable and under paid and over worked.