My daughter transferred to Zizumbo charter school after 4 years at a public neighborhood school and we're so glad we made the switch. In the 4 years that my daughter went to her former school, my husband and I didn't see or speak with the principal until my daughter was physically attacked by another student. There weren't any meet and greets or monthly meetings, and there definitely wasn't an open-door policy. At Zizumbo it's the complete opposite. The principal, Mr. Allen, is visible every single day at dismissal. He's friendly, approachable and he genuinely cares about the students and staff. Mr. Allen even gave us his cell phone number, so we could reach him right away if there was a question or concern and to ease our worries of transferring to a new school.
We've had a great experience with my daughter's 4th grade teacher as well. My daughter's teacher is an experienced teacher and an intelligent women who has pushed my daughter to her full potential. The difference between my daughter's NWEA scores from the beginning to the end of the school year are very impressive and I attribute it to the teacher's instruction and tutoring she provided to my daughter weekly before school.
Another notable thing about Zizumbo is there is a lot of parent involvement and fundraising efforts always going on. There are monthly coffee meetings with the principal followed by a parent's meeting. It's nice to attend a school where administrators, staff, students and parents work together most of the time.
Despite all the positive experiences we've had at Zizumbo there are a few things we dislike. The biggest issue is when teachers, substitutes, or support staff aren't always the friendliest. When working with families, one should always treat them kindly and not let their bad day, or whatever may be going on, get in the way of how they should be interacting with students and parents.
In addition, my family had a very negative experience with one of Zizumbo's support staff, which I won't go into detail here, but this staff member is still employed and we hope she received proper training in order to assess and deal with situations like the one we dealt with.
Lastly, the after school program through the YMCA that was proposed in the beginning of the school year was never implemented and I'm not surprised, given it was over $300 weekly!
Over 85% of Zizumbo students come from low-income households (stats from CPS school data website), so I'm not sure why it was determined just to charge public school families private school prices. Once again, the program never kicked off, but I can see why. I know public neighborhood schools in the same community that offer free or low-cost after school programs and it would be great if Zizumbo can do the same for its working families.
Overall, Zizumbo is a great school and it's definitely better academically than a lot of public neighborhood schools. The long waitlists are also an indicator of its desirability. There are definitely more pros than cons that we've experienced thus far and we are looking forward to the next school year! read more