Which DCPS Principals are Leaving?

[Anonymous]

As a current Garrison parent, I am thrilled he is leaving. He does a great job paying lip-service to prospective parents, but every time I've tried to work with him as a current parent he has no time for me and refuses to listen to any ideas. We are leaving Garrison next year in large part because of our interactions with him. We also have a very good WL number at CMI. Our experience with him is bad enough that I would turn down the space (should it be offered) if he is leading the middle school (this is made easier because we did get a space at a different school we are excited about, but one which we would have considered leaving for CMI). I would not want to have to deal with him again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a current Garrison parent, I am thrilled he is leaving. He does a great job paying lip-service to prospective parents, but every time I've tried to work with him as a current parent he has no time for me and refuses to listen to any ideas. We are leaving Garrison next year in large part because of our interactions with him. We also have a very good WL number at CMI. Our experience with him is bad enough that I would turn down the space (should it be offered) if he is leading the middle school (this is made easier because we did get a space at a different school we are excited about, but one which we would have considered leaving for CMI). I would not want to have to deal with him again.

I understand it's bad PR for principals not to interact with gentrifier parents but come on, you have to understand that there are not unlimited time and resources for a principal to always talk to and deal with one parent on an individual basis (barring of course serious issues that have to go straight to him.) Work through the PTA.

[Anonymous]

Looks like the shine is off the Brookland Middle School principalship.

https://twitter.com/BrooklandMS/status/862357509578924032

[Anonymous]

Bye!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like the shine is off the Brookland Middle School principalship.

https://twitter.com/BrooklandMS/status/862357509578924032

Whaaat! I guess Norah did her time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The former Garrison principal is going to be the director the middle school at CMI. I am concerned as I've heard bad things about him.

Does Colin Hill have any middle school or international experience? Seems odd that CMI would hire someone like that.

DCPS has gradually turned Garrison into a de-facto special education school with dedicated classrooms for autism and learning disabilities. 30% of kids have IEPs and 70% OOB. The students deserve a principal with the skills to manage the challenges of inclusion and special education. Any principal who's not prepared for this population is set up for failure.

Collin's actually a very strong school leader and most of his experience has been at the secondary level. A lot of the challenges ANY administrator will face are similar to those you mentioned especially since in DC the quality of a school is judged on their PARCC scores and as you noted a large portion of the school will not be able to demonstrate achievement on that sole measure. Mix that in with White flight after PK based on the test scores and the "safety" concerns those parents note about their kids attending school with all of those OOB students and it presents unique challenges. Collin though really fights for equity and doesn't allow him self to be puppeted by a small, but loud population, that just does not represent the school. Either way, he knows curriculum and instruction, a lot of teachers love him, and CM is actually pretty lucky to have him.

Last year half of the teacher population bailed because they couldn't stand him or so I've heard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a current Garrison parent, I am thrilled he is leaving. He does a great job paying lip-service to prospective parents, but every time I've tried to work with him as a current parent he has no time for me and refuses to listen to any ideas. We are leaving Garrison next year in large part because of our interactions with him. We also have a very good WL number at CMI. Our experience with him is bad enough that I would turn down the space (should it be offered) if he is leading the middle school (this is made easier because we did get a space at a different school we are excited about, but one which we would have considered leaving for CMI). I would not want to have to deal with him again.

I understand it's bad PR for principals not to interact with gentrifier parents but come on, you have to understand that there are not unlimited time and resources for a principal to always talk to and deal with one parent on an individual basis (barring of course serious issues that have to go straight to him.) Work through the PTA.

Yup - did this, thanks for the suggestion. This is not about his failure "to interact with gentrifier parents" but instead about his incredibly rude response (essentially telling me to shut up, and that I should never speak to any teacher/staff member again that wasn't my child's direct teacher) to the PTA-approved e-mail that I sent him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The former Garrison principal is going to be the director the middle school at CMI. I am concerned as I've heard bad things about him.

Does Colin Hill have any middle school or international experience? Seems odd that CMI would hire someone like that.

DCPS has gradually turned Garrison into a de-facto special education school with dedicated classrooms for autism and learning disabilities. 30% of kids have IEPs and 70% OOB. The students deserve a principal with the skills to manage the challenges of inclusion and special education. Any principal who's not prepared for this population is set up for failure.

Collin's actually a very strong school leader and most of his experience has been at the secondary level. A lot of the challenges ANY administrator will face are similar to those you mentioned especially since in DC the quality of a school is judged on their PARCC scores and as you noted a large portion of the school will not be able to demonstrate achievement on that sole measure. Mix that in with White flight after PK based on the test scores and the "safety" concerns those parents note about their kids attending school with all of those OOB students and it presents unique challenges. Collin though really fights for equity and doesn't allow him self to be puppeted by a small, but loud population, that just does not represent the school. Either way, he knows curriculum and instruction, a lot of teachers love him, and CM is actually pretty lucky to have him.

Last year half of the teacher population bailed because they couldn't stand him or so I've heard.

That's odd because there were only 3 new teachers this year. 3 new teachers out of 29 teacher positions is not close to half. Teachers leaving this year are leaving for grad school or relocation out our the DMV area. Again, I think the problem with Garrison is the LOUD voices of such a small demographic tend to influence other's opinion of the school and does not represent the majority of the population's perspective or experiences.

[Anonymous]

There are at least 8 new teachers at Garrison this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are at least 8 new teachers at Garrison this year.

Prek-only 1- old teacher did not like Hill and bad mouthed him to parents
K-none
1st-only 1 (new classroom added -no replacement)
2nd-only 1 old teacher moved to Florida
3rd-none
4/5- only 1 old teacher went to work for Mayor


Those are the only new teachers the other three positions were new positions-Science, ESL, and ECE SPED they didn't replace anyone

So only 3 teachers left last year. Another example of LOUD being mistaken as mass.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have insight about why Norah Lycknell is leaving Brookland? Did she do a bad job or are her talents being wasted at a school that lacks students? Or is she moving away? ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have insight about why Norah Lycknell is leaving Brookland? Did she do a bad job or are her talents being wasted at a school that lacks students? Or is she moving away? ?

Go away Janney parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have insight about why Norah Lycknell is leaving Brookland? Did she do a bad job or are her talents being wasted at a school that lacks students? Or is she moving away? ?

I'm shocked. I got the impression that Central Office was giving her time to work on the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are at least 8 new teachers at Garrison this year.

Prek-only 1- old teacher did not like Hill and bad mouthed him to parents
K-none
1st-only 1 (new classroom added -no replacement)
2nd-only 1 old teacher moved to Florida
3rd-none
4/5- only 1 old teacher went to work for Mayor


Those are the only new teachers the other three positions were new positions-Science, ESL, and ECE SPED they didn't replace anyone

So only 3 teachers left last year. Another example of LOUD being mistaken as mass.

Plus 4 sped teachers replacing 4 sped teachers from last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have insight about why Norah Lycknell is leaving Brookland? Did she do a bad job or are her talents being wasted at a school that lacks students? Or is she moving away? ?

I'm shocked. I got the impression that Central Office was giving her time to work on the school.

I'm not. The enrollment dropped precipitously from day 1.