Lake Braddock needs a principal NOW

[Anonymous]

My kids are in MCPS (MD), and despite all the Principals in the world, along with Assistant Principals, there are still guns brought to school, drugs in the bathroom, and swastikas drawn on desks or buildings.

The response of your acting Principal was fine, OP.

And when you get a Principal, these incidents will continue to happen. Because this is the society we live in now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As compared to surrounding counties, we now pay principals less, give them less vacation, worse benefits, and ask them to work more days per year than all of the surrounding jurisdictions. Anyone expecting a wave of applicants like in the past is fooling themselves. No help coming until the SB gets serious about recruitment and retention for admins. Let’s be real, HS principals should be making 200k+ in this county like they can in Prince William

Yup. There has already been a wave of principals doing this. Doing 25 in Fairfax to get your FFX pension and then finishing out your last 5 in PWC to boost your VRS pension amount (based on your last 3 yrs of salary) is commonly talked about among principals now. Not to mention that the parent communities tend to be far less demanding/rude.

[Anonymous]

The acting principal doesn’t even want to be principal (but the staff FAR prefer her to the previous admin). She is the best LBSS is going to get—no sitting FCPS/local principal wants the job.

[Anonymous]

Ok, op here. what I didn't appreciate is the "I continue to receive phone calls and emails" Of course she would. The emails are unclear.

Is the cap gun related to the shooting threat? Not explained. Then not explained again in the 2nd email, and yes, I thought by saying *I continue to receive emails and calls* was setting a tone of being annoyed.

I'm glad the staff prefer her, but her email was totally unclear. She needed to spell it out and let us know what actions were being taken.

These are our kids. Mine was scared and crying this morning. I know of others. Parents stressed all day wondering if they did the right thing sending their kids. Some of my friends picked up early. Some kept kids home. Others sent them like I did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, op here. what I didn't appreciate is the "I continue to receive phone calls and emails" Of course she would. The emails are unclear.

Is the cap gun related to the shooting threat? Not explained. Then not explained again in the 2nd email, and yes, I thought by saying *I continue to receive emails and calls* was setting a tone of being annoyed.

I'm glad the staff prefer her, but her email was totally unclear. She needed to spell it out and let us know what actions were being taken.

These are our kids. Mine was scared and crying this morning. I know of others. Parents stressed all day wondering if they did the right thing sending their kids. Some of my friends picked up early. Some kept kids home. Others sent them like I did.

Perhaps this is also directed at FCPS that I think they need to get their act together and start disciplining kids. LBSS also has multiple fights every day. I saw the annandale video, but there are plenty of tiktoks from LBSS just search for them with fights every week. I'm sure most FCPS are the same.

And teachers in this thread, I appreciate many of you. I feel like you need more support for discipline. I'm scared of how FCPS will be in 5 years.

But yes, I still think we deserve a full time, permanent principal. FCPS has the money to give you all raises(teachers and IA and everyone) if they'd stop with all the damn surveys and testing just for starters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, op here. what I didn't appreciate is the "I continue to receive phone calls and emails" Of course she would. The emails are unclear.

Is the cap gun related to the shooting threat? Not explained. Then not explained again in the 2nd email, and yes, I thought by saying *I continue to receive emails and calls* was setting a tone of being annoyed.

I'm glad the staff prefer her, but her email was totally unclear. She needed to spell it out and let us know what actions were being taken.

These are our kids. Mine was scared and crying this morning. I know of others. Parents stressed all day wondering if they did the right thing sending their kids. Some of my friends picked up early. Some kept kids home. Others sent them like I did.

My kid was not concerned. Like I told my friend last night whose kid was concerned - if you’re that concerned we should contact the school. That is what I think you should have done. Ultimately the way it ended for my friend’s kid was talking to a bunch of other kids - and one of their parents reached out to the school and that calmed them all down.

I actually got a good piece of advice from a dcum thread recently. The OP was annoyed about a kid fight at school & the parents not being informed of the fight or the consequences. And a poster said - it’s not like our parents were informed when kids fought when we went to school. That’s so true. And, my HS did have fights and frequent bomb threats for whatever reason. And we would have to evacuate. And my parents apparently didn’t get involved or freak out. They let the school handle. As a general matter, I like to consider: what would 80s parent do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, op here. what I didn't appreciate is the "I continue to receive phone calls and emails" Of course she would. The emails are unclear.

Is the cap gun related to the shooting threat? Not explained. Then not explained again in the 2nd email, and yes, I thought by saying *I continue to receive emails and calls* was setting a tone of being annoyed.

I'm glad the staff prefer her, but her email was totally unclear. She needed to spell it out and let us know what actions were being taken.

These are our kids. Mine was scared and crying this morning. I know of others. Parents stressed all day wondering if they did the right thing sending their kids. Some of my friends picked up early. Some kept kids home. Others sent them like I did.

Perhaps this is also directed at FCPS that I think they need to get their act together and start disciplining kids. LBSS also has multiple fights every day. I saw the annandale video, but there are plenty of tiktoks from LBSS just search for them with fights every week. I'm sure most FCPS are the same.

And teachers in this thread, I appreciate many of you. I feel like you need more support for discipline. I'm scared of how FCPS will be in 5 years.

But yes, I still think we deserve a full time, permanent principal. FCPS has the money to give you all raises(teachers and IA and everyone) if they'd stop with all the damn surveys and testing just for starters.

I can’t speak to LBSS on this specifically but I have an inside source at another school. What I am hearing is that behavior is worse since the pandemic as a general matter and discipline is less. The kids are in charge. Teachers have zero power. The kids talk back to the teachers and the teachers can’t do anything about it. There is no repercussions and no consequences. And the teachers know the admin won’t do anything if they refer kids to them. Lots of drugs in bathrooms.

FCPS doesn’t want to look like it has a lot of suspensions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As compared to surrounding counties, we now pay principals less, give them less vacation, worse benefits, and ask them to work more days per year than all of the surrounding jurisdictions. Anyone expecting a wave of applicants like in the past is fooling themselves. No help coming until the SB gets serious about recruitment and retention for admins. Let’s be real, HS principals should be making 200k+ in this county like they can in Prince William

+1000

As I imagine what it must be like to be a HS principal (or any principal in general) I can’t imagine there’s anyone but a wonderful, selfless and small cohort of people willing to do it for 150k per year. Ridiculously low salary for the time, education required, and job requirements. Reading this post (if true) makes me so sad that FCPS hasn’t addressed this for our administrators

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As compared to surrounding counties, we now pay principals less, give them less vacation, worse benefits, and ask them to work more days per year than all of the surrounding jurisdictions. Anyone expecting a wave of applicants like in the past is fooling themselves. No help coming until the SB gets serious about recruitment and retention for admins. Let’s be real, HS principals should be making 200k+ in this county like they can in Prince William

+1000

As I imagine what it must be like to be a HS principal (or any principal in general) I can’t imagine there’s anyone but a wonderful, selfless and small cohort of people willing to do it for 150k per year. Ridiculously low salary for the time, education required, and job requirements. Reading this post (if true) makes me so sad that FCPS hasn’t addressed this for our administrators

FCPS is a nightmare all around. Teachers and admin are afraid of saying and doing what needs to be done because it has to be the "FCPS way"-hands are tied. Communication is robotic and a facade. Sounds like LBSS has someone who is trying to be real and honest. Families need to appreciate the principal for who she is and realize what she's dealing with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, op here. what I didn't appreciate is the "I continue to receive phone calls and emails" Of course she would. The emails are unclear.

Is the cap gun related to the shooting threat? Not explained. Then not explained again in the 2nd email, and yes, I thought by saying *I continue to receive emails and calls* was setting a tone of being annoyed.

I'm glad the staff prefer her, but her email was totally unclear. She needed to spell it out and let us know what actions were being taken.

These are our kids. Mine was scared and crying this morning. I know of others. Parents stressed all day wondering if they did the right thing sending their kids. Some of my friends picked up early. Some kept kids home. Others sent them like I did.

Perhaps this is also directed at FCPS that I think they need to get their act together and start disciplining kids. LBSS also has multiple fights every day. I saw the annandale video, but there are plenty of tiktoks from LBSS just search for them with fights every week. I'm sure most FCPS are the same.

And teachers in this thread, I appreciate many of you. I feel like you need more support for discipline. I'm scared of how FCPS will be in 5 years.

But yes, I still think we deserve a full time, permanent principal. FCPS has the money to give you all raises(teachers and IA and everyone) if they'd stop with all the damn surveys and testing just for starters.

I can’t speak to LBSS on this specifically but I have an inside source at another school. What I am hearing is that behavior is worse since the pandemic as a general matter and discipline is less. The kids are in charge. Teachers have zero power. The kids talk back to the teachers and the teachers can’t do anything about it. There is no repercussions and no consequences. And the teachers know the admin won’t do anything if they refer kids to them. Lots of drugs in bathrooms.

FCPS doesn’t want to look like it has a lot of suspensions.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, op here. what I didn't appreciate is the "I continue to receive phone calls and emails" Of course she would. The emails are unclear.

Is the cap gun related to the shooting threat? Not explained. Then not explained again in the 2nd email, and yes, I thought by saying *I continue to receive emails and calls* was setting a tone of being annoyed.

I'm glad the staff prefer her, but her email was totally unclear. She needed to spell it out and let us know what actions were being taken.

These are our kids. Mine was scared and crying this morning. I know of others. Parents stressed all day wondering if they did the right thing sending their kids. Some of my friends picked up early. Some kept kids home. Others sent them like I did.

My kid was not concerned. Like I told my friend last night whose kid was concerned - if you’re that concerned we should contact the school. That is what I think you should have done. Ultimately the way it ended for my friend’s kid was talking to a bunch of other kids - and one of their parents reached out to the school and that calmed them all down.

I actually got a good piece of advice from a dcum thread recently. The OP was annoyed about a kid fight at school & the parents not being informed of the fight or the consequences. And a poster said - it’s not like our parents were informed when kids fought when we went to school. That’s so true. And, my HS did have fights and frequent bomb threats for whatever reason. And we would have to evacuate. And my parents apparently didn’t get involved or freak out. They let the school handle. As a general matter, I like to consider: what would 80s parent do.

You apparently have missed all news since at least 2007. If you don't know why 2007 and the years since are significant, you truly don't get it. Using the 1980s as your yardstick for how to think about the place where your kid spends all day, every day, is a stunning example of burying your head in the sand.

And don't run back to say, but I was only talking about fights! That's just common kid behavior and the schools can handle that! OK. What's your yardstick there? You don't want to hear abou it, if it's just one fight a month? Fine. One a week? Uh, fine, maybe. As long as your kid's not involved, right? Should parents stop shrugging and want to know when fights are up to a few a week, or one a day? At what point do you want to know whether the school to which you entrust your kid or teen is doing a terrible job of controlling students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - I was also upset about her email this morning. She just seemed annoyed that parents were calling with concerns. She didn’t say anything about the child who carried the toy gun. Did they have it for “fun”? Or to jokingly threaten someone with it? Police killed a child with a toy guy because they thought it was real so it could be dangerous for a variety of reasons.

I was not born / raised in the US - so perhaps I am missing something - but the principal seems blasé and casual about it.

So your position is that an email from the principal saying that the play gun was for fun and that they jokingly threatened someone with it, eve if demonstrably true, would have been better?

You are indeed, as you suggest, missing something.

[Anonymous]

Op - what did you want Kearns to say that she already hasnt??

She made it clear that there is no (longer) threat and operations are normal. Police are involved, ongoing investigation, etc...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like the communication from the interim principal is about what one would get from a permanent principal.

To the rest of us, LBSS seems like a school that hums along with relatively few "big issues." Some schools in FCPS have high rates of absenteeism and struggle to get their graduation rates over 85%. Others don't have enough seats and get ignored. Enlighten us as to what you think is getting neglected on a day-to-day basis at LBSS and what you think a permanent principal would be doing that an interim principal can't or won't do.

Also, there's one SB member - Rachna Sizemore Heizer - who pays more attention to LBSS than to any other school. What does she have to say about the current status of the search to find a replacement for Smith?

THIS. You basically have a dedicated SB member.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, op here. what I didn't appreciate is the "I continue to receive phone calls and emails" Of course she would. The emails are unclear.

Is the cap gun related to the shooting threat? Not explained. Then not explained again in the 2nd email, and yes, I thought by saying *I continue to receive emails and calls* was setting a tone of being annoyed.

I'm glad the staff prefer her, but her email was totally unclear. She needed to spell it out and let us know what actions were being taken.

These are our kids. Mine was scared and crying this morning. I know of others. Parents stressed all day wondering if they did the right thing sending their kids. Some of my friends picked up early. Some kept kids home. Others sent them like I did.

My kid was not concerned. Like I told my friend last night whose kid was concerned - if you’re that concerned we should contact the school. That is what I think you should have done. Ultimately the way it ended for my friend’s kid was talking to a bunch of other kids - and one of their parents reached out to the school and that calmed them all down.

I actually got a good piece of advice from a dcum thread recently. The OP was annoyed about a kid fight at school & the parents not being informed of the fight or the consequences. And a poster said - it’s not like our parents were informed when kids fought when we went to school. That’s so true. And, my HS did have fights and frequent bomb threats for whatever reason. And we would have to evacuate. And my parents apparently didn’t get involved or freak out. They let the school handle. As a general matter, I like to consider: what would 80s parent do.

You apparently have missed all news since at least 2007. If you don't know why 2007 and the years since are significant, you truly don't get it. Using the 1980s as your yardstick for how to think about the place where your kid spends all day, every day, is a stunning example of burying your head in the sand.

And don't run back to say, but I was only talking about fights! That's just common kid behavior and the schools can handle that! OK. What's your yardstick there? You don't want to hear abou it, if it's just one fight a month? Fine. One a week? Uh, fine, maybe. As long as your kid's not involved, right? Should parents stop shrugging and want to know when fights are up to a few a week, or one a day? At what point do you want to know whether the school to which you entrust your kid or teen is doing a terrible job of controlling students?

NP. Parents are concerned, yes, but parents trying to be involved and informed and trying to micromanage schools has harmed schools and students and has not improved safety or behavior. The opposite, unfortunately.