New Jackson-Reed HS (Wilson HS) School Principal - Sah Brown from Eastern High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So far this is what is apparent with DCUM and high schools:

- Black Male from a school with challenges is taking over "my" somewhat affluent school is awful for "me." If he can lead a school with enormous challenges, maybe he can do good things at a school with fewer challenges. Not part of the thought process.

- Walls now sucks because the test has been eliminated. I really don't have have evidence but it has to be, right?

-Banneker's SAT and IB scores suck so it's not good enough. Why doesn't it do more to attract "me?"

-We're going private..Why is so expensive and so competitive...We didn't get in anywhere..We're out, moving to the suburbs..This sucks too-same problems we left..


SMH

Agree with your assessment above 100%!! Also a Banneker parent. I stopped reading Banneker threads. Posters are racist and totally stupid. And are so sure of their beliefs but don’t have a kid there. I couldn’t take the level of ignorance anymore.

There's one person who is responsible for a lot of the anti-Banneker stuff. And they're coming from a really specific place. They're also anti-BASIS.

This comment sounds very conspiratorial. Gosh, maybe they're also anti-JR and anti-principal Brown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general, the people I know who dealt with Brown were confused about why he proactively reached out seemingly to try to get/generate ideas for IB buy-in for the school and then dismissed any and all ideas he received completely out of hand (including relatively low stress/low cost ways to get IB ES families in to see/experience the school... not just fairy tale suggestions like create a magnet program).

How dare you lambaste the man! Dismissed all ideas out of hand? And why shouldn't he?

Has your time in the District taught you nothing? How naive of you to believe that high SES taxpayers deserve good schools for their children in this city. Only a rich person would think this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So far this is what is apparent with DCUM and high schools:

- Black Male from a school with challenges is taking over "my" somewhat affluent school is awful for "me." If he can lead a school with enormous challenges, maybe he can do good things at a school with fewer challenges. Not part of the thought process.

- Walls now sucks because the test has been eliminated. I really don't have have evidence but it has to be, right?

-Banneker's SAT and IB scores suck so it's not good enough. Why doesn't it do more to attract "me?"

-We're going private..Why is so expensive and so competitive...We didn't get in anywhere..We're out, moving to the suburbs..This sucks too-same problems we left..


SMH

Agree with your assessment above 100%!! Also a Banneker parent. I stopped reading Banneker threads. Posters are racist and totally stupid. And are so sure of their beliefs but don’t have a kid there. I couldn’t take the level of ignorance anymore.

There's one person who is responsible for a lot of the anti-Banneker stuff. And they're coming from a really specific place. They're also anti-BASIS.

This comment sounds very conspiratorial. Gosh, maybe they're also anti-JR and anti-principal Brown.

The New York does it better, Chicago does it better, Banneker should have white and Asian kids and also the low-income black kids should be getting much higher SAT scores person. It's very specific and oddly personally insulted.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think this bodes well for JR…..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy this thread has really taken a very unhelpful detour. As a current JR parent, I find the conversation between one prospective parent and the Principal Brown at his old school pretty much irrelevant. DCPS schools really are not built to woo prospective families. Especially the MS and HS level are pretty much "don't bother me until you are an enrolled family." That was our experience with Principal Martin at Wilson. It was pretty frustrating as a prospective family, but also had nothing to do with how she performed as a principal.

JR is a large diverse school that would benefit from a seasoned well-organized administrator. I'm glad that he has experience from within the DCPS system because it can really take a long time for an outside to learn how things work in DCPS central. I expect that he will find a warm welcome from a community that is looking forward to working with him.

I'd meet him, talk to him, watch what he does before you get your hopes up like this. It doesn't take much interaction to figure out that he's not the brightest, or most open-minded, bulb in the DCPS HS chandelier. It just doesn't bode well for JR community that he hasn't given a hoot if he attracts IB UMC families to Eastern in the last 7 or 8 years.

I’m very surprised that a parent wouldn’t expect the principal of a schools to focus on the students AT THE SCHOOL rather than trying to replace those students with different ones. What a bizarre expectation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general, the people I know who dealt with Brown were confused about why he proactively reached out seemingly to try to get/generate ideas for IB buy-in for the school and then dismissed any and all ideas he received completely out of hand (including relatively low stress/low cost ways to get IB ES families in to see/experience the school... not just fairy tale suggestions like create a magnet program).

How dare you lambaste the man! Dismissed all ideas out of hand? And why shouldn't he?

Has your time in the District taught you nothing? How naive of you to believe that high SES taxpayers deserve good schools for their children in this city. Only a rich person would think this.

If you mean “only a rich person would expect the city to bend over backwards to get little Chad in a T10 college rather than focusing on helping kids facing homelessness, hunger, gun violence, and crime” then yeah, pretty much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That principal?!

We live on Capitol Hill. My spouse and I met with Brown when when we were looking into the IB Diploma program at Eastern for our oldest in early 2020, before the pandemic began.

Brown seemed clueless about what it would take to attract high SES in-boundary families like ours to Eastern, without any real interest in doing so. He claimed that the program offered "real rigor and challenge to all" repeatedly, and wouldn't answer our questions about Eastern's average IBD points totals. He also wouldn't talk about how many of the "full Diploma" students at Eastern actually earn the Diploma.

Later on, we learned that Eastern's average points total has been mired in the mid 20s, on a 24-45 points pass scale, since the program's inception a decade ago. We also learned that most of the Eastern students who try to earn the Diploma have failed since the get go. We left the meeting unimpressed with Brown and Eastern's IBD program and didn't enroll our child.

So, let me get this right. You walked into this man’s office with your white hood on, took it off, handed it to him and asked him to put it on. He rebuffed your offer and you decided you didn’t like him. Eastern HS kids test poorly due to various reasons (poverty, trauma, inequality, etc). He does not have to explain any of that to you. Your child could have obtained a good education there, but your classism and racism prevented you from entertaining the thought of your child in that school.

ha ha, normally I dislike this kind of invective, but seems to hit the mark.

PP who talked to Brown. My spouse and I are people of color who come from working-class backgrounds. We attended college on full Pell Grants.

We wouldn't have bothered going to Eastern to speak to Brown if we hadn't been trying to keep an open mind. What are you posters slamming us celebrating? Brown's able leadership at Eastern?

BOOM! There it is. Never fails that when an entitled DCUM snowflake gets called out they magically turn black.

I thought the exact same thing! LOL!

It amazes me that you think OP is lying when she says that she is black. If that’s your best response to her post is actually denying what she is saying, you have got a whole lot disappointment coming. LOL!

PP didn't say she was black. The reference was to person of color...maybe biracial, Latino, Native American or Asian. The message I take from her story is, if you're IB for Eastern and UMC, don't bother looking into the IBD there, whatever color you may be. Not just a waste of time, but an invitation to a cynical experience, regardless of who's responsible for Eastern's catastrophic academics and IB enrollment.

The many nasty and presumptuous posts on this thread in defense of yet another choice of Wilson/Jackson-Reed principal that can't possibly sit well with most IB families is yet another pointed reminder of how Mayoral control of schools has outstayed its welcome in the District.

How on earth could they possibly have enough (or any) information less than 24 hours after the announcement to have formed any sort of opinion? Or are you talking about all of those JR parents who also send kids to Eastern so they have personal experience with him? Here's what they know so far:

1. He's a black man
2. He is coming from a DCPS school with a 99% minority enrollment
3. He's coming from a school with very few UMC families

I am racking my brain for why you think "this can't possibly sit well". Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Multiple posters have offered negative impressions of him in a professional context, raising red flags in regard to his willingness to serve high SES in-boundary families in DCPS schools. He had no track record in leading communities or affluent students, from what I've been able to tell, no interest. Watch out.

On a bright note, we're going to be done with him in Ward 6 shortly. You're very welcome to him, he can "sit well" with you guys for years.

Good news! My high SES kid from Wilson did great with college admissions and is doing great in college. Didn’t need to be “lead” by the Wilson principal at all, whatever that means. Maybe because, you know, we’re rich. We can pay for extra support if we need it. I’d much rather have the principal focus on the kids who needed help. But that’s apparently just me.

[Anonymous]

Why can’t admins focus on both types of students? In the burbs at majority high SES schools, that’s how it works. JR’s college counseling capacity is so weak/understaffed that they don’t do much for students, period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That principal?!

We live on Capitol Hill. My spouse and I met with Brown when when we were looking into the IB Diploma program at Eastern for our oldest in early 2020, before the pandemic began.

Brown seemed clueless about what it would take to attract high SES in-boundary families like ours to Eastern, without any real interest in doing so. He claimed that the program offered "real rigor and challenge to all" repeatedly, and wouldn't answer our questions about Eastern's average IBD points totals. He also wouldn't talk about how many of the "full Diploma" students at Eastern actually earn the Diploma.

Later on, we learned that Eastern's average points total has been mired in the mid 20s, on a 24-45 points pass scale, since the program's inception a decade ago. We also learned that most of the Eastern students who try to earn the Diploma have failed since the get go. We left the meeting unimpressed with Brown and Eastern's IBD program and didn't enroll our child.

So, let me get this right. You walked into this man’s office with your white hood on, took it off, handed it to him and asked him to put it on. He rebuffed your offer and you decided you didn’t like him. Eastern HS kids test poorly due to various reasons (poverty, trauma, inequality, etc). He does not have to explain any of that to you. Your child could have obtained a good education there, but your classism and racism prevented you from entertaining the thought of your child in that school.

ha ha, normally I dislike this kind of invective, but seems to hit the mark.

PP who talked to Brown. My spouse and I are people of color who come from working-class backgrounds. We attended college on full Pell Grants.

We wouldn't have bothered going to Eastern to speak to Brown if we hadn't been trying to keep an open mind. What are you posters slamming us celebrating? Brown's able leadership at Eastern?

BOOM! There it is. Never fails that when an entitled DCUM snowflake gets called out they magically turn black.

I thought the exact same thing! LOL!

It amazes me that you think OP is lying when she says that she is black. If that’s your best response to her post is actually denying what she is saying, you have got a whole lot disappointment coming. LOL!

PP didn't say she was black. The reference was to person of color...maybe biracial, Latino, Native American or Asian. The message I take from her story is, if you're IB for Eastern and UMC, don't bother looking into the IBD there, whatever color you may be. Not just a waste of time, but an invitation to a cynical experience, regardless of who's responsible for Eastern's catastrophic academics and IB enrollment.

The many nasty and presumptuous posts on this thread in defense of yet another choice of Wilson/Jackson-Reed principal that can't possibly sit well with most IB families is yet another pointed reminder of how Mayoral control of schools has outstayed its welcome in the District.

How on earth could they possibly have enough (or any) information less than 24 hours after the announcement to have formed any sort of opinion? Or are you talking about all of those JR parents who also send kids to Eastern so they have personal experience with him? Here's what they know so far:

1. He's a black man
2. He is coming from a DCPS school with a 99% minority enrollment
3. He's coming from a school with very few UMC families

I am racking my brain for why you think "this can't possibly sit well". Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Multiple posters have offered negative impressions of him in a professional context, raising red flags in regard to his willingness to serve high SES in-boundary families in DCPS schools. He had no track record in leading communities or affluent students, from what I've been able to tell, no interest. Watch out.

On a bright note, we're going to be done with him in Ward 6 shortly. You're very welcome to him, he can "sit well" with you guys for years.

Good news! My high SES kid from Wilson did great with college admissions and is doing great in college. Didn’t need to be “lead” by the Wilson principal at all, whatever that means. Maybe because, you know, we’re rich. We can pay for extra support if we need it. I’d much rather have the principal focus on the kids who needed help. But that’s apparently just me.

So screw the non rich kids who still manage to be good students? Cause the DCPS model ignores them when they should get celebrated the most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That principal?!

We live on Capitol Hill. My spouse and I met with Brown when when we were looking into the IB Diploma program at Eastern for our oldest in early 2020, before the pandemic began.

Brown seemed clueless about what it would take to attract high SES in-boundary families like ours to Eastern, without any real interest in doing so. He claimed that the program offered "real rigor and challenge to all" repeatedly, and wouldn't answer our questions about Eastern's average IBD points totals. He also wouldn't talk about how many of the "full Diploma" students at Eastern actually earn the Diploma.

Later on, we learned that Eastern's average points total has been mired in the mid 20s, on a 24-45 points pass scale, since the program's inception a decade ago. We also learned that most of the Eastern students who try to earn the Diploma have failed since the get go. We left the meeting unimpressed with Brown and Eastern's IBD program and didn't enroll our child.

So, let me get this right. You walked into this man’s office with your white hood on, took it off, handed it to him and asked him to put it on. He rebuffed your offer and you decided you didn’t like him. Eastern HS kids test poorly due to various reasons (poverty, trauma, inequality, etc). He does not have to explain any of that to you. Your child could have obtained a good education there, but your classism and racism prevented you from entertaining the thought of your child in that school.

ha ha, normally I dislike this kind of invective, but seems to hit the mark.

PP who talked to Brown. My spouse and I are people of color who come from working-class backgrounds. We attended college on full Pell Grants.

We wouldn't have bothered going to Eastern to speak to Brown if we hadn't been trying to keep an open mind. What are you posters slamming us celebrating? Brown's able leadership at Eastern?

BOOM! There it is. Never fails that when an entitled DCUM snowflake gets called out they magically turn black.

I thought the exact same thing! LOL!

It amazes me that you think OP is lying when she says that she is black. If that’s your best response to her post is actually denying what she is saying, you have got a whole lot disappointment coming. LOL!

PP didn't say she was black. The reference was to person of color...maybe biracial, Latino, Native American or Asian. The message I take from her story is, if you're IB for Eastern and UMC, don't bother looking into the IBD there, whatever color you may be. Not just a waste of time, but an invitation to a cynical experience, regardless of who's responsible for Eastern's catastrophic academics and IB enrollment.

The many nasty and presumptuous posts on this thread in defense of yet another choice of Wilson/Jackson-Reed principal that can't possibly sit well with most IB families is yet another pointed reminder of how Mayoral control of schools has outstayed its welcome in the District.

How on earth could they possibly have enough (or any) information less than 24 hours after the announcement to have formed any sort of opinion? Or are you talking about all of those JR parents who also send kids to Eastern so they have personal experience with him? Here's what they know so far:

1. He's a black man
2. He is coming from a DCPS school with a 99% minority enrollment
3. He's coming from a school with very few UMC families

I am racking my brain for why you think "this can't possibly sit well". Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Multiple posters have offered negative impressions of him in a professional context, raising red flags in regard to his willingness to serve high SES in-boundary families in DCPS schools. He had no track record in leading communities or affluent students, from what I've been able to tell, no interest. Watch out.

On a bright note, we're going to be done with him in Ward 6 shortly. You're very welcome to him, he can "sit well" with you guys for years.

Good news! My high SES kid from Wilson did great with college admissions and is doing great in college. Didn’t need to be “lead” by the Wilson principal at all, whatever that means. Maybe because, you know, we’re rich. We can pay for extra support if we need it. I’d much rather have the principal focus on the kids who needed help. But that’s apparently just me.

So screw the non rich kids who still manage to be good students? Cause the DCPS model ignores them when they should get celebrated the most.

Hey PP. Maybe work on your reading comprehension. Your response to the poster you quoted, especially in reading their last two sentences, shows a distinct deficit in that area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy this thread has really taken a very unhelpful detour. As a current JR parent, I find the conversation between one prospective parent and the Principal Brown at his old school pretty much irrelevant. DCPS schools really are not built to woo prospective families. Especially the MS and HS level are pretty much "don't bother me until you are an enrolled family." That was our experience with Principal Martin at Wilson. It was pretty frustrating as a prospective family, but also had nothing to do with how she performed as a principal.

JR is a large diverse school that would benefit from a seasoned well-organized administrator. I'm glad that he has experience from within the DCPS system because it can really take a long time for an outside to learn how things work in DCPS central. I expect that he will find a warm welcome from a community that is looking forward to working with him.

I'd meet him, talk to him, watch what he does before you get your hopes up like this. It doesn't take much interaction to figure out that he's not the brightest, or most open-minded, bulb in the DCPS HS chandelier. It just doesn't bode well for JR community that he hasn't given a hoot if he attracts IB UMC families to Eastern in the last 7 or 8 years.

I’m very surprised that a parent wouldn’t expect the principal of a schools to focus on the students AT THE SCHOOL rather than trying to replace those students with different ones. What a bizarre expectation.

A principal should do both! If the IB students avoid the school, then the system—DCPS in this case—is not serving those students well. Same for all the schools that the OOB come from. It’s great that the system lets people lottery for different schools, but IB should be the default, or else the system has given up trying to make it’s schools not suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That principal?!

We live on Capitol Hill. My spouse and I met with Brown when when we were looking into the IB Diploma program at Eastern for our oldest in early 2020, before the pandemic began.

Brown seemed clueless about what it would take to attract high SES in-boundary families like ours to Eastern, without any real interest in doing so. He claimed that the program offered "real rigor and challenge to all" repeatedly, and wouldn't answer our questions about Eastern's average IBD points totals. He also wouldn't talk about how many of the "full Diploma" students at Eastern actually earn the Diploma.

Later on, we learned that Eastern's average points total has been mired in the mid 20s, on a 24-45 points pass scale, since the program's inception a decade ago. We also learned that most of the Eastern students who try to earn the Diploma have failed since the get go. We left the meeting unimpressed with Brown and Eastern's IBD program and didn't enroll our child.

basically you were trying to publicly make him admit his school was bad?

Sounds like PP was politely asking for basic information about Eastern's IB Diploma program. She couldn't get it from the school's semi competent senior admin.

I'm not optimistic about Brown either.

This. As a parent with a child who will likely attend JR next year, I would have liked to see a Principal with success leading a higher performing school. There is a vast difference between the performance and expectations for a high performing school with a good chunk of MC and UMC families vs. a low performing school with primarily LC and LMC families who aren't as informed and view teachers and administrators as authority figures.

Making false allegations of racism because a parent didn't want to send her UMC child to Eastern doesn't help anyone and only polarizes people. You're not going to shame UMC families into expecting less for our children and it doesn't help any child to set the bar so low at any school.

Teachers and principals ARE authority figures. It’s not okay to try and run roughshod over them. THey are the ones who see the whole picture of what’s going on inside a school building and culture. You’re right, however, that they set the standards for those things on the inside too, which is why this choice matters.
-l

[Anonymous]

Please remember that even the best Principal can’t effect change in terms of academic growth if they don’t have enough support to run the building and keep everyone safe. Those foundational tasks fall on the Principal if nobody else is there to handle them, leaving little time to work towards raising academic standards. If you’re always in reactive, fire extinguishers mode, there’s no chance to build a new house.

[Anonymous]

We know Sah Brown from his Hardy days. He will be fine at Wilson. One thing I don't see mentioned here is that he will be good with the teens and young adults that attend Wilson - he is good with that age group.

Will he be a huge change agent? Probably not. Will he fix all of Wilson's problems? Probably not.

But I expect that under his watch, Wilson will continue to be a school where good smart kids can attend, enjoy, thrive, and have success in college and beyond.

[Anonymous]

Mediocre beats bad.