Dr. Broquard/Lafayette

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why some people think it's a demotion. I think a lot of principals who choose DCPS do so because they want to work with populations like Miner's. If she wanted a suburban-like experience for the rest of her career, she would apply for jobs in the suburbs. I doubt DCPS has any issues with her (even though lots of parents do). It's clear to me that DCPS isn't going to put a lot of effort into managing the desires of upper NW parents, so this was move is not for them. They clearly agree with her methods. I think they've have asked her to take this job on because they think of her as a star.

If that is the case why did she panel at Lafayette in the first place? Or stay for 10 years if she wanted the title one experience. I give her max 2-3 years. She’s gonna end up like the principal from Janney that went to Brookland MS then ended up at Brent.

[Anonymous]

We could go even further back to the principal that left Murch to go to Wheatley at the request of Michele Rhee. He made it 2-3 years before he was gone too. This isn’t new in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We could go even further back to the principal that left Murch to go to Wheatley at the request of Michele Rhee. He made it 2-3 years before he was gone too. This isn’t new in DCPS.

Meaning moving them from a rich school to a title 1 one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why some people think it's a demotion. I think a lot of principals who choose DCPS do so because they want to work with populations like Miner's. If she wanted a suburban-like experience for the rest of her career, she would apply for jobs in the suburbs. I doubt DCPS has any issues with her (even though lots of parents do). It's clear to me that DCPS isn't going to put a lot of effort into managing the desires of upper NW parents, so this was move is not for them. They clearly agree with her methods. I think they've have asked her to take this job on because they think of her as a star.

LESS than 30% of DCPS schools have a demographic like Lafayette’s. Those are harder to get. So no, Miner is not a ‘promotion.’ If she wanted to work with that kind of population she could have switched a long time ago. DCPS principals only have a 1 year contract each year.

[Anonymous]

This thread has taken a gross turn. I’m sure principals will be flocking to panel at Lafayette now!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Miner parent here. Personally, I’m looking forward to Dr. B. Finally a veteran school leader who isn’t learning on the job! We’ve had 8 principals in 3 years. We need someone with experience. And if teachers leave, well, TBH, some of them should.

The problem you will have is it will be a revolving door of teachers. Teachers come in believing her during interviews and last one year - maybe two. So just be prepared that you may have a constant principal but not teaching force.

We have been at Lafayette for 5 years and have not seen this at all. We saw two retirements (one ok and one k). And we didn’t have the beloved k teacher who seemingly didnt like the DC curriculum so left DCPS all together. Who else? In a school with 5-6 classrooms per grade, you are going to see some people leave each year. But most seem to stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Miner parent here. Personally, I’m looking forward to Dr. B. Finally a veteran school leader who isn’t learning on the job! We’ve had 8 principals in 3 years. We need someone with experience. And if teachers leave, well, TBH, some of them should.

The problem you will have is it will be a revolving door of teachers. Teachers come in believing her during interviews and last one year - maybe two. So just be prepared that you may have a constant principal but not teaching force.

We have been at Lafayette for 5 years and have not seen this at all. We saw two retirements (one ok and one k). And we didn’t have the beloved k teacher who seemingly didnt like the DC curriculum so left DCPS all together. Who else? In a school with 5-6 classrooms per grade, you are going to see some people leave each year. But most seem to stay.

My child is in 8th grade, so left Lafayette 3 years ago. There are only a handful of teachers on the webpage who were there when we were there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Miner parent here. Personally, I’m looking forward to Dr. B. Finally a veteran school leader who isn’t learning on the job! We’ve had 8 principals in 3 years. We need someone with experience. And if teachers leave, well, TBH, some of them should.

The problem you will have is it will be a revolving door of teachers. Teachers come in believing her during interviews and last one year - maybe two. So just be prepared that you may have a constant principal but not teaching force.

We have been at Lafayette for 5 years and have not seen this at all. We saw two retirements (one ok and one k). And we didn’t have the beloved k teacher who seemingly didnt like the DC curriculum so left DCPS all together. Who else? In a school with 5-6 classrooms per grade, you are going to see some people leave each year. But most seem to stay.

My child is in 8th grade, so left Lafayette 3 years ago. There are only a handful of teachers on the webpage who were there when we were there.

Yeah. You'd have to FOIA the info from DCPS, but the turnover is enormous in comparison to similar schools. She attracts good candidates from outside the region who don't know better, but most leave after a year or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread has taken a gross turn. I’m sure principals will be flocking to panel at Lafayette now!

There is nothing new here - all of this is well known to anyone in DCPS. And after 10 years, it just can't be blamed on a few terrible parents. She is a very problematic leader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has taken a gross turn. I’m sure principals will be flocking to panel at Lafayette now!

There is nothing new here - all of this is well known to anyone in DCPS. And after 10 years, it just can't be blamed on a few terrible parents. She is a very problematic leader.

The posts I was referring to have been deleted.

[Anonymous]

The Lafayette parent community has a loud, obnoxious minority of parents that are just plain toxic. They are smug, upper middle class professionals who want a sweet, elementary school experience like they had in the 1970s and are so oblivious that they don't have any understanding of how education has advanced since then.

I distinctly remember the strong pushback when Dr. Broquard instituted a system of assessing reading levels in the early grades and parents insisted that this was too much testing - they believed that their privileged kids could read why should anyone be tested to identify kids who are falling behind? It was so unbelievably self-absorbed and selfish - and stupid because I'm sure some of those kids had undiagnosed gaps in their skills. As a parent whose child was moving from another school which had already modernized its approach to education, it was shocking how behind the times the place was when Dr. B started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Lafayette parent community has a loud, obnoxious minority of parents that are just plain toxic. They are smug, upper middle class professionals who want a sweet, elementary school experience like they had in the 1970s and are so oblivious that they don't have any understanding of how education has advanced since then.

I distinctly remember the strong pushback when Dr. Broquard instituted a system of assessing reading levels in the early grades and parents insisted that this was too much testing - they believed that their privileged kids could read why should anyone be tested to identify kids who are falling behind? It was so unbelievably self-absorbed and selfish - and stupid because I'm sure some of those kids had undiagnosed gaps in their skills. As a parent whose child was moving from another school which had already modernized its approach to education, it was shocking how behind the times the place was when Dr. B started.

You can make the case for a small group of loud parents protesting change - but it's been a decade. None of those parents have kids there anymore. And yet, she is still reviled and teacher turnover remains high.

Maybe the chaos at Miner is such that she will be a breath of fresh air. She has upsides: good with logistics and large-scale plans, good communicator (she knows how to write and spell), generally organized, and seemingly liked by DCPS admin. In which case, this could be a net benefit. But I don't think there are too many teachers or parents at Lafayette who aren't happy to be welcoming in someone new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Lafayette parent community has a loud, obnoxious minority of parents that are just plain toxic. They are smug, upper middle class professionals who want a sweet, elementary school experience like they had in the 1970s and are so oblivious that they don't have any understanding of how education has advanced since then.

I distinctly remember the strong pushback when Dr. Broquard instituted a system of assessing reading levels in the early grades and parents insisted that this was too much testing - they believed that their privileged kids could read why should anyone be tested to identify kids who are falling behind? It was so unbelievably self-absorbed and selfish - and stupid because I'm sure some of those kids had undiagnosed gaps in their skills. As a parent whose child was moving from another school which had already modernized its approach to education, it was shocking how behind the times the place was when Dr. B started.

Based on my experiences with the school community, I'd say it's closer to a plurality or majority. People try to minimize the Lafayette nutjobs but there are a whole lot of them.

[Anonymous]

Taking a job like this if asked by DCPS is the fastest path to an IS job if you can hack it for a few years & leave things better than you found them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Taking a job like this if asked by DCPS is the fastest path to an IS job if you can hack it for a few years & leave things better than you found them.

I actually think she'd be a decent IS. Focus on the strategy/larger scale stuff and leave the classrooms alone.