Underwhelming appearance by Principal Martin at Wilson HS Open House

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the feedback about the Open House. I regret that my performance was less than you anticipated. The questions and answers I provided during the unscripted Q and A were somewhat vague, I agree, and in my perspective they were questions that I would typically answer in an email or individual conversation, but not in front of a large group, due to their complexity. For instance, "what do you anticipate being the biggest issue in the next five years" and "is your school safe?" (there was no question about discipline). In my view, those questions require a bit of background knowledge and, as I mentioned in my response to the group, have many variables to consider, which I'm not sure a group of parents who are largely unconnected to our school would understand. In fact, I hold monthly Parent Coffees, which are well attended by Wilson parents, and I often hear that these meetings are informative, thoughtful and productive. The parents who are present set the monthly agenda, however, we do not speak about issues like school safety, presumably because it is not an issue for parents who are insiders. In thinking about school safety: does the speaker want to know about our suspension rates? The number of fights in the school? The number of safety drills we have each month? The results of the student satisfaction survey? The results of the teacher survey? Or are there other factors that are important? Perhaps there is something more to the question, of which I am unaware? When I prompted the speaker for clarification, he stated, "does your school feel safe?" How am I to answer a questions about "feeling" without discussing how someone "feels," which is why I stated, "my son feels safe and students tell me they feel safe." I could have stated that our suspension rate has declined over the last several years, but does that mean a school is more or less safe in an outsiders' perspective? In relation to the questions about my biggest concern for the next five years, I am quite concerned about the boundary issues that have been discussed and analyzed over the last few months since I've arrived. Our school is the largest school in DCPS and as I mentioned in the Open House, we are 150 students over capacity THIS YEAR, but as our enrollment continues to increase....? When asked, "what will you do about it?" I explained that there are several possible solutions, none that has been determined to be THE solution as yet. Then I was asked, "what are the possible options for solving this problem?" I stated that there are several possible solutions that have been discussed, which include looking at our boundaries and making changes to our boundaries, as has been done within the last 12 months, and changes were already implemented last year. Then, "why is this a concern?" and yes, I stumbled, because I hesitate to say that our school may unwittingly exclude a specific demographic of students and yes, then the question of race came up. If there was concern from me about the presentation it was that I was being asked to answer to situations that are already and still occurring and in forums like this, I cannot share "what ifs" since my words are often distorted and those distortions are made as fact.
How my race plays into this conversation is another matter entirely and I will not comment on that in this forum or at any other time.
All the best,
Kim Martin

Just ran this through writing quality software. It's 10th grade level.

Time magazine is written at the 8th grade level.

Have they discovered the Paragraph?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the feedback about the Open House. I regret that my performance was less than you anticipated. The questions and answers I provided during the unscripted Q and A were somewhat vague, I agree, and in my perspective they were questions that I would typically answer in an email or individual conversation, but not in front of a large group, due to their complexity. For instance, "what do you anticipate being the biggest issue in the next five years" and "is your school safe?" (there was no question about discipline). In my view, those questions require a bit of background knowledge and, as I mentioned in my response to the group, have many variables to consider, which I'm not sure a group of parents who are largely unconnected to our school would understand. In fact, I hold monthly Parent Coffees, which are well attended by Wilson parents, and I often hear that these meetings are informative, thoughtful and productive. The parents who are present set the monthly agenda, however, we do not speak about issues like school safety, presumably because it is not an issue for parents who are insiders. In thinking about school safety: does the speaker want to know about our suspension rates? The number of fights in the school? The number of safety drills we have each month? The results of the student satisfaction survey? The results of the teacher survey? Or are there other factors that are important? Perhaps there is something more to the question, of which I am unaware? When I prompted the speaker for clarification, he stated, "does your school feel safe?" How am I to answer a questions about "feeling" without discussing how someone "feels," which is why I stated, "my son feels safe and students tell me they feel safe." I could have stated that our suspension rate has declined over the last several years, but does that mean a school is more or less safe in an outsiders' perspective? In relation to the questions about my biggest concern for the next five years, I am quite concerned about the boundary issues that have been discussed and analyzed over the last few months since I've arrived. Our school is the largest school in DCPS and as I mentioned in the Open House, we are 150 students over capacity THIS YEAR, but as our enrollment continues to increase....? When asked, "what will you do about it?" I explained that there are several possible solutions, none that has been determined to be THE solution as yet. Then I was asked, "what are the possible options for solving this problem?" I stated that there are several possible solutions that have been discussed, which include looking at our boundaries and making changes to our boundaries, as has been done within the last 12 months, and changes were already implemented last year. Then, "why is this a concern?" and yes, I stumbled, because I hesitate to say that our school may unwittingly exclude a specific demographic of students and yes, then the question of race came up. If there was concern from me about the presentation it was that I was being asked to answer to situations that are already and still occurring and in forums like this, I cannot share "what ifs" since my words are often distorted and those distortions are made as fact.
How my race plays into this conversation is another matter entirely and I will not comment on that in this forum or at any other time.
All the best,
Kim Martin

Just ran this through writing quality software. It's 10th grade level.

Time magazine is written at the 8th grade level.

Have they discovered the Paragraph?

Yes, but they only capitalize it at the beginning of a sentence.

[Anonymous]

As a parent there I'm willing to give her a chance. She's made mistakes, and I'm the first to agree she does not always make a good impression. She's inconsistent. One thing I don't like is the constant sucking up to the Chancellor. This is from this week's email:
"Finally, a big congratulations and thank you to our Chancellor, Kaya Henderson, who reached her five year anniversary as Chancellor of DCPS this past weekend. In that time, the district has seen far-reaching success with test scores, graduation rates, and increases in student satisfaction and enrollment. Thank you, Chancellor, for providing great experiences for all our students."
It just makes it seem like Kaya hired her because she will be a cheerleader for DCPS. Wilson needs someone who can advocate for the school and not just follow along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent there I'm willing to give her a chance. She's made mistakes, and I'm the first to agree she does not always make a good impression. She's inconsistent. One thing I don't like is the constant sucking up to the Chancellor. This is from this week's email:
"Finally, a big congratulations and thank you to our Chancellor, Kaya Henderson, who reached her five year anniversary as Chancellor of DCPS this past weekend. In that time, the district has seen far-reaching success with test scores, graduation rates, and increases in student satisfaction and enrollment. Thank you, Chancellor, for providing great experiences for all our students."
It just makes it seem like Kaya hired her because she will be a cheerleader for DCPS. Wilson needs someone who can advocate for the school and not just follow along.

Also a Wilson parent, with the same reaction. My experience at several DCPS schools where Principals have been replaced is that just when a Principal becomes experienced enough and sure-footed enough that they can stand up to DCPS, they replace them with someone who is too new and owes their position to the Chancellor and therefore cannot be a voice that stands up in favor of the school and its students against the DCPS central office.


(I should also note that it is very sad to point out how often the DCPS central office seems to make decisions that are bad for students and bad for schools, and therefore require a Principal willing to fight. But that's DCPS for you. You have to have a strong stomach if you are going to be a DCPS parent)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent there I'm willing to give her a chance. She's made mistakes, and I'm the first to agree she does not always make a good impression. She's inconsistent. One thing I don't like is the constant sucking up to the Chancellor. This is from this week's email:
"Finally, a big congratulations and thank you to our Chancellor, Kaya Henderson, who reached her five year anniversary as Chancellor of DCPS this past weekend. In that time, the district has seen far-reaching success with test scores, graduation rates, and increases in student satisfaction and enrollment. Thank you, Chancellor, for providing great experiences for all our students."
It just makes it seem like Kaya hired her because she will be a cheerleader for DCPS. Wilson needs someone who can advocate for the school and not just follow along.

Not to mention that not all of the information in the email is accurate -- and some parents know it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent there I'm willing to give her a chance. She's made mistakes, and I'm the first to agree she does not always make a good impression. She's inconsistent. One thing I don't like is the constant sucking up to the Chancellor. This is from this week's email:
"Finally, a big congratulations and thank you to our Chancellor, Kaya Henderson, who reached her five year anniversary as Chancellor of DCPS this past weekend. In that time, the district has seen far-reaching success with test scores, graduation rates, and increases in student satisfaction and enrollment. Thank you, Chancellor, for providing great experiences for all our students."
It just makes it seem like Kaya hired her because she will be a cheerleader for DCPS. Wilson needs someone who can advocate for the school and not just follow along.

Not to mention that not all of the information in the email is accurate -- and some parents know it.

also -- I give her a pass on Open House night, but not on this letter to parents. She could have been complimentary without so obviously kissing up.

[Anonymous]

She seems to not understand the politics of DCPS or Wilson. I keep thinking she did not do her homework before coming here.

[Anonymous]

Wow. Defensive much? And what's up with the echo chamber of parent coffee attendees being the main voices.

She clearly did not do her homework and was probably dazzled by Henderson and a chance to be in the limelight. Maybe she doesn't realize that Henderson booted some of Rhee's hires pretty quickly. DCPS is more invested in the internal candidates these days via fellowship, Georgetown leadership program.

She can't play defense and catch-up via email.

I'd bet money she'll be returning to Ohio or wherever to be closer to extended family come next May.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She seems to not understand the politics of DCPS or Wilson. I keep thinking she did not do her homework before coming here.

Maybe she understands DC politics too well. Suck up, play the race card, divide and conquer.

The risk is, at the end of the day it will be clear what her educational impact is. We'll see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent there I'm willing to give her a chance. She's made mistakes, and I'm the first to agree she does not always make a good impression. She's inconsistent. One thing I don't like is the constant sucking up to the Chancellor. This is from this week's email:
"Finally, a big congratulations and thank you to our Chancellor, Kaya Henderson, who reached her five year anniversary as Chancellor of DCPS this past weekend. In that time, the district has seen far-reaching success with test scores, graduation rates, and increases in student satisfaction and enrollment. Thank you, Chancellor, for providing great experiences for all our students."
It just makes it seem like Kaya hired her because she will be a cheerleader for DCPS. Wilson needs someone who can advocate for the school and not just follow along.

Not to mention that not all of the information in the email is accurate -- and some parents know it.

also -- I give her a pass on Open House night, but not on this letter to parents. She could have been complimentary without so obviously kissing up.

Maybe it's the PR hack in me, but doesn't it seem obvious to anyone else that downtown is in control of the information and messaging that goes out to parents? Who else is going to say "great job, Kaya!"?

I've always had the feeling - reinforced by reading DCUM - that the toughest part of a DCPS principal's job is managing the taut tension between parents and central office. There's ridiculousness at both ends of the line.

[Anonymous]

DCUM = Wolf Pack

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM = Wolf Pack

Your math seems 2nd grade, at best.

DCUM = Wolf Pack + Whiners Pack + Sycophants Pack + Racist Pack + Jeff Himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM = Wolf Pack

Your math seems 2nd grade, at best.

DCUM = Wolf Pack + Whiners Pack + Sycophants Pack + Racist Pack + Jeff Himself.

Sorry but give Jeff a break. Without him none of these forums would exist. I have found doctors, and so much other really useful information plus a diverting but harmless pastime here. He does an amazing job considering all he has to manage - the wolves, the whiners, the racists

PS who is Chipotle Mom?

[Anonymous]

I'm very satisfied with the school but the Henderson praise made my heart sink.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm very satisfied with the school but the Henderson praise made my heart sink.

Aren't you exaggerating a bit, perhaps?