Annandale Band Director Claims Racism

[Anonymous]

The Annandale HS band director has claimed he was unjustly terminated from his position due to racism.

https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2023/06/fairfax-co-band-director-says-there-was-a-coordinated-effort-to-get-him-fired-parents-are-outraged/

Ironically, if a student made such claims there would be a whole reporting process under the new equity policy, but one suspects any such claims by an employee will be met with FCPS’s typical litigation defense.

The guy posted a lot of very narcissistic stuff on Instagram, and he has made a bunch of heavy-handed comments about how white parents at Annandale (how many are even left there) are out to get him, but I do feel sorry for teachers who get solid ratings one year only to see their ratings tank the next year when there’s a change in supervisors (Annandale had appointed a new head of student activities). I thought Shawn DeRose was one of those principals who walked on water - which is why Ricardy Anderson and Fabio Zuluaga made sure he was appointed principal of AHS - but he doesn’t seem to have mediated this situated well at all. And now the usual folks such as Sujatha Hampton of the NAACP are demanding an investigation by FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Annandale HS band director has claimed he was unjustly terminated from his position due to racism.

https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2023/06/fairfax-co-band-director-says-there-was-a-coordinated-effort-to-get-him-fired-parents-are-outraged/

Ironically, if a student made such claims there would be a whole reporting process under the new equity policy, but one suspects any such claims by an employee will be met with FCPS’s typical litigation defense.

The guy posted a lot of very narcissistic stuff on Instagram, and he has made a bunch of heavy-handed comments about how white parents at Annandale (how many are even left there) are out to get him, but I do feel sorry for teachers who get solid ratings one year only to see their ratings tank the next year when there’s a change in supervisors (Annandale had appointed a new head of student activities). I thought Shawn DeRose was one of those principals who walked on water - which is why Ricardy Anderson and Fabio Zuluaga made sure he was appointed principal of AHS - but he doesn’t seem to have mediated this situated well at all. And now the usual folks such as Sujatha Hampton of the NAACP are demanding an investigation by FCPS.

Ironically, something like that becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Any white parent who sees that is going to assume that he's not treating their kid fairly and will report it. If I'm a white parent and my kid gets cut from band, that's the route I'm taking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Annandale HS band director has claimed he was unjustly terminated from his position due to racism.

https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2023/06/fairfax-co-band-director-says-there-was-a-coordinated-effort-to-get-him-fired-parents-are-outraged/

Putting aside whether racism made a difference or not for a minute: It is true that you have to speak to students in a "Disney voice" or they will get their feelings hurt. Administration could slam most every teacher at any time for not following all the educational jargon and "standards" for each daily class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Annandale HS band director has claimed he was unjustly terminated from his position due to racism.

https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2023/06/fairfax-co-band-director-says-there-was-a-coordinated-effort-to-get-him-fired-parents-are-outraged/

Putting aside whether racism made a difference or not for a minute: It is true that you have to speak to students in a "Disney voice" or they will get their feelings hurt. Administration could slam most every teacher at any time for not following all the educational jargon and "standards" for each daily class.

They guy thought band was a sport and tried act like a coach. It turns out band kids don't want to be treated like athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Annandale HS band director has claimed he was unjustly terminated from his position due to racism.

https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2023/06/fairfax-co-band-director-says-there-was-a-coordinated-effort-to-get-him-fired-parents-are-outraged/

Putting aside whether racism made a difference or not for a minute: It is true that you have to speak to students in a "Disney voice" or they will get their feelings hurt. Administration could slam most every teacher at any time for not following all the educational jargon and "standards" for each daily class.

They guy thought band was a sport and tried act like a coach. It turns out band kids don't want to be treated like athletes.

I always thought marching band was really strict with the band director shouting at the students when they messed up the routine. In that sense the band director is like a coach. Band directors aren’t all soft spoken like in that old movie Mr Holland’s Opus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Annandale HS band director has claimed he was unjustly terminated from his position due to racism.

https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2023/06/fairfax-co-band-director-says-there-was-a-coordinated-effort-to-get-him-fired-parents-are-outraged/

Putting aside whether racism made a difference or not for a minute: It is true that you have to speak to students in a "Disney voice" or they will get their feelings hurt. Administration could slam most every teacher at any time for not following all the educational jargon and "standards" for each daily class.

They guy thought band was a sport and tried act like a coach. It turns out band kids don't want to be treated like athletes.

I always thought marching band was really strict with the band director shouting at the students when they messed up the routine. In that sense the band director is like a coach. Band directors aren’t all soft spoken like in that old movie Mr Holland’s Opus.

I guess there are enough students who think band is more like a class than a sport. No one would put up with their bio teacher screaming at them like a football coach, band seems like it's in between. This guy seems to have veered to far towards coach

[Anonymous]

Our band director used to yell. She was a jerk. But, she also got results.

[Anonymous]

I've seen this play out a few times at my children's schools: a certain group of parents are not willing to let their children be yelled at by teachers seeking to hold them to higher standards.

On one hand, adults should try not to scare or humiliate students. On the other, teachers have very little disciplinary recourse, students are more and more disrespectful, and yelling seems to be the only thing they have left.

And then, as people say, there are moronic parents who somehow believe music is less important that sports, and that a coach can have more leeway than an actual academic teacher. Only in anti-intellectual America is this possible!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I've seen this play out a few times at my children's schools: a certain group of parents are not willing to let their children be yelled at by teachers seeking to hold them to higher standards.

On one hand, adults should try not to scare or humiliate students. On the other, teachers have very little disciplinary recourse, students are more and more disrespectful, and yelling seems to be the only thing they have left.

And then, as people say, there are moronic parents who somehow believe music is less important that sports, and that a coach can have more leeway than an actual academic teacher. Only in anti-intellectual America is this possible!

Do parents really want their band kids screamed at and then not participating in competitions because that's what happens in sports. Most of the roster will never play in a close game, and they still get ridden by the coach at practice. Would you really be happy with your kid showing up and watching the rest of the band?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Annandale HS band director has claimed he was unjustly terminated from his position due to racism.

https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2023/06/fairfax-co-band-director-says-there-was-a-coordinated-effort-to-get-him-fired-parents-are-outraged/

Putting aside whether racism made a difference or not for a minute: It is true that you have to speak to students in a "Disney voice" or they will get their feelings hurt. Administration could slam most every teacher at any time for not following all the educational jargon and "standards" for each daily class.

They guy thought band was a sport and tried act like a coach. It turns out band kids don't want to be treated like athletes.

I always thought marching band was really strict with the band director shouting at the students when they messed up the routine. In that sense the band director is like a coach. Band directors aren’t all soft spoken like in that old movie Mr Holland’s Opus.

I can remember going to a high school football game a few years ago and my husband commented that there was much more discipline on the band and the cheerleaders (both award winning) than the football team--that was not award winningn.

I didn't have a kid in band, but this band director clearly ran a tight ship.

I know nothing about the situation at Annandale. Did the band director make anti-white comments before he was fired?

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, we can only hear this guy’s version as the school is not able to share about personnel matters. Teachers are really difficult to hire right now, and there’s a lot that mediocre teachers can get away with simply because there are so few qualified candidates to replace them. In other words, he really had to be awful for administrators to go through this process. My educated guess is that the decision to non-renew was not done lightly and without specific evidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, we can only hear this guy’s version as the school is not able to share about personnel matters. Teachers are really difficult to hire right now, and there’s a lot that mediocre teachers can get away with simply because there are so few qualified candidates to replace them. In other words, he really had to be awful for administrators to go through this process. My educated guess is that the decision to non-renew was not done lightly and without specific evidence.

+1

[Anonymous]

The article said that the year before he received an effective rating. 31 out of 40. I know nothing about how FCPS rates teachers, but 31 out of 40 does not seem very high to me.
Could some teachers weigh in on this?

There is likely a lot on both sides of this issue that we do not know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, we can only hear this guy’s version as the school is not able to share about personnel matters. Teachers are really difficult to hire right now, and there’s a lot that mediocre teachers can get away with simply because there are so few qualified candidates to replace them. In other words, he really had to be awful for administrators to go through this process. My educated guess is that the decision to non-renew was not done lightly and without specific evidence.

There's more to it than that.

My oldest is now 18 and going to college. I've seen really crappy teachers stay their entire career, and excellent teachers get pushed out. My son's English teacher lasted a year, even though she was the best writing teacher he ever had. My son's AP calculus teacher and my daughter's science teacher have been teaching at their respective schools for years, and basically do the lesson by rote, with minimal effort and no motivation or inspiration, and fly under the radar because they've been there a long time and have a system for admin work.

This teacher might be a great teacher, you never know.

[Anonymous]

The Madison band director is known to be very rough on kids during practices but he got congratulated for the band’s success, not canned. But there may have been other things going on at Annandale.