Navy Elementary - Principal Resignation

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is anyone worried they will promote one of the 2 current APs as interim principal?


Probably everyone is worried. Don't do it superintendants! That would be bad and make the situation worse.


Oh good grief. Nothing will make some folks happy.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is anyone worried they will promote one of the 2 current APs as interim principal?


Probably everyone is worried. Don't do it superintendants! That would be bad and make the situation worse.


Everyone should have just left the new guy alone and given him some grace. Coming in after a beloved principal who let the teachers have too much leeway frankly and probably bent rules is not easy. He had rules to follow as a brand new principal and he was also being held to the fire by the higher ups. He also inherited teams that had issues. The issues were magnified once vacancies occurred.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Its common at other schools for classes to have long term subs for the entire school year.
So parents were crying about a long term
sub for just one subject?


Two subjects, but yes.


I thought the problem was that there was no sub. The long term sub they had hired quit after like a week. And since then there has been no one filling that role. That’s why parents have been upset.


You don’t know the facts obviously. First sub quit after 3 weeks. She was never supposed to be there long term anyway. Then they had a 2nd sub (a warm body) for a week. No one could even understand her. Then they got a long term sub who was there for 6 weeks and left the class in shambles. While there, she loosely threw some SS materials at them but it was absolute chaos in her class. Not a drop of science was taught.


Ok great. No need to be snarky to me. The point remains that it’s not just parents being upset that there’s a long term sub, like PP tried to imply. I am on your side here.

I hope you don’t speak like this to the people you need on your side in order to fix the situation. They’re not going to feel very sympathetic to you if you’re being an a-hole.


I am a new poster. I want to add that last year there was a long term sub for one of the grades and she had lesson plans. All was well and she was well liked. This year what the previous person said was true. They didn't learn much and the class was chaotic. My kid was coming home with migraines daily and overly stressed by the behaviors of some really problematic kids. The problem was not the sub but the lack of plans and support and expectations. The buck stops with admin but the current situation does sadden me as we are all human and I feel like mistakes were made and I wish there was a different outcome.


Lack of plans was because the previous teacher who taught SS/Sci had left. There was no one to provide those plans to the sub to begin with. Whose responsibility was it to provide plans to the sub? Why wasn’t everyone working together on it from day 1?


They should have all come together to support the sub and make sure she had adequate plans. Instead our kids suffered. The team and admin did not work together here it seems.


Yes but this is even more out of the teachers personal time. Yes they need to work as a team, but it’s not good doing your lessons and someone else’s for an indefinite period of time.


Unfortunately that is what happens when there is a long term sub.


I would imagine that people are a lot more willing to help if the person shows some sort of initiative and willingness to do what they can on their own to pull plans together. If the sub was not doing that, I can see why a lot of resentment would be created. You can’t expect people to just do someone else’s job for them if they are straight up incompetent.


Exactly. Even so, Mr. Dyer gave the sub his slides and typed out detailed instructions for the children to follow on Schoology every, single morning. The sub had everything she needed. Hell, the parents even had everything they needed to teach the unit on Western African Empires. But instead of using the materials she was given, she would just let the kids sit there from 12-2:50 and do whatever they wanted. I cannot even begin to tell you some of the things that were happening in that class. I used to teach in a Title 1 school, and none of it would have been acceptable. Sub or no sub.
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:Its common at other schools for classes to have long term subs for the entire school year.
So parents were crying about a long term
sub for just one subject?


Two subjects, but yes.


I thought the problem was that there was no sub. The long term sub they had hired quit after like a week. And since then there has been no one filling that role. That’s why parents have been upset.


You don’t know the facts obviously. First sub quit after 3 weeks. She was never supposed to be there long term anyway. Then they had a 2nd sub (a warm body) for a week. No one could even understand her. Then they got a long term sub who was there for 6 weeks and left the class in shambles. While there, she loosely threw some SS materials at them but it was absolute chaos in her class. Not a drop of science was taught.


Ok great. No need to be snarky to me. The point remains that it’s not just parents being upset that there’s a long term sub, like PP tried to imply. I am on your side here.

I hope you don’t speak like this to the people you need on your side in order to fix the situation. They’re not going to feel very sympathetic to you if you’re being an a-hole.


I am a new poster. I want to add that last year there was a long term sub for one of the grades and she had lesson plans. All was well and she was well liked. This year what the previous person said was true. They didn't learn much and the class was chaotic. My kid was coming home with migraines daily and overly stressed by the behaviors of some really problematic kids. The problem was not the sub but the lack of plans and support and expectations. The buck stops with admin but the current situation does sadden me as we are all human and I feel like mistakes were made and I wish there was a different outcome.


Lack of plans was because the previous teacher who taught SS/Sci had left. There was no one to provide those plans to the sub to begin with. Whose responsibility was it to provide plans to the sub? Why wasn’t everyone working together on it from day 1?


They should have all come together to support the sub and make sure she had adequate plans. Instead our kids suffered. The team and admin did not work together here it seems.


Yes but this is even more out of the teachers personal time. Yes they need to work as a team, but it’s not good doing your lessons and someone else’s for an indefinite period of time.


Unfortunately that is what happens when there is a long term sub.


I would imagine that people are a lot more willing to help if the person shows some sort of initiative and willingness to do what they can on their own to pull plans together. If the sub was not doing that, I can see why a lot of resentment would be created. You can’t expect people to just do someone else’s job for them if they are straight up incompetent.


Exactly. Even so, Mr. Dyer gave the sub his slides and typed out detailed instructions for the children to follow on Schoology every, single morning. The sub had everything she needed. Hell, the parents even had everything they needed to teach the unit on Western African Empires. But instead of using the materials she was given, she would just let the kids sit there from 12-2:50 and do whatever they wanted. I cannot even begin to tell you some of the things that were happening in that class. I used to teach in a Title 1 school, and none of it would have been acceptable. Sub or no sub.


Why was Mr. Dyer providing the plans, when he is on the AAP team? Where are the gen Ed plans for SS/Sci?(this goes back to the vacancy issue created by last year’s Gen Ed SS/Sci teacher leaving). And please note his AAP class gets SS and Science daily. If the sub was just following his plans, that would mean our kids never would get taught science as Mr. Dyer doesn’t teach science. Again, who was overseeing the plans to ensure our kids got both SS and science?
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:
Anonymous wrote:Its common at other schools for classes to have long term subs for the entire school year.
So parents were crying about a long term
sub for just one subject?


Two subjects, but yes.


I thought the problem was that there was no sub. The long term sub they had hired quit after like a week. And since then there has been no one filling that role. That’s why parents have been upset.


You don’t know the facts obviously. First sub quit after 3 weeks. She was never supposed to be there long term anyway. Then they had a 2nd sub (a warm body) for a week. No one could even understand her. Then they got a long term sub who was there for 6 weeks and left the class in shambles. While there, she loosely threw some SS materials at them but it was absolute chaos in her class. Not a drop of science was taught.


Ok great. No need to be snarky to me. The point remains that it’s not just parents being upset that there’s a long term sub, like PP tried to imply. I am on your side here.

I hope you don’t speak like this to the people you need on your side in order to fix the situation. They’re not going to feel very sympathetic to you if you’re being an a-hole.


I am a new poster. I want to add that last year there was a long term sub for one of the grades and she had lesson plans. All was well and she was well liked. This year what the previous person said was true. They didn't learn much and the class was chaotic. My kid was coming home with migraines daily and overly stressed by the behaviors of some really problematic kids. The problem was not the sub but the lack of plans and support and expectations. The buck stops with admin but the current situation does sadden me as we are all human and I feel like mistakes were made and I wish there was a different outcome.


Lack of plans was because the previous teacher who taught SS/Sci had left. There was no one to provide those plans to the sub to begin with. Whose responsibility was it to provide plans to the sub? Why wasn’t everyone working together on it from day 1?


They should have all come together to support the sub and make sure she had adequate plans. Instead our kids suffered. The team and admin did not work together here it seems.


Yes but this is even more out of the teachers personal time. Yes they need to work as a team, but it’s not good doing your lessons and someone else’s for an indefinite period of time.


Unfortunately that is what happens when there is a long term sub.


I would imagine that people are a lot more willing to help if the person shows some sort of initiative and willingness to do what they can on their own to pull plans together. If the sub was not doing that, I can see why a lot of resentment would be created. You can’t expect people to just do someone else’s job for them if they are straight up incompetent.


Exactly. Even so, Mr. Dyer gave the sub his slides and typed out detailed instructions for the children to follow on Schoology every, single morning. The sub had everything she needed. Hell, the parents even had everything they needed to teach the unit on Western African Empires. But instead of using the materials she was given, she would just let the kids sit there from 12-2:50 and do whatever they wanted. I cannot even begin to tell you some of the things that were happening in that class. I used to teach in a Title 1 school, and none of it would have been acceptable. Sub or no sub.


Why was Mr. Dyer providing the plans, when he is on the AAP team? Where are the gen Ed plans for SS/Sci?(this goes back to the vacancy issue created by last year’s Gen Ed SS/Sci teacher leaving). And please note his AAP class gets SS and Science daily. If the sub was just following his plans, that would mean our kids never would get taught science as Mr. Dyer doesn’t teach science. Again, who was overseeing the plans to ensure our kids got both SS and science?


The Ss/Sci curriculum is the same across AAP and Gen Ed. Considering the AAP team is also part of the overall 6th grade team, I’m assuming he was providing the plans because he was the only teacher on the 6th grade team who had current SS plans. I’m assuming Mr. Cohen would have helped out with the science plans once that block started.

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The principal was great. I adored him and it's a shame he's leaving. Our APs, especially SJ, are horrendous. I fear for the school if promoted.

- A Navy teacher


SJ sucks. Can she go instead? Respectfully, some of you teachers are a tad bonkers. You keep giving us parents extremely unsubtle hints that admin is incompetent and you want us to act. We just want our kids to have teachers and will complain on your behalf if you keep dropping us unsubtle hints. Make up your minds on what you want, please. Thank you.


Teachers want to be paid for all of their time and not have to deal with constant drama from parents, administrators, and gatehouse. You're welcome.


Having a job comes with dealing with difficult situations and people at times. Responding to parent emails is not “drama” and answering to your boss, client, or customer from time to time is part of every job in the world. Perhaps there needs to be training offered on how to receive constructive feedback in a work environment without getting all emotional about it.


You have no idea what you are talking as usual. Go stuff it. This is why people don't want to work at your school-you are rude and condescending. You know little about teaching....let me guess you're the sub???
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:There are some WILD things going on with administration in elementary schools across the whole county. The issues at Navy are NOTHING compared to other schools, yet this is where gatehouse chooses to step in and make a stand. It's baffling


Not sure if you have kids in high school..... but buckle up for the nonsense and lack of care and professionalism you will see there.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:FCPS is the root of the problem. The parents were complaining because the 6th grade situation has been pretty terrible. It looked like things would be improving but now he has resigned, which is surprising because many of us were for starting to feel hopeful about the changes being put into place. He also seemed pretty upbeat and positive last week so I don't know what happened this week to change that. The kids all seemed to like him, so as usual, that's who will be negatively affected.


This. 6th grade parents were strongly advocating for an actual teacher after the sub left that class in shambles. Every 6th grade parent I know was absolutely thrilled with the principal’s decision to have the new teacher take over, as he is not only an experienced 6th grade teacher, but also beloved by the kids. I thought this would be a huge win and a positive PR boost for the principal. I also felt like he was finally starting to feel comfortable in his role. Then he resigned. It’s unfortunate, but I don’t blame him one bit. Navy would have been a challenging environment for even the most experienced principal. A brand new one never stood a chance.



I generally agree with this. However, the experienced 6th grade teacher was only set to be there for this week. After that it’s resource teachers and a different one for each section. Not sure the resource teachers have ever taught science before.


They are very experienced teachers. I’m sure they can figure out how to teach 6th grade science.


I don't know these Navy parents seem to know it all....I'm sure they will tell them how to teach
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For those wondering why the principal resigned, let’s clear things up. He wasn’t driven out by parents; he was forced out by the county after numerous complaints from both parents and staff about his incompetence. If anyone still believes he was a good principal, it’s probably because your child hasn’t had any issues that required you to contact the admin. Those of us who’ve had to deal with him firsthand know just how ineffective and dishonest he was.

Last year, when concerns were raised about his leadership, many of you defended him. Now, with the mass exodus of teachers and your kids feeling the effects, you’re seeing what some tried to warned about. The teachers left because they weren’t supported and were treated poorly.

And let’s not forget how some of you attacked “the sub” for passing around the letter about the principal. She was trying to shine a light on what was really going on, and she was right. Thank you, SUB, for having the courage to speak up when others stayed quiet.

Now, Navy’s stuck with a revolving door of unqualified replacements and no principal in sight. This is what happens when someone unfit for the job is allowed to run the school. Maybe if more people had listened last year, Navy wouldn’t be in this mess.

Hopefully, this serves as a wake-up call. Our kids deserve better.


Wrong. He’s a great guy who would have been a great leader if given a chance. Truly Navy’s loss.


He is but he has made mistakes. Wish he would just fix them instead of leaving.


He's smart he is taking care of his mental health-most people are not going to stay for this kind of treatment.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Its common at other schools for classes to have long term subs for the entire school year.
So parents were crying about a long term
sub for just one subject?


Two subjects, but yes.


LOL
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Its common at other schools for classes to have long term subs for the entire school year.
So parents were crying about a long term
sub for just one subject?


Two subjects, but yes.


I thought the problem was that there was no sub. The long term sub they had hired quit after like a week. And since then there has been no one filling that role. That’s why parents have been upset.


You don’t know the facts obviously. First sub quit after 3 weeks. She was never supposed to be there long term anyway. Then they had a 2nd sub (a warm body) for a week. No one could even understand her. Then they got a long term sub who was there for 6 weeks and left the class in shambles. While there, she loosely threw some SS materials at them but it was absolute chaos in her class. Not a drop of science was taught.


Actually this is happening all over the county-I worked at a regular ES.....pretty much their whole SPED team is trainees.
With the high teacher turnover from last year, navy is getting a taste of what it’s like at an FCPS title one. We get hot mess subs and teacher trainees all the time.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Its common at other schools for classes to have long term subs for the entire school year.
So parents were crying about a long term
sub for just one subject?


Two subjects, but yes.


I thought the problem was that there was no sub. The long term sub they had hired quit after like a week. And since then there has been no one filling that role. That’s why parents have been upset.


You don’t know the facts obviously. First sub quit after 3 weeks. She was never supposed to be there long term anyway. Then they had a 2nd sub (a warm body) for a week. No one could even understand her. Then they got a long term sub who was there for 6 weeks and left the class in shambles. While there, she loosely threw some SS materials at them but it was absolute chaos in her class. Not a drop of science was taught.


Ok great. No need to be snarky to me. The point remains that it’s not just parents being upset that there’s a long term sub, like PP tried to imply. I am on your side here.

I hope you don’t speak like this to the people you need on your side in order to fix the situation. They’re not going to feel very sympathetic to you if you’re being an a-hole.


I am a new poster. I want to add that last year there was a long term sub for one of the grades and she had lesson plans. All was well and she was well liked. This year what the previous person said was true. They didn't learn much and the class was chaotic. My kid was coming home with migraines daily and overly stressed by the behaviors of some really problematic kids. The problem was not the sub but the lack of plans and support and expectations. The buck stops with admin but the current situation does sadden me as we are all human and I feel like mistakes were made and I wish there was a different outcome.


Lack of plans was because the previous teacher who taught SS/Sci had left. There was no one to provide those plans to the sub to begin with. Whose responsibility was it to provide plans to the sub? Why wasn’t everyone working together on it from day 1?


They should have all come together to support the sub and make sure she had adequate plans. Instead our kids suffered. The team and admin did not work together here it seems.


Yes but this is even more out of the teachers personal time. Yes they need to work as a team, but it’s not good doing your lessons and someone else’s for an indefinite period of time.


Unfortunately that is what happens when there is a long term sub.


That doesn't mean it's right. Teachers are starting to say no and stick to contract hours. They have a ton on their plate with all the new curriculum this year and meetings/trainings. There has to be an end to their day.
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:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Its common at other schools for classes to have long term subs for the entire school year.
So parents were crying about a long term
sub for just one subject?


Two subjects, but yes.


I thought the problem was that there was no sub. The long term sub they had hired quit after like a week. And since then there has been no one filling that role. That’s why parents have been upset.


You don’t know the facts obviously. First sub quit after 3 weeks. She was never supposed to be there long term anyway. Then they had a 2nd sub (a warm body) for a week. No one could even understand her. Then they got a long term sub who was there for 6 weeks and left the class in shambles. While there, she loosely threw some SS materials at them but it was absolute chaos in her class. Not a drop of science was taught.


Ok great. No need to be snarky to me. The point remains that it’s not just parents being upset that there’s a long term sub, like PP tried to imply. I am on your side here.

I hope you don’t speak like this to the people you need on your side in order to fix the situation. They’re not going to feel very sympathetic to you if you’re being an a-hole.


I am a new poster. I want to add that last year there was a long term sub for one of the grades and she had lesson plans. All was well and she was well liked. This year what the previous person said was true. They didn't learn much and the class was chaotic. My kid was coming home with migraines daily and overly stressed by the behaviors of some really problematic kids. The problem was not the sub but the lack of plans and support and expectations. The buck stops with admin but the current situation does sadden me as we are all human and I feel like mistakes were made and I wish there was a different outcome.


Lack of plans was because the previous teacher who taught SS/Sci had left. There was no one to provide those plans to the sub to begin with. Whose responsibility was it to provide plans to the sub? Why wasn’t everyone working together on it from day 1?


They should have all come together to support the sub and make sure she had adequate plans. Instead our kids suffered. The team and admin did not work together here it seems.


Yes but this is even more out of the teachers personal time. Yes they need to work as a team, but it’s not good doing your lessons and someone else’s for an indefinite period of time.


Unfortunately that is what happens when there is a long term sub.


I would imagine that people are a lot more willing to help if the person shows some sort of initiative and willingness to do what they can on their own to pull plans together. If the sub was not doing that, I can see why a lot of resentment would be created. You can’t expect people to just do someone else’s job for them if they are straight up incompetent.


Exactly. Even so, Mr. Dyer gave the sub his slides and typed out detailed instructions for the children to follow on Schoology every, single morning. The sub had everything she needed. Hell, the parents even had everything they needed to teach the unit on Western African Empires. But instead of using the materials she was given, she would just let the kids sit there from 12-2:50 and do whatever they wanted. I cannot even begin to tell you some of the things that were happening in that class. I used to teach in a Title 1 school, and none of it would have been acceptable. Sub or no sub.


Why was Mr. Dyer providing the plans, when he is on the AAP team? Where are the gen Ed plans for SS/Sci?(this goes back to the vacancy issue created by last year’s Gen Ed SS/Sci teacher leaving). And please note his AAP class gets SS and Science daily. If the sub was just following his plans, that would mean our kids never would get taught science as Mr. Dyer doesn’t teach science. Again, who was overseeing the plans to ensure our kids got both SS and science?


The Ss/Sci curriculum is the same across AAP and Gen Ed. Considering the AAP team is also part of the overall 6th grade team, I’m assuming he was providing the plans because he was the only teacher on the 6th grade team who had current SS plans. I’m assuming Mr. Cohen would have helped out with the science plans once that block started.



Except there seems to be no time in gen Ed schedule devoted to science. Meanwhile AAP has started science back in September!
Anonymous
So do you all honestly think things will improve once the current principal is gone? Seriously ask yourselves this.
Anonymous
It seems the only issue on the surface this year has been the 6th grade class (not to diminish the frustrations with it at all), but FCPS has messed up with the resignation of the principal. He was finding his way and the majority of the school was doing great under him. I believe test scores were way up, most of the students were happy. I don’t know what went wrong, but ppl should have some tough questions for the assistant superintendent meeting tonight. Back to square one.
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