Expanded High school electives at TJ

[Anonymous]

The litmus test if a student is qualified to be at TJ is this:

Student and/or parent do not complain about testing and math teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The litmus test if a student is qualified to be at TJ is this:

Student and/or parent do not complain about testing and math teachers.

Please.
Not sure why your are so enamored of the math teachers there. Almost any kid will tell you a bunch of them don’t teach well / much. Maybe your kid got lucky though and consistently had the good ones. My kid had a mixed bag - yet still got As because she buckled down and learned the content herself despite the lack of good math teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At least now TJ has a principal who actually understands the courses being offered and is making updates so students get credit that matches the effort they put in.

Having actually listened to him, he has little understanding of courses and curriculum. He just cares if there is an "AP" before the name of the course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be nice if Mukai shared this vision with his staff as well.

He does. None of this is a secret.

What some teachers are salty about is that he isn't Bonitatibus and doesn't care that much about what the skin color of the graduating class looks like.
He lets kids return to their base school without trying to convince them to stick it out and backfills with froshmores. So the graduating class looks a bit different than the incoming classes but he isn't trying to change the admissions process either.

The faculty overwhelmingly wants TJ to be filled with excellent students and that is why you see a froshmore admission process that selects for merit. And some teachers at TJ are mad about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mukai figured out many of TJ’s “honors” classes exceeded the requirements of AP classes. Wisely, he moved:

TJ pre-calculus honors to AP pre calc,

TJ physics honors to AP physics

Geosystems to other sciences, including APs.

He knows the slight but important college admissions boost these changes will make.

On another note: why is the troll who hates TJ still posting on every TJ thread?

- signed, a TJ parent.

You know why. Not enough URM and too many asians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The litmus test if a student is qualified to be at TJ is this:

Student and/or parent do not complain about testing and math teachers.

I am a TJ grad and a TJ parent from both before and after the admissions change and TJ has always had this problem where the students were frequently smarter than the teachers so the way around that embarrassing situation is to test stuff you haven't taught. That way students don't feel smarter than you, even though they are.

The smartest teachers teach everything. You may not be able to learn it but they teach everything that goes on the test and they teach it well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least now TJ has a principal who actually understands the courses being offered and is making updates so students get credit that matches the effort they put in.

Having actually listened to him, he has little understanding of courses and curriculum. He just cares if there is an "AP" before the name of the course.

He has been an FCPS teacher for 30 years.
He has been an assistant principal for 20 years.
He has been a principal for 10 years.

And he doesn't understand courses or curriculum?

What he doesn't understand is that a lot of people want TJ to be about virtue signaling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be nice if Mukai shared this vision with his staff as well.

He does. None of this is a secret.

What some teachers are salty about is that he isn't Bonitatibus and doesn't care that much about what the skin color of the graduating class looks like.
He lets kids return to their base school without trying to convince them to stick it out and backfills with froshmores. So the graduating class looks a bit different than the incoming classes but he isn't trying to change the admissions process either.

The faculty overwhelmingly wants TJ to be filled with excellent students and that is why you see a froshmore admission process that selects for merit. And some teachers at TJ are mad about it.

Ok, what is his vision then? Because just slapping AP on every course is not a vision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least now TJ has a principal who actually understands the courses being offered and is making updates so students get credit that matches the effort they put in.

Having actually listened to him, he has little understanding of courses and curriculum. He just cares if there is an "AP" before the name of the course.

He has been an FCPS teacher for 30 years.
He has been an assistant principal for 20 years.
He has been a principal for 10 years.

And he doesn't understand courses or curriculum?

What he doesn't understand is that a lot of people want TJ to be about virtue signaling.

So based on that timeline, it has been a long time since he has actually taught in a classroom. Maybe his dog and pony shows impress parents, but teachers see right through him. All he does is talk in circles with the occasional buzz word thrown in. He literally avoids meeting with teachers, either one on one or by department. He is impossible to meet with or even get a response by email and just seems content sitting in his ivory tower and being the face of TJ instead of actually being a leader. I can count on one hand how many times I have actually seen him out and about with students and teachers during the school day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be nice if Mukai shared this vision with his staff as well.

He does. None of this is a secret.

What some teachers are salty about is that he isn't Bonitatibus and doesn't care that much about what the skin color of the graduating class looks like.
He lets kids return to their base school without trying to convince them to stick it out and backfills with froshmores. So the graduating class looks a bit different than the incoming classes but he isn't trying to change the admissions process either.

The faculty overwhelmingly wants TJ to be filled with excellent students and that is why you see a froshmore admission process that selects for merit. And some teachers at TJ are mad about it.

Ok, what is his vision then? Because just slapping AP on every course is not a vision.

I don't know but I bet the teachers do. Based on the zoom calls it looks like he is doing more than slapping an AP label on a bunch of classes.
That is just the highly visible low hanging fruit.

He is partnering with the parents. We both have a vested interest in seeing TJ produce excellent students and excellent college results.
I don't know if he is going to start counseling underperforming kids to go back to their base school but he is not following the previous principal's practice of trying to get kids to stay [most likely in an effort to preserve diversity].
He is aggressively backfilling those spots with froshmores.
I don't think he is pushing for a change in the admissions process but he is reshaping the class where he can to make it align with its core mission as a school for academically advanced kids.

Based on the quality of students at TJ, the college results are sub par and he intends to remedy that. Part of it is getting credit for the work you are doing by doing things like changing honors pre-calc to AP pre-calc. Party of it is a more active college counseling office (the number of emails from the college and career specialist has been much higher this year).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least now TJ has a principal who actually understands the courses being offered and is making updates so students get credit that matches the effort they put in.

Having actually listened to him, he has little understanding of courses and curriculum. He just cares if there is an "AP" before the name of the course.

He has been an FCPS teacher for 30 years.
He has been an assistant principal for 20 years.
He has been a principal for 10 years.

And he doesn't understand courses or curriculum?

What he doesn't understand is that a lot of people want TJ to be about virtue signaling.

So based on that timeline, it has been a long time since he has actually taught in a classroom. Maybe his dog and pony shows impress parents, but teachers see right through him. All he does is talk in circles with the occasional buzz word thrown in. He literally avoids meeting with teachers, either one on one or by department. He is impossible to meet with or even get a response by email and just seems content sitting in his ivory tower and being the face of TJ instead of actually being a leader. I can count on one hand how many times I have actually seen him out and about with students and teachers during the school day.

If he is so horrible to teachers, then why do the teachers at West Springfield High School think so highly of him?
If he is not talking to you, I suspect he has no interest in talking to you about racial diversity at TJ for the umpteenth time.
The teachers I know there seem to think he is better than Bonitatibus or at least more honest.
The ones that are upset are the ones that think TJ is supposed to be a social experiment.
He is your boss not your congressman, he doesn't owe you an audience.

And I have seen him several times at games and other afterschool events where parents are welcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least now TJ has a principal who actually understands the courses being offered and is making updates so students get credit that matches the effort they put in.

Having actually listened to him, he has little understanding of courses and curriculum. He just cares if there is an "AP" before the name of the course.

He has been an FCPS teacher for 30 years.
He has been an assistant principal for 20 years.
He has been a principal for 10 years.

And he doesn't understand courses or curriculum?

What he doesn't understand is that a lot of people want TJ to be about virtue signaling.

So based on that timeline, it has been a long time since he has actually taught in a classroom. Maybe his dog and pony shows impress parents, but teachers see right through him. All he does is talk in circles with the occasional buzz word thrown in. He literally avoids meeting with teachers, either one on one or by department. He is impossible to meet with or even get a response by email and just seems content sitting in his ivory tower and being the face of TJ instead of actually being a leader. I can count on one hand how many times I have actually seen him out and about with students and teachers during the school day.

If he is so horrible to teachers, then why do the teachers at West Springfield High School think so highly of him?
If he is not talking to you, I suspect he has no interest in talking to you about racial diversity at TJ for the umpteenth time.
The teachers I know there seem to think he is better than Bonitatibus or at least more honest.
The ones that are upset are the ones that think TJ is supposed to be a social experiment.
He is your boss not your congressman, he doesn't owe you an audience.

And I have seen him several times at games and other afterschool events where parents are welcome.

It's funny how people like you think that the only reason teachers are upset is because of racial diversity. None of the complaints I have or have heard from other teachers have to do with the admissions process or the student demographics. Our complaints have to do with Mukai's lack of vision or any kind of rationale behind his changes. I guess throwing out buzz words to parents is enough to impress?

[Anonymous]

Another issue is that Mukai has not provided any clear and consistent standard and procedure regarding when students are sent back to their base school. He frequently moves the goal posts without any communication with staff and families, with teachers usually being the last to know when students are transferring out. I know several juniors were told late last year that they were not welcomed back after Mukai changed the rules without warning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least now TJ has a principal who actually understands the courses being offered and is making updates so students get credit that matches the effort they put in.

Having actually listened to him, he has little understanding of courses and curriculum. He just cares if there is an "AP" before the name of the course.

He has been an FCPS teacher for 30 years.
He has been an assistant principal for 20 years.
He has been a principal for 10 years.

And he doesn't understand courses or curriculum?

What he doesn't understand is that a lot of people want TJ to be about virtue signaling.

So based on that timeline, it has been a long time since he has actually taught in a classroom. Maybe his dog and pony shows impress parents, but teachers see right through him. All he does is talk in circles with the occasional buzz word thrown in. He literally avoids meeting with teachers, either one on one or by department. He is impossible to meet with or even get a response by email and just seems content sitting in his ivory tower and being the face of TJ instead of actually being a leader. I can count on one hand how many times I have actually seen him out and about with students and teachers during the school day.

He is your boss not your congressman, he doesn't owe you an audience.

And I have seen him several times at games and other afterschool events where parents are welcome.

When a principal is more present outside of school hours and only seems to care about being the face of TJ for the parents and no one else, that is a problem. Considering that teachers are the ones working directly with students, he does owe it to them to actually lead and be present and active throughout the school day, not just for flashy public events

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The litmus test if a student is qualified to be at TJ is this:

Student and/or parent do not complain about testing and math teachers.

Please.
Not sure why your are so enamored of the math teachers there. Almost any kid will tell you a bunch of them don’t teach well / much. Maybe your kid got lucky though and consistently had the good ones. My kid had a mixed bag - yet still got As because she buckled down and learned the content herself despite the lack of good math teaching.

The math teachers come from the same pool of applicants as every other FCPS teacher. Every principal tries to recruit good math teachers.