Underwhelming appearance by Principal Martin at Wilson HS Open House

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Aren't you exaggerating a bit, perhaps?

Another Wilson parent here, also really happy with the school. I had the same reaction - it was too much. Ms. Martin needs to get some advice from a PR flack to help her through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

If you mean getting the scores up among OB students -- no principal can do it -- it takes the students and their parents -- as is the case with the students already scoring high when they enter Wilson. Good teachers and a good principal help, but they can't perform the miracle that Henderson and crew are still expecting after all this time.

Or are they just content with a hiring and firing operation? After all, it is something they have a lot of experience doing.

[Anonymous]

If she has so little reality from DC Central, they are controlling her. Parents must have been cautioned against. She is a very nice person, but would not be surprised if she is one term. Typical DCPS, rush to send a message to Cahall with no action plan ready-- reactive as usual. The only criteria seems to be that the principal take a back seat, observe, get to know some key parents, and report. Just my guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Whatever criticisms of Principal Martin you may have, she has not played the race card. Not once. Not even close. So put this particular criticism back in its box please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK. I have kept this for myself for almost one week. Though I am an on and off DCUM user (normally I am in during the year before a new school cycle of one of my kids), I know how incendiary this Forum can be…

So last Wednesday I attended the Wilson HS open house. Great to see again families from our ex ES who are re-considering DCPS after charter or private middles schools!!
Everything went very well, the school infrastructure is always impressive, the school choir looked and sounded beautiful, the students were inspiring and the Assistant Principals sounded solid, dedicated and in control. So, all went well until… the new Principal Ms Kimberly Martin took the microphone (believe me when I say that I feel uncomfortable and sad in sharing my negative views about a professional who’s been entrusted with the task of steering the HS education of almost 2,000 students/year of the largest HS in the District of Columbia…).

She sounded by far the least articulated speaker of the group (including students). She sounded hesitant and non-articulated. She babbled at tract , with no words coming to her… Her answers to the parents' questions were no answers (Parent: “What about the discipline and crime inside the school?” Principal “Oh, it’s so much better than where I come from… Plus my son is here and he’s very happy”… Is this an answer? ). She looked uncomfortable. Regarding the overcrowding, she gave very wrong answers (“One hypothesis is that I think DCPS might consider withdrawing the feeder rights”) , which made some parents very concerned, and disoriented others. If she has insights from DCPS on this matter, well, that was not the arena to disclose them..If it was her personal guess, again, do not share it openly. That was wrong and stupid.

My impression is that she made parents puzzled and disoriented. Some got very nervous for the lack of content in her answers… I understand the pressure she was feeling from a large audience of (almost all white) demanding parents…and I also understand that she is new. However we felt that her performance was too much sub-standard and below everyone’s expectations.

I would like to know the impressions from others who have attended the open houses or visited the school recently. Are we missing something? Was it just a bad day for her?

More concerning: what are DCPS plan about the school? After having met her, I cannot but think that there must be a plan behind the removal of a strong and respected Principal to be replaced by such a weaker figure. I do not get it. And HS choice for us is just a few months away.

Thank you for reading and for your feedback.

Apparently, these were very prescient words.

OP, if you're still around...what did you decide in the end?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You referenced race and that seems to be your focus. Wilson, is the 2015 version of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is so sad what DC has become.

So true. They have no shame in their game and don't even notice the racism. I hope she is as strong as Carolyn Cobbs was at Ludlow Taylor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's move away from race. I have a question for the original poster.

What exactly are you trying to accomplish by posting here? If you are so concerned why not set up a meeting with the principal to discuss your concerns or dig deeper to get more information?

Trying to elicit a group response against the principal on an anonymous board is hardly the way to go about things.

I wonder if the OP is really a Wilson parent. Could possibly someone connected to the previous principal, who was very bitter when he left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The only person who played the race card is the original poster who described the white audience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: She sounded hesitant and non-articulated.

That's non-articulate, Einstein.

I though that the poster was being sarcastic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's move away from race. I have a question for the original poster.

What exactly are you trying to accomplish by posting here? If you are so concerned why not set up a meeting with the principal to discuss your concerns or dig deeper to get more information?

Trying to elicit a group response against the principal on an anonymous board is hardly the way to go about things.

I wonder if the OP is really a Wilson parent. Could possibly someone connected to the previous principal, who was very bitter when he left.

OP already explained why she went to the Open House. Why do you take her thoughtful post as a personal attack? Are YOU connected to the new principal? If so, can you please ask her to explain what happened with PARCC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You referenced race and that seems to be your focus. Wilson, is the 2015 version of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is so sad what DC has become.

So true. They have no shame in their game and don't even notice the racism. I hope she is as strong as Carolyn Cobbs was at Ludlow Taylor.

OP here. I will soon post an update as requested by one of the PP.

Note that at the time when I wrote the original post, I was not even aware of Principal Martin's race. The night we first saw her at the Wilson open house, I recall wondering whether she was part of the highly educated Iranian or Armenian diaspora communities we have in the US, and I am friend with in DC.

My remarks on the white audience attending that night, was not in reference to Principal Martin (since, to my eyes, she did not even look African American), rather in reference to the fact that, in a school where 25% of students are white and 40% are black, almost all parents in attendance that night where white. I found that remarkable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Kim Martin had a good, well-written response.
I'm not sure why one poster is obsessed with her response being
10th grade level. 10th grade and college level writing is not all
that different and computer programs that determine
the level and rigor of writing have a high degree of
error.

Well, let's agree to disagree. Same as OP found her open house appearance underwhelming, I find the note supposedly on her behalf (fact is, we don't know) truly underwhelming.

A principal, especially at such a large school, is essentially an administrator, responsible for very complex decisions. One needs to possess great organization skills, communication skills, critical thinking and judgment -- yet, the note in question displays very little of any of this. Which is why I cannot believe it was written by her -- perhaps some too-eager aide?

Time will tell. I hope for the better, because Wilson is one of the few great schools in the city.

and had the note accomplished all of those things, she would have been accused of "wasting time" doing that instead of acting as an administrator. Why? because this forum is FULL of snarky, petty posters who are more interested in scoring petty points in an online environment than discussing problems and accomplishing solutions in any real environment.

Its fun reading, though.

It is not fun reading these comments. They are indicative of the types of entitled, racist white folks who are slowly losing control in this country. They are pathetic, scared cowards who would not have the courage to confront Principal Martin with their "concerns."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You referenced race and that seems to be your focus. Wilson, is the 2015 version of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is so sad what DC has become.

So true. They have no shame in their game and don't even notice the racism. I hope she is as strong as Carolyn Cobbs was at Ludlow Taylor.

OP here. I will soon post an update as requested by one of the PP.

Note that at the time when I wrote the original post, I was not even aware of Principal Martin's race. The night we first saw her at the Wilson open house, I recall wondering whether she was part of the highly educated Iranian or Armenian diaspora communities we have in the US, and I am friend with in DC.

My remarks on the white audience attending that night, was not in reference to Principal Martin (since, to my eyes, she did not even look African American), rather in reference to the fact that, in a school where 25% of students are white and 40% are black, almost all parents in attendance that night where white. I found that remarkable.

Glad you are still around

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's move away from race. I have a question for the original poster.

What exactly are you trying to accomplish by posting here? If you are so concerned why not set up a meeting with the principal to discuss your concerns or dig deeper to get more information?

Trying to elicit a group response against the principal on an anonymous board is hardly the way to go about things.

I wonder if the OP is really a Wilson parent. Could possibly someone connected to the previous principal, who was very bitter when he left.

OP here. At that time I was indeed a prospective Wilson parent. I am now a Wilson parent. Please believe me, had you been at that open house, you would have understood the reason why I was seeking other parents' input and views. It was disconcerting, really.

Later this week, when I'll have time, I will post an update on this conversation, regarding the "welcome" letter Principal Martin sent us before the beginning of the school year (attached to my son's schedule). Again, very disconcerting letter, to us and to all new parents I had the chance to talk to, in tone, content and phrasing. And, if that was not enough, the attached schedule was all wrong (did not even include any of the four mandatory classes!!!).

Again, bad start. First make sure schedules are ok, then invest time drafting a long and convoluted letter where your main message is that , during the current school year, the priority at Wilson will be reducing the disparities within the school, the "school within a school" clusterization, and the "unconscious racial biases within the school". "...While there's no consensus on how to deal with these issues, we will devote time and efforts withing the faculty and students/parents community to find ways to address the problem.

Does this letter, together with the PARCC results, mean that the new Wilson way is to reduce disparities by levelling all down?

So, pleeeeease, be intelligent and see through things. I am not the one who's interested in playing the racial card here (to me Ms Martin did not even look African American!!!!! ) Look elsewhere. I am definetly already looking elsewhere (at condos in zip codes 20814, 20815, Montgomery County).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's move away from race. I have a question for the original poster.

What exactly are you trying to accomplish by posting here? If you are so concerned why not set up a meeting with the principal to discuss your concerns or dig deeper to get more information?

Trying to elicit a group response against the principal on an anonymous board is hardly the way to go about things.

I wonder if the OP is really a Wilson parent. Could possibly someone connected to the previous principal, who was very bitter when he left.

OP here. At that time I was indeed a prospective Wilson parent. I am now a Wilson parent. Please believe me, had you been at that open house, you would have understood the reason why I was seeking other parents' input and views. It was disconcerting, really.

Later this week, when I'll have time, I will post an update on this conversation, regarding the "welcome" letter Principal Martin sent us before the beginning of the school year (attached to my son's schedule). Again, very disconcerting letter, to us and to all new parents I had the chance to talk to, in tone, content and phrasing. And, if that was not enough, the attached schedule was all wrong (did not even include any of the four mandatory classes!!!).

Again, bad start. First make sure schedules are ok, then invest time drafting a long and convoluted letter where your main message is that , during the current school year, the priority at Wilson will be reducing the disparities within the school, the "school within a school" clusterization, and the "unconscious racial biases within the school". "...While there's no consensus on how to deal with these issues, we will devote time and efforts withing the faculty and students/parents community to find ways to address the problem.

Does this letter, together with the PARCC results, mean that the new Wilson way is to reduce disparities by levelling all down?

So, pleeeeease, be intelligent and see through things. I am not the one who's interested in playing the racial card here (to me Ms Martin did not even look African American!!!!! ) Look elsewhere. I am definetly already looking elsewhere (at condos in zip codes 20814, 20815, Montgomery County).

Hopefully not...but data and deeds speak louder than hope. She sounds like a social justice warrior, not the lead administrator of a large and complex school.

Sorry to hear you are planning to move.