DCPS Central Office Cuts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

Re racism, certainly no one should ever criticize CO or its employees because if they have any complaints, they are, by definition, racist. Keep telling yourself that.

Public school is NOT a choice; it's an entitlement to which ALL children from all families are entitled. The public school system is a public service, paid for by taxpayers and run by an elected official. As citizens, we *should* assess whether it is working well or not, and we *should* speak up when our tax dollars are not being used well.

Please share the data about how much DCPS is improving.

Also, "some other city is worse" is not exactly a persuasive argument of quality.

[Anonymous]

Wow, some of these non-teacher comments are gross.
You have no idea what working in a DCPS school can be like. It can be toxic and soul-crushing. More standardized testing is not helping any kids but especially low SES students or ones who are neurodivergent.

The teacher evaluation system here failed in several other states, the creator of it admitted it wasn’t for long term. There was a 3rd party evaluation of the eval system by American University that shows it is bias and racist.

The answer is not ‘resign then,’ ok anytime something gets bad you are the type to lay on your back, not all of us are.
The answer is not ‘well other districts are worse,’ ok when something inappropriate happens the school’s answer should be ‘well worse things have happened.’

And last shut all the way up with ‘can’t stand to see Black leadership’ I am Black and having Black leadership does not mean it will be perfect or immune to corruption.

It’s gross to hide behind fake moral outrage.

If you are a teacher at a non-title 1 school sit down. You do not experience the same things.

Central office overall is not helpful, they are slow to respond, give incorrect information or none at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

[Anonymous]

I’m not saying it’s all about race, but I AM saying that it’s not about about race at all. There’s a definite sense of entitlement in the zip codes of Upper Caucasia and a disrespect that many residents there have for the folks working “downtown.”

[Anonymous]

The disrespect is for people downtown who are not working. Should they get a pass because they are black?

[Anonymous]

I am hoping that the recent posts across multiple threads declaring everyone critical of incompetence (e.g., DCPS CO, Miner) racist are all one troll. Ascribing racist motives to folks pointing out real problems -- including, in both threads, to non-white folks -- prevents any real discussion, perhaps intentionally.

[Anonymous]

I still have yet to read in this thread what exactly central employees are doing that is so wrong. There are accusations that they “don’t work”. What is the evidence for that? One person is upset that ONE instructional superintendent requires objectives to be written and wants teachers on pace.

Is that all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not saying it’s all about race, but I AM saying that it’s not about about race at all. There’s a definite sense of entitlement in the zip codes of Upper Caucasia and a disrespect that many residents there have for the folks working “downtown.”

Framing accountability as racism is not something anyone should be pushing for, but that’s what you’re doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I still have yet to read in this thread what exactly central employees are doing that is so wrong. There are accusations that they “don’t work”. What is the evidence for that? One person is upset that ONE instructional superintendent requires objectives to be written and wants teachers on pace.

Is that all?

Did you read Page 4?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still have yet to read in this thread what exactly central employees are doing that is so wrong. There are accusations that they “don’t work”. What is the evidence for that? One person is upset that ONE instructional superintendent requires objectives to be written and wants teachers on pace.

Is that all?

Did you read Page 4?

Haha I didn’t see this comment. Do they mean the one to possible THREE superintendents being fired by DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still have yet to read in this thread what exactly central employees are doing that is so wrong. There are accusations that they “don’t work”. What is the evidence for that? One person is upset that ONE instructional superintendent requires objectives to be written and wants teachers on pace.

Is that all?

Did you read Page 4?

Haha I didn’t see this comment. Do they mean the one to possible THREE superintendents being fired by DCPS?

There are many complaints beyond superintendents! Are you just ignoring the lists?

(The superintendent for my kids' school is excellent, by the way.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still have yet to read in this thread what exactly central employees are doing that is so wrong. There are accusations that they “don’t work”. What is the evidence for that? One person is upset that ONE instructional superintendent requires objectives to be written and wants teachers on pace.

Is that all?

Did you read Page 4?

Haha I didn’t see this comment. Do they mean the one to possible THREE superintendents being fired by DCPS?

There are many complaints beyond superintendents! Are you just ignoring the lists?

(The superintendent for my kids' school is excellent, by the way.)

I meant to comment on the reply you were giving, I didn’t t realize it wouldn’t show up.

And maybe, you’ll have to see who is being fired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

Re racism, certainly no one should ever criticize CO or its employees because if they have any complaints, they are, by definition, racist. Keep telling yourself that.

Public school is NOT a choice; it's an entitlement to which ALL children from all families are entitled. The public school system is a public service, paid for by taxpayers and run by an elected official. As citizens, we *should* assess whether it is working well or not, and we *should* speak up when our tax dollars are not being used well.

Please share the data about how much DCPS is improving.

Also, "some other city is worse" is not exactly a persuasive argument of quality.

Education is an entitlement, public school IS a choice, especially when there are charters and private schools. More than that, keep in mind that public schools must meet the needs of ALL children, which means that there is no one-size-fits-all all. If you don't like the way things are going in public school, then go to a charter school or, better yet, homeschool. If you educate your child yourself, then you are in complete control of the way they are taught, how they learn, and the conditions that they are taught in. We saw how well that worked out during the pandemic, didn't we? Those children fell behind although they were home with parents who " knew what was best".