Ludlow-Taylor principal made permanent!
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Anonymous
I just heard a credible rumor that matches this post. If true, later PPs were right that she’s not firing someone, so I don’t think forcing out is a fair description… but I agree with this PP that she made a very bad decision and the very well loved description is totally accurate. There is no constituency for this decision at all, so it’s not something that will divide the community at least. It will just make people mad at her. If it’s really true that she ignored the committee (which seems likely given the decision), then it’s an especially bad call. All of that said, it’s a single decision. I think she had done an admirable job before this and I hope that the teachers don’t turn on her over this. She should really get one normal year to show what the school would be like under her leadership. |
Anonymous
This kind of hyperbolic language is at once laughable and instructive. I do not doubt there are a small number of vocal teachers, admins or even parents who care about this and scream from the hilltops. But the idea that this would "divide the community"...FFS. Some of you people have way too much free time and energy to worry about such minutia. The vast majority of parents do not give a flying **** about this level of insider nonsense. |
Anonymous
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"The vast majority of parents do not give a flying **** about this level of insider nonsense."
You will when teachers you like start turning over because they don't trust admin... Or maybe you won't. 
But what's a school if it's not the teachers? LT certainly can't be defined based on strong leadership at this point... |
Anonymous
I don't think "dividing" the community in this context is hyperbolic? I don't think PP meant, like, civil war... just people taking sides. Pitting parents against teachers, especially, is not a helpful dynamic. Nor is something that people support or oppose on race or class based lines, especially in a very diverse community like LT. A bad decision is just a bad decision sometimes. I believe that LT has largely thrived even without stable leadership, so I would be upset if new leadership caused some sort of exodus. I still see nothing that makes me think that is the case. |
Anonymous
| ^^ And to be clear, by exodus, I meant of teachers. Though of course of families would be bad too. |
Anonymous
The number of people "taking sides" on some individua teacher deciding to leave (or getting run off - cause who cares) is like 8. They all just happen to have access to DCUM and megaphones. Leaders of all sort so of businesses change. And the powers that be and not the front line workers choose their successors. Because that's the world most of us inhabit (who don't work at DCPS or for the WTU) this doesn't remotely shock us. We don't care. Or did you mean to reply to my accusation of hyperbole with concerns over a "mass exodus" ironically? In which case, well done! |
Anonymous
The post you’re replying to doesn’t say “mass” exodus and says they see nothing to suggest there would be any exodus. Straw man, much? I feel bad for you if you’re at a school where there aren’t teachers who, if pushed out, would elicit a strong reaction from families & teachers both. I’m glad my school community isn’t like that. |
Anonymous
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As an insider, we all want the best for the students, at the same time we teachers want to be respected.
Some of these teachers feel like their principals place too much emphasis on wrong things. There’s no freedom for the teachers to be creative or exercise their professional judgment, without being attack with passive-aggressive. Others simply don’t feel supported by their admins; they feel like workhorses who continually have more demands stacked on their plates without any acknowledgment or appreciation of what they do. One teacher put it this way: “I want to be a part of helping admin see that they should treat their teachers as though they are valued.” The school is losing the best teachers due to Principal Miller. |
Anonymous
We've owned a house 2 blocks from LT for 15 years (without kids for the first few). We sent our kids to Maury. LT's leadership has been a problem for the 15 years since we landed in the Stanton Park neighborhood. |
Anonymous
LT is a completely different school than it was 15 years ago. I’m glad you feel good about your choice — and I’ve always heard wonderful things about Maury — but come on, you live 2 blocks away and had a relevantly aged kid nearly a decade ago, so you feel well-positioned to talk about the school now? The school is over 60% IB now, so apparently your neighbors feel differently. |
Anonymous
This is hyperbole unless there are a bunch of teachers actually leaving who haven’t announced it yet. There was actually relatively limited turnover of class room teachers over the summer. The SPED/wellness staff was decimated and that was partly owing to the poor choice by Principal Miller previously discussed in this thread, but there was also a complete DCPS-forced shift in what self-contained classrooms were offered, so some of the movement was natural. There is a huge problem with not having enough aides, but that’s partly district/country wide and partly because LT actually promoted 3 fabulous aides to classroom teachers, which is exactly what you want a school to do even if it causes short-term chaos. Since the year started, there has only been one departure of someone who wasn’t brand new and while that one (again SPED/wellness) is a big loss, it’s not primarily because of Principal Miller. LT’s teachers are largely awesome. It was amazing to see how many went all out for the first day of Spirit Week yesterday, for example. I know there has been some friction with Principal Miller largely over issues relating to short staffing. I don’t think she’s handled them perfectly, but I think she is trying and I think she can be reasoned with; it is very hard to deal with issues like this when you have no prior long-term credibility with teachers and it’s why schools with pandemic turnover in admin are universally in a tough spot. There are some internal promotions I would love to see that could help with this. Hopefully next year. But objectively LT’s test scores were solid and even increasing (among the unicorns in DC), , it’s IB percentage crept up at a time when many established schools were losing kids, it has a very involved parent base/community (about 500 people came to movie night) with a PTO that I would guess rivals any school’s, and an incredible aftercare and clubs program (I actually don’t know if a single other school with offerings as extensive). LT will be fine and I hope its teachers stay the course and give the principal another year or two to reach an equilibrium, because I don’t think she’s going anywhere. |
Anonymous
| principal is a very difficult job. an extremely good or bad principal can make a real difference at a school. most parents nonetheless vastly overestimate the impact that the principal has on their child's day-to-day school and learning experience. |
Anonymous
and the fact that PP could just "send" his/her kids to Maury tells you everything you need to know about how much schools have changed since then... |
Anonymous
I'm thinking that you and the person who lives across the street from Stuart-Hobson must be friends . . . . . |
Anonymous
No, LT isn't completely different. I wish it was. Families on our block still bail from LT to Maury, Brent or SWS if they get winning lottery numbers. A couple of the old school LT first grade teachers punishing classes collectively after a few kids fail to line up nicely on the playground are still there. We hear these complaints from neighbors on a regular basis. Translation: "No recess for you today, 6 year olds. You'll spend recess with your head down resting on your arms folded on your desk." Admins do nothing when parents complain. |