DCPS Deputy Chancellor Resigns

[Anonymous]

Who cares? Let the lady resign in peace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares? Let the lady resign in peace.

Haha peace and Melissa Kim in the same sentence. She was a toxic leader at Deal. Teachers left solely because she was punitive, overbearing and mean. She did not treat her teachers like professionals. I was not surprised in the slightest to hear these issues with bullying at central office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is my favorite line from the article, "Jacquelyn Davis, Kim’s colleague of more than 20 years, decried the allegations against Kim as ridiculous and untruthful." (my emphasis added).

Who ever the heck Ms. Davis is has disqualified herself from ever holding a position of leadership anywhere, ever. She didn't say "I have never seen such behavior." She didn't say, "That is completely out of character for what I know of Ms. Kim." She straight up called people who said they felt intimidated and mistreated liars and ridiculous.

That's how a toxic leader is allowed to remain at an organization. People from on high protect her and diminish those who would dare question her.

Please, if you have factual knowledge about Kim, let’s hear it. It makes no sense that you’d pick out one comment in the article (by a person who is non-anonymous) to claim is incorrect, meanwhile apparently giving all credence to those who remain unnamed but claim Kim was bad.

Sounds like Kim got railroaded by people who are dead set on keeping DCPS a failure.

You seem not so bright. Guessing you are in DCPS leadership?

You lead with some weirdness about "factual knowledge about Kim". Setting aside that "factual knowledge" isn't a thing, you fundamentally misunderstand how workplace misconduct investigations work. On rare occasion there's an email or smoking gun recording, but usually it is testimony from others who witnessed or experienced the behaviors. The issue I took with Ms. Davis is that she didn't say anything about her own experience, she instead called others liars and demonized them. She cannot know what they experienced. That kind of response is unacceptable. That she is the kind of "leader" who supports Ms. Kim does not speak well for Ms. Kim.

Ms. Kim may have gotten railroaded. She may be a victim of DCPS dead weight not wanting to be held to account. Personally, I think DCPS Central is the biggest waste of money in all of DC. But when people like you and Ms. Davis respond this way you undermine your own argument and make people like me who are otherwise inclined to consider whether she's a victim of an entrenched lazy DCPS culture instead think, "Well, the people who support Ms. Kim are abusive a-holes so maybe that's indicative of the kind of leader she was."

TL; DR Stop trying to help - you are making it worse.

You think it’s weird that her ally gave a full-throated defense in an article full of otherwise totally anonymous accusations? And you draw all these inferences from that? OK.

Now I KNOW you must work in DCPS Central.

Setting aside that you don't seem to know what an inference is, the issue is not "a defense". As defense would have taken the form of "I have never known her to behave this way" or, with respect to allegations made regarding a specific meeting or moment in time, "I was present and that is not what I observed." That's not what her defender did. Her defender called the accusers liars (something that she cannot know since she wasn't present and since she is not a subordinate of Ms. Kim so she is not similarly situated).

It is also amusing that you seem to take issue with the anonymous nature of the allegations when what is alleged is systemic and longstanding behaviors of bullying and retaliation of anyone who dares question her.

You obviously support Ms. Kim. You seem emotionally invested in her. That is blinding you.

I’m just a parent and have no opinion on Kim. But I can sense an online smear campaign when I see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who cares? Let the lady resign in peace.

Haha peace and Melissa Kim in the same sentence. She was a toxic leader at Deal. Teachers left solely because she was punitive, overbearing and mean. She did not treat her teachers like professionals. I was not surprised in the slightest to hear these issues with bullying at central office.

Didn’t she oversee the complete turnaround and neighborhood buy-in to Deal? Seems like she did something right …

[Anonymous]

It sounds like DCPS Central Office is a horrible place all around. Kim doesn’t sound like colleague of the Year, nor do her subordinates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like DCPS Central Office is a horrible place all around. Kim doesn’t sound like colleague of the Year, nor do her subordinates.

It is pretty bad. I left after 2 years and am so much happier.
Very few effective people stay there long term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who cares? Let the lady resign in peace.

Haha peace and Melissa Kim in the same sentence. She was a toxic leader at Deal. Teachers left solely because she was punitive, overbearing and mean. She did not treat her teachers like professionals. I was not surprised in the slightest to hear these issues with bullying at central office.

Didn’t she oversee the complete turnaround and neighborhood buy-in to Deal? Seems like she did something right …

Parents certainly seemed happy with her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who cares? Let the lady resign in peace.

Haha peace and Melissa Kim in the same sentence. She was a toxic leader at Deal. Teachers left solely because she was punitive, overbearing and mean. She did not treat her teachers like professionals. I was not surprised in the slightest to hear these issues with bullying at central office.

Didn’t she oversee the complete turnaround and neighborhood buy-in to Deal? Seems like she did something right …

Parents certainly seemed happy with her.

That’s only one constituency. If you’re going to be effective, you can’t be toxic and treat your subordinates horribly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who cares? Let the lady resign in peace.

Haha peace and Melissa Kim in the same sentence. She was a toxic leader at Deal. Teachers left solely because she was punitive, overbearing and mean. She did not treat her teachers like professionals. I was not surprised in the slightest to hear these issues with bullying at central office.

Didn’t she oversee the complete turnaround and neighborhood buy-in to Deal? Seems like she did something right …

Parents certainly seemed happy with her.

That’s only one constituency. If you’re going to be effective, you can’t be toxic and treat your subordinates horribly.

She turned the school around - check DCUM for posts about when she left. Maybe to you what was needed discipline seemed "toxic."

[Anonymous]

From my recollection, going back about 15 years, when my kids were infants, people like Michelle Rhee and Kim were really really hated by some. But they made DCPS into a place where I would be willing to send my kids. My spouse and I assumed we would have to move to the burbs by the time our kids got to school age but it turns out that we've been able to stay in DC, relatively happy with the schools. So I really don't care about much else. I've had plenty of people in my workplace that are mean too. But they got the job done. Deal with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From my recollection, going back about 15 years, when my kids were infants, people like Michelle Rhee and Kim were really really hated by some. But they made DCPS into a place where I would be willing to send my kids. My spouse and I assumed we would have to move to the burbs by the time our kids got to school age but it turns out that we've been able to stay in DC, relatively happy with the schools. So I really don't care about much else. I've had plenty of people in my workplace that are mean too. But they got the job done. Deal with it.

Parents on this board are happy with a handful of elementary schools for 3-5 grades, two middle schools and three HSs. They didn’t make DCPS as a whole a place where UMC families would send their kids. You lived in boundary or lotteried into one of these few HSs.

[Anonymous]

She seems like a terrible person. Good luck to her future colleagues. Next…

[Anonymous]

It has been an open secret for years that Melissa Kim is a bully and she has created a toxic work environment in the central office and in her interactions with schools. And no, this isn’t the case of a leader with high standards dealing with others who don’t want to be held accountable. She isn’t willing to listen to feedback from others, vacillates between ignoring people and then trying to micromanage, and she has a vindictive streak to people that stand up to her. Talented people are leaving in droves because of her and the people she has put in place during her tenure who are similarly toxic and dismissive of the expertise of anyone except those in her inner circle. It’s good that she’s leaving and we should hope others depart as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From my recollection, going back about 15 years, when my kids were infants, people like Michelle Rhee and Kim were really really hated by some. But they made DCPS into a place where I would be willing to send my kids. My spouse and I assumed we would have to move to the burbs by the time our kids got to school age but it turns out that we've been able to stay in DC, relatively happy with the schools. So I really don't care about much else. I've had plenty of people in my workplace that are mean too. But they got the job done. Deal with it.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my recollection, going back about 15 years, when my kids were infants, people like Michelle Rhee and Kim were really really hated by some. But they made DCPS into a place where I would be willing to send my kids. My spouse and I assumed we would have to move to the burbs by the time our kids got to school age but it turns out that we've been able to stay in DC, relatively happy with the schools. So I really don't care about much else. I've had plenty of people in my workplace that are mean too. But they got the job done. Deal with it.

+1

Funny. DC schools are not that great to praise those two for anything.