What is happening at Hearst?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, my family joined Hearst in the 2020-21 school year and liked both the principal and the AP. Not everyone was happy with the way they handled access to in-person learning after the pandemic, but I think they managed it smoothly and tried to balance various needs. I was also happy that they picked the AP to continue as the Principal. I can't speak to the volume of teachers who are leaving, but I will say that there's more diversity of opinion than represented above, and that my child has had a great experience.

I think newer families and newer teachers don’t have anything to compare it to so things seem okayish. For those of who have had kids there for quite awhile we see the dumpster rolling down the street on fire and don’t know how to get back to what we once had..which was a a magical little school to send our kids. In some ways seeing the list today feels like the last bit of hope has been sucked out.

[Anonymous]

I know for a fact that some of the teachers who gave external reasons for leaving were going to leave Hearst no matter what - unhappy with the way P made decisions and treated staff. Sorry to see them go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know for a fact that some of the teachers who gave external reasons for leaving were going to leave Hearst no matter what - unhappy with the way P made decisions and treated staff. Sorry to see them go.

We've been leaving for years bc of the exiting P. I keep a folder of her abusive emails bc it's honestly hard to describe how bad it was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, my family joined Hearst in the 2020-21 school year and liked both the principal and the AP. Not everyone was happy with the way they handled access to in-person learning after the pandemic, but I think they managed it smoothly and tried to balance various needs. I was also happy that they picked the AP to continue as the Principal. I can't speak to the volume of teachers who are leaving, but I will say that there's more diversity of opinion than represented above, and that my child has had a great experience.

I think newer families and newer teachers don’t have anything to compare it to so things seem okayish. For those of who have had kids there for quite awhile we see the dumpster rolling down the street on fire and don’t know how to get back to what we once had..which was a a magical little school to send our kids. In some ways seeing the list today feels like the last bit of hope has been sucked out.

Yes AND education in general is different post pandemic so I’m sure many schools want what once was. The outgoing principal certainly has not been supportive to teachers, but I’m hopeful the AP can make positive changes. I also think that many of the staff leaving made the decision before P made her own announcement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know for a fact that some of the teachers who gave external reasons for leaving were going to leave Hearst no matter what - unhappy with the way P made decisions and treated staff. Sorry to see them go.

We've been leaving for years bc of the exiting P. I keep a folder of her abusive emails bc it's honestly hard to describe how bad it was.

This is so sad to hear. My kids have been so happy at Hearst and have loved going to school. We had no idea there was so much going on behind the scenes.

[Anonymous]

I was at Hearst last year and left after a few weeks. Resigned from DCPS and left.
The outgoing P was just so rude and hateful. After 10+ years in the system I knew it wasn’t going to get better.
Good riddance to her

[Anonymous]

P is trying to spread the message that these teachers have all been planning for months to leave, but that simply is not true. Several made the decision in the past two weeks as soon as the new P was announced. It's just obvious damage control at this point.

[Anonymous]

Not at Hearst but being nosy. How many teachers are you all talking about?

[Anonymous]

The announcement said 8 teachers are leaving. Hearst is relatively small with about 30-35 teachers total.

[Anonymous]

I heard this morning that the list is closer to 15 counting front office staff, custodians, etc. Over 1/4 of the staff will be gone.

[Anonymous]

NP - that number does not seem all that high given that there will be a chance in leadership. There always seem to be a ot of people who resign when a long-standing principal leaves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP - that number does not seem all that high given that there will be a chance in leadership. There always seem to be a ot of people who resign when a long-standing principal leaves.

In many DCPS schools, no, this isn't abnormal turnover. In a school similar to Hearst, yes it is abnormal even given the principals long tenure. Especially given that it doesn't sound like she has this loyal following that will be heading to a new school with her. She's not even going to a new school, actually.

[Anonymous]

Email from yesterday had 10 departure announcements, plus the principal and one previous departure, so 12 total. Hearst staff total is 60-65 if you look at the directory online. I believe they have a larger than average staff because of the CES program and specialists.

All that is to say, that's less than 1/5 who are leaving, not 1/3. There is also at least one grade going down from 3 classrooms to 2, so that necessitates staff changes.

(Our family has had a very positive Hearst experience overall. 2020-21 was ... not good, but I don't know what Hearst could have done differently. It seemed that central office gave up and let the individual schools do it on their own without actually giving them many reasonable options or support.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Email from yesterday had 10 departure announcements, plus the principal and one previous departure, so 12 total. Hearst staff total is 60-65 if you look at the directory online. I believe they have a larger than average staff because of the CES program and specialists.

All that is to say, that's less than 1/5 who are leaving, not 1/3. There is also at least one grade going down from 3 classrooms to 2, so that necessitates staff changes.

(Our family has had a very positive Hearst experience overall. 2020-21 was ... not good, but I don't know what Hearst could have done differently. It seemed that central office gave up and let the individual schools do it on their own without actually giving them many reasonable options or support.)

For the sake of accuracy, of the 63 staff members listed in the online directory 19 are not returning. That is 30%, not 1/5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP - that number does not seem all that high given that there will be a chance in leadership. There always seem to be a ot of people who resign when a long-standing principal leaves.

DC parents will do/say anything to justify their real estate investment.

If over 25% of the folks left your office- you’d know things were not ok.