Lafayette- the good, the great, the bad, the ugly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The parent, student and teacher communities at Lafayette are wonderful. The teachers are top notch and the parents are welcoming, warm and passionate in all the right ways. It's a close knit community and that makes it really special.

There is a new principal this year - Katie Prall - and she is not well suited for the job nor does she seem to be driven by what is in the best interests of the students. That opinion is shared widely by parents and teachers. Many concerns have been raised for DCPS. She is a sub-par communicator - she doesn't provide transparency in her decision making and it's clear she has come in with that attitude that she will rule with an iron fist. Her primary constituent seems to be the DCPS administration not the children nor teachers. The teachers have had a terrible time with her - being emotionally abusive and disrespectful. It may sound like these concerns as coming from overbearing and entitled parents and teachers but they are coming from a legitimate place of concern and we are already hearing of teachers applying to other schools because of her (lack) of leadership.

This is such a shame because Lafayette is a wonderful school and community. I am hopeful we will see some change.

Excellent unhinged parent post and exactly what I was hoping for when I popped that popcorn.

[Anonymous]

Brava!

🍿🍿🍿

[Anonymous]

Say all you want about the parent community, who cares, the new Lafayette principal, Prall, has made a series of fear based judgment calls that have hurt kids (no recess for over a month??) that clearly show she just was way too green for this job. Now making decisions without telling people what she’s doing and then refusing to take meetings to explain. Clearly in over her head. Luckily it’s a strong teaching staff and it takes more than that to screw up a strong community but here’s hoping they fix it before real damage can be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Say all you want about the parent community, who cares, the new Lafayette principal, Prall, has made a series of fear based judgment calls that have hurt kids (no recess for over a month??) that clearly show she just was way too green for this job. Now making decisions without telling people what she’s doing and then refusing to take meetings to explain. Clearly in over her head. Luckily it’s a strong teaching staff and it takes more than that to screw up a strong community but here’s hoping they fix it before real damage can be done.

I love it when Lafayette parents come here and prove everyone right about them. They're completely unhinged.

[Anonymous]

The new principal has openly told families that she wants to run for political office. So go figure on what her actual priorities are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new principal has openly told families that she wants to run for political office. So go figure on what her actual priorities are.

The audacity! She should focus her sole attention on your little Lafayette snowflake!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new principal has openly told families that she wants to run for political office. So go figure on what her actual priorities are.

The audacity! She should focus her sole attention on your little Lafayette snowflake!

…she should focus on running the school??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new principal has openly told families that she wants to run for political office. So go figure on what her actual priorities are.

The audacity! She should focus her sole attention on your little Lafayette snowflake!

…she should focus on running the school??

So no one is allowed to mention their future plans? In the future I want to retire and live on a beach and will tell anyone who will listen, but at the moment I am still doing my job. You can be great at your job and have future plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new principal has openly told families that she wants to run for political office. So go figure on what her actual priorities are.

The audacity! She should focus her sole attention on your little Lafayette snowflake!

…she should focus on running the school??

So no one is allowed to mention their future plans? In the future I want to retire and live on a beach and will tell anyone who will listen, but at the moment I am still doing my job. You can be great at your job and have future plans.

You can mention your plans, it’s just not a particularly good idea to mention a plan that has about as much a grasp on reality as the kids she’s supposed to be keeping an eye on. My kid wants to be Michael Jordan. That’s cute for a kid! She wants to be a politician! That’s uh, that’s delusional in an adult

[Anonymous]

It would be like a brand new CEO telling shareholders that he’s got his eye on the next one! It is insane!

[Anonymous]

I used to come on here and say #notalllafayetteparents, but this is ridiculous. You sound unhinged. I’m embarrassed to be part of the community right now.

[Anonymous]

DCPS is going to need to cut money from the budget due to the CR.

If I had the option, I would stay away because there will be disruption that will impact kids learning.

[Anonymous]

Can someone provide a list of positives and negatives about Lafayette, please? We are a potential new family to the school. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone provide a list of positives and negatives about Lafayette, please? We are a potential new family to the school. Thanks!

It's DCPS. It's much better than most, but it's DCPS. My kids got through Lafayette in one piece and fairly educated and I promptly moved them to private. And, we were OOB. It's true the parents are very obnoxious in so many ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone provide a list of positives and negatives about Lafayette, please? We are a potential new family to the school. Thanks!

Pros: high-performing cohort, nice kids (in our experience), solid teachers, fantastic art program, really good with social emotional stuff (have a whole special devoted to it), seems to have good neighborhood vibe/buy-in (we are oob so feel a little left out).

Cons: very little diversity (both racial and socioeconomic), big classes, academics seem kind of meh (maybe more of a DCPS problem), aftercare is terrible, like really really bad, parents can be annoying (not as bad as this thread seems but worse with new principal). I’ve also heard special ed has challenges, but haven’t dealt with that aspect.

Neutral: very big school. I think it helps in terms of kid friendships, but can feel daunting and limit community building/participation in after hours things. (For example, not enough space to accommodate everyone wanting to see school musical).

TLDR: good, not great DCPS in a rich white neighborhood. If you live in boundary and have a typical kid, I think you’ll probably like it.