DC Schools & Their Horrible Leaders

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact is DCPS does not require an admin degree/training. And administrators that are worth their salt won't touch DCPS.

Yes! One horrible 'leader' I could write a book on does not have a degree in leadership.

I think some who are worth their salt go in with the hopes of making a difference. Once they see the reality, they leave. Likely what happened to the 100 new teachers.

[Anonymous]

Really? Tell that to Liz Whisnant at Mann or David Landeryou at Key or Janeece Docal at Powell or maybe James Albright at Deal, you dumbass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The principal of my school is pretty damn awesome. Maybe not from the perspective of a teacher that isn't performing well...

Typical DC response: It must be the teacher's fault. Nooooo way could a leader just suck, huh?

Believe it or not, even well-performing teachers who are adored by admin can see how terrible the leader is in many cases.

By the way, which school are you at? Shout out your awesome leader! I'm sure he or she won't mind. And I'm certain it's not ALL leaders. But the type of mean-spirited, bullying, incompetence I've seen in the leadership in DC has not been seen anywhere else. So I can't help but wonder what makes DC a place for these terrible people to thrive when we all know they wouldn't survive anywhere else.

So, which schools have awesome leaders? I'd love to know they exist because what I've seen and heard of is scary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really? Tell that to Liz Whisnant at Mann or David Landeryou at Key or Janeece Docal at Powell or maybe James Albright at Deal, you dumbass.

Boy, you sound smart....NOT!!!!

Are you saying these are good leaders? Great! I'm glad to hear they're not all dysfunctional. In fact, I'm quite sure they all aren't. But the ones who are make me wonder how and why they're able to exist for as long as they do as morale lowers, turn over increases, and scores suck.

PS: Are the people you listed white? In all honesty, I wonder how much race plays a part in some of this. Hmmmmm....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, the two instances you just mentioned are related to charter schools. DCPS has approx. 3,500 teachers so if 100 left before October that is a pretty small % and while it is regrettable, it is possibly because the reality of being an urban teacher is VERY difficult and NOT for everyone. Now, with that said, I'd love, love, love to know what the f*ck you're talking about regarding DCPS' "terrible leaders". Care to share a situation you're referring to? This is also known as "put up or shut up".

Yes, those are examples of charter schools--part of the city of DC. But I used those examples because they're documented--both were news stories. No question about whether or not they're true. While the true stories I can share from inside DCPS would make some wonder if I'm making things up.

Many of the teachers who continue to leave DC come from urban ed. And no other urban school system has the issues with teacher retention and the like that DC has.

SO instead of making excuses, why won't DC be real about the fact that they have very real problems that need to be addressed???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal of my school is pretty damn awesome. Maybe not from the perspective of a teacher that isn't performing well...

Typical DC response: It must be the teacher's fault. Nooooo way could a leader just suck, huh?

Believe it or not, even well-performing teachers who are adored by admin can see how terrible the leader is in many cases.

By the way, which school are you at? Shout out your awesome leader! I'm sure he or she won't mind. And I'm certain it's not ALL leaders. But the type of mean-spirited, bullying, incompetence I've seen in the leadership in DC has not been seen anywhere else. So I can't help but wonder what makes DC a place for these terrible people to thrive when we all know they wouldn't survive anywhere else.

So, which schools have awesome leaders? I'd love to know they exist because what I've seen and heard of is scary.

You're right, they were all white. Some of our very highly regarded DCPS principals of color could include Atasha James at Leckie, Andria Caruthers at West, Abdullah Zaki at Kelly Miller (the 2014 principal of the year), Maria Tukeva at CHEC. DCPS principals and teachers are of an excellent quality. I'm sorry if you feel otherwise. All of them are doing a great job given the very difficult realities of their day-to-day work life.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, the DC government in general seems to attract a lot of morons. It doesn't surprise me that the schools are any different.

[Anonymous]

OP,

What is your agenda? Or where do you fit in this equation? A concerned parent? A member of Central Admin? A reporter? I get that you are confused and interested in insight but other than giving examples of what you have deemed "horrible leaders," I just don't understand where you are coming from.

I followed the Howard Middle School story in the beginning and as an observer it came across as a bunch of parents in collusion with a group of teachers that didn't like being told what to do.

Maybe your perspective is wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact that the 100 teachers came into DC from other places and left before October tells you many of the practices you see in these schools are not normal and would not fly elsewhere. Most returned to their former schools in other districts.

Yes and probably for less money. DCPS starting salary for a new teacher with a bachelor's degree is more than $50K, maybe they didn't want to work for it when they realized what is expected of them.

http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Career+Opportunities/Teach+in+Our+Schools/Compensation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP,

What is your agenda? Or where do you fit in this equation? A concerned parent? A member of Central Admin? A reporter? I get that you are confused and interested in insight but other than giving examples of what you have deemed "horrible leaders," I just don't understand where you are coming from.

I followed the Howard Middle School story in the beginning and as an observer it came across as a bunch of parents in collusion with a group of teachers that didn't like being told what to do.

Maybe your perspective is wrong.

+1

OP, if you have these horrible stories, please tell us how you are getting them. You obviously have your own agenda and without further information about you, it is difficult to give your claims any weight.

And nice try throwing the race card, BTW. You lost me a bit there.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]OP,

What is your agenda? Or where do you fit in this equation? A concerned parent? A member of Central Admin? A reporter? I get that you are confused and interested in insight but other than giving examples of what you have deemed "horrible leaders," I just don't understand where you are coming from.

I followed the Howard Middle School story in the beginning and as an observer it came across as a bunch of parents in collusion with a group of teachers that didn't like being told what to do.

Maybe your perspective is wrong.[/quote]

Whatever the issues were with the teachers , they were leaving! A decent person would've left it at that. A leader who was losing a bunch of insubordinate malcontents may have thrown a party. Pushing the issue by FIRING teachers who'd submitted resignations? And doing so in such demeaning fashion was unprofessional, wrong and the fact that you see no problem with that tactic is an example of the types of leadership issues unique to DC.

And when have you ever known PARENTS to side with teachers who are wrong and not doing right by their children?

Some of you will spin anything to be a teacher's fault.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]OP,

What is your agenda? Or where do you fit in this equation? A concerned parent? A member of Central Admin? A reporter? I get that you are confused and interested in insight but other than giving examples of what you have deemed "horrible leaders," I just don't understand where you are coming from.

I followed the Howard Middle School story in the beginning and as an observer it came across as a bunch of parents in collusion with a group of teachers that didn't like being told what to do.

Maybe your perspective is wrong.[/quote]

Whatever the issues were with the teachers , they were leaving! A decent person would've left it at that. A leader who was losing a bunch of insubordinate malcontents may have thrown a party. Pushing the issue by FIRING teachers who'd submitted resignations? And doing so in such demeaning fashion was unprofessional, wrong and the fact that you see no problem with that tactic is an example of the types of leadership issues unique to DC.

And when have you ever known PARENTS to side with teachers who are wrong and not doing right by their children?

Some of you will spin anything to be a teacher's fault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the DC government in general seems to attract a lot of morons. It doesn't surprise me that the schools are any different.

It is still suffering the legacy of successive Barry administrations. Do not underestimate the profound damage that man wrought on our Capitol city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the DC government in general seems to attract a lot of morons. It doesn't surprise me that the schools are any different.

It is still suffering the legacy of successive Barry administrations. Do not underestimate the profound damage that man wrought on our Capitol city.

The hangover of the Barry years is a bit like the legacy of Communism is some of the Eastern European democracies. It may still take another generation to flush the hacks and apparachiks out of the system completely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal of my school is pretty damn awesome. Maybe not from the perspective of a teacher that isn't performing well...

Typical DC response: It must be the teacher's fault. Nooooo way could a leader just suck, huh?

Believe it or not, even well-performing teachers who are adored by admin can see how terrible the leader is in many cases.

By the way, which school are you at? Shout out your awesome leader! I'm sure he or she won't mind. And I'm certain it's not ALL leaders. But the type of mean-spirited, bullying, incompetence I've seen in the leadership in DC has not been seen anywhere else. So I can't help but wonder what makes DC a place for these terrible people to thrive when we all know they wouldn't survive anywhere else.

So, which schools have awesome leaders? I'd love to know they exist because what I've seen and heard of is scary.

Well, I was speaking about a hypothetical situation where I could see someone not liking our principal. Not sure why you jump to conclusions like that other than a giant chip on your shoulder.
A different poster listed a handful of principals, which happened to include the principal of my kids school.

You might love to know they exist, but the big chip on your shoulder is probably getting in the way. Not every situation is black and white. Just because some administrators suck (and some teachers suck) doesn't mean that they all do.