Shake Up at SSMA?

[Anonymous]

And how can you know if that's what the teacher is doing? Shouldn't there be some metrics on that? I mean, they have to track this progress for non-Montessori schools as well. And there is still a core curriculum requirement.

I mean, the teacher keeps records (the child's weekly plans, samples of the work they do, quizzes, etc.). They have thrice-yearly progress reports that they discuss with parents at parent-teacher conferences - what else are traditional schools doing, aside from the fact that DCPS schools have to use IMPACT or whatever that thing teachers complain about is called?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And how can you know if that's what the teacher is doing? Shouldn't there be some metrics on that? I mean, they have to track this progress for non-Montessori schools as well. And there is still a core curriculum requirement.

I mean, the teacher keeps records (the child's weekly plans, samples of the work they do, quizzes, etc.). They have thrice-yearly progress reports that they discuss with parents at parent-teacher conferences - what else are traditional schools doing, aside from the fact that DCPS schools have to use IMPACT or whatever that thing teachers complain about is called?

PARCC exams for 3-12 in every school.

SSMA administers the following assessments for Pk3-2nd grade students to track academic progress.

PK Pre-Literacy: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)

PK Math: Test of Early Mathematics Ability (TEMA)

K-2 Reading: NWEA Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)

K-2 Math: easyCBM

[Anonymous]

This is all disturbing...does anyone know the key positions that have turned over/been terminated this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In my opinion, she was less than stellar and unresponsive to a number of parents and issues. She seemed to simply be over her head. Her termination is a sign of a much larger problem at SSMA. There is a"crisis of leadership" that needs to be addressed. There were other terminations that happened during the year that were not communicated effectively. Parents bond with school officials than they are just gone. I doubt a strategic plan exists. SSMA should be very stable right now considering it's been around for 8-9 years. It is certainly not that. The next couple of weeks will go a long way in determining the future of the school.

I kind of hate hashing this out here, but can you go into the "issues" a little more if they're not too personal. I was a little blindsided by this all: we use before- and aftercare, so we're really only interacting with our kid's teachers and a couple of staff and they've all been great.

Semi-related, and not really specific to SSMA, I wish someone could convince organizations going through moments of change that cryptic emails about "improving weaknesses" and "reenforcing strengths" usually look a lot worse than just being forthright about whatever is going on. I know if someone is fired/asked to resign there are legal reasons why you don't trumpet the reasons from the rooftop, but right now who the hell knows what's going on?

The awful test scores and lack of a plan for lower and upper elementary are major issues. We had a phenomenal teacher before changing classes so we were blindsided by the "downgrade" in expectations. The pmf was a major eye opener back in November. It was awful and a pretty lackluster response. We learned a great teacher can mask a lot. One of the drawbacks of Montessori is the lack of visibility of a kid's performance. You have to consistently ask questions, monitor, and visit the class. The homework was key for us to really gauge what was going on. When that pretty much stopped after we changed classes, that was a red flag. School is supposed to get harder not easier. That was an indication of lack of curriculum development and expectations. Montessori was designed to only go to third grade so I was curious to see how it would work past that. At SSMA, it's been a very disappointing result this year. In a nutshell, they don't know what they don't know. This won't be fixed overnight. So plan accordingly......

Huh? There is no homework in Montessori. And Montessori was always designed through upper el, that is, age 12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In my opinion, she was less than stellar and unresponsive to a number of parents and issues. She seemed to simply be over her head. Her termination is a sign of a much larger problem at SSMA. There is a"crisis of leadership" that needs to be addressed. There were other terminations that happened during the year that were not communicated effectively. Parents bond with school officials than they are just gone. I doubt a strategic plan exists. SSMA should be very stable right now considering it's been around for 8-9 years. It is certainly not that. The next couple of weeks will go a long way in determining the future of the school.

I kind of hate hashing this out here, but can you go into the "issues" a little more if they're not too personal. I was a little blindsided by this all: we use before- and aftercare, so we're really only interacting with our kid's teachers and a couple of staff and they've all been great.

Semi-related, and not really specific to SSMA, I wish someone could convince organizations going through moments of change that cryptic emails about "improving weaknesses" and "reenforcing strengths" usually look a lot worse than just being forthright about whatever is going on. I know if someone is fired/asked to resign there are legal reasons why you don't trumpet the reasons from the rooftop, but right now who the hell knows what's going on?

The awful test scores and lack of a plan for lower and upper elementary are major issues. We had a phenomenal teacher before changing classes so we were blindsided by the "downgrade" in expectations. The pmf was a major eye opener back in November. It was awful and a pretty lackluster response. We learned a great teacher can mask a lot. One of the drawbacks of Montessori is the lack of visibility of a kid's performance. You have to consistently ask questions, monitor, and visit the class. The homework was key for us to really gauge what was going on. When that pretty much stopped after we changed classes, that was a red flag. School is supposed to get harder not easier. That was an indication of lack of curriculum development and expectations. Montessori was designed to only go to third grade so I was curious to see how it would work past that. At SSMA, it's been a very disappointing result this year. In a nutshell, they don't know what they don't know. This won't be fixed overnight. So plan accordingly......

Huh? There is no homework in Montessori. And Montessori was always designed through upper el, that is, age 12.

SSMA is not a pure Montessori thus the AMS certification. It allows for more flexibility in the classroom, i.e. computers, homework, etc. Very few schools actually go to age 12 that I'm aware off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In my opinion, she was less than stellar and unresponsive to a number of parents and issues. She seemed to simply be over her head. Her termination is a sign of a much larger problem at SSMA. There is a"crisis of leadership" that needs to be addressed. There were other terminations that happened during the year that were not communicated effectively. Parents bond with school officials than they are just gone. I doubt a strategic plan exists. SSMA should be very stable right now considering it's been around for 8-9 years. It is certainly not that. The next couple of weeks will go a long way in determining the future of the school.

I kind of hate hashing this out here, but can you go into the "issues" a little more if they're not too personal. I was a little blindsided by this all: we use before- and aftercare, so we're really only interacting with our kid's teachers and a couple of staff and they've all been great.

Semi-related, and not really specific to SSMA, I wish someone could convince organizations going through moments of change that cryptic emails about "improving weaknesses" and "reenforcing strengths" usually look a lot worse than just being forthright about whatever is going on. I know if someone is fired/asked to resign there are legal reasons why you don't trumpet the reasons from the rooftop, but right now who the hell knows what's going on?

The awful test scores and lack of a plan for lower and upper elementary are major issues. We had a phenomenal teacher before changing classes so we were blindsided by the "downgrade" in expectations. The pmf was a major eye opener back in November. It was awful and a pretty lackluster response. We learned a great teacher can mask a lot. One of the drawbacks of Montessori is the lack of visibility of a kid's performance. You have to consistently ask questions, monitor, and visit the class. The homework was key for us to really gauge what was going on. When that pretty much stopped after we changed classes, that was a red flag. School is supposed to get harder not easier. That was an indication of lack of curriculum development and expectations. Montessori was designed to only go to third grade so I was curious to see how it would work past that. At SSMA, it's been a very disappointing result this year. In a nutshell, they don't know what they don't know. This won't be fixed overnight. So plan accordingly......

Huh? There is no homework in Montessori. And Montessori was always designed through upper el, that is, age 12.

SSMA is not a pure Montessori thus the AMS certification. It allows for more flexibility in the classroom, i.e. computers, homework, etc. Very few schools actually go to age 12 that I'm aware off.

What are you talking about? Plenty of schools go through upper el. Few go though middle or high school but there are plenty that go through sixth grade. All over the country.

[Anonymous]

CHML, Lee, CFMS, Aidan, Oneness Family all go through upper el.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In my opinion, she was less than stellar and unresponsive to a number of parents and issues. She seemed to simply be over her head. Her termination is a sign of a much larger problem at SSMA. There is a"crisis of leadership" that needs to be addressed. There were other terminations that happened during the year that were not communicated effectively. Parents bond with school officials than they are just gone. I doubt a strategic plan exists. SSMA should be very stable right now considering it's been around for 8-9 years. It is certainly not that. The next couple of weeks will go a long way in determining the future of the school.

I kind of hate hashing this out here, but can you go into the "issues" a little more if they're not too personal. I was a little blindsided by this all: we use before- and aftercare, so we're really only interacting with our kid's teachers and a couple of staff and they've all been great.

Semi-related, and not really specific to SSMA, I wish someone could convince organizations going through moments of change that cryptic emails about "improving weaknesses" and "reenforcing strengths" usually look a lot worse than just being forthright about whatever is going on. I know if someone is fired/asked to resign there are legal reasons why you don't trumpet the reasons from the rooftop, but right now who the hell knows what's going on?

The awful test scores and lack of a plan for lower and upper elementary are major issues. We had a phenomenal teacher before changing classes so we were blindsided by the "downgrade" in expectations. The pmf was a major eye opener back in November. It was awful and a pretty lackluster response. We learned a great teacher can mask a lot. One of the drawbacks of Montessori is the lack of visibility of a kid's performance. You have to consistently ask questions, monitor, and visit the class. The homework was key for us to really gauge what was going on. When that pretty much stopped after we changed classes, that was a red flag. School is supposed to get harder not easier. That was an indication of lack of curriculum development and expectations. Montessori was designed to only go to third grade so I was curious to see how it would work past that. At SSMA, it's been a very disappointing result this year. In a nutshell, they don't know what they don't know. This won't be fixed overnight. So plan accordingly......

Huh? There is no homework in Montessori. And Montessori was always designed through upper el, that is, age 12.

SSMA is not a pure Montessori thus the AMS certification. It allows for more flexibility in the classroom, i.e. computers, homework, etc. Very few schools actually go to age 12 that I'm aware off.

What are you talking about? Plenty of schools go through upper el. Few go though middle or high school but there are plenty that go through sixth grade. All over the country.

Clarification..Public or Charter Montessori in DC that do it well? SSMA, Lee, Breakthrough, CHML, etc.--No or TBD. Some of the privates are ok from what I hear but nothing great. Of course a lot go to sixth grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In my opinion, she was less than stellar and unresponsive to a number of parents and issues. She seemed to simply be over her head. Her termination is a sign of a much larger problem at SSMA. There is a"crisis of leadership" that needs to be addressed. There were other terminations that happened during the year that were not communicated effectively. Parents bond with school officials than they are just gone. I doubt a strategic plan exists. SSMA should be very stable right now considering it's been around for 8-9 years. It is certainly not that. The next couple of weeks will go a long way in determining the future of the school.

I kind of hate hashing this out here, but can you go into the "issues" a little more if they're not too personal. I was a little blindsided by this all: we use before- and aftercare, so we're really only interacting with our kid's teachers and a couple of staff and they've all been great.

Semi-related, and not really specific to SSMA, I wish someone could convince organizations going through moments of change that cryptic emails about "improving weaknesses" and "reenforcing strengths" usually look a lot worse than just being forthright about whatever is going on. I know if someone is fired/asked to resign there are legal reasons why you don't trumpet the reasons from the rooftop, but right now who the hell knows what's going on?

The awful test scores and lack of a plan for lower and upper elementary are major issues. We had a phenomenal teacher before changing classes so we were blindsided by the "downgrade" in expectations. The pmf was a major eye opener back in November. It was awful and a pretty lackluster response. We learned a great teacher can mask a lot. One of the drawbacks of Montessori is the lack of visibility of a kid's performance. You have to consistently ask questions, monitor, and visit the class. The homework was key for us to really gauge what was going on. When that pretty much stopped after we changed classes, that was a red flag. School is supposed to get harder not easier. That was an indication of lack of curriculum development and expectations. Montessori was designed to only go to third grade so I was curious to see how it would work past that. At SSMA, it's been a very disappointing result this year. In a nutshell, they don't know what they don't know. This won't be fixed overnight. So plan accordingly......

Huh? There is no homework in Montessori. And Montessori was always designed through upper el, that is, age 12.

SSMA is not a pure Montessori thus the AMS certification. It allows for more flexibility in the classroom, i.e. computers, homework, etc. Very few schools actually go to age 12 that I'm aware off.

What are you talking about? Plenty of schools go through upper el. Few go though middle or high school but there are plenty that go through sixth grade. All over the country.

Clarification..Public or Charter Montessori in DC that do it well? SSMA, Lee, Breakthrough, CHML, etc.--No or TBD. Some of the privates are ok from what I hear but nothing great. Of course a lot go to sixth grade.

Lee Parent here, and from what I can gather and observe, our upper el community is humming along well. Great kids who have added so much to our community.

[enh124]

SSMA is still very much a school in transition. The Principal doesn't leave five weeks before the end of the year unless something very dysfunctional is happening behind the scenes.

[Anonymous]

Here's what's happening at SSMA. The ED is a control freak who starting in the Fall of 2017 instituted a draconian time card system for all employees, drastically reduced autonomy for her direct reports and created an environment of intimidation and fear among the staff.

She has fired a number of staff members, some for minor incidents, as a show of force to intimidate the remaining staff. I don't expect good teachers to remain n that climate.

I have no idea why the sudden change. But staff morale has suffered. And with the firing of the Principal, it is is really, really bad. Most of the teachers liked the Principal. They had petitioned to get rid of the previous one. And so they saw a real positive change at SSMA with the new one. She was really hands-on, friendly and quick to respond. All of that changed with the new controlling system.

As for the ED, she really lacks interpersonal skills, knows almost none of the students, hardly goes into classrooms, goes to almost no school functions but has virtually no oversight from the board. As the saying goes, a fish rots from the head down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is all disturbing...does anyone know the key positions that have turned over/been terminated this year?

Director of Operations, School Psychologist are two that just went poof. The people were there one day and gone the next. I'm sure there are more. But with the Principal, that's 3 of the top 4 people in one year. FYI, this ED has now run through 3 different principals in 4 years. See this 2015 thread here:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/447703.page#6428730

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In my opinion, she was less than stellar and unresponsive to a number of parents and issues. She seemed to simply be over her head. Her termination is a sign of a much larger problem at SSMA. There is a"crisis of leadership" that needs to be addressed. There were other terminations that happened during the year that were not communicated effectively. Parents bond with school officials than they are just gone. I doubt a strategic plan exists. SSMA should be very stable right now considering it's been around for 8-9 years. It is certainly not that. The next couple of weeks will go a long way in determining the future of the school.

I kind of hate hashing this out here, but can you go into the "issues" a little more if they're not too personal. I was a little blindsided by this all: we use before- and aftercare, so we're really only interacting with our kid's teachers and a couple of staff and they've all been great.

Semi-related, and not really specific to SSMA, I wish someone could convince organizations going through moments of change that cryptic emails about "improving weaknesses" and "reenforcing strengths" usually look a lot worse than just being forthright about whatever is going on. I know if someone is fired/asked to resign there are legal reasons why you don't trumpet the reasons from the rooftop, but right now who the hell knows what's going on?

The awful test scores and lack of a plan for lower and upper elementary are major issues. We had a phenomenal teacher before changing classes so we were blindsided by the "downgrade" in expectations. The pmf was a major eye opener back in November. It was awful and a pretty lackluster response. We learned a great teacher can mask a lot. One of the drawbacks of Montessori is the lack of visibility of a kid's performance. You have to consistently ask questions, monitor, and visit the class. The homework was key for us to really gauge what was going on. When that pretty much stopped after we changed classes, that was a red flag. School is supposed to get harder not easier. That was an indication of lack of curriculum development and expectations. Montessori was designed to only go to third grade so I was curious to see how it would work past that. At SSMA, it's been a very disappointing result this year. In a nutshell, they don't know what they don't know. This won't be fixed overnight. So plan accordingly......

Huh? There is no homework in Montessori. And Montessori was always designed through upper el, that is, age 12.

SSMA is not a pure Montessori thus the AMS certification. It allows for more flexibility in the classroom, i.e. computers, homework, etc. Very few schools actually go to age 12 that I'm aware off.

What are you talking about? Plenty of schools go through upper el. Few go though middle or high school but there are plenty that go through sixth grade. All over the country.

Clarification..Public or Charter Montessori in DC that do it well? SSMA, Lee, Breakthrough, CHML, etc.--No or TBD. Some of the privates are ok from what I hear but nothing great. Of course a lot go to sixth grade.

Lee Parent here, and from what I can gather and observe, our upper el community is humming along well. Great kids who have added so much to our community.

Where are the PARCC and\or MAP scores to prove what you "think" is going on? It doesn't sound like your kid is in upper el. Lee has not been around long enough to judge yet. When a kid hits 3rd-4th grade, school becomes very real. All the test scores follow a child and are important for placement and school applications. Montessori doesn't teach to a test so it is very challenging for both staff and kids. I'm not a fan of all the testing but I do recognize the importance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's what's happening at SSMA. The ED is a control freak who starting in the Fall of 2017 instituted a draconian time card system for all employees, drastically reduced autonomy for her direct reports and created an environment of intimidation and fear among the staff.

She has fired a number of staff members, some for minor incidents, as a show of force to intimidate the remaining staff. I don't expect good teachers to remain n that climate.

I have no idea why the sudden change. But staff morale has suffered. And with the firing of the Principal, it is is really, really bad. Most of the teachers liked the Principal. They had petitioned to get rid of the previous one. And so they saw a real positive change at SSMA with the new one. She was really hands-on, friendly and quick to respond. All of that changed with the new controlling system.

As for the ED, she really lacks interpersonal skills, knows almost none of the students, hardly goes into classrooms, goes to almost no school functions but has virtually no oversight from the board. As the saying goes, a fish rots from the head down.

So the best case scenario is the Board and ED are replaced and a new ED is hired. Than reform begins in the key areas of staffing and instruction among others. Man, that's a big job. A lot of people think they can work in education. Not that easy. SSMA may be looking at 3 years until really stable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what's happening at SSMA. The ED is a control freak who starting in the Fall of 2017 instituted a draconian time card system for all employees, drastically reduced autonomy for her direct reports and created an environment of intimidation and fear among the staff.

She has fired a number of staff members, some for minor incidents, as a show of force to intimidate the remaining staff. I don't expect good teachers to remain n that climate.

I have no idea why the sudden change. But staff morale has suffered. And with the firing of the Principal, it is is really, really bad. Most of the teachers liked the Principal. They had petitioned to get rid of the previous one. And so they saw a real positive change at SSMA with the new one. She was really hands-on, friendly and quick to respond. All of that changed with the new controlling system.

As for the ED, she really lacks interpersonal skills, knows almost none of the students, hardly goes into classrooms, goes to almost no school functions but has virtually no oversight from the board. As the saying goes, a fish rots from the head down.

So the best case scenario is the Board and ED are replaced and a new ED is hired. Than reform begins in the key areas of staffing and instruction among others. Man, that's a big job. A lot of people think they can work in education. Not that easy. SSMA may be looking at 3 years until really stable.

I am more optimistic than that. But only if we see change. The last Principal was good. She wasn't just a warm and friendly personality but someone who helped recruit strong Guides to the school. Someone told me she has an in at the Montessori Institute and knows a lot of good teachers because of that. I know that a lot of the current teachers at SSMA came onboard as a result of the departing Principal. So I think she put a lot of the building blocks in place for further growth at SSMA. But she insulated the Guides and assistants from all the craziness at the admin level. Now that she's gone, my fear is that that the best teachers will leave too. And at the end of the day, it's the teachers who matter most.

The thing is the ED's heart is in the right place. If you've ever talked to her, you can tell she is passionate about education. But, on the people skills front, she is hopeless. She's not a people manager. She's more of a researcher, an academic. Read this thread and you'll see what I mean: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/681911.page#11875733

This comment caught my eye: "I'm in the field - as in a senior admin at a HRCS - and the position summary is insane to me. Sounds like she is at odds with the rest of the team and looking to pay an ally: "

That was six months ago. And so now she's gone and fired the Director of Operations and the Principal -- who, by the way, is the FOURTH in FIVE years. And it was Teacher Appreciation week last week too. That's unconscionable. Clearly, that poster was right. The ED's basically at war with her own staff. And so she created a layer between herself and them. Now she's even advertising for an assistant principal position too http://www.shiningstarspcs.org/images/pdf/career/2018/assistant_principal_1.pdf That's going to make the ED even more removed from day-to-day operations.

It's crazy how much SSMA is wasting on consulting fees and admin costs. I bet it's a half million dollars a year. If the ED is not replaced, the admin chaos will continue, guides will leave, parents will leave, and SSMA will fall down to Tier 3. There's a board meeting on Saturday. Let's see what happens.