New Wilson Principal and the Beacon paper

[Anonymous]

Formr FCpS teacher again- the school I worked at was nearly twice the size of Wilson and the start of school was nothing like the disaster at Wilson. I'm shocked that anyone is defending such incompetence. Pro tip: the only appropriate reaction to such a hot mess is profuse apologizing by school admin who should be working round the clock to fix their mistakes. I feel bad for the students: the beginning of the school year can be so stressful at that age. They shouldn't have to put up with this crap from the adult "professionals" in their life.

[Anonymous]

We're not at Wilson (yet) but I'm a DCPS parent and this has been an ugly spectacle to watch.

The first interview Martin had with the Beacon did NOT make her look bad, that's just how it landed here.

I've seen several posts stating that the scheduling system is new, and at least a couple saying that the snafus were the same at other schools. But it seems that what happens at other schools doesn't really matter on DCUM.

My speculation is that a new leader facing the scheduling fiasco is spending much of their time dealing with it. The only place where the Beacon issue became an issue is right here on DCUM. Kudos go to the student editors for deftly laying out their case, and to the principal for letting them publish it. It seems that people here wanted here wanted her to deliver a mea culpa via press conference, all they while gripe that she's made the issue a priority over everything else.

I think she's probably been pretty busy in the last week, yet she took time to find reasonable compromise on this subject that the community made their priority.

But as I posted in another thread, I think her enthusiastic endorsement of Kaya Henderson was her most tragic mistake. Not a dumb mistake, given that Cahill was supposedly fired for not raising scores at Wilson, and especially if that's a personal objective of her career as an educator. But it was an honest mistake of misperception that it's something most DCPS parents care about. She couldn't have known it would raise the ire of parents who see that as a threat to the success of their higher achieving kids. Kids who will do well no matter what.

I think the selection team, which I assume included parents, must have thought that her experience in Aspen would inure her from classist churn and make her less likely to bend to the will of parents accustomed to clout. I'm hoping they were right and that she'll be force for the good of the school.

[Anonymous]

NPR is reporting the story on wamu

[Anonymous]

Can someone share what was on npr??

[Anonymous]

If you think Principal Martin was hiding under a rock the first week of school, just wait. Now that the story is in the Post and on WAMU, I bet she hides in her office and doesn't show her face at all from now on.

[Anonymous]

The broadcast was not on NPR, but was from WAMU. I found the link on wamu's webpage. https://wamu.org/news/15/08/31/dc_principal_asks_to_review_student_newspaper_prompting_complaints

[Anonymous]

Based on the piece as reported by WAMU, it appears Martin is reconsidering her policy. Nice advocacy by the students!

[jsteele]

Regarding the scheduling issues, it is not clear to me that Principal Martin is even aware of the extent of the problems. Here is an excerpt from an email sent by Principal Martin on the evening of Tuesday, August 25th:

Because we've been correcting, balancing and arranging schedules for the past two days based on parent and student needs, we will reprint all students schedules tomorrow and they will be available in students first period classes tomorrow. We will also have posted first period class lists in the morning, just like we did on the first day of school (in case students first period classes have changed). Even as I write this, administrators are continuing the work of providing a schedule that meets the needs of the greatest number of students. We are confident that after our work this evening, we will have accomplished our goal.

(bolding added)

As far as I know, new schedules were not distributed on Wednesday and, at least in my son's case, no schedule corrections were made on that day. So, Martin's goal was not accomplished Tuesday night as she expected. Nor was it accomplished on Wednesday or Thursday. It still may not have been accomplished for all that I know (my son's schedule was resolved on Friday). We did not receive any updates regarding the failure to adhere to the outlined schedule.

It is possible that the Principal is not aware that her goal of resolving issues by Tuesday night was not met or it is possible she did know and didn't communicate with parents about the additional delay. Neither of those is a particularly good possibility. This alone is enough to cause a frustrating beginning to this school year and her tenure. The unnecessary sideshow focused on her decision to implement prior review of the school newspaper is really just the icing on the cake.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jeff.
I certainly want Wilson to succeed and want solid leadership there. The bottom line is the first week has not gone smoothly at all, and the lack of communication from the school on a weekly basis is very disconcerting. The Beacon issue is just one more example of not knowing where to focus.

[Anonymous]

Still no word from our leader….depressing.

[Anonymous]

Have any of you tried calling her directly? Is the Wilson PTA trying to help her understand what the community expectations are (weekly emails, etc)? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

It would be a good time for the PTSO and/or LSAT to meet and iron out some plans on moving forward, and parents should be advised that this is in the works.

[Anonymous]

Well, Principal Martin wanted to do doctoral studies in urban education.

To quote her future I have to go to Hall and Oates: "She's gone, she's gone."

[Anonymous]

What meeting?

[jsteele]

In her interview with the Wilson Beacon this summer, Principal Martin was asked about prior review of school newspapers. She avoided a direct answer and sort of danced around the topic. Now, of course, we know that she could have simply and honestly answered, "yes". But, it turns out that even the answer she gave was a very loose interpretation (to put it nicely) of the truth. Here is the question and answer:

ED: Do you believe in freedom of the press for us or do you believe in prior review of the paper for students?

KM: I think in the last three years here in Aspen, I probably had two discussions with the newspaper about something they were reporting. I wasn’t trying to censor the content, it was like this is not an accurate quote or you have to dig to find this information here. I certainly think even if it’s a perspective that’s unpopular, meaning, even if it’s something that’s negative against me or towards me, I totally understand that. However, I do think that the best papers have to be accurate and honest, and have fair reporting – there are ethical standards that have to be met.

http://thewilsonbeacon.com/question-and-answer-with-kimberly-martin/

Now, Erik Wemple has talked to folks involved with the newspaper at Aspen High School where Martin was previously the Principal. They recount an example of Martin directly stopping a story from being published. As they describe it, Martin went far beyond confirming that quotes were accurate or requesting further digging:

Elizabeth Stewart-Severy, an Aspen High English teacher and adviser to the "Skier Scribbler," confirms Sichel’s account. "The student made all the changes Kim [Martin] requested, and we went through several drafts. She actually stopped replying and finally, a month later, said that under no circumstances could we publish the article."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/09/01/at-colorado-post-wilson-high-principal-squelched-critical-school-newspaper-article/