SSFS HOS leaving

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The board failed miserably and is complicit in all of this. The email from the board is also unacceptable. Christine who worked directly under Rodney is not the answer. They need someone from the outside to come help clean this up. The timing also couldn’t be worse.

Zero faith in this board - the old Quakers are meager and cannot stand up to the few toxic individuals on the Board who will take down the school if someone doesn’t take charge. This is no longer about the HOS, he is gone, goodbye. It is about the inept board. Who holds them accountable so they don’t impact the bigger school ecosystem from teachers to students!

I take umbrage with this, knowing that the “Old Quakers” just ousted a toxic narcissist who didn’t fundraise, chased out amazing faculty and staff, and cared more for his own business than our school. They weren’t the ones who hired that guy and were the ones that fired him. They’re not the complicit members, and they’re some of the best people you’d be lucky to know.

I agree. Not all of the current board members were on the board when he was hired (some of them were though).

The board was duped when they hired him. As other people have said they were wowed by his sparkle. He’s a great speaker, he talks a great talk. If your interaction with him was only to listen to the occasional speech (orientation, end of year assembly) he seems like a great guy.

But if you follow anything that is actually going on or have any more direct contact with him as either a parent or teacher, you know what he is really like. I have to hope the board has known this for a while. So while they were duped into hiring him there must have been some level of dysfunction that prevented them from taking action long before this. It’s a shame it had to get so bad. But in this process I hope the board spends time on some self reflection also to prevent this from ever happening again.

I think you are giving him (and the board) too much credit. Lots of people were wise to/weary of the Rodney show by the second time they saw him speak. (Including plenty of the kids!)

He’s not some charismatic charmer-he comes across as interestingly quirky for about 5 minutes and then it’s clear he’s a self promoting showboater light on any substantive content.

If my 6th grader could suss out there was a problem after two exposures why couldn’t the board after a series of interviews?

Well the board hired him to do the DEI audit even before they interviewed him for hos. So they obviously were way into him. Another poster said - he ran the DEI audit and then created “problems” only he could fix. And who better to continue ongoing work to fix ssfs” “race” problems? His company of course! How convenient. In the meantime Ssfs has always been diverse ahead of its time, a caring inclusive community that was doing fine before his audit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were some teacher resignations late last week. I don't know if from upper, middle or lower but the school can't handle more teachers leaving (or being laid-off).

As a current family, this is scary and devastating to hear. I have no expertise on how to run a school, but if I was SSFS, I would start by writing my wrongs..First thing first get Chanelle back by any means necessary! We lost a lot of staff that have been dedicated to the school for years.

This! Getting Chanelle back, and possibly others, should be a top priority right now. She embodies what SSFS can be and is so well loved. Getting her back would do wonders for the overall morale and bring the stability the LS needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The board failed miserably and is complicit in all of this. The email from the board is also unacceptable. Christine who worked directly under Rodney is not the answer. They need someone from the outside to come help clean this up. The timing also couldn’t be worse.

Zero faith in this board - the old Quakers are meager and cannot stand up to the few toxic individuals on the Board who will take down the school if someone doesn’t take charge. This is no longer about the HOS, he is gone, goodbye. It is about the inept board. Who holds them accountable so they don’t impact the bigger school ecosystem from teachers to students!

I take umbrage with this, knowing that the “Old Quakers” just ousted a toxic narcissist who didn’t fundraise, chased out amazing faculty and staff, and cared more for his own business than our school. They weren’t the ones who hired that guy and were the ones that fired him. They’re not the complicit members, and they’re some of the best people you’d be lucky to know.

I agree. Not all of the current board members were on the board when he was hired (some of them were though).

The board was duped when they hired him. As other people have said they were wowed by his sparkle. He’s a great speaker, he talks a great talk. If your interaction with him was only to listen to the occasional speech (orientation, end of year assembly) he seems like a great guy.

But if you follow anything that is actually going on or have any more direct contact with him as either a parent or teacher, you know what he is really like. I have to hope the board has known this for a while. So while they were duped into hiring him there must have been some level of dysfunction that prevented them from taking action long before this. It’s a shame it had to get so bad. But in this process I hope the board spends time on some self reflection also to prevent this from ever happening again.

I think you are giving him (and the board) too much credit. Lots of people were wise to/weary of the Rodney show by the second time they saw him speak. (Including plenty of the kids!)

He’s not some charismatic charmer-he comes across as interestingly quirky for about 5 minutes and then it’s clear he’s a self promoting showboater light on any substantive content.

If my 6th grader could suss out there was a problem after two exposures why couldn’t the board after a series of interviews?

Well the board hired him to do the DEI audit even before they interviewed him for hos. So they obviously were way into him. Another poster said - he ran the DEI audit and then created “problems” only he could fix. And who better to continue ongoing work to fix ssfs” “race” problems? His company of course! How convenient. In the meantime Ssfs has always been diverse ahead of its time, a caring inclusive community that was doing fine before his audit.

Don't forget, he IS the one who would regularly wear a superhero cape...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The board failed miserably and is complicit in all of this. The email from the board is also unacceptable. Christine who worked directly under Rodney is not the answer. They need someone from the outside to come help clean this up. The timing also couldn’t be worse.

Zero faith in this board - the old Quakers are meager and cannot stand up to the few toxic individuals on the Board who will take down the school if someone doesn’t take charge. This is no longer about the HOS, he is gone, goodbye. It is about the inept board. Who holds them accountable so they don’t impact the bigger school ecosystem from teachers to students!

I take umbrage with this, knowing that the “Old Quakers” just ousted a toxic narcissist who didn’t fundraise, chased out amazing faculty and staff, and cared more for his own business than our school. They weren’t the ones who hired that guy and were the ones that fired him. They’re not the complicit members, and they’re some of the best people you’d be lucky to know.

I agree. Not all of the current board members were on the board when he was hired (some of them were though).

The board was duped when they hired him. As other people have said they were wowed by his sparkle. He’s a great speaker, he talks a great talk. If your interaction with him was only to listen to the occasional speech (orientation, end of year assembly) he seems like a great guy.

But if you follow anything that is actually going on or have any more direct contact with him as either a parent or teacher, you know what he is really like. I have to hope the board has known this for a while. So while they were duped into hiring him there must have been some level of dysfunction that prevented them from taking action long before this. It’s a shame it had to get so bad. But in this process I hope the board spends time on some self reflection also to prevent this from ever happening again.

I think you are giving him (and the board) too much credit. Lots of people were wise to/weary of the Rodney show by the second time they saw him speak. (Including plenty of the kids!)

He’s not some charismatic charmer-he comes across as interestingly quirky for about 5 minutes and then it’s clear he’s a self promoting showboater light on any substantive content.

If my 6th grader could suss out there was a problem after two exposures why couldn’t the board after a series of interviews?

Well the board hired him to do the DEI audit even before they interviewed him for hos. So they obviously were way into him. Another poster said - he ran the DEI audit and then created “problems” only he could fix. And who better to continue ongoing work to fix ssfs” “race” problems? His company of course! How convenient. In the meantime Ssfs has always been diverse ahead of its time, a caring inclusive community that was doing fine before his audit.

Don't forget, he IS the one who would regularly wear a superhero cape...

🤦‍♀️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The board failed miserably and is complicit in all of this. The email from the board is also unacceptable. Christine who worked directly under Rodney is not the answer. They need someone from the outside to come help clean this up. The timing also couldn’t be worse.

Zero faith in this board - the old Quakers are meager and cannot stand up to the few toxic individuals on the Board who will take down the school if someone doesn’t take charge. This is no longer about the HOS, he is gone, goodbye. It is about the inept board. Who holds them accountable so they don’t impact the bigger school ecosystem from teachers to students!

I take umbrage with this, knowing that the “Old Quakers” just ousted a toxic narcissist who didn’t fundraise, chased out amazing faculty and staff, and cared more for his own business than our school. They weren’t the ones who hired that guy and were the ones that fired him. They’re not the complicit members, and they’re some of the best people you’d be lucky to know.

I agree. Not all of the current board members were on the board when he was hired (some of them were though).

The board was duped when they hired him. As other people have said they were wowed by his sparkle. He’s a great speaker, he talks a great talk. If your interaction with him was only to listen to the occasional speech (orientation, end of year assembly) he seems like a great guy.

But if you follow anything that is actually going on or have any more direct contact with him as either a parent or teacher, you know what he is really like. I have to hope the board has known this for a while. So while they were duped into hiring him there must have been some level of dysfunction that prevented them from taking action long before this. It’s a shame it had to get so bad. But in this process I hope the board spends time on some self reflection also to prevent this from ever happening again.

I think you are giving him (and the board) too much credit. Lots of people were wise to/weary of the Rodney show by the second time they saw him speak. (Including plenty of the kids!)

He’s not some charismatic charmer-he comes across as interestingly quirky for about 5 minutes and then it’s clear he’s a self promoting showboater light on any substantive content.

If my 6th grader could suss out there was a problem after two exposures why couldn’t the board after a series of interviews?

Well the board hired him to do the DEI audit even before they interviewed him for hos. So they obviously were way into him. Another poster said - he ran the DEI audit and then created “problems” only he could fix. And who better to continue ongoing work to fix ssfs” “race” problems? His company of course! How convenient. In the meantime Ssfs has always been diverse ahead of its time, a caring inclusive community that was doing fine before his audit.

Don't forget, he IS the one who would regularly wear a superhero cape...

I always wondered exactly how much he spent on clothes (money and time).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He can fundraise? If anyone was at the last auction it was clear he wasn’t pulling in any money.

Yep. He also actively encouraged the auction committee (which I was a part of) to decrease our fundraising goal.

Why? And then he sent one of his typical gaslighting emails that the amount raised broke all kinds of records. In the meantime no one would even bet $25 to get a picture with him. If he didn’t realize after all that where community sentiment was, then he’s a bigger narcissist than I thought.

Because everything was about his reputation/appearance for him. He thought the goal was too lofty and didn’t think we would meet it, which would make HIM look bad. Good thing we smashed it 🤷🏻‍♀️

If it’s all about him - must have really bugged him when no one bid on his picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were some teacher resignations late last week. I don't know if from upper, middle or lower but the school can't handle more teachers leaving (or being laid-off).

As a current family, this is scary and devastating to hear. I have no expertise on how to run a school, but if I was SSFS, I would start by writing my wrongs..First thing first get Chanelle back by any means necessary! We lost a lot of staff that have been dedicated to the school for years.

This! Getting Chanelle back, and possibly others, should be a top priority right now. She embodies what SSFS can be and is so well loved. Getting her back would do wonders for the overall morale and bring the stability the LS needs.

I definitely hope some of the teachers consider coming back. That might be hard if they’ve taken positions elsewhere already. And if Rodney was laying off staff because there wasn’t budget to cover it, will the board face problems bringing them back even if they want? Was Rodney making it up that there wasn’t money to pay people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The board failed miserably and is complicit in all of this. The email from the board is also unacceptable. Christine who worked directly under Rodney is not the answer. They need someone from the outside to come help clean this up. The timing also couldn’t be worse.

Zero faith in this board - the old Quakers are meager and cannot stand up to the few toxic individuals on the Board who will take down the school if someone doesn’t take charge. This is no longer about the HOS, he is gone, goodbye. It is about the inept board. Who holds them accountable so they don’t impact the bigger school ecosystem from teachers to students!

I take umbrage with this, knowing that the “Old Quakers” just ousted a toxic narcissist who didn’t fundraise, chased out amazing faculty and staff, and cared more for his own business than our school. They weren’t the ones who hired that guy and were the ones that fired him. They’re not the complicit members, and they’re some of the best people you’d be lucky to know.

I agree. Not all of the current board members were on the board when he was hired (some of them were though).

The board was duped when they hired him. As other people have said they were wowed by his sparkle. He’s a great speaker, he talks a great talk. If your interaction with him was only to listen to the occasional speech (orientation, end of year assembly) he seems like a great guy.

But if you follow anything that is actually going on or have any more direct contact with him as either a parent or teacher, you know what he is really like. I have to hope the board has known this for a while. So while they were duped into hiring him there must have been some level of dysfunction that prevented them from taking action long before this. It’s a shame it had to get so bad. But in this process I hope the board spends time on some self reflection also to prevent this from ever happening again.

So what exactly went wrong other than him? I've read that the middle school was amazing. There's some reference to lower school issues, but it's hard to decipher what the issue was there. I can't tell what the issue was with the upper school. Is the main problem that he ran the finances of the school in the ground?

[Anonymous]

No fan of RG, and the US has has a number of problems, but 2 of the Heads left for reasons that were primarily not on RG. One left for family reasons - ill parent and living apart from husband was untenable. Another one left to go to Bullis - her dream job. She was upfront when hired that if that job became available she'd bounce. Why did they hire her knowing this? Good question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No fan of RG, and the US has has a number of problems, but 2 of the Heads left for reasons that were primarily not on RG. One left for family reasons - ill parent and living apart from husband was untenable. Another one left to go to Bullis - her dream job. She was upfront when hired that if that job became available she'd bounce. Why did they hire her knowing this? Good question.

So you’re basically saying the reasons for their departure - that Rodney gave the parent community - must be true. Or stated another way - either one of them would have announced publicly that they were leaving because of a toxic work cultures. All these teachers who have left then - none of whose announcements have mentioned Rodney or the work environment - all had personal reasons. So who said Rodney was difficult to work for?

I guess by that argument Rodney is leaving because after some time to reflect and relax, he decided the time to leave was here. After all that’s what his message said. And it had nothing to do with the board getting rid of him. Of course not. He just felt like trying something new!

[Anonymous]

No, I'm saying that in those 2 cases the reasons given were legit. Not every departure was because of his leadership. Again, he was not a good fit and it is best for him and the school to part ways. Would I have liked to have happened earlier? Absolutely, but not every problem at SSFS is on him.

[Anonymous]

Why r posts relating to people confirming what they left being deleted? That’s odd.

[Anonymous]

Yeah a whole page of posts were deleted. Nothing that bad was there. Just folks corroborating that staff left because of RG. Which was assumed anyway. Why delete those posts? Guess RG has a cleanup’s crew online?

[Anonymous]

can’t believe posts have been deleted; looking forward to moving on from this era

[Anonymous]

I think it’s interesting that literally no one is saying they are sorry to see him go but up until last week it felt like complaining about Rodney was the kind of thing that could get your kid counseled out. Not saying that’s actually the case but it felt like this whole cult of personality and it was only possible to let on you hadn’t drunk the cool aid to people you knew felt likewise.