Melissa Kim is leaving Deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school has an assistant principal for each grade and then there's a main one for the entire school which was Kim, but now Albright which was the assistant pincipal to her.

Is he the IB guy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:21:35, Her timing was generous. She had the job offer in the summer and held off on leaving until now so that the school and the students would have a smoother transition. Anyone else, who is not as dedicated, would have taken the job in the summer and left the school in a lurch for the beginning of school.

In her written statement she said that she was staying on as coach and advisor for the transition until December.

Take your negativity elsewhere. The Deal community is grateful for the smooth transition she engineered.

What kind of organization waits until August to offer a principal a job? How responsible is it for a principal to be accept a job in August? The responsible thing to do would have been to accept in March, then finish out the year, giving DCPS enough time to find a suitable replacement. She may not be a villain, but she's not a hero either. She's an opportunist.

Wrong. Everything can't rely on the principal alone. She has a strong team in place and had a great run at Deal. As a Deal parent I have no issues with how this went down. There is no good or right time for a talented principal to leave and she has the right to take her talents elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school has an assistant principal for each grade and then there's a main one for the entire school which was Kim, but now Albright which was the assistant pincipal to her.

Is he the IB guy?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:21:35, Her timing was generous. She had the job offer in the summer and held off on leaving until now so that the school and the students would have a smoother transition. Anyone else, who is not as dedicated, would have taken the job in the summer and left the school in a lurch for the beginning of school.

In her written statement she said that she was staying on as coach and advisor for the transition until December.

Take your negativity elsewhere. The Deal community is grateful for the smooth transition she engineered.

What kind of organization waits until August to offer a principal a job? How responsible is it for a principal to be accept a job in August? The responsible thing to do would have been to accept in March, then finish out the year, giving DCPS enough time to find a suitable replacement. She may not be a villain, but she's not a hero either. She's an opportunist.

Wrong. Everything can't rely on the principal alone. She has a strong team in place and had a great run at Deal. As a Deal parent I have no issues with how this went down. There is no good or right time for a talented principal to leave and she has the right to take her talents elsewhere.

She had the right to take her talents elsewhere, but in my opinion could have done it much more gracefully and with less trauma to the school.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
She had the right to take her talents elsewhere, but in my opinion could have done it much more gracefully and with less trauma to the school.

I'm not noticing any trauma at the school. In hindsight, it's clear that Kim had been taking steps to raise Albright's profile even before school started this year. From my vantage point, the transition has been pretty seamless.

[Anonymous]

I'll second that as a current Deal parent. The transition has been smooth, and Principal Kim has left a strong leadership team in place. And the idea that she delayed just past the count date to trick families into staying is laughable. The school is bursting at the seams, and didn't let in any OOB students from non-feeder schools this year. There are hundreds of kids who would love to be at Deal, but can't.

[Anonymous]

I also agree. She has had Mr. Albright co-present with her for several years and she has often put him and other APs like Ms. Neal in the spotlight. She is pretty thoughtful and intentional and I have no reason to believe that this departure was any different.

Even though my kids and I are sad to see her go, and I am sure there will be some bumps in the road, I have not felt any trauma or drama as the result of her departure.

[Anonymous]

Glad the transition is smooth. The timing of the departure stinks in a big way though.

[Anonymous]

There's no trauma, as other Deal parents have said. From my perspective, the only noticeable change so far has been that communications come from a different person.

Leadership transitions are really quite normal, and trauma is averted when an institution is accustomed to laying careful groundwork for all its plans, as Deal certainly is. The routines, policies, and procedures in which the faculty are so heavily invested continue to serve them well.

We worry about leadership transitions around here because we tend to think that effective managers work magic by virtue of their creativity and personalities, but Kim was very much an investor in the development of thoughtful procedures to prevent the derailing of her sexier plans. I think that was the main secret to her success, and its a legacy that supports smooth transitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll second that as a current Deal parent. The transition has been smooth, and Principal Kim has left a strong leadership team in place. And the idea that she delayed just past the count date to trick families into staying is laughable. The school is bursting at the seams, and didn't let in any OOB students from non-feeder schools this year. There are hundreds of kids who would love to be at Deal, but can't.

I don't see any reference in these comments about Kim trying to trick families into staying.

It's nice to hear from parents who think there was no trauma. Perhaps in her new position, Kim can counsel incipient charter principals on how to leave in the middle of a school year without negative side effects to their schools. This type of departure could become a more common occurrence as charter schools gain more influence in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll second that as a current Deal parent. The transition has been smooth, and Principal Kim has left a strong leadership team in place. And the idea that she delayed just past the count date to trick families into staying is laughable. The school is bursting at the seams, and didn't let in any OOB students from non-feeder schools this year. There are hundreds of kids who would love to be at Deal, but can't.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll second that as a current Deal parent. The transition has been smooth, and Principal Kim has left a strong leadership team in place. And the idea that she delayed just past the count date to trick families into staying is laughable. The school is bursting at the seams, and didn't let in any OOB students from non-feeder schools this year. There are hundreds of kids who would love to be at Deal, but can't.

I don't see any reference in these comments about Kim trying to trick families into staying.

It's nice to hear from parents who think there was no trauma. Perhaps in her new position, Kim can counsel incipient charter principals on how to leave in the middle of a school year without negative side effects to their schools. This type of departure could become a more common occurrence as charter schools gain more influence in DC.

Trickery was implied on the previous page. In any case I'm assuming you are not a Deal parent and if you are I'd like to know about your trauma over this.

[Anonymous]

I'm a current Deal parent and have no knowledge of any "trauma" surrounding Kim's departure. I'm glad she didn't leave over the summer and remained through the start of the school year. WTF is pp referring to?

[Anonymous]

Not a current, but hope to be future Deal parent. I was quite impressed when I went to one of the open house meetings. Kim was great, but if it all rested on her being there then she was a failure. I have more respect seeing that things don't fall apart on her departure.

Also speaking to all you that are upset by her departure, there is never a good time. When principals come in during the summer they have no time to really set up because of all the training so the first year is completely dependent on what the previous principal chose for better or worse. Kim's timing actually allows for a much better hand-off for the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a current, but hope to be future Deal parent. I was quite impressed when I went to one of the open house meetings. Kim was great, but if it all rested on her being there then she was a failure. I have more respect seeing that things don't fall apart on her departure.

Also speaking to all you that are upset by her departure, there is never a good time. When principals come in during the summer they have no time to really set up because of all the training so the first year is completely dependent on what the previous principal chose for better or worse. Kim's timing actually allows for a much better hand-off for the school.

Good then - perhaps it will become a trend and articles will be written about the advantages of principals leaving mid-year.