Thoughts on the new Churchill principal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably checking and answering emails would be a better use of Mrs. Heckert's time than maintaining a social media account that no one reads.

Tons of MCPS people use Twitter. If you’re not on, you might want to get on. They probably post more there than anywhere else. Where they’re not is on Facebook. Twitter is less risky. I disagree that people over 40 are not on Twitter. And there’s no way admin will start using Snapchat or Instagram alongside their students. But yes, email should take priority.

Marketing 101 - you are supposed to adjust to your marketplace, not assume the marketplace will adjust to you. Using an outdated form of social media especially for the high school population just shows that your message is falling on deaf ears and you are out of touch with the community.

Or they don’t want to engage with students on social media because that’s inappropriate, so they use a form of social media that’s very easy for parents to use and that won’t land them in hot water. I think it’s smart of them. If they have Snapchat or instagram they can use it under an alias in their non professional capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably checking and answering emails would be a better use of Mrs. Heckert's time than maintaining a social media account that no one reads.

Tons of MCPS people use Twitter. If you’re not on, you might want to get on. They probably post more there than anywhere else. Where they’re not is on Facebook. Twitter is less risky. I disagree that people over 40 are not on Twitter. And there’s no way admin will start using Snapchat or Instagram alongside their students. But yes, email should take priority.

Marketing 101 - you are supposed to adjust to your marketplace, not assume the marketplace will adjust to you. Using an outdated form of social media especially for the high school population just shows that your message is falling on deaf ears and you are out of touch with the community.

Or they don’t want to engage with students on social media because that’s inappropriate, so they use a form of social media that’s very easy for parents to use and that won’t land them in hot water. I think it’s smart of them. If they have Snapchat or instagram they can use it under an alias in their non professional capacity.

Mrs. Heckert should review with her entire staff on what forms of communication is ok to use and what forms of communication is not ok to use given some of the practices of her staff.

Parents at Churchill should check their child's text messages, Facebook, emails (including the student accounts), Snapchat, Instagram, etc. because a staff member might be having private conversations that you are not aware of and would not support. In general, just checking these things randomly is good parental practice, but even asking your child to tell you or forward you messages when another non-family adult contacts them would be an added level of protection without your child feeling her/his privacy is invaded. We caught a staff member violating these standards of conduct and this staff member is still at Churchill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably checking and answering emails would be a better use of Mrs. Heckert's time than maintaining a social media account that no one reads.

Tons of MCPS people use Twitter. If you’re not on, you might want to get on. They probably post more there than anywhere else. Where they’re not is on Facebook. Twitter is less risky. I disagree that people over 40 are not on Twitter. And there’s no way admin will start using Snapchat or Instagram alongside their students. But yes, email should take priority.

Marketing 101 - you are supposed to adjust to your marketplace, not assume the marketplace will adjust to you. Using an outdated form of social media especially for the high school population just shows that your message is falling on deaf ears and you are out of touch with the community.

Or they don’t want to engage with students on social media because that’s inappropriate, so they use a form of social media that’s very easy for parents to use and that won’t land them in hot water. I think it’s smart of them. If they have Snapchat or instagram they can use it under an alias in their non professional capacity.

Mrs. Heckert should review with her entire staff on what forms of communication is ok to use and what forms of communication is not ok to use given some of the practices of her staff.

Parents at Churchill should check their child's text messages, Facebook, emails (including the student accounts), Snapchat, Instagram, etc. because a staff member might be having private conversations that you are not aware of and would not support. In general, just checking these things randomly is good parental practice, but even asking your child to tell you or forward you messages when another non-family adult contacts them would be an added level of protection without your child feeling her/his privacy is invaded. We caught a staff member violating these standards of conduct and this staff member is still at Churchill.

The way the MCPS policies are written staff can behave grossly (drunk driving, domestic violence etc.) and not lose their job.

[Anonymous]

Worse. They can abuse children and still not lose their jobs.

[Anonymous]

Hopefully there will be time for parents to get answers for the concerns in this thread at the PTSA Meeting tonight and not more bs spin from MCPS.

Churchill has a long history of discrimination as Mrs. Webster was told at a PTSA meeting last year. Some parents are old enough to remember Dr. Benz's comments about a fight that was marginalized as "black on black violence". There is also a long history of discrimination of students in the Special Education community as well as Athletics at Churchill. Then there is the Senior Parking lot situation which should have had broader community input including a PTSA membership meeting prior to its implementation. If time is limited, I rather hear how Dr. Moran is addressing these problems specifically at Churchill vs. what is going on at his other schools in the cluster.

WCHS PTSA Meeting 10/17/18

General Membership Meeting begins at 6:45
6:45-9:00 pm

WCHS MEDIA CENTER
Located on the school’s second floor

Guest Speaker:

Dr. Peter Moran, MCPS Director of Learning, Achievement, and Administration, Albert Einstein, Richard Montgomery, Winston Churchill Clusters

Come and meet Dr. Moran, learn more about Cluster developments, and get answers for your Churchill & MCPS questions.

[Anonymous]

Dr. Moran did not attend the PTSA meeting. Mrs. Heckert was there in his place.

Some positives:

1) Mrs. Heckert's approach to discouraging the use of illegal substances on campus - She is encouraging staff to recognize the signs of a student under the influence and for students to report other students who are using on campus. Students caught with Juuls, drugs, or alcohol will be held to the consequences as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct. This is a step in the right direction after years of a school policy of do nothing even when students were caught with drugs.

2) Making sure instruction is the same across subject area classes - Mrs. Heckert has the Staff Development Teacher tasked with attending planning meetings to ensure instruction is aligned among area classes. Students will all be taught the same instruction prior to taking formative and summative assessments. She has also stepped up classroom observations (at least 2 per year per teacher / some announced and some unannounced). Students will complete quarterly feedback forms for teachers. Parents will have an opportunity to submit semester feedback forms to Mrs. Heckert.

Positive mixed with Negative:

1) Student Parking lot issue - Mrs. Heckert blames having to place buses in the student parking lot and student car loop on school overcrowding. The added enrollment this year at Churchill has caused a greater number of buses. It seems like the student numbers and need for additional buses should have been planned before the school year. At first Mrs. Heckert seemed rigid to consider how students and parents who have been impacted by the move including a picture of how the buses at times blocked the flow of traffic on Victory Lane. She also seemed perplexed at why students exit the building in a certain direction which puts them flowing into the area where the buses are - a pattern of behavior that could have be observed before the parking lot change. However, she did concede to announcing that parents can use the faculty parking lot for picking up students. She will also consider switching the faculty spaces with the student spaces as a possible solution for students who are trying to exit the student lot at dismissal. Repainting the lines in the faculty lot and moving the administrative parking spots away from the sidewalk would create a new car loop with the safety of a curb. Mrs. Heckert and MCPS should revisit this issue to see what else can be done if they truly want to make changes for student safety and not just for convenience. Obviously, the lots are all outdated and they all are badly situated for the population that now exists at the school. However, other schools have had lots revamped and changed when there was the need.

2) Age of the building - Many rooms (i.e.. media center and BAND ROOM) are still incredibly hot despite Mrs. Heckert's efforts to have HVAC repairs done. Of issue is that Churchill is an old building with many add ons and redesigns (created classrooms where there used to not be a classroom) such that the HVAC systems (I believe the building has 2) doesn't work well. Some rooms are really hot and others are freezing. Please probably get portable units for the really hot rooms (maybe ask PTSA if MCPS cannot fund) The band room is the most disgusting room in the building. Mr. Sanz and Mr. Allal should be given hazard pay bonuses for those work conditions.

Negative:

1) No word from Mrs. Heckert on her vision for improving student equity at Churchill. This should include equal and respectful treatment of all students as well as equal access to school programs. For areas in which there have been problems in the past, it would be great to hear her plans on moving forward with improvements including a plan on how to address the lack of female representation in the Athletic Department.

2) No word from Mrs. Heckert regarding school safety improvements within the building.

3) Given that it is Mental Health Month and the new initiatives announced recently by the Board of Education and Dr. Smith ( https://youtu.be/Z39hndUlZSA ), there was no announcement on how Churchill is implementing the new mental health initiatives.

[Anonymous]

Students are held the expectations of the Student Code of Conduct but Churchill staff members can blatantly violate the Employee Code of Conduct with no ill consequences. Such hypocrisy is commonplace in MCPS.

Student Code of Conduct: https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/students/rights/1182%2018_2018_2019_STUDENT_Code%20of%20Conduct_WEB.pdf

Employee Code of Conduct: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedfiles/staff/0168.16_employeecodeofconduct_booklet_web.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Moran did not attend the PTSA meeting. Mrs. Heckert was there in his place.

Some positives:

1) Mrs. Heckert's approach to discouraging the use of illegal substances on campus - She is encouraging staff to recognize the signs of a student under the influence and for students to report other students who are using on campus. Students caught with Juuls, drugs, or alcohol will be held to the consequences as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct. This is a step in the right direction after years of a school policy of do nothing even when students were caught with drugs.

2) Making sure instruction is the same across subject area classes - Mrs. Heckert has the Staff Development Teacher tasked with attending planning meetings to ensure instruction is aligned among area classes. Students will all be taught the same instruction prior to taking formative and summative assessments. She has also stepped up classroom observations (at least 2 per year per teacher / some announced and some unannounced). Students will complete quarterly feedback forms for teachers. Parents will have an opportunity to submit semester feedback forms to Mrs. Heckert.

Positive mixed with Negative:

1) Student Parking lot issue - Mrs. Heckert blames having to place buses in the student parking lot and student car loop on school overcrowding. The added enrollment this year at Churchill has caused a greater number of buses. It seems like the student numbers and need for additional buses should have been planned before the school year. At first Mrs. Heckert seemed rigid to consider how students and parents who have been impacted by the move including a picture of how the buses at times blocked the flow of traffic on Victory Lane. She also seemed perplexed at why students exit the building in a certain direction which puts them flowing into the area where the buses are - a pattern of behavior that could have be observed before the parking lot change. However, she did concede to announcing that parents can use the faculty parking lot for picking up students. She will also consider switching the faculty spaces with the student spaces as a possible solution for students who are trying to exit the student lot at dismissal. Repainting the lines in the faculty lot and moving the administrative parking spots away from the sidewalk would create a new car loop with the safety of a curb. Mrs. Heckert and MCPS should revisit this issue to see what else can be done if they truly want to make changes for student safety and not just for convenience. Obviously, the lots are all outdated and they all are badly situated for the population that now exists at the school. However, other schools have had lots revamped and changed when there was the need.

2) Age of the building - Many rooms (i.e.. media center and BAND ROOM) are still incredibly hot despite Mrs. Heckert's efforts to have HVAC repairs done. Of issue is that Churchill is an old building with many add ons and redesigns (created classrooms where there used to not be a classroom) such that the HVAC systems (I believe the building has 2) doesn't work well. Some rooms are really hot and others are freezing. Please probably get portable units for the really hot rooms (maybe ask PTSA if MCPS cannot fund) The band room is the most disgusting room in the building. Mr. Sanz and Mr. Allal should be given hazard pay bonuses for those work conditions.

Negative:

1) No word from Mrs. Heckert on her vision for improving student equity at Churchill. This should include equal and respectful treatment of all students as well as equal access to school programs. For areas in which there have been problems in the past, it would be great to hear her plans on moving forward with improvements including a plan on how to address the lack of female representation in the Athletic Department.

2) No word from Mrs. Heckert regarding school safety improvements within the building.

3) Given that it is Mental Health Month and the new initiatives announced recently by the Board of Education and Dr. Smith ( https://youtu.be/Z39hndUlZSA ), there was no announcement on how Churchill is implementing the new mental health initiatives.

Thanks for the detailed update. I'm sorry I couldn't make the meeting-- about how many people attended?

[Anonymous]

Probably around 20. No students present and Mrs. Heckert was the only school staff present.

[Anonymous]

Cross Country and Track have been named as teams to avoid. I know there were bullying issues by the coach for Girls Softball which the Athletic Director rehired even after a meeting with multiple parents and players reporting the conduct. Are there other teams students should avoid?

[Anonymous]

To the poster who summarized the meeting (thank you) did you or anyone else ask about the things that weren't mentioned?

I kind of get the feeling there's one person who had a bad experience with track and keeps bashing it. I don't believe that all that would go without investigation or unnoticed if it really was a problem. Wasn't there a parent who recently posted that track has more students than ever before?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the poster who summarized the meeting (thank you) did you or anyone else ask about the things that weren't mentioned?

I kind of get the feeling there's one person who had a bad experience with track and keeps bashing it. I don't believe that all that would go without investigation or unnoticed if it really was a problem. Wasn't there a parent who recently posted that track has more students than ever before?

From what I know, violations supposedly were found during the MCPS investigation. These are some of the reasons my children will not participate on Cross Country or Track as long as the two problematic coaches are rehired for these teams. Other parents may have more information because I am not the only poster:

1) Financial improprieties - the coaches asked parents to write checks to them personally for team expenses and deposited the checks into their personal accounts. All school staff are required to use MCPS IAF accounts and have parents write checks to the school so there is a paper trail and accounting for expenses. Otherwise, fraud can occur where more money is collected than spent.

2) One coach was extremely verbally and emotionally abusive to the male athletes on the team. He cursed, chastised, and used language that the other coach acknowledged that could not be used in the classroom. Boys were told in practices and at meets phrases such as - you sucked, that was sh*t, you are not trying hard enough, you don't have discipline, you are a cry baby, you are not worth my time, etc. - no matter if a child had successes or not. There was no balance of looking at what was being done well and constructive critique of what specifically a child could do to get better. That type of treatment sucked the joy and pride of representing Churchill for my son. It ate away at his self esteem and went against the RAISE values MCPS Athletics is supposed to represent. RAISE stands for - Respect and Sportsmanship - Academic Excellence - Integrity & Character - Spirited & Safe Competition - Equity & Access.

3) The same coach who was verbally and emotionally abusive to the male athletes was also inappropriate in how he interacted with female athletes. He made comments on their appearance such as those shorts look nice today or is that a new sports bra. He called them fast ass b*tches. In general, girls got a creepy vibe and tried to never be alone with the coach. However, this coach put a female athlete last year alone in a car at a travel meet and drove off from the group with her.

4) The other coach gave gifts to a male athlete that was not approved by school administration. One that the team saw was a sweatshirt that matched what the coaches wore. He also sent private texts without parental permission to contact a male athlete 24/7 that was more than just coaching or teaching instructions. He used the text access to get male athletes alone in his car on multiple occasions.

5) MCPS interviewed multiple children last year without notifying parents or giving parents the opportunity to be present. The events above were never publicly explained by MCPS to parents.

Some children were hurt by what the experienced, told MCPS, and MCPS has supposedly taken corrective action. The Athletic Director dismissed much of what happened and called it a different type of coaching style. He said that he has full trust in the coaches that he hires so he had no plans to remove them. However, I personally do not trust these men and my children will no longer be on these teams. Based on the posts that were not mine, other parents feel the same way.

Finally, there are no statistics that were posted that shows if enrollment is actually up or down or the breakout of any numbers. It could be just spin that someone who wants to cover his butt and job just posted as fiction on this thread. It could be a factor that there was a large influx of Freshmen runners so they obviously wouldn't know what has been going on for years on these teams. It could be a factor that some children were targeted more than others. It seems that Varsity runners were more in the bullseye for the treatment than Junior Varsity runners. It could be a factor that not all parents were clued into what happened or the signs of trauma students were experiencing.

For any parent who has noticed a concerning change in a child's behavior, the counseling office has resources on how to get help for your child or you can contact Tree House Assessment Center at http://treehousemd.org.

[Anonymous]

So there was an investigation and you don't like the result and/or how the investigation was handled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So there was an investigation and you don't like the result and/or how the investigation was handled.

I have no connection to Churchill but have worked for MCPS long enough to be skeptical of an internal investigation too.

[Anonymous]

I think Churchill should not have rehired the coaches considering the seriousness of their conduct as outlined by PP. Parents in the school should be told of what happened incase their child was a victim and needs help.