A quarter of the teachers at Lakewood Elementary are leaving.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the other posters. It is good advice to get more involved and “watch like a hawk” as someone put it (lol).

As with most things, including RJ, the problem with anti racist ideology is its implementation. This principal seems to be aggressively imposing this ideology on a mostly minority community that has many immigrant parents. My immigrant parents would have no clue what antiracist dogma she is babbling about. She is out of touch and hasn’t made the effort to understand who she is trying to lead and what their needs are.

[Anonymous]

5th grade parents were sent an email to come right after the email sent for cancellation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My family and I are one of the black families that were apparently being watched and being side eyed. Unfortunately, i do not feel that it is a tiny portion of the Lakewood community that is extreme, but instead a larger majority. It is interesting that since the last post calling these people extreme, an email was sent telling people to no longer post on this forum in order not to make it look like it's about race, when in fact the posts from the last week prove that it is indeed about race, Dr Kelly's and the "Black Families " that were being watched as they were enjoying their child 5th Grade Promotion ceremony race to be specific. I was at the school today for the 5th grade clap out, and spoke to 2 black mothers with children in 2nd and 3rd grade, and they both told me that they now feel uncomfortable keeping their children at Lakewood and are considering private schools. Black families at Lakewood feel ostracized and I suspect things will only get more toxic until these extremists get what they want, which is getting the principal out. My child is done with Lakewood, but the idea of continuing to deal with such people is giving me pause about going to Frost and has me thinking about private school. I read in one of the conversations that they started that they were going to "watch her like a hawk" and " scrutinize every decision she makes" in hopes that she will resign, as the process to make her be removed from her principal role may take a couple of years. Sadly, I cannot say that i did not see this coming when she was introduced as the new principal.

That was me that posted about race and I apologize.

I was corrected about how I mistook the family's comment and was going to acknowledge my mistake but decided it wasn't worth continuing an argument and just let it die off.

I also apologize for any discomfort my previous comments have made to you or other families and hope that we can form a united and caring community where everyone is treated as a person.

For me, it was indeed about race and questioning Dr. Kelly's motives. But after looking into it more think that a lot of it was issues in communications and how things came across.

I do question the way she does things and her motives. But I'm not in agreement with the rest of the community in some of their issues and concerns. I agree that Dr. Kelly does not need families watching over her shoulder and helping her to run the school and some of the issues sound borderline not in my backyard attitude. I won't say that some of their concerns don't have any merit.

I am a very racial person and believe in racial pride. But a part of recognizing race is also understanding and working with other races as well. Their background, their issues, etc. I don't believe integration and assimilation are the same things.

Anyways I said everything I had to say about my opinions about Dr. Kelly in my previous comment. Looking at it more I think a lot of issues are due to her inexperience. Talking to someone who went to the clap out and hearing their description, I'd say some of it is probably personality differences too. There were issues with disorganization and communication, which are some issues that people have with her.

But I don't really have much else to say and was going to let that die off. But feel free to continue the discussion and I'll respond when I can. I didn't know there was a notice to not continue this thread anymore.

Again I apologize and hope you don't feel alienated from the community because of my posts. I hope I don't sound condescending and am only saying it because people said it with joy last year but hope you have a happy Juneteenth!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the other posters. It is good advice to get more involved and “watch like a hawk” as someone put it (lol).

As with most things, including RJ, the problem with anti racist ideology is its implementation. This principal seems to be aggressively imposing this ideology on a mostly minority community that has many immigrant parents. My immigrant parents would have no clue what antiracist dogma she is babbling about. She is out of touch and hasn’t made the effort to understand who she is trying to lead and what their needs are.

The anti-racist commitment is district wide and not an initiative of the principal. I do agree it should have been introduced with a bit more care to the current community, Asian, White, Black, Immigrant, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family and I are one of the black families that were apparently being watched and being side eyed. Unfortunately, i do not feel that it is a tiny portion of the Lakewood community that is extreme, but instead a larger majority. It is interesting that since the last post calling these people extreme, an email was sent telling people to no longer post on this forum in order not to make it look like it's about race, when in fact the posts from the last week prove that it is indeed about race, Dr Kelly's and the "Black Families " that were being watched as they were enjoying their child 5th Grade Promotion ceremony race to be specific. I was at the school today for the 5th grade clap out, and spoke to 2 black mothers with children in 2nd and 3rd grade, and they both told me that they now feel uncomfortable keeping their children at Lakewood and are considering private schools. Black families at Lakewood feel ostracized and I suspect things will only get more toxic until these extremists get what they want, which is getting the principal out. My child is done with Lakewood, but the idea of continuing to deal with such people is giving me pause about going to Frost and has me thinking about private school. I read in one of the conversations that they started that they were going to "watch her like a hawk" and " scrutinize every decision she makes" in hopes that she will resign, as the process to make her be removed from her principal role may take a couple of years. Sadly, I cannot say that i did not see this coming when she was introduced as the new principal.

That was me that posted about race and I apologize.

I was corrected about how I mistook the family's comment and was going to acknowledge my mistake but decided it wasn't worth continuing an argument and just let it die off.

I also apologize for any discomfort my previous comments have made to you or other families and hope that we can form a united and caring community where everyone is treated as a person.

For me, it was indeed about race and questioning Dr. Kelly's motives. But after looking into it more think that a lot of it was issues in communications and how things came across.

I do question the way she does things and her motives. But I'm not in agreement with the rest of the community in some of their issues and concerns. I agree that Dr. Kelly does not need families watching over her shoulder and helping her to run the school and some of the issues sound borderline not in my backyard attitude. I won't say that some of their concerns don't have any merit.

I am a very racial person and believe in racial pride. But a part of recognizing race is also understanding and working with other races as well. Their background, their issues, etc. I don't believe integration and assimilation are the same things.

Anyways I said everything I had to say about my opinions about Dr. Kelly in my previous comment. Looking at it more I think a lot of issues are due to her inexperience. Talking to someone who went to the clap out and hearing their description, I'd say some of it is probably personality differences too. There were issues with disorganization and communication, which are some issues that people have with her.

But I don't really have much else to say and was going to let that die off. But feel free to continue the discussion and I'll respond when I can. I didn't know there was a notice to not continue this thread anymore.

Again I apologize and hope you don't feel alienated from the community because of my posts. I hope I don't sound condescending and am only saying it because people said it with joy last year but hope you have a happy Juneteenth!

This is very much appreciated. Thank you. And it is an example of the dialogue OUR community, in its entirety, needs. Thank you for being transparent and vulnerable.

Your concerns are valid, and I share some of the same concerns with the need for improved communication, and collaboration with the principal and the staff. Unfortunately, we cannot get our dedicated and wonderful teachers back but maybe we can create a positive place to flourish for the students (scholars), teachers, staff, parents and the principal.

It will take understanding and commitment by all.

- Black Parent of Lakewood (I only signed as a Black parent so PP knows that her post is well received)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My family and I are one of the black families that were apparently being watched and being side eyed. Unfortunately, i do not feel that it is a tiny portion of the Lakewood community that is extreme, but instead a larger majority. It is interesting that since the last post calling these people extreme, an email was sent telling people to no longer post on this forum in order not to make it look like it's about race, when in fact the posts from the last week prove that it is indeed about race, Dr Kelly's and the "Black Families " that were being watched as they were enjoying their child 5th Grade Promotion ceremony race to be specific. I was at the school today for the 5th grade clap out, and spoke to 2 black mothers with children in 2nd and 3rd grade, and they both told me that they now feel uncomfortable keeping their children at Lakewood and are considering private schools. Black families at Lakewood feel ostracized and I suspect things will only get more toxic until these extremists get what they want, which is getting the principal out. My child is done with Lakewood, but the idea of continuing to deal with such people is giving me pause about going to Frost and has me thinking about private school. I read in one of the conversations that they started that they were going to "watch her like a hawk" and " scrutinize every decision she makes" in hopes that she will resign, as the process to make her be removed from her principal role may take a couple of years. Sadly, I cannot say that i did not see this coming when she was introduced as the new principal.

The zoom calls were pretty one sided too. A sample of the parents leading the conversation. My experiences with Lakewood this year were pretty good. My kids enjoyed it (2nd and 3rd). I wanted to say something positive but I didn’t feel it was a forum for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the other posters. It is good advice to get more involved and “watch like a hawk” as someone put it (lol).

As with most things, including RJ, the problem with anti racist ideology is its implementation. This principal seems to be aggressively imposing this ideology on a mostly minority community that has many immigrant parents. My immigrant parents would have no clue what antiracist dogma she is babbling about. She is out of touch and hasn’t made the effort to understand who she is trying to lead and what their needs are.

Let's not forget, when it comes to these immigrant parents... there's a lot of generational trauma around educational access and political beliefs. My parents still bring up being pulled out of school and being sent down to the countryside because they were labelled as "bourgeois".

[Anonymous]

I think this principal would love to have a promotion to central office. She fits in with her current clique of leadership there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the other posters. It is good advice to get more involved and “watch like a hawk” as someone put it (lol).

As with most things, including RJ, the problem with anti racist ideology is its implementation. This principal seems to be aggressively imposing this ideology on a mostly minority community that has many immigrant parents. My immigrant parents would have no clue what antiracist dogma she is babbling about. She is out of touch and hasn’t made the effort to understand who she is trying to lead and what their needs are.

Let's not forget, when it comes to these immigrant parents... there's a lot of generational trauma around educational access and political beliefs. My parents still bring up being pulled out of school and being sent down to the countryside because they were labelled as "bourgeois".

Yes, so many stories and experiences to share in a diverse community. It’s tough, but important to navigate the nuances of each.

I’m still very upset about the teachers leaving and the apparent toxic environment of this school year. I do know that we have strong parent support of many races and that by being more involved next year we can hopefully help make the environment peaceful, fun, and most important, a place to receive the best advanced quality of education, for our children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So in yesterday's fifth grade promotion ceremony the students sang the "Black National Anthem".

I personally missed the title of it because I was watching the students. The music was drowning out the students and I couldn't really tell what was going on.

It wasn't until later that I heard people pointing out that the title on the screen was Black National Anthem and that several of their kids said that they didn't want to sing it.

I didn't even know that there was a Black National Anthem and you couldn't help but wonder if the technical difficulties were really a way of teachers protesting.

But this morning I had to look it up and found this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i30SdcfEpSE

And it's a beautiful song with a beautiful message, helped conveyed by the video too. And thinking about, it probably really was technical difficulties where it was probably one of the few songs that had background music/singing that students had to sing over.

But coming from Dr. Kelly, and having no background on the song and the way things have been going on, all the families saw on the big screen were the words Black National Anthem. So what were families supposed to think?

In regards to previous poster commenting about optics, this should've been put in consideration when choosing a principal for the school. If there's any conflicts with the community, it can't help looking the way it is because that's how the community is made up. Several years ago supposedly there was a community in MCPS that was able to change their principal because they wanted a principal that looked like them and could relate to them. So they were able to drive out that current principal and replace them with a principal of color. I'm not saying that it needs to go to that level but leadership should've considered the potential optics of this kind of thing. It's reasonable to expect conflicts with a principal.

And this isn't a "Black" thing. The principal at Frost, who is also Black, also gave a short speech. And a lot of people noted how different and positive his energy was compared to Dr. Kelly's. So people are hopeful for a more positive experience at Frost. MCPS has a lot of great Black leaders. The one major difference is that I would guess a lot of them are experienced.

The defenders of Dr. Kelly, or the ones willing to give her a benefit of the doubt, say that her issues are just due to her inexperience. And this leads to her communication issues. For example instead of coming in and seemingly saying:
"I'm going to change you all and make you all an antiracist community"

Something like this would've come across better:
"I value diversity and equity. I'm also a big supporter and believer in Dr. McKnight's mission.... In the coming years you can expect..."
and then of course make gradual changes depending on the type of changes.

Then with her staff, it probably would've been helpful to have discussions in advance on her plans and why she was going to make the changes. And if she thought some changes were more "beneficial" for them (ie they weren't doing a good job in their previous position) or their actions weren't acceptable, be frank about it, so it'd easier for them to take.

Then with last night's song. It would've helped a lot if she gave some background on the song. The community is already distrustful of her. So if all they see is the words Black National Anthem on the screen, it's kind of reasonable for them to be skeptical. I know I was when I found out.

It's kind of like Dr. Kelly said, the only way you learn to chop down a tree, is to actually go out and chop it down.

And if I'm willing to look at things in a different way, I can see how a lot of Dr. Kelly's issues is due to her inexperience, including her ignorance. But her inexperience, actions and decisions lead to questions if she really has the benefit of the students and school in mind. And I don't think many people are willing to let their students be negatively impacted while she's learning her way.

Also during the townhall meeting, it's not a good look when our kids come in and look at the screen and seeing other parents tear into Dr. Kelly or seeing her tear up and have her to turn off her screen for a moment. I've wanted to ask my kids if they hear anything from other kids about any opinions about Dr. Kelly but end up not wanting to because don't want them to have any seeds of negativity towards her. But who knows what goes on in other households and what kids hear.

Dr. Kelly really needs to reconsider how she comes across and some of her decisions and actions she's making. There's a big question on if she's willing to change and a lot of families see her as digging in and fighting back more. There's a question if she's ready and maybe would benefit of going through more training. And there's already a lot of damage done with the relationship in the community and I'm not sure how easy it would be to fix.

It's interesting how parents assume that principal are responsible for every decision made by the school especially something like promotion ceremony programming . Typically the song selections would be made by the music teacher with the 5th grade teacher and the programming would have also been a mutual decision by that team. I understand that as the school leader you have to own every decision made by your team but it's interesting how parents believe te principal needs to micromanage the promotion ceremony

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is an inexperienced principal coming in with sweeping changes that drove out the teachers that made this school great. A lot more consultations with the teachers and staff who've been here for 20 years and the parents before enacting sweeping reforms would be a start. She goes about this with an arrogant attitude that she knows better and your issues are none of her concern. That's the biggest problem.

Not inexperienced. Principals intern before being assigned. They are trained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this principal would love to have a promotion to central office. She fits in with her current clique of leadership there.

Welp. That's not racially charged at all.

[Anonymous]

Over or Under?

"She will be promoted to the Central Office in 5 years"

Under! The Central Office needs people with vision and leadership further establishing an anti-racist environment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this principal would love to have a promotion to central office. She fits in with her current clique of leadership there.

Welp. That's not racially charged at all.

[Anonymous]

McKnight is know to surround herself with like thinkers. Not a lot of diversity in terms of mission at the moment. Support for teachers seems to be an afterthought even though teaching staff is the greatest asset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is an inexperienced principal coming in with sweeping changes that drove out the teachers that made this school great. A lot more consultations with the teachers and staff who've been here for 20 years and the parents before enacting sweeping reforms would be a start. She goes about this with an arrogant attitude that she knows better and your issues are none of her concern. That's the biggest problem.

Not inexperienced. Principals intern before being assigned. They are trained.

Principal intern is still very inexperienced. Trained doesn’t equal experienced.