Call to discuss the state of Hardy 05/15/23

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy teacher here - expect many more staff departures after this recent development. No one wants to teach in a building where a small group of privileged parents have been empowered and now think they are going to control our school. Hardy just isn’t that special (there are hundreds of schools in DC that have vacancies). I’m out.

The number of parents that showed up to the meeting and then signed the petition is hardly a “small group” and most are hardly privileged. And if you really are a teacher in a classroom at Hardy, you will understand the concerns that motivated their actions perfectly.

This is the problem with upper NW parents. They think they are the experts on everything and are smarter than the adults with education degrees and hundreds of collective years of experience working in schools….The building had issues this year, yes. But it was not that extreme that the principal couldn’t be allowed to finish the last 21 days of the school year.

This is completely toxic and undermines every adult in the building. And we want no parts of it.

Isn’t Hardy designed to serve NW families? If so, they get to kick people out that aren’t serving their kids. Don’t choose to teach there if you don’t like it.

[Anonymous]

Good news for Hardy that a few parents were able to bully their way to get someone removed? Did he need to get removed? Absolutely Yes. Was it done in the right way? No. It was done in secret. It is the secrecy that's alarming especially for your children who were as blindsided as everyone else. Kids hold onto things like this. Our kids will need support on Monday to understand what happened and why it happened. The zealot PTO parent kids may be fine, but for the remaining 85% of our kids, they will need time and support in processing this sudden change. I hope PTO parents that you can also bully and get some extra counselors at the school on Monday to support our kids. The fighting needs to stop. We really do need to work together to do what is right for kids. They deserve it. They all deserve it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The principal knowingly concealed violence. He didn't inform his supervisors about incidents, even those involving MPD. He lied to parents and Central Office. DCPS realized they were sitting on a ticking time bomb and decided to act. They knew the stories were true; the records checked out.

And if your child was spared, like mine, you still had to deal with lagging academics and grotesquely uneven teaching quality.

There was scarcely a single thing working in that school this year.

This is completely indefensible yet we have self-proclaimed Hardy teachers on here not only defending such behavior but asserting that those parents who aren’t willing to tolerate it are a “clan” of racists? I for one will be very interested to see which Hardy teachers decide to protest their dissatisfaction with PJ’s removal next week, but will not be holding my breath waiting for it to happen.

[Anonymous]

It was not done in secret. You can't get hundreds of parents to sign a petition without holding public meetings and showing them all the things that are actually happening at the school where their kids maybe only see a fraction of it and share even less detail at home. These meetings happened over the course of the past few weeks, in person and on zoom, and were open to all Hardy stakeholders.

At the first one we attended, PJ made what was supposed to be a great "reset" speech. It reset nothing and left our family confused. Another meeting about next year's schedules and electives, which we were unable to attend, left our friends who did attend (and apparently everyone else) even more distressed. Then came the meeting that is the topic of this thread, where a half dozen parent leaders came clean about all the administrative, academic, athletic, and school safety problems in the school. This meeting was an all hands on deck, publicly accessible, open invitation to the Hardy community. It was not secret, and neither was the petition it launched (which mustered the support of a majority of the families in the school, just going by the numbers).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good news for Hardy that a few parents were able to bully their way to get someone removed? Did he need to get removed? Absolutely Yes. Was it done in the right way? No. It was done in secret. It is the secrecy that's alarming especially for your children who were as blindsided as everyone else. Kids hold onto things like this. Our kids will need support on Monday to understand what happened and why it happened. The zealot PTO parent kids may be fine, but for the remaining 85% of our kids, they will need time and support in processing this sudden change. I hope PTO parents that you can also bully and get some extra counselors at the school on Monday to support our kids. The fighting needs to stop. We really do need to work together to do what is right for kids. They deserve it. They all deserve it.

This is quite misinformed. I don't blame you for it though.

This was not sudden at all. DCPS become involved in earnest in January and spent months investigating. They eventually came to the inevitable conclusion that the situation was unsalvageable. Do you know why the IS was at the school like 20-30 days over the last few months? Maybe you didn't see him, but that was the point. He was seeing for himself what was going on. The Council has known about these issues for many months and had been inquiring too.

And what the IS saw matched what he heard, and what he read.

The six parent liaisons had been bringing issue after issue to Principal Johnson based upon parents emails to them. This went on bi-weekly for months, since the start of the year. When you have six working people trying to coordinate meeting plans, a lot gets committed to written records.

Then you have the PTO meeting regularly with Principal Johnson about issue after issue. Records here too.

Finally, you have literally dozens upon dozens of parents emailing directly with Principal Johnson -- and meeting with him -- all with attendant records.

It didn't start this way. The parents worked for months to prop up and build up the administration. He was a new principal, and he seemed eager. But this all never worked. It merely served to paper over the problems and hide from the broader community the very real problems already taking hold.

Then DCPS took a more active role in mentoring him and propping him up. Remember the initiative to have all teachers input grades into Aspen? That was a DCPS-imposed plan for Principal Johnson to obtain a small win as a proof-of-concept. It was not implemented at all with any fidelity. Then remember the behavior contracts that were sent out in Advisory to be signed and returned? A second DCPS-imposed plan that fizzled. Finally, remember the teachers being supposed to call each and every student to check on them during then PD day? Yeah, that didn't happen either. (At this point, some teachers ought to be feeling awfully guilty...)

The point is: this was not sudden. It was not private. It was not without excessive amounts of support being provided first. And, it was not without copious amounts of evidence. Those who are shocked that DCPS took such sudden, decisive action, knowing that that doesn't match their understanding of how DCPS does anything, ought to re-examine their assumptions about how sudden the action actually was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good news for Hardy that a few parents were able to bully their way to get someone removed? Did he need to get removed? Absolutely Yes. Was it done in the right way? No. It was done in secret. It is the secrecy that's alarming especially for your children who were as blindsided as everyone else. Kids hold onto things like this. Our kids will need support on Monday to understand what happened and why it happened. The zealot PTO parent kids may be fine, but for the remaining 85% of our kids, they will need time and support in processing this sudden change. I hope PTO parents that you can also bully and get some extra counselors at the school on Monday to support our kids. The fighting needs to stop. We really do need to work together to do what is right for kids. They deserve it. They all deserve it.

This is quite misinformed. I don't blame you for it though.

This was not sudden at all. DCPS become involved in earnest in January and spent months investigating. They eventually came to the inevitable conclusion that the situation was unsalvageable. Do you know why the IS was at the school like 20-30 days over the last few months? Maybe you didn't see him, but that was the point. He was seeing for himself what was going on. The Council has known about these issues for many months and had been inquiring too.

And what the IS saw matched what he heard, and what he read.

The six parent liaisons had been bringing issue after issue to Principal Johnson based upon parents emails to them. This went on bi-weekly for months, since the start of the year. When you have six working people trying to coordinate meeting plans, a lot gets committed to written records.

Then you have the PTO meeting regularly with Principal Johnson about issue after issue. Records here too.

Finally, you have literally dozens upon dozens of parents emailing directly with Principal Johnson -- and meeting with him -- all with attendant records.

It didn't start this way. The parents worked for months to prop up and build up the administration. He was a new principal, and he seemed eager. But this all never worked. It merely served to paper over the problems and hide from the broader community the very real problems already taking hold.

Then DCPS took a more active role in mentoring him and propping him up. Remember the initiative to have all teachers input grades into Aspen? That was a DCPS-imposed plan for Principal Johnson to obtain a small win as a proof-of-concept. It was not implemented at all with any fidelity. Then remember the behavior contracts that were sent out in Advisory to be signed and returned? A second DCPS-imposed plan that fizzled. Finally, remember the teachers being supposed to call each and every student to check on them during then PD day? Yeah, that didn't happen either. (At this point, some teachers ought to be feeling awfully guilty...)

The point is: this was not sudden. It was not private. It was not without excessive amounts of support being provided first. And, it was not without copious amounts of evidence. Those who are shocked that DCPS took such sudden, decisive action, knowing that that doesn't match their understanding of how DCPS does anything, ought to re-examine their assumptions about how sudden the action actually was.

[Anonymous]

That last sentence above is key.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal knowingly concealed violence. He didn't inform his supervisors about incidents, even those involving MPD. He lied to parents and Central Office. DCPS realized they were sitting on a ticking time bomb and decided to act. They knew the stories were true; the records checked out.

And if your child was spared, like mine, you still had to deal with lagging academics and grotesquely uneven teaching quality.

There was scarcely a single thing working in that school this year.

This is completely indefensible yet we have self-proclaimed Hardy teachers on here not only defending such behavior but asserting that those parents who aren’t willing to tolerate it are a “clan” of racists? I for one will be very interested to see which Hardy teachers decide to protest their dissatisfaction with PJ’s removal next week, but will not be holding my breath waiting for it to happen.

Again this is about race, power, and privilege. It’s about a “clan” of upper northwest parent causing hysteria and mobilizing like a mob. We live in America. We have seen this before. Much of what is being said about PJ and what took or is taking place at Hardy is simply not true. Yes, the school has issues and yes there is room for improvement. This os also true for all DCPS middle school— including Deal and Stuart Hobson. In fact, I challenge you to do a comparison of SH and Hardy and Deal. You will find very similar issues that DCPS middle schools. The issues are systemic and reflective of DCPS policies. What makes this a witch hunt and makes this about race is how this first year Black principal is being bullied and harassed by the Karens and Kens. If PJ was white this would be handled in a much different way. MCCray and Neal should be extremely concerned. This small group of very loud parents have the resources, time, privilege and complexion to make things happen. DCPS will of course pander to this group. I am sure IS Hughes was terrified that he would also raise the ire of said Karens and Kens. He went right along with it. Zero backbone to stand up to stand up for PJ and the kids of Hardy. What also makes this about race is the fact that DCPS is removing PJ yet schools across the district are having similar issues. Only the schools with privileged loud mouth parents matter. This is race and class.

Why this is about race— white schools and white administrators and white teachers not held to the same standards. The Hardy community and DCPS selected a first year young Black principal. They knew this was his first rodeo. The way he was treated by this group of terrorist is unacceptable. Only the kids will be impacted on Monday. Congratulation to the rabid PTO groups for pushing this man out of his job, destabilizing the school community even further, and reminding the entire city how race really works in chocolate city. Also congratulation on the new principal. Hopefully he will bow his head, not look you all in the eye and address you all as sir and mam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good news for Hardy that a few parents were able to bully their way to get someone removed? Did he need to get removed? Absolutely Yes. Was it done in the right way? No. It was done in secret. It is the secrecy that's alarming especially for your children who were as blindsided as everyone else. Kids hold onto things like this. Our kids will need support on Monday to understand what happened and why it happened. The zealot PTO parent kids may be fine, but for the remaining 85% of our kids, they will need time and support in processing this sudden change. I hope PTO parents that you can also bully and get some extra counselors at the school on Monday to support our kids. The fighting needs to stop. We really do need to work together to do what is right for kids. They deserve it. They all deserve it.

I don't have a kid at Hardy but I don't think "secret" means what you think it means. Based on what was posted on this thread there were multiple verticals working in public. The Principal was addressed directly and frequently about the concerns. What else would you have them do? Billboard? Sky writing?

[Anonymous]

You have such an impoverished world view that I feel badly for the children you perpetuate these beliefs upon. Accountability is not about race. Honestly is not about race. Competence is not about race. To say it is speaks to a complete inability to view things objectively, without your everything-is-racial lens obscuring the light.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal knowingly concealed violence. He didn't inform his supervisors about incidents, even those involving MPD. He lied to parents and Central Office. DCPS realized they were sitting on a ticking time bomb and decided to act. They knew the stories were true; the records checked out.

And if your child was spared, like mine, you still had to deal with lagging academics and grotesquely uneven teaching quality.

There was scarcely a single thing working in that school this year.

This is completely indefensible yet we have self-proclaimed Hardy teachers on here not only defending such behavior but asserting that those parents who aren’t willing to tolerate it are a “clan” of racists? I for one will be very interested to see which Hardy teachers decide to protest their dissatisfaction with PJ’s removal next week, but will not be holding my breath waiting for it to happen.

Again this is about race, power, and privilege. It’s about a “clan” of upper northwest parent causing hysteria and mobilizing like a mob. We live in America. We have seen this before. Much of what is being said about PJ and what took or is taking place at Hardy is simply not true. Yes, the school has issues and yes there is room for improvement. This os also true for all DCPS middle school— including Deal and Stuart Hobson. In fact, I challenge you to do a comparison of SH and Hardy and Deal. You will find very similar issues that DCPS middle schools. The issues are systemic and reflective of DCPS policies. What makes this a witch hunt and makes this about race is how this first year Black principal is being bullied and harassed by the Karens and Kens. If PJ was white this would be handled in a much different way. MCCray and Neal should be extremely concerned. This small group of very loud parents have the resources, time, privilege and complexion to make things happen. DCPS will of course pander to this group. I am sure IS Hughes was terrified that he would also raise the ire of said Karens and Kens. He went right along with it. Zero backbone to stand up to stand up for PJ and the kids of Hardy. What also makes this about race is the fact that DCPS is removing PJ yet schools across the district are having similar issues. Only the schools with privileged loud mouth parents matter. This is race and class.

Why this is about race— white schools and white administrators and white teachers not held to the same standards. The Hardy community and DCPS selected a first year young Black principal. They knew this was his first rodeo. The way he was treated by this group of terrorist is unacceptable. Only the kids will be impacted on Monday. Congratulation to the rabid PTO groups for pushing this man out of his job, destabilizing the school community even further, and reminding the entire city how race really works in chocolate city. Also congratulation on the new principal. Hopefully he will bow his head, not look you all in the eye and address you all as sir and mam.

This entire post sounds like someone asked chat GPT, "Give me a couple of paragraphs of cliché "white privilege" stuff complete with name calling using 'Karen'. Include whataboutism and also include deflection with references to other schools, even though I have no evidence that the same things happened at those other schools."

If you think white parents are going to stop advocating for their kids' education because you call them names, you badly misread your audience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal knowingly concealed violence. He didn't inform his supervisors about incidents, even those involving MPD. He lied to parents and Central Office. DCPS realized they were sitting on a ticking time bomb and decided to act. They knew the stories were true; the records checked out.

And if your child was spared, like mine, you still had to deal with lagging academics and grotesquely uneven teaching quality.

There was scarcely a single thing working in that school this year.

This is completely indefensible yet we have self-proclaimed Hardy teachers on here not only defending such behavior but asserting that those parents who aren’t willing to tolerate it are a “clan” of racists? I for one will be very interested to see which Hardy teachers decide to protest their dissatisfaction with PJ’s removal next week, but will not be holding my breath waiting for it to happen.

Again this is about race, power, and privilege. It’s about a “clan” of upper northwest parent causing hysteria and mobilizing like a mob. We live in America. We have seen this before. Much of what is being said about PJ and what took or is taking place at Hardy is simply not true. Yes, the school has issues and yes there is room for improvement. This os also true for all DCPS middle school— including Deal and Stuart Hobson. In fact, I challenge you to do a comparison of SH and Hardy and Deal. You will find very similar issues that DCPS middle schools. The issues are systemic and reflective of DCPS policies. What makes this a witch hunt and makes this about race is how this first year Black principal is being bullied and harassed by the Karens and Kens. If PJ was white this would be handled in a much different way. MCCray and Neal should be extremely concerned. This small group of very loud parents have the resources, time, privilege and complexion to make things happen. DCPS will of course pander to this group. I am sure IS Hughes was terrified that he would also raise the ire of said Karens and Kens. He went right along with it. Zero backbone to stand up to stand up for PJ and the kids of Hardy. What also makes this about race is the fact that DCPS is removing PJ yet schools across the district are having similar issues. Only the schools with privileged loud mouth parents matter. This is race and class.

Why this is about race— white schools and white administrators and white teachers not held to the same standards. The Hardy community and DCPS selected a first year young Black principal. They knew this was his first rodeo. The way he was treated by this group of terrorist is unacceptable. Only the kids will be impacted on Monday. Congratulation to the rabid PTO groups for pushing this man out of his job, destabilizing the school community even further, and reminding the entire city how race really works in chocolate city. Also congratulation on the new principal. Hopefully he will bow his head, not look you all in the eye and address you all as sir and mam.

This entire post sounds like someone asked chat GPT, "Give me a couple of paragraphs of cliché "white privilege" stuff complete with name calling using 'Karen'. Include whataboutism and also include deflection with references to other schools, even though I have no evidence that the same things happened at those other schools."

If you think white parents are going to stop advocating for their kids' education because you call them names, you badly misread your audience.

No one believes that the racist will stop being racist. No one believes the privileged will give up their privilege. This is why we continue to mobilize and fight racism. Stay tuned.

[Anonymous]

People reading this can either believe the numerous teachers on this thread that are ACTUALLY in the building everyday, or side with hysterical parents who are only in the building a handful of times a year and who get all their information from 12 year olds. From what I’ve deduced on this thread there are at least 4-5 different Hardy teachers that have posted that all is not what it seems with this situation at Hardy.

Please ask yourselves - what would we need to lie about? How does that benefit us? Our jobs are safe. We don’t win or lose anything by defending PJ at this point. If the building was up in flames as the hysterical PTO would like you to believe, why would any of us jump on an internet forum to defend said school? If the building was the dumpster fire they’d like you to believe, why would people continue to send their kids to school there day after day? If kids were in classrooms not learning or doing anything meaningful, why are your children continuing to grow academically and be super engaged all day at school and with homework?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal knowingly concealed violence. He didn't inform his supervisors about incidents, even those involving MPD. He lied to parents and Central Office. DCPS realized they were sitting on a ticking time bomb and decided to act. They knew the stories were true; the records checked out.

And if your child was spared, like mine, you still had to deal with lagging academics and grotesquely uneven teaching quality.

There was scarcely a single thing working in that school this year.

This is completely indefensible yet we have self-proclaimed Hardy teachers on here not only defending such behavior but asserting that those parents who aren’t willing to tolerate it are a “clan” of racists? I for one will be very interested to see which Hardy teachers decide to protest their dissatisfaction with PJ’s removal next week, but will not be holding my breath waiting for it to happen.

Again this is about race, power, and privilege. It’s about a “clan” of upper northwest parent causing hysteria and mobilizing like a mob. We live in America. We have seen this before. Much of what is being said about PJ and what took or is taking place at Hardy is simply not true. Yes, the school has issues and yes there is room for improvement. This os also true for all DCPS middle school— including Deal and Stuart Hobson. In fact, I challenge you to do a comparison of SH and Hardy and Deal. You will find very similar issues that DCPS middle schools. The issues are systemic and reflective of DCPS policies. What makes this a witch hunt and makes this about race is how this first year Black principal is being bullied and harassed by the Karens and Kens. If PJ was white this would be handled in a much different way. MCCray and Neal should be extremely concerned. This small group of very loud parents have the resources, time, privilege and complexion to make things happen. DCPS will of course pander to this group. I am sure IS Hughes was terrified that he would also raise the ire of said Karens and Kens. He went right along with it. Zero backbone to stand up to stand up for PJ and the kids of Hardy. What also makes this about race is the fact that DCPS is removing PJ yet schools across the district are having similar issues. Only the schools with privileged loud mouth parents matter. This is race and class.

Why this is about race— white schools and white administrators and white teachers not held to the same standards. The Hardy community and DCPS selected a first year young Black principal. They knew this was his first rodeo. The way he was treated by this group of terrorist is unacceptable. Only the kids will be impacted on Monday. Congratulation to the rabid PTO groups for pushing this man out of his job, destabilizing the school community even further, and reminding the entire city how race really works in chocolate city. Also congratulation on the new principal. Hopefully he will bow his head, not look you all in the eye and address you all as sir and mam.

This entire post sounds like someone asked chat GPT, "Give me a couple of paragraphs of cliché "white privilege" stuff complete with name calling using 'Karen'. Include whataboutism and also include deflection with references to other schools, even though I have no evidence that the same things happened at those other schools."

If you think white parents are going to stop advocating for their kids' education because you call them names, you badly misread your audience.

Oh my god some of you suck. I hope it doesn’t rub off on your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal knowingly concealed violence. He didn't inform his supervisors about incidents, even those involving MPD. He lied to parents and Central Office. DCPS realized they were sitting on a ticking time bomb and decided to act. They knew the stories were true; the records checked out.

And if your child was spared, like mine, you still had to deal with lagging academics and grotesquely uneven teaching quality.

There was scarcely a single thing working in that school this year.

This is completely indefensible yet we have self-proclaimed Hardy teachers on here not only defending such behavior but asserting that those parents who aren’t willing to tolerate it are a “clan” of racists? I for one will be very interested to see which Hardy teachers decide to protest their dissatisfaction with PJ’s removal next week, but will not be holding my breath waiting for it to happen.

Again this is about race, power, and privilege. It’s about a “clan” of upper northwest parent causing hysteria and mobilizing like a mob. We live in America. We have seen this before. Much of what is being said about PJ and what took or is taking place at Hardy is simply not true. Yes, the school has issues and yes there is room for improvement. This os also true for all DCPS middle school— including Deal and Stuart Hobson. In fact, I challenge you to do a comparison of SH and Hardy and Deal. You will find very similar issues that DCPS middle schools. The issues are systemic and reflective of DCPS policies. What makes this a witch hunt and makes this about race is how this first year Black principal is being bullied and harassed by the Karens and Kens. If PJ was white this would be handled in a much different way. MCCray and Neal should be extremely concerned. This small group of very loud parents have the resources, time, privilege and complexion to make things happen. DCPS will of course pander to this group. I am sure IS Hughes was terrified that he would also raise the ire of said Karens and Kens. He went right along with it. Zero backbone to stand up to stand up for PJ and the kids of Hardy. What also makes this about race is the fact that DCPS is removing PJ yet schools across the district are having similar issues. Only the schools with privileged loud mouth parents matter. This is race and class.

Why this is about race— white schools and white administrators and white teachers not held to the same standards. The Hardy community and DCPS selected a first year young Black principal. They knew this was his first rodeo. The way he was treated by this group of terrorist is unacceptable. Only the kids will be impacted on Monday. Congratulation to the rabid PTO groups for pushing this man out of his job, destabilizing the school community even further, and reminding the entire city how race really works in chocolate city. Also congratulation on the new principal. Hopefully he will bow his head, not look you all in the eye and address you all as sir and mam.

This entire post sounds like someone asked chat GPT, "Give me a couple of paragraphs of cliché "white privilege" stuff complete with name calling using 'Karen'. Include whataboutism and also include deflection with references to other schools, even though I have no evidence that the same things happened at those other schools."

If you think white parents are going to stop advocating for their kids' education because you call them names, you badly misread your audience.

No one believes that the racist will stop being racist. No one believes the privileged will give up their privilege. This is why we continue to mobilize and fight racism. Stay tuned.

This actually sounds like someone who is fed up with the privilege and race games that are played in upper north west. Advocating for your child is very different than being a bully.