Haycock class changes

[Anonymous]

I imagine some of the teachers are just telling the parents what they want to hear to avoid the wrath of the angry parents. You all sound seriously insane. This is public school. FCPS lets principals run their schools how they choose. I agree with whoever upthread said you were lucky he had a meeting to hear you out.

I wonder if it's more difficult to hire at a school with so many strident parents vs. a school with normal parents.

[Anonymous]

So students are already divided into general ed and AAP classrooms. All this uproar is because the principal wants the differentiating to happen in the classroom/homeroom rather than having students move around for every subject?

I must be missing something (?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So students are already divided into general ed and AAP classrooms. All this uproar is because the principal wants the differentiating to happen in the classroom/homeroom rather than having students move around for every subject?

I must be missing something (?).

That's it. Although differentiation in the classroom varies by teacher from some to nothing. The uproar is about ending departmentalization in the lower grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So students are already divided into general ed and AAP classrooms. All this uproar is because the principal wants the differentiating to happen in the classroom/homeroom rather than having students move around for every subject?

I must be missing something (?).

That's it. Although differentiation in the classroom varies by teacher from some to nothing. The uproar is about ending departmentalization in the lower grades.

And the classrooms in grades 3-6 are already divided up between GE and AAP.

So kids in grades K-2 were changing classrooms for all the different subjects based on their levels? Like tracking for each subject?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So students are already divided into general ed and AAP classrooms. All this uproar is because the principal wants the differentiating to happen in the classroom/homeroom rather than having students move around for every subject?

I must be missing something (?).

That's it. Although differentiation in the classroom varies by teacher from some to nothing. The uproar is about ending departmentalization in the lower grades.

This is not correct. Currently part of 4th grade, all of 5th and all of 6th are departmentalized. The administration decided to end it for all but 6th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So students are already divided into general ed and AAP classrooms. All this uproar is because the principal wants the differentiating to happen in the classroom/homeroom rather than having students move around for every subject?

I must be missing something (?).

That's it. Although differentiation in the classroom varies by teacher from some to nothing. The uproar is about ending departmentalization in the lower grades.

This is not correct. Currently part of 4th grade, all of 5th and all of 6th are departmentalized. The administration decided to end it for all but 6th grade.

Fire him! /s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I imagine some of the teachers are just telling the parents what they want to hear to avoid the wrath of the angry parents. You all sound seriously insane. This is public school. FCPS lets principals run their schools how they choose. I agree with whoever upthread said you were lucky he had a meeting to hear you out.

I wonder if it's more difficult to hire at a school with so many strident parents vs. a school with normal parents.

This is total BS. It was a PTA meeting, not a meeting the principal initiated. The meeting was a result of the uproar he created by poorly rolling out a pretty big change for which he received no input from the community or teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No other FCPS elementary allows parents to dictate how the school is run. Principals have wide latitude. Many would not even held a forum to discuss the changes before hand.

Except perhaps Chesterbrook and now they can't find a permanent Principal.

Our school lets about four parents dictate what happens at the school. That ends up far worse because it's playing favorites rather than a meeting that involves all parents. I really don't understand the issue people have with the parents. Things were going well and people were happy and now admin wants to make a change. Why shouldn't that be discussed with the entire school community? Maybe the parents shouldn't have a final say, but it should be out in the open that this change is happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No other FCPS elementary allows parents to dictate how the school is run. Principals have wide latitude. Many would not even held a forum to discuss the changes before hand.

Except perhaps Chesterbrook and now they can't find a permanent Principal.

Our school lets about four parents dictate what happens at the school. That ends up far worse because it's playing favorites rather than a meeting that involves all parents. I really don't understand the issue people have with the parents. Things were going well and people were happy and now admin wants to make a change. Why shouldn't that be discussed with the entire school community? Maybe the parents shouldn't have a final say, but it should be out in the open that this change is happening.

+1. and they gave zero coherent reason for considering the change. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, or at least make a compelling argument that if something is working well, you're making a change that's going to make it even better. They did neither.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No other FCPS elementary allows parents to dictate how the school is run. Principals have wide latitude. Many would not even held a forum to discuss the changes before hand.

Except perhaps Chesterbrook and now they can't find a permanent Principal.

Our school lets about four parents dictate what happens at the school. That ends up far worse because it's playing favorites rather than a meeting that involves all parents. I really don't understand the issue people have with the parents. Things were going well and people were happy and now admin wants to make a change. Why shouldn't that be discussed with the entire school community? Maybe the parents shouldn't have a final say, but it should be out in the open that this change is happening.

+1. and they gave zero coherent reason for considering the change. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, or at least make a compelling argument that if something is working well, you're making a change that's going to make it even better. They did neither.

Actually, the notice stated the students are losing classroom instruction time due to the all changing rooms. They also said staying in one class would help strengthen the student-teacher relationship with the main teachers. Lastly, they noted that keeping the students in one room would be better for all learners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I imagine some of the teachers are just telling the parents what they want to hear to avoid the wrath of the angry parents. You all sound seriously insane. This is public school. FCPS lets principals run their schools how they choose. I agree with whoever upthread said you were lucky he had a meeting to hear you out.

I wonder if it's more difficult to hire at a school with so many strident parents vs. a school with normal parents.

This is absolutely not the case. The parents are following the teachers' lead here. Like every single parent with whom I have spoken, I can see the pros and cons of departmentalization. There may be a few parents who care deeply about this particular issue but not many. What every parent cares about is teacher retention, stability, and a strong sense of community. It has become apparent that the teachers are very unhappy and the parents are legitimately upset about the idea that this will be the third year in a row that the teachers leave in extraordinarily high numbers.

[Anonymous]

One thing is for sure, this thread has move pages/replies than most of the others put together. Haycock's Q rating is through the roof.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I imagine some of the teachers are just telling the parents what they want to hear to avoid the wrath of the angry parents. You all sound seriously insane. This is public school. FCPS lets principals run their schools how they choose. I agree with whoever upthread said you were lucky he had a meeting to hear you out.

I wonder if it's more difficult to hire at a school with so many strident parents vs. a school with normal parents.

This is absolutely not the case. The parents are following the teachers' lead here. Like every single parent with whom I have spoken, I can see the pros and cons of departmentalization. There may be a few parents who care deeply about this particular issue but not many. What every parent cares about is teacher retention, stability, and a strong sense of community. It has become apparent that the teachers are very unhappy and the parents are legitimately upset about the idea that this will be the third year in a row that the teachers leave in extraordinarily high numbers.

Haycock parent for nearly a decade and yes, I agree with the 2nd pp... the issue is not the change in teaching strategy, but supporting our great teachers who are feeling very unsupported and demoralized under this current principal. Yes, it is a public school but it is a high performing one and parents are an important part of this community. Great teachers leaving directly impacts our kids... and if there is something that parents can do to right this or facilitate change to correct this very concerning trajectory they should -- it is far from insane or crazy to want to do this -- in America we should have --and do have -- a voice in improving our public institutions. Kudos to the parents and teachers that attended last night, and I hear great efforts by the PTA to bring things to a conclusion to identify some clear next steps. Thanks too the the principal for facing the crowd... I respect him for that and hope that he can figure out a way to either get with the program or move onto another school -- perhaps where parents are happy to sit on their hands. (which school are you at 1st PP?) At the end of the day, we all want the same thing -- a great learning experience and environment for our kids. Key to that are great teachers that feel supported and encouraged to do their best in the classrooms... not sure we have that right now....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So who do you want to be the principal at Haycock and why do you think any administrator in his or her right mind would take on the job?

We didn't have kids at Haycock, but I have a good enough memory to remember when the parents were attacking Kelly Sheers for not persuading FCPS to build a larger addition at Haycock and instead supporting the move of some of the AAP students to Lemon Road. It seems the parents there are never happy.

I was at haycock during that time and this is not how I remember it at all. Kelly Sheers listened to the parents. Parents were not angry at the principal in this case--they were angry at Janie Strauss.

Nope. When she said she supported the move of some kids to Lemon Road, the parents went after her with a vengeance for “throwing kids under the bus.” Granted, most of those families are now at Lemon Road, but that’s how they behaved while they were at Haycock.

And those parents were not originally at Haycock! They were from a feeder school that got placed at Haycock for AAP. So if you’d like to turn this into an across the board AAP parent issue, regarding multiple schools, fine. The take home issue at last nights meeting was unfortunately not just about changing a program, it was about the PTA(Parent Teacher Association) advocating for the teachers. Haycock is a good school, everyone wants the teachers to stay. Communication needs to be better(principal apologized and stated this several times last night). Respect between admin and teachers needs to be re-established.

OK. My distinct sense is that Haycock has a lot of high-achieving kids and parents who work themselves into a frenzy every few years and are quite comfortable expressing themselves without much of a filter.

IME that's not the case at Longfellow or McLean. The principal at Longfellow doesn't put up with it, so the parents know that yelling gets them nowhere, and McLean is just more relaxed (perhaps because some of the AAP kids have peeled off to TJ and privates).

Good luck with your school and its principal - sincerely. Hope it all works out for the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No other FCPS elementary allows parents to dictate how the school is run. Principals have wide latitude. Many would not even held a forum to discuss the changes before hand.

Except perhaps Chesterbrook and now they can't find a permanent Principal.

Our school lets about four parents dictate what happens at the school. That ends up far worse because it's playing favorites rather than a meeting that involves all parents. I really don't understand the issue people have with the parents. Things were going well and people were happy and now admin wants to make a change. Why shouldn't that be discussed with the entire school community? Maybe the parents shouldn't have a final say, but it should be out in the open that this change is happening.

+1. and they gave zero coherent reason for considering the change. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, or at least make a compelling argument that if something is working well, you're making a change that's going to make it even better. They did neither.

Actually, the notice stated the students are losing classroom instruction time due to the all changing rooms. They also said staying in one class would help strengthen the student-teacher relationship with the main teachers. Lastly, they noted that keeping the students in one room would be better for all learners.

Sure, those were the reasons that were given, and while they may have merit, they certainly don't clearly outweigh the benefits of the current system. If there were/are compelling reasons, then I'd love to hear them. Last night they tried to stand behind the resource teacher person and her seemingly random study (which that Bo guy took apart) to justify why they were doing it with no specifics, no metrics, and really, just opinion. It was bizarre to see such a major decision made with these as the drivers. Obviously what's worse is the roll out that the principal repeatedly regretted, though not enough to have apologized to the staff before this meeting. Even the physical location was extreme, all the teachers at one table, the admin with the random FCPS person in a circle at the front. What I found very telling was how the questions were eventually focused to the principal rather than any of the other admin folks as it was on him. This seemed to let the assistant principals free of responsibility, and I'm not sure if they actually supported the decision or were following along out of duty by presenting at the beginning.