Lake Braddock needs a principal NOW

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, op here. what I didn't appreciate is the "I continue to receive phone calls and emails" Of course she would. The emails are unclear.

Is the cap gun related to the shooting threat? Not explained. Then not explained again in the 2nd email, and yes, I thought by saying *I continue to receive emails and calls* was setting a tone of being annoyed.

I'm glad the staff prefer her, but her email was totally unclear. She needed to spell it out and let us know what actions were being taken.

These are our kids. Mine was scared and crying this morning. I know of others. Parents stressed all day wondering if they did the right thing sending their kids. Some of my friends picked up early. Some kept kids home. Others sent them like I did.

Perhaps this is also directed at FCPS that I think they need to get their act together and start disciplining kids. LBSS also has multiple fights every day. I saw the annandale video, but there are plenty of tiktoks from LBSS just search for them with fights every week. I'm sure most FCPS are the same.

And teachers in this thread, I appreciate many of you. I feel like you need more support for discipline. I'm scared of how FCPS will be in 5 years.

But yes, I still think we deserve a full time, permanent principal. FCPS has the money to give you all raises(teachers and IA and everyone) if they'd stop with all the damn surveys and testing just for starters.

I can’t speak to LBSS on this specifically but I have an inside source at another school. What I am hearing is that behavior is worse since the pandemic as a general matter and discipline is less. The kids are in charge. Teachers have zero power. The kids talk back to the teachers and the teachers can’t do anything about it. There is no repercussions and no consequences. And the teachers know the admin won’t do anything if they refer kids to them. Lots of drugs in bathrooms.

FCPS doesn’t want to look like it has a lot of suspensions.

Kicking FCPS out of the general VA Schools Forum was not good for FCPS posters who, even more than before, think that FCPS is unique and alone in all of their decisions and issues.

[Anonymous]

“Annoyed tone” in her email??? You all are looking for any excuse to trash the school. There was no annoyed tone. You’re reading way too much into it. No wonder it’s so difficult to get excellent candidates. Why would anyone want to be a high school principal in FCPS? As a PP said, the pay doesn’t match the work. On top of that, they regularly get death threats from lunatics around the country because Fox News has decided to make them their whipping post for stupid nonissues like the National Merit participation trophies. Then there are parents who have to dissect every email. Yes, kids are out of control. It’s funny how people are here saying that FCPS needs to discipline them. What about the parents who let their kids have access to all this BS? It’s like they have no problem giving their kids the keys to a $100K sports car, but then want the school to discipline if they drive it too fast and crash it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, op here. what I didn't appreciate is the "I continue to receive phone calls and emails" Of course she would. The emails are unclear.

Is the cap gun related to the shooting threat? Not explained. Then not explained again in the 2nd email, and yes, I thought by saying *I continue to receive emails and calls* was setting a tone of being annoyed.

I'm glad the staff prefer her, but her email was totally unclear. She needed to spell it out and let us know what actions were being taken.

These are our kids. Mine was scared and crying this morning. I know of others. Parents stressed all day wondering if they did the right thing sending their kids. Some of my friends picked up early. Some kept kids home. Others sent them like I did.

Perhaps this is also directed at FCPS that I think they need to get their act together and start disciplining kids. LBSS also has multiple fights every day. I saw the annandale video, but there are plenty of tiktoks from LBSS just search for them with fights every week. I'm sure most FCPS are the same.

And teachers in this thread, I appreciate many of you. I feel like you need more support for discipline. I'm scared of how FCPS will be in 5 years.

But yes, I still think we deserve a full time, permanent principal. FCPS has the money to give you all raises(teachers and IA and everyone) if they'd stop with all the damn surveys and testing just for starters.

I can’t speak to LBSS on this specifically but I have an inside source at another school. What I am hearing is that behavior is worse since the pandemic as a general matter and discipline is less. The kids are in charge. Teachers have zero power. The kids talk back to the teachers and the teachers can’t do anything about it. There is no repercussions and no consequences. And the teachers know the admin won’t do anything if they refer kids to them. Lots of drugs in bathrooms.

FCPS doesn’t want to look like it has a lot of suspensions.

Kicking FCPS out of the general VA Schools Forum was not good for FCPS posters who, even more than before, think that FCPS is unique and alone in all of their decisions and issues.

+1. OP thinks her pyramid should be prioritized above all others just because of sheer size. Alexandria City HS is technically a bigger high school program than LB. Maybe we should prioritize them and their issues. Looking for a long-term principal? Get in line. There are elementary schools in FCPS you've probably never heard of that had issues with principal retention too. ES is arguably as critical as HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Annoyed tone” in her email??? You all are looking for any excuse to trash the school. There was no annoyed tone. You’re reading way too much into it. No wonder it’s so difficult to get excellent candidates. Why would anyone want to be a high school principal in FCPS? As a PP said, the pay doesn’t match the work. On top of that, they regularly get death threats from lunatics around the country because Fox News has decided to make them their whipping post for stupid nonissues like the National Merit participation trophies. Then there are parents who have to dissect every email. Yes, kids are out of control. It’s funny how people are here saying that FCPS needs to discipline them. What about the parents who let their kids have access to all this BS? It’s like they have no problem giving their kids the keys to a $100K sports car, but then want the school to discipline if they drive it too fast and crash it.

+1 The email is perfectly fine--OP is nitpicking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As compared to surrounding counties, we now pay principals less, give them less vacation, worse benefits, and ask them to work more days per year than all of the surrounding jurisdictions. Anyone expecting a wave of applicants like in the past is fooling themselves. No help coming until the SB gets serious about recruitment and retention for admins. Let’s be real, HS principals should be making 200k+ in this county like they can in Prince William

Yup. There has already been a wave of principals doing this. Doing 25 in Fairfax to get your FFX pension and then finishing out your last 5 in PWC to boost your VRS pension amount (based on your last 3 yrs of salary) is commonly talked about among principals now. Not to mention that the parent communities tend to be far less demanding/rude.[/quote]

2 Yups. Not just principals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, op here. what I didn't appreciate is the "I continue to receive phone calls and emails" Of course she would. The emails are unclear.

Is the cap gun related to the shooting threat? Not explained. Then not explained again in the 2nd email, and yes, I thought by saying *I continue to receive emails and calls* was setting a tone of being annoyed.

I'm glad the staff prefer her, but her email was totally unclear. She needed to spell it out and let us know what actions were being taken.

These are our kids. Mine was scared and crying this morning. I know of others. Parents stressed all day wondering if they did the right thing sending their kids. Some of my friends picked up early. Some kept kids home. Others sent them like I did.

My kid was not concerned. Like I told my friend last night whose kid was concerned - if you’re that concerned we should contact the school. That is what I think you should have done. Ultimately the way it ended for my friend’s kid was talking to a bunch of other kids - and one of their parents reached out to the school and that calmed them all down.

I actually got a good piece of advice from a dcum thread recently. The OP was annoyed about a kid fight at school & the parents not being informed of the fight or the consequences. And a poster said - it’s not like our parents were informed when kids fought when we went to school. That’s so true. And, my HS did have fights and frequent bomb threats for whatever reason. And we would have to evacuate. And my parents apparently didn’t get involved or freak out. They let the school handle. As a general matter, I like to consider: what would 80s parent do.

You apparently have missed all news since at least 2007. If you don't know why 2007 and the years since are significant, you truly don't get it. Using the 1980s as your yardstick for how to think about the place where your kid spends all day, every day, is a stunning example of burying your head in the sand.

And don't run back to say, but I was only talking about fights! That's just common kid behavior and the schools can handle that! OK. What's your yardstick there? You don't want to hear abou it, if it's just one fight a month? Fine. One a week? Uh, fine, maybe. As long as your kid's not involved, right? Should parents stop shrugging and want to know when fights are up to a few a week, or one a day? At what point do you want to know whether the school to which you entrust your kid or teen is doing a terrible job of controlling students?

NP. Parents are concerned, yes, but parents trying to be involved and informed and trying to micromanage schools has harmed schools and students and has not improved safety or behavior. The opposite, unfortunately.

YES!! THIS!! No one can do their jobs anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, op here. what I didn't appreciate is the "I continue to receive phone calls and emails" Of course she would. The emails are unclear.

Is the cap gun related to the shooting threat? Not explained. Then not explained again in the 2nd email, and yes, I thought by saying *I continue to receive emails and calls* was setting a tone of being annoyed.

I'm glad the staff prefer her, but her email was totally unclear. She needed to spell it out and let us know what actions were being taken.

These are our kids. Mine was scared and crying this morning. I know of others. Parents stressed all day wondering if they did the right thing sending their kids. Some of my friends picked up early. Some kept kids home. Others sent them like I did.

Perhaps this is also directed at FCPS that I think they need to get their act together and start disciplining kids. LBSS also has multiple fights every day. I saw the annandale video, but there are plenty of tiktoks from LBSS just search for them with fights every week. I'm sure most FCPS are the same.

And teachers in this thread, I appreciate many of you. I feel like you need more support for discipline. I'm scared of how FCPS will be in 5 years.

But yes, I still think we deserve a full time, permanent principal. FCPS has the money to give you all raises(teachers and IA and everyone) if they'd stop with all the damn surveys and testing just for starters.

I can’t speak to LBSS on this specifically but I have an inside source at another school. What I am hearing is that behavior is worse since the pandemic as a general matter and discipline is less. The kids are in charge. Teachers have zero power. The kids talk back to the teachers and the teachers can’t do anything about it. There is no repercussions and no consequences. And the teachers know the admin won’t do anything if they refer kids to them. Lots of drugs in bathrooms.

FCPS doesn’t want to look like it has a lot of suspensions.

Your source is correct. However, this is the case in every single public school system in America not just FCPS.