That Takoma Principal Part 2

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Clayton is a nice guy. Don’t believe these stories.

Are you saying it didn't happen? Did he say that or did he not?

DP. He absolutely did say it. And also, in some ways, he really is a nice guy. I truly believe he cares deeply about each and every kid at Takoma - he has a heart for them and it's a warm environment in that regard. But he's not a good manager or administrator, he has a tendency to be extremely defensive and prickly and he gives out favors to friends vs nurturing talent wherever it is found. He treats teachers like his pawns instead of colleagues. And he is -- I cannot stress this enough -- an abysmal communicator. He rambles, he digresses, he backtracks, he alludes, he repeats, and in the end: he has conveyed no information.

He's a human person, not a monster or a saint. But I don't think his personality is right for a principal position and I don't think he's doing a good job.

This is a pretty good summation of Clayton. I would just add, he also lies incessantly. Whatever he tells you to your face will be the complete opposite he shares with someone else. Whatever is the easiest answer for him to let you leave thinking he is a "nice guy", so I can see why people are easily fooled by that

Not at Takoma, but this is interesting because we are at a school people love but I have similar feelings about our principal. He plays favorites (teachers and families) and deflects problems. Some communication is good, some not. He does many good things and people think there is no bad. He is a human person, not a monster or a saint. But if you view any principal as one or the other, there can be issues down the road in ignoring real problems or creating fake problems.

This is a classic “fine-time” leadership problem. A principal who genuinely cares about students but struggles to take negative feedback and address problems constructively. Their good intentions to protect friends and reward loyalty end up creating divisions, lowering morale, and pushing talented teachers outside the inner circle to quietly leave. Over time, the school is left with mostly loyal yes people rather than high performing staff, which hurts the quality of education and ultimately affects students.

This is literally the personality DCPS selects for when hiring principals - they want yes-people who will do whatever central office says and not bring them problems.

Well that clearly failed here as he spent last night trying to defend protecting a teacher who has been verbally and emotionally abusing children for two years and blamed the parents for it all

DP,
No that’s not what a ‘yes person’ is to DCPS. Following DCPS initiatives, of course they’d rather not be sued but since you can easily blame just the teacher for the abuse -DCPS will not care.

And that incident isn’t widely known or proven (from my understanding). So it doesn’t change the school from seeming like a good choice.

This . . . is not what this thread is about.

The incident is widely-enough known that they brought in an Assistant Superintendent to talk about the response at the PTO meeting convened to address it, so I'm not sure what you get out of pretending this is some unfounded rumor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe his contract at Takoma runs through next school year, so he’ll likely stay in place for now. That said, given the recent pattern, I expect a number of strong teachers will leave again after this year ends.

Leave? He needs to be reported to the Chancellor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just had an insane crash out on a PTO call. Among the highlights:

Told the parents they were lucky to have someone as great as him and he could move himself and his family anywhere

That they were the most disrespectful PTO he had ever met

Nobody in the world has a harder job than him and how dare families ask hard questions of him, a black male

Yep, I saw the writing on the wall when he told staff ‘he does this kind of job because his wife is a lawyer and so we need to do a better job because now he deserves highly effective, he doesn’t care about DC politics blah, blah.’ He’s insane.

He has screamed at staff and has been an ineffective leader.

I should have realized there’d flag when in the interview a question was: ‘How do you feel about a leader who wants something right when he wants it, every time?’

I am glad he showed a glimpse of what he is like towards staff to parents.
People always talk about holding teachers accountable but truly many school ‘leaders’ are the worst.
Their union also moves in total anonymity.

YES! If that is how he is acting in public, in front of his "clients", just imagine what he's doing to his employees

[Anonymous]

Does anyone think leadership have something to do with the widening gap between Takoma and Whittier in terms of test scores? Whittier has improved drastically over the past few years, while Takoma has pretty much stagnated. Demographics are pretty similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think leadership have something to do with the widening gap between Takoma and Whittier in terms of test scores? Whittier has improved drastically over the past few years, while Takoma has pretty much stagnated. Demographics are pretty similar.

Whittier has always had better neighborhood buy-in and they have a more cohesive admin, for sure. But Takoma has about 10% ELL which definitely impacts proficiency scores. Both schools are on an upward trajectory, but I think Whittier is a couple of steps ahead academically. A couple of yards behind facility-wise, unfortunately, and I hope they don't lose momentum when they move to the swing space.

[Anonymous]

Y'all don't want to know what it is like to work for that man. He is unhinged.
He is so unprofessional, combative and abrasive. He has known about "that 4th grade teacher" (who he celebrates in meetings) several of us have voiced concerns. He stands up for her and covers for those that are in his in-crowd. The list goes on and on, but many of us walk on eggshells and tiptoe around his ego just to protect ourselves from him poisoning our career growth or reputation with other principals in the area.
There is a reason that Takoma is full of new teachers. There is a reason that the turn over is higher than other schools in the area. We teachers love your kids, but trust me. That has NOTHING to do with Clayton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think leadership have something to do with the widening gap between Takoma and Whittier in terms of test scores? Whittier has improved drastically over the past few years, while Takoma has pretty much stagnated. Demographics are pretty similar.

Whittier has always had better neighborhood buy-in and they have a more cohesive admin, for sure. But Takoma has about 10% *higher* ELL which definitely impacts proficiency scores. Both schools are on an upward trajectory, but I think Whittier is a couple of steps ahead academically. A couple of yards behind facility-wise, unfortunately, and I hope they don't lose momentum when they move to the swing space.

Sorry, fixed my typo which significantly changes the comment. D'oh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Y'all don't want to know what it is like to work for that man. He is unhinged.
He is so unprofessional, combative and abrasive. He has known about "that 4th grade teacher" (who he celebrates in meetings) several of us have voiced concerns. He stands up for her and covers for those that are in his in-crowd. The list goes on and on, but many of us walk on eggshells and tiptoe around his ego just to protect ourselves from him poisoning our career growth or reputation with other principals in the area.
There is a reason that Takoma is full of new teachers. There is a reason that the turn over is higher than other schools in the area. We teachers love your kids, but trust me. That has NOTHING to do with Clayton.

As a parent at TKES who has heard Clayton sh*t-talking one teacher to another - in front of parents - I cannot imagine what it would be like to work for him. And every year that he makes every teacher change grades like musical chairs is another year of teachers not being able to build upon a lesson plan incorporating what they learned last year. He can hurry up and take his talents to Whereverville afaic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Y'all don't want to know what it is like to work for that man. He is unhinged.
He is so unprofessional, combative and abrasive. He has known about "that 4th grade teacher" (who he celebrates in meetings) several of us have voiced concerns. He stands up for her and covers for those that are in his in-crowd. The list goes on and on, but many of us walk on eggshells and tiptoe around his ego just to protect ourselves from him poisoning our career growth or reputation with other principals in the area.
There is a reason that Takoma is full of new teachers. There is a reason that the turn over is higher than other schools in the area. We teachers love your kids, but trust me. That has NOTHING to do with Clayton.

I’m sorry you’re experiencing this. It is not okay for him to protect a teacher who is being accused of abusing students. I thought school staff are all mandatory reporters and legally required to report suspicion of abuse to authorities. He might be violating both professional responsibilities and the law.

[Anonymous]

Former Takoma teacher here.

I got into teaching because I love it. I’m passionate and driven and I would do anything for my students.

Working for Clayton almost completely destroyed my passion, and made me actively suicidal. He is Janus (the god of deception) personified. He will say one thing to your face and then trash you up and down behind your back. He leaves no room for his staff to grow in their profession, no matter how much they want to. He has a weird hang up about his white staff, treating them FAR differently than his staff of color. I would go home sobbing every night, and I’d sit in the parking lot in the mornings trying to force myself to go in the building. He moves his staff around as punishment and weaponizes Impact scores. Working for him, and really the whole admin team, is like navigating a minefield every day of your life. My family was genuinely concerned that I would harm myself.

And then I switched to a different school district and found my passion again. I work for an admin that encourages my growth, makes it clear that the mental health of staff is just as important as the mental health of students, and wants to create the best possible environment for both students and staff. We have a pretty unique population in our school, and my admin is fully committed to doing everything possible for everyone who sets foot in the building. I remember why I love teaching now, and plan to do it for a long time.

Y’all know he is here because he failed in Florida, right? He was demoted from his administrative position and came to DC because he got his panties in a twist about it. He created an admin position out of thin air for his bestie (who couldn’t make it as a teacher because his students were absolutely terrified of him), and now that person spends his entire day antagonizing the students.

Clayton makes a big show of calling himself “the PrinciPAL,” but the truth is that he’s only a pal if you’re willing to bow and scrape and grovel. If you have an actual opinion and it’s different from his? Good luck, you’ll be miserable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former Takoma teacher here.

I got into teaching because I love it. I’m passionate and driven and I would do anything for my students.

Working for Clayton almost completely destroyed my passion, and made me actively suicidal. He is Janus (the god of deception) personified. He will say one thing to your face and then trash you up and down behind your back. He leaves no room for his staff to grow in their profession, no matter how much they want to. He has a weird hang up about his white staff, treating them FAR differently than his staff of color. I would go home sobbing every night, and I’d sit in the parking lot in the mornings trying to force myself to go in the building. He moves his staff around as punishment and weaponizes Impact scores. Working for him, and really the whole admin team, is like navigating a minefield every day of your life. My family was genuinely concerned that I would harm myself.

And then I switched to a different school district and found my passion again. I work for an admin that encourages my growth, makes it clear that the mental health of staff is just as important as the mental health of students, and wants to create the best possible environment for both students and staff. We have a pretty unique population in our school, and my admin is fully committed to doing everything possible for everyone who sets foot in the building. I remember why I love teaching now, and plan to do it for a long time.

Y’all know he is here because he failed in Florida, right? He was demoted from his administrative position and came to DC because he got his panties in a twist about it. He created an admin position out of thin air for his bestie (who couldn’t make it as a teacher because his students were absolutely terrified of him), and now that person spends his entire day antagonizing the students.

Clayton makes a big show of calling himself “the PrinciPAL,” but the truth is that he’s only a pal if you’re willing to bow and scrape and grovel. If you have an actual opinion and it’s different from his? Good luck, you’ll be miserable.

This is an apt description of many DCPS principals, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clayton is a nice guy. Don’t believe these stories.

Are you saying it didn't happen? Did he say that or did he not?

DP. He absolutely did say it. And also, in some ways, he really is a nice guy. I truly believe he cares deeply about each and every kid at Takoma - he has a heart for them and it's a warm environment in that regard. But he's not a good manager or administrator, he has a tendency to be extremely defensive and prickly and he gives out favors to friends vs nurturing talent wherever it is found. He treats teachers like his pawns instead of colleagues. And he is -- I cannot stress this enough -- an abysmal communicator. He rambles, he digresses, he backtracks, he alludes, he repeats, and in the end: he has conveyed no information.

He's a human person, not a monster or a saint. But I don't think his personality is right for a principal position and I don't think he's doing a good job.

This is a pretty good summation of Clayton. I would just add, he also lies incessantly. Whatever he tells you to your face will be the complete opposite he shares with someone else. Whatever is the easiest answer for him to let you leave thinking he is a "nice guy", so I can see why people are easily fooled by that

The DCPS principal I work for is so “nice” but does the same thing. Says whatever the person they are speaking with wants to hear. And throws you under the bus real quick to save themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think leadership have something to do with the widening gap between Takoma and Whittier in terms of test scores? Whittier has improved drastically over the past few years, while Takoma has pretty much stagnated. Demographics are pretty similar.

Yes. Whittier’s principal is a strong leader.

[Anonymous]

So did the principal's boss (instructional superintendent) have to get involved following this incident with the PTO meeting? And also, has anyone here elaborated on what the perceived issue with the fourth grade is at Takoma?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So did the principal's boss (instructional superintendent) have to get involved following this incident with the PTO meeting? And also, has anyone here elaborated on what the perceived issue with the fourth grade is at Takoma?

The superintendent is resigning in June. I don't have the strength in me to talk about all the horrible things this teacher has done since arriving to takoma. All I'll say for now is multiple great educators have left, including mid year, rather than working with her. And Clayton excuses it all behind the scenes. And Robinson doesn't see any issue with her, excuses others of bias and does whatever he can to protect her