DC Schools & Their Horrible Leaders
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
I agree that Rhee "used and abused" us- and then left us holding a big bag by abolishing 6th grade at Elementary Schools by establishing worthless and badly thought out "Education Campuses" which are now being abolished by giving the OOB feeder rights in perpetuity in 2009 - Deal and Wilson overcrowding in a nutshell before that kids had to lottery into ES, MS, and HS Why did the DME Henderson etc have this massive blind spot re Rhee's monstrous creation which is causing so many of the WOTP problems - that was a right of 5 years folks vs feeder patterns of 40 years by taking the NCLB teachers are responsible to the next level and creating a massive cheating scandal that the subsequent administration aka Kaya, her hand picked totally "yes m'am" feckless successor failed to even adequately investigate = shameful but when you speak about the pre Rhee "DC way," you up and lose me and everyone else who grew up under the DC Barry way............. Rhee was at least different, and while I think she is morally bankrupt for using us as a stepping stone to better things and abandoning us and taking no responsibility for the feeder rights in perpetuity debacle and leaving an unworthy sucessor to be absolutely honest, you sound completely unhinged Child in DCPS with a good principal already mentioned on this thread, and I am not going to take your race baiting. What is Melissa Kim? Chopped liver? You have completely undermined your credibility here - care to rehabilitate it by being honest about who and what your agenda is honestly about, stems from, and is directed towards? Agree with pp that the one issue you mentioned specifically could have been caused and interpreted many different ways. Got anything else? |
Anonymous
| School safety is horrendous and isn't taken seriously. There isn't a "safe space" EoTP. Administrators hide what really happens in the classroom. There should be a control board to oversee the entire central office, or replace them because the attitude problem is too endemic. BTW, have you seen how much these central office bureaucrats are making? That's not value. |
Anonymous
Not only do I like my principal, I also like the school culture, including safety. Yeah, EoTP, where you claim that none exist. Do you have any evidence to support your claim? Who are you that you have insight into all EoTP schools? I think you're just bitter. |
Anonymous
|
[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP,
What is your agenda? Or where do you fit in this equation? A concerned parent? A member of Central Admin? A reporter? I get that you are confused and interested in insight but other than giving examples of what you have deemed "horrible leaders," I just don't understand where you are coming from. I followed the Howard Middle School story in the beginning and as an observer it came across as a bunch of parents in collusion with a group of teachers that didn't like being told what to do. Maybe your perspective is wrong.[/quote] Whatever the issues were with the teachers , they were leaving! A decent person would've left it at that. A leader who was losing a bunch of insubordinate malcontents may have thrown a party. Pushing the issue by FIRING teachers who'd submitted resignations? And doing so in such demeaning fashion was unprofessional, wrong and the fact that you see no problem with that tactic is an example of the types of leadership issues unique to DC. And when have you ever known PARENTS to side with teachers who are wrong and not doing right by their children? Some of you will spin anything to be a teacher's fault.[/quote] I'm not spinning anything. I said I was an observer which means I got all my information through the media. This is what I read saw: - Parents speaking to the media - Reports that parents hired an outside person/body to mediate the situation -- WAAAAHH? That's a red flag right there. - Teachers had submitted their resignations - Principal elected to terminate their employment Other than that, details, whether or not they are not are being posted to here to drum up support for the horridness of the DC school leaders. For all I know, which I don't, those teachers were in the classroom saying negative/harmful things about the leadership of the school to the students. If that's the case, they should have been removed, as they were. Assuming what is posted here is true, which I also do not know, is that the principal is a narcissistic fool who treats people badly to boost her ego. Ok, well if that's true, it's for the board of directors of the school to determine. This exercise is useless but if you really think you have the ability to help fix the problem, take you concerns to a board meeting, see if you can get a seat on the board, etc. The board is the body that is accountable to what is happening in the school because the hired the principal. |
Anonymous
| Here's what's wrong in education - individuals who insist that their extremely limited world view sums up the experience for everyone. You believe you have a horrible leader so all DC leaders are horrible and DC is a horrible place. MOVE. If you are a teacher, QUIT. I'd hate to have my kids subjected to someone with so few critical thinking skills. |
Anonymous
That is a good comparison. |
Anonymous
You are getting your school safety data from DCPS school profiles? The generalization that there isn't a "safe space" EoTP is really ignorant. |
Anonymous
|
There are too many problems to enumerate them all and in some cases individuals are forced to choose between two equally unpleasant outcomes.
However, one significant problem is the complete differentiation in the career paths of teachers and administrators. The vast majority of individuals who ultimately become administrators began their careers with no intention whatsoever of becoming master teachers and spending decades in the classroom. Consequently they are not master teachers. They are only qualified to evaluate teachers according to a system supplied rubric. Generally speaking, administrators are unable to coach or even communicate with teachers about real world classroom pedagogy. This dynamic creates mutual distrust and in some situations contempt. Additionally, we judge others and the world from our own perspective based on our life experiences. There are too many thirty-five year old assistant principals who are distrustful of the competency of fifty year old teachers believing if those career teachers were truly effective in the classroom, they too would have been promoted into administration. This dynamic creates an environment where the young administrator becomes certain their predecessors have overlooked, forgiven, or ignored some major weaknesses in the mature teacher's performance. This leads to unpleasantness causing professional distractions and potentially the departure of key staff members. More mature administrators would understand and respect the career choices made by well-season teachers. They would also more appreciate the importance of mature teachers to the continuity and overall health of an academic community. |
Anonymous
|
Well, you cite two cases, which I agree do seem to demonstrate bad leadership, though I have no details of either story to know one way or another.
But my personal experience with DCPS, within the schools my children have attended (3), and those friends have attended, and my experiences with DCPS central office, I've found a wealth of tautened, caring, passionate people working hard to achieve the best outcomes for children. There are some great great leaders within DC - PS and charters. There are also some bad apples. Many of those bad apples have been weeded out. Some good people have also left. But on the whole, I'll take the trajectory of DC schools. |
Anonymous
That is a great comparison. And then outsiders come in and expect us NOT to have ever been living under communism because, what the hell, this is America. I abhor the "DC way" - and OP sounds like part of the problem, not the solution, although OP does not say what "DC way" OP is referring to. But when I hear that, to me it means the Barry way. Yet OP talks about competence. But it is absolutely true that unless you understand the "DC way" you will never get anything but the cover of Time with a broom and become a multimillionaire. Not a bad move for Rhee, just DCPS because she further destroyed us in the process. I remain disgusted that the "DC way" prevailed and that there was no investigation into the massive cheating. Talk about sending the wrong message. OP, everyone knows the DCPS administration is bloated, rife with incompetence, and useless people. That is how we spend more $ (technically) per student than anyone else and still have an epic failure on our hands. Degrees in administration or anything else don't make people competent. I am sure all the people in the central office have degrees. [/b]Charter schools and DCPS cannot be conflated - they are their own fiefdoms, their own LEA's, and as we just saw with Amos, the level of corruption can be appalling, or nonexistent Do you remember what Rhee did to Pope at Hardy, and how some people still want the teacher who was his most vocal supporter fired even though the teacher is apparently excellent? Those people sound ridiculous. So do you. You have made us curious, so why don't you elaborate - what is your real problem[/b] and who is it with? Whoever you are, you have to understand that a) charters and DCPS cannot be talked about in the same sentence and b) rambling vague complaints get no traction here or anywhere else If there is a specific person on a power trip that you would like to identify, fine. If there are specific safety issues, like the fight at Wilson, fine. That came out here. So did the kid from DC General. If you think you have specific information that people on this board should know, tell us. Vague complaints are useless, not everyone agrees with you about the specific examples you did offer up, and your comment about how most of the principals mentioned as good principals were probably white raises serious questions about your own issues with race. If you had said, oh they are probably all WOTP, where the schools function, that might have made some sense. But to go immediately to all those principals must be white? Now I am wondering what color you are, which I almost never do anymore. I grew up under Barry, but went away long enough so that I rid myself of the ingrained racial assumptions I had and I have no idea, for example, whether Principal Pride is white or black, but I know that almost everyone seems to agree she is trying hard to get IB families at Hardy and that she is doing a good job in a tough situation. I have to assume Martha Cutts (the head of Washington Latin) is white because she came from NCS, I think most would agree she is doing a good job. There are a lot of good principals and teachers out there who are helping turn schools around (and I don't mean Hardy, I mean DCPS people EOTP), and everyone seems to agree that Trogisch (the technical Principal of Walls and FSS) is on a power trip and doesn't give a crap about Walls and may run it into the ground....I don't know what color he is either and I don't care. Kill the racial comments and maybe we can have a conversation. Not to be mean, OP, but please put up or shut up. And if you shut up, I have to assume you are from that first school and just another disgruntled employee with an axe to grind. Prove me wrong. Tell us your stories and let's see who believes them. But tell..... You seem to have something you really want to say. Say it. You have us listening. |
Anonymous
| Hear, hear. To this post and your previous post. OP is deranged. |
Anonymous
+1. My kids school and leadership are fantastic (yes, DCPS). We're very happy and are apparently having a vastly different experience than OP. So, sorry, but I for one don't agree with the title of this thread. And if you're reading this and you do...take the advice above. |
Anonymous
It was said that without a doubt there must be good leaders in DC. How conveniently you overlook that statement but want to talk about someone else's critical thinking skills. Hilarity! The point is that the leaders who are bad are so horribly inept and mean-spirited that you wonder how they could make it in DC for as long as they do, as their antics wouldn't fly anywhere else. In other places, school leaders may be (a bit) inept but they aren't usually prone to malice or chest-thumping. In other systems, those people are put in check or fired. In DC they tend to thrive. I simply wondered how/why that could be the case. It's a head scratcher to me. |
Anonymous
Of course anyone with an issue with the powers that be in DCPS must be disgruntled, teachers, and/or with an ax to grind. Not surprising. Typical DCPS response. It's the DC way to circumvent true introspection and truly working to improve the system. |
Anonymous
Maybe I/my spouse/my roommate/my teacher friend did quit. Maybe that's why hundreds of non-retiring, non-relocating people quit every year. But how does that turn over improve the system? Speaking of limited world views, your leader is wonderful, so that means every other leader must be peachy keen????? You're not an intelligent person at all. |