Underwhelming appearance by Principal Martin at Wilson HS Open House
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Anonymous
White demanding parents is a well-know stereotype in some NW DCPS schools. I am at Hyde ES and Hardy MS and I am very familiar (especially at Hyde, although it looks like we will be receiving a larger injection of such parents in the near future at Hardy ) with that stereotype, which consist of asking questions with a tone and a phrasing which demands not only a reply, but also an endorsement by the school administrator of the instance behind the parent's question. For a new administrator such as Ms Martin, some DCPS parents might sound confrontational or even aggressive. This might require an adjustment or simply getting used to it. So the specification was not useless. Don't be naive. |
Anonymous
Well, see what PP wrote above..."NP - it wasn't back to school night. It was an open house for prospective parents." |
Anonymous
That's a great time to be looking at high schools. |
Anonymous
Maybe for you neurotic high-strung types. |
Anonymous
PP here, on a serious note, we pretty know the lay of the land on high schools in DC we have not focused on Wilson bc its currently not a serious option of us - scale is not a good fit for our kid. |
Anonymous
Pathetic answer. Amazing what DCPS has to deal with. |
Anonymous
God forbid that I should turn into one of the harpies that I see running around the halls of our elementary schools. What is wrong with waiting until 8th grade to focus on high school especially when you are looking at a relatively small # of choices. |
Anonymous
sorry, I can't follow your post. first you say that a weaker leader was exactly what DCPS wanted, then you said that the same happened at other schools where DCPS looked for "strong" leader who will only do as they are told - did you mean "weak" leaders? also, where did you get that she was selected because of experience in dealing with gaping wealth and achievement disparities? if I recall she had been principal of a rural school in the Midwest and then spent several years at a HS in Aspen, with mostly white, middle class and upper middle class students. where did you see that she has experience with bridging the gap? the "public stomping" she got on this forum was simply people like me wondering what in her resume would point to experience managing a school with 2000 students with very different SES backgrounds and huge gap in education levels (leaving aside little things like I will finish my PDH while I manage Wilson and Kaya is the best educator in the nation) |
Anonymous
Lady, your participation in this thread is nothing short of stellar. You've displayed little insight and much whining, insulting others, ignorance and neglect. What's wrong? That DCPS has to deal with the consequences of parents like you. |
Anonymous
That was led by the PTSO and the parents - a group that will continue to make Wilson a good school regardless of who is at the top. |
Anonymous
Please explain the possible consequences of my waiting until 8th grade to go to an open house at a high school (one that my child may never attend in any case). |
Anonymous
No the first message to the parents was by the interim Principal. |
Anonymous
Same question. Indeed, when folks across the city want like anything to get their kids into Wilson, why would parents of only one demographic group basically show up? |
Anonymous
It was a call for action to the parents by the interim Principal. |
Anonymous
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Thanks for the feedback about the Open House. I regret that my performance was less than you anticipated. The questions and answers I provided during the unscripted Q and A were somewhat vague, I agree, and in my perspective they were questions that I would typically answer in an email or individual conversation, but not in front of a large group, due to their complexity. For instance, "what do you anticipate being the biggest issue in the next five years" and "is your school safe?" (there was no question about discipline). In my view, those questions require a bit of background knowledge and, as I mentioned in my response to the group, have many variables to consider, which I'm not sure a group of parents who are largely unconnected to our school would understand. In fact, I hold monthly Parent Coffees, which are well attended by Wilson parents, and I often hear that these meetings are informative, thoughtful and productive. The parents who are present set the monthly agenda, however, we do not speak about issues like school safety, presumably because it is not an issue for parents who are insiders. In thinking about school safety: does the speaker want to know about our suspension rates? The number of fights in the school? The number of safety drills we have each month? The results of the student satisfaction survey? The results of the teacher survey? Or are there other factors that are important? Perhaps there is something more to the question, of which I am unaware? When I prompted the speaker for clarification, he stated, "does your school feel safe?" How am I to answer a questions about "feeling" without discussing how someone "feels," which is why I stated, "my son feels safe and students tell me they feel safe." I could have stated that our suspension rate has declined over the last several years, but does that mean a school is more or less safe in an outsiders' perspective? In relation to the questions about my biggest concern for the next five years, I am quite concerned about the boundary issues that have been discussed and analyzed over the last few months since I've arrived. Our school is the largest school in DCPS and as I mentioned in the Open House, we are 150 students over capacity THIS YEAR, but as our enrollment continues to increase....? When asked, "what will you do about it?" I explained that there are several possible solutions, none that has been determined to be THE solution as yet. Then I was asked, "what are the possible options for solving this problem?" I stated that there are several possible solutions that have been discussed, which include looking at our boundaries and making changes to our boundaries, as has been done within the last 12 months, and changes were already implemented last year. Then, "why is this a concern?" and yes, I stumbled, because I hesitate to say that our school may unwittingly exclude a specific demographic of students and yes, then the question of race came up. If there was concern from me about the presentation it was that I was being asked to answer to situations that are already and still occurring and in forums like this, I cannot share "what ifs" since my words are often distorted and those distortions are made as fact.
How my race plays into this conversation is another matter entirely and I will not comment on that in this forum or at any other time. All the best, Kim Martin |