First Principal Resigns — Watkins/Peabody

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a Peabody/Watkins family, but I am surprised. I know she has gotten some pushback, but she seemed like a decent principal when I met her at an open house.

Nope. Her level of disgust at current parents was off the chart. Best thing to happen to Watkins in years.

Maybe, problem is, we have no idea who will replace her.

We've been in the LT Taylor district for 14 years and the school has had four different principals during our time in the neighborhood. We'd cheer the departure of an awful principal at LT, only to find that another deeply flawed head was running the school. At long last, LT has a good principle, after more than a decade of the school struggling under a succession of bad or mediocre heads. Be careful what you wish for in DCPS.

That is debatable. Good principal by whose standards?

Pretty much everyone at the school. I’m not the PP, but Principal is pretty universally respected by the parents; opinions seem to run the gamut from decent to loved, no one really dislikes him. He’s done a great job keeping the long term teachers who are the core of the school, as well as meeting the needs of the evolving student population while keeping the parent community harmonious. A super tricky balance for a gentrifying and legitimately diverse school, as Watkins’ experience shows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a Peabody/Watkins family, but I am surprised. I know she has gotten some pushback, but she seemed like a decent principal when I met her at an open house.

Nope. Her level of disgust at current parents was off the chart. Best thing to happen to Watkins in years.

Maybe, problem is, we have no idea who will replace her.

We've been in the LT Taylor district for 14 years and the school has had four different principals during our time in the neighborhood. We'd cheer the departure of an awful principal at LT, only to find that another deeply flawed head was running the school. At long last, LT has a good principle, after more than a decade of the school struggling under a succession of bad or mediocre heads. Be careful what you wish for in DCPS.

That is debatable. Good principal by whose standards?

Pretty much everyone at the school. I’m not the PP, but Principal is pretty universally respected by the parents; opinions seem to run the gamut from decent to loved, no one really dislikes him. He’s done a great job keeping the long term teachers who are the core of the school, as well as meeting the needs of the evolving student population while keeping the parent community harmonious. A super tricky balance for a gentrifying and legitimately diverse school, as Watkins’ experience shows.

Not clear what you’re rolling your eyes at? Are your kids at L-T? If so, what don’t you like about Principal Smith? The PP is pretty consistent with my experience. Not everyone thinks he’s the greatest ever, but some do... and everyone seems to think he’s at least fine. If you’re not at the school, then I don’t quite understand the purpose of your juvenile posts...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ I was with the Cluster during the Dawn Clemens days, then there when Bell began her tenure.

Clemen’s was greatly disliked (for reasons you can read about on old threads). When Bell began she was absolutely supported and embraced — by teachers and parents alike. In fact, some parents who eventually soured on her, began as her staunchest supporters.

+1. Everyone was super excited for Bell when she came. It is just not fair to say that parents weren’t ready to buy in. She basically intentionally pitted the two half of the school in terms of SES against each other for her own purposes. That’s not what you want in the principal of a school with the a diverse student body.

+100. It was intensely frustrating to see how often she would try to turn parents against each other.