Did you read the article in the wapo today about Ft Hunt Elementary?

[Anonymous]

Pretty harsh on the principal. I was shocked that the kids weren't allowed to talk at lunch (at all?!).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/turmoil-at-fort-hunt-elementary/2013/08/23/16c7f0e6-035d-11e3-88d6-d5795fab4637_story.html

[Anonymous]

They are allowed to talk at lunch. I don't know where they got that from, but they are allowed to talk at lunch. They are not allowed to get loud.

[Anonymous]

I was more shocked at the staff turnover rates. Yikes!

[Anonymous]

I was disappointed in the article. There were no specifics. I have no idea what the principal's done that's so horrible.

[Anonymous]

ita, maybe there was a huge cohort of teachers that weren't working out for whatever reason, maybe there was a large group who retired, it was all really unclear and poorly-written IMO.

[Anonymous]

Glad that that is not our school. Sounds like a horrible place to work. Perhpas Super. Graza should focus on turning around the morale at this school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ita, maybe there was a huge cohort of teachers that weren't working out for whatever reason, maybe there was a large group who retired, it was all really unclear and poorly-written IMO.

They have had 20% plus that is alot of turnover the past few years in addition to the 40% this year. It seems like what ever is being done is not working and it needs a complete overhaul of everyone with a few more resource teacher positions added to help.

[Anonymous]

It was a poorly written and scantly researched article. The WaPo does not cover anything in NoVa well, least of all the schools. It might as well be the Patch.

[Anonymous]

I live in the area but not in this school district. I had no idea that there were this many problems at Ft Hunt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was a poorly written and scantly researched article. The WaPo does not cover anything in NoVa well, least of all the schools. It might as well be the Patch.

+1

This would not be the first time that the author (T. Rees Shapiro) got some of the facts wrong for a story.

[Anonymous]

I agree that it was a very poorly written article and I'm left wondering what the point of it was.

[Anonymous]

Wasn't it lovely how Dan Storck basically blamed FH's problems on the poor brown families? He's real classy throwing them all under the bus:

"Some say the school’s demographics could play a significant role in the school’s faltering reputation.

School Board Chairman Daniel G. Storck, whose Mount Vernon district includes Fort Hunt, said the student population at Fort Hunt is a mix of middle-class children from the surrounding area south of Alexandria and a large group of children who are bused in from a nearby apartment complex for low-income families.

“The parents’ concerns are real,” said Storck, who said he has spoken to the principal and other ranking school administrators about Fort Hunt. “But it isn’t as simple as people want it to be as you address the needs of a school community that are very diverse.”"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't it lovely how Dan Storck basically blamed FH's problems on the poor brown families? He's real classy throwing them all under the bus:

"Some say the school’s demographics could play a significant role in the school’s faltering reputation.

School Board Chairman Daniel G. Storck, whose Mount Vernon district includes Fort Hunt, said the student population at Fort Hunt is a mix of middle-class children from the surrounding area south of Alexandria and a large group of children who are bused in from a nearby apartment complex for low-income families.

“The parents’ concerns are real,” said Storck, who said he has spoken to the principal and other ranking school administrators about Fort Hunt. “But it isn’t as simple as people want it to be as you address the needs of a school community that are very diverse.”"

How is acknowledging that it take more than a school to create a community, 'throwing the poor brown families under the bus'? It takes a community wide program, not just programs in the school to make real change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't it lovely how Dan Storck basically blamed FH's problems on the poor brown families? He's real classy throwing them all under the bus:

"Some say the school’s demographics could play a significant role in the school’s faltering reputation.

School Board Chairman Daniel G. Storck, whose Mount Vernon district includes Fort Hunt, said the student population at Fort Hunt is a mix of middle-class children from the surrounding area south of Alexandria and a large group of children who are bused in from a nearby apartment complex for low-income families.

“The parents’ concerns are real,” said Storck, who said he has spoken to the principal and other ranking school administrators about Fort Hunt. “But it isn’t as simple as people want it to be as you address the needs of a school community that are very diverse.”"

Storck isn't the Chairman of the School Board. So the reporter got that fact wrong, and very well may have mangled what Storck said as well.

[Anonymous]

Uh, he used to be chairman, and may have been when the article was researched. Mr. Moon in now chairman, but I think he only became such recently.