St Marys versus St Louis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Was she really that highly regarded? I don’t think I can name a single person that held her in high esteem. Good credentials to be sure. There is a rumor that the principal left her to do the work he didn’t want to do. There may be some truth to that."

I don't necessarily hate the idea of the principal delegating heavily to the Assistant Principal. That's how good leadership works. The goal is not for the head person to make sure he's doing lots of chores so his people don't have to. Maybe he's too out of touch, I'm not saying he isn't, I'm just saying that the leader of the entire school SHOULD be doing a lot of delegating. If that leads to overworked staff, maybe they need more staff.

That said, my (vague, uninformed) impression is that the departing assistant principal was fairly highly regarded. I never heard any complaints. She seemed organized and professional, ran the spelling bee, etc. But maybe I'm wrong. In truth I've never heard anything from any parents either way about how they regarded her.

But she had to have been at least somewhat well-regarded by the diocese at least if they immediately hired her as the Assistant Principal of another diocese school.

So the question is what happened? Did the diocese move her because they needed her elsewhere? (the school she's moving to has a brand new principal starting this year.) Or did she plan the move because she wanted to leave St. Mary's? Or, worst possibility, did she quit in a huff, but then get rehired in a hurry elsewhere in the diocese.

This is one more departure that's not about getting a promotion nor about moving to a different part of the country nor about changing careers. And it's part of a recent pattern of turnover at St. Mary's. So the question is, are people leaving in a huff for good reason? Is there some problem with the principal, the priest, the workload, etc? Or are mediocre people being pushed out because they are resisting positive changes? The latter seems less likely given a general labor shortage of teachers and staff--this would be a weird time to push experienced people out.

I'm surprised that no-one in this thread has been able to provide much clarity. Many parents at St. Mary's are very involved, many with big families who have experienced multiple principals, many who are close with faculty and staff who have left, many who have strong opinions. Yet no-one has said much about what's really going on. Does no-one really know?

I would hazard a guess that no one is going to post everything they know on an anonymous website. Its a small enough community that you may accidentally out yourself. Or they are leaving the school and it doesn't matter anymore. The St. Marys parents seems politically and socially savvy that they won't share information that does not need to be shared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. Crazy honor roll lady thinks she is only talking to one person, when really it is a bunch of different posters. She really cannot fathom she is the only person who is this upset about honor roll.

The only “crazy lady” here is the person who keeps insisting that the sudden change to the honor roll policy is a non-event, but then proceeds to post 30 times lecturing everyone about the “non-event.”

Obviously you’re a person affiliated with the school or one of the parents who complained to the school to get them to change their policies bc your family was understandably embarrassed under the old policy.

[Enter reply with more personal attacks and name calling while ignoring the substantive issue…]

[Anonymous]

Does St Louis have numerous 11:30 Friday dismissals that are a total waste of time, requiring kids and parents to schlep back and forth, for maybe 10 minutes of academic instruction, like St Mary’s does?

Those days are basically “off” days and should be counted as such.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does St Louis have numerous 11:30 Friday dismissals that are a total waste of time, requiring kids and parents to schlep back and forth, for maybe 10 minutes of academic instruction, like St Mary’s does?

Those days are basically “off” days and should be counted as such.

Unfortunately, yes. It’s totally disruptive. If there is a Monday holiday, every single Friday before is an 11:30 day.

[Anonymous]

Even my kid hates half days. So much effort for so little value on those days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even my kid hates half days. So much effort for so little value on those days.

We skip them. Fairfax and ACPS don’t have all these BS half days. Why does the Diocese allow it? Just combine them and give more FULL days off. Morons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even my kid hates half days. So much effort for so little value on those days.

We skip them. Fairfax and ACPS don’t have all these BS half days. Why does the Diocese allow it? Just combine them and give more FULL days off. Morons.

Ffx Co used to have half days every Monday and apparently are considering bring that back. My neighbor is dreading the possibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even my kid hates half days. So much effort for so little value on those days.

We skip them. Fairfax and ACPS don’t have all these BS half days. Why does the Diocese allow it? Just combine them and give more FULL days off. Morons.

Ffx Co used to have half days every Monday and apparently are considering bring that back. My neighbor is dreading the possibility.

Will never happen. How do families who actually WORK do it? Not everyone has a nanny or $8,000 for aftercare. Of course, if Faitfax provides aftercare for free, then it’s not really a half day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even my kid hates half days. So much effort for so little value on those days.

We skip them. Fairfax and ACPS don’t have all these BS half days. Why does the Diocese allow it? Just combine them and give more FULL days off. Morons.

Ffx Co used to have half days every Monday and apparently are considering bring that back. My neighbor is dreading the possibility.

Will never happen. How do families who actually WORK do it? Not everyone has a nanny or $8,000 for aftercare. Of course, if Faitfax provides aftercare for free, then it’s not really a half day.

It’s happening. https://www.fcps.edu/family-resources/safety-and-transportation/limited-early-release-mondays

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even my kid hates half days. So much effort for so little value on those days.

We skip them. Fairfax and ACPS don’t have all these BS half days. Why does the Diocese allow it? Just combine them and give more FULL days off. Morons.

Ffx Co used to have half days every Monday and apparently are considering bring that back. My neighbor is dreading the possibility.

Will never happen. How do families who actually WORK do it? Not everyone has a nanny or $8,000 for aftercare. Of course, if Faitfax provides aftercare for free, then it’s not really a half day.

It’s happening. https://www.fcps.edu/family-resources/safety-and-transportation/limited-early-release-mondays

Not really. “While these are designated as early release days — where necessary, we will ensure that every student has supervised activities at the school and returns home at the regular time if that is what works best for your family.”

So Mary’s doesn’t do that. At least not without additional expense.

[Anonymous]

I loved half days - esp when they extended the weekend.

[Anonymous]

Indicative of how disorganized St Mary’s is: school starts on aug 23 (a Friday, which is stupid enough), but homeroom teachers won’t be assigned until Monday. Maybe they’re still hiring them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Indicative of how disorganized St Mary’s is: school starts on aug 23 (a Friday, which is stupid enough), but homeroom teachers won’t be assigned until Monday. Maybe they’re still hiring them?

They do this so you won’t complain about your child’s teacher assignments or the students in their class.

Given how much you’ve complained on this thread, it sounds like this is a good approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Indicative of how disorganized St Mary’s is: school starts on aug 23 (a Friday, which is stupid enough), but homeroom teachers won’t be assigned until Monday. Maybe they’re still hiring them?

Our k8 sent out homeroom/advisory assignments with the class schedule a few days before school started. Seems pretty standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indicative of how disorganized St Mary’s is: school starts on aug 23 (a Friday, which is stupid enough), but homeroom teachers won’t be assigned until Monday. Maybe they’re still hiring them?

They do this so you won’t complain about your child’s teacher assignments or the students in their class.

Given how much you’ve complained on this thread, it sounds like this is a good approach.

Maybe they won’t announce teacher assignments at all. Just like not announcing honor roll. In fact, maybe they shouldn’t announce anything at all — just send emails with uninformative platitudes and who had the most “zeal” last month.