Thoughts on the new Churchill principal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else think it's kind of funny, that people are so upset with the last principal because she didn't enforce the rules, and now that the new principal is enforcing the rules, they are upset that she didn't remind them of the rules?

I think enforcing the rules is great. However, enforcing a rule that most of the student body didn't know was a rule is a bit unfair. I am not asking Mrs. Heckert to reverse the decision. I think the situation is a learning opportunity for the students so a message as to WHY the event was cancelled would be a proactive step to prevent future infractions. Simple, easy, and the fair thing to do.

You've got to be kidding. Kids don't know that there is a rule that says they have to go to school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else think it's kind of funny, that people are so upset with the last principal because she didn't enforce the rules, and now that the new principal is enforcing the rules, they are upset that she didn't remind them of the rules?

Two different groups of people. Some parents supported Benz in lax enforcement so their kids didn't have accountability/punishment. Other parents were upset with lax enforcement because other kids' entitlement/lack of punishment was detrimental to rule-following kids.

[Anonymous]

"I would also suggest contacting the MCCPTA Health and Safety committee (PTA President Bruce Adelson can help you with the specific contact information for the chairs) because they are concerned about several issues within Churchill. With more information and specific details even if they were events you reported to Mrs. Webster in the past, the MCCPTA can help raise the issue at a higher level than the school director to improve the safety of students at Churchill."

That is funny. The current MCCPTA Board doesn't care about students at Churchill or any W schools. Only DCC...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I would also suggest contacting the MCCPTA Health and Safety committee (PTA President Bruce Adelson can help you with the specific contact information for the chairs) because they are concerned about several issues within Churchill. With more information and specific details even if they were events you reported to Mrs. Webster in the past, the MCCPTA can help raise the issue at a higher level than the school director to improve the safety of students at Churchill."

That is funny. The current MCCPTA Board doesn't care about students at Churchill or any W schools. Only DCC...

That is absolutely not my experience with the MCCPTA officers I have contacted. Specifically, the Health and Safety committee chairs have invested their time to meet with MCPS administrators to fix problems and concerns being reported in schools. They have also helped MCPS to make policy changes. They continue to advocate for change especially when they know of a specific incident that fell through the cracks when Dr. Benz and Mrs. Webster were in charge of Churchill.

When you have tried the principal and the director or if you are afraid of retaliation, contacting the MCCPTA gives you a non-MCPS source to help advocate for the school and your child.

[Anonymous]

MCPS made a YouTube video to encourage students to report students who bully, harass, and haze anyone. Churchill athletes needs a video to explain how to report coaches who bully, harass, and haze students.

https://youtu.be/F9j-1DGvKRc

[Anonymous]

While we are talking about following rules, how about looking at the rules that the principal herself did not follow? There is a strict MCPS rule about not punishing the entire class because of the misbehavior of a few children. The principal punished the entire school because some seniors skipped and violated a rule.

It will be a hard sell for her to convince students to follow rules when she thinks she, herself, is above them!

[Anonymous]

Wow-- you are really into powderpuff football games!

I don't see this as the principal punishing the entire school. I see it as some selfish seniors letting down their classmates.

In fact, if she hadn't enforced this rule, she would then be breaking the rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow-- you are really into powderpuff football games!

I don't see this as the principal punishing the entire school. I see it as some selfish seniors letting down their classmates.

In fact, if she hadn't enforced this rule, she would then be breaking the rules.

She should punish people who violated rules. Not everyone. The police didn't charge the entire Damascus JV football team with rape. Only the kids who were involved are facing punishment.

I don't care about the powderpuff football game. My child who is not a senior and did not skip school did.

I do care about arbitrarily taking away a privilege from all kids just because of the bad acts of a few.

She allowed the game to start and then a few minutes later, turned of the lights in the middle of the game because she changed her mind. She knew when the game started that seniors had skipped.

It is difficult for a parent to encourage their children to respect someone who breaks rules and is arbitrary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow-- you are really into powderpuff football games!

I don't see this as the principal punishing the entire school. I see it as some selfish seniors letting down their classmates.

In fact, if she hadn't enforced this rule, she would then be breaking the rules.

She should punish people who violated rules. Not everyone. The police didn't charge the entire Damascus JV football team with rape. Only the kids who were involved are facing punishment.

I don't care about the powderpuff football game. My child who is not a senior and did not skip school did.

I do care about arbitrarily taking away a privilege from all kids just because of the bad acts of a few.

She allowed the game to start and then a few minutes later, turned of the lights in the middle of the game because she changed her mind. She knew when the game started that seniors had skipped.

It is difficult for a parent to encourage their children to respect someone who breaks rules and is arbitrary.

I thought it was the case that there were not enough seniors to field a team. Did they have enough to play, but she canceled anyway?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow-- you are really into powderpuff football games!

I don't see this as the principal punishing the entire school. I see it as some selfish seniors letting down their classmates.

In fact, if she hadn't enforced this rule, she would then be breaking the rules.

She should punish people who violated rules. Not everyone. The police didn't charge the entire Damascus JV football team with rape. Only the kids who were involved are facing punishment.

I don't care about the powderpuff football game. My child who is not a senior and did not skip school did.

I do care about arbitrarily taking away a privilege from all kids just because of the bad acts of a few.

She allowed the game to start and then a few minutes later, turned of the lights in the middle of the game because she changed her mind. She knew when the game started that seniors had skipped.

It is difficult for a parent to encourage their children to respect someone who breaks rules and is arbitrary.

DP +1 It was capricious punishment and bad leadership. There were kids other than seniors who had bought shirts and were looking forward to participating. She turned off the lights to the stadium when it was dark outside before all the kids had exited. It sounds like a bad case of the temper tantrums to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow-- you are really into powderpuff football games!

I don't see this as the principal punishing the entire school. I see it as some selfish seniors letting down their classmates.

In fact, if she hadn't enforced this rule, she would then be breaking the rules.

She should punish people who violated rules. Not everyone. The police didn't charge the entire Damascus JV football team with rape. Only the kids who were involved are facing punishment.

I don't care about the powderpuff football game. My child who is not a senior and did not skip school did.

I do care about arbitrarily taking away a privilege from all kids just because of the bad acts of a few.

She allowed the game to start and then a few minutes later, turned of the lights in the middle of the game because she changed her mind. She knew when the game started that seniors had skipped.

It is difficult for a parent to encourage their children to respect someone who breaks rules and is arbitrary.

DP +1 It was capricious punishment and bad leadership. There were kids other than seniors who had bought shirts and were looking forward to participating. She turned off the lights to the stadium when it was dark outside before all the kids had exited. It sounds like a bad case of the temper tantrums to me.

WOW! So kids are tripping over each other in the dark. Sounds like she was more interested in retribution than in student safety. Lawsuit waiting to happen!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drive my kid to Churchill because teenagers need more sleep than a 7:45 AM school start allows (as discussed many times on this forum). He gets almost an extra 30 minutes of sleep by being driven to school instead of taking the bus (with its multiple stops and roundabout route). I have not encountered traffic problems at Churchill when we arrive at 7:25 AM. The new traffic patterns are certainly an improvement from last year.

My kid always takes the bus home.

Just curious - which loop are you using to drop off? Trying to see if I changed routes if that makes a difference.

I actually prefer the Victory Lane entrance even though I come from south of Tuckerman Lane. I think the separate entrances for the two lanes on Victory Lane has really speeded things up. One still has to be prepared to see students crossing the street anywhere and at anytime. And as others noted in this thread, students going to Seniors parking have to make an awkward crossing of the incoming dropoff traffic

+1 Any other time of day, I go on Gainsborough, driving up Postoak to Victory and then right into the lot is much better for drop off/pick up times.

The drop off on Gainsborough is a disaster. After 7:30, it's impossible to get in or out of the parking lot. Traffic backs up on Gainsborough half way to Cabin John Middle School. The security guard tells kids to walk through the parking lot instead of on the sidewalk. Really smart -- not!

I heard that the new principal personally did the traffic plan instead of asking for help from the MoCo traffic engineers who do this for a living. It will be on her if I kid gets hit because she's too arrogant to ask for help from people who know what they're doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow-- you are really into powderpuff football games!

I don't see this as the principal punishing the entire school. I see it as some selfish seniors letting down their classmates.

In fact, if she hadn't enforced this rule, she would then be breaking the rules.

She should punish people who violated rules. Not everyone. The police didn't charge the entire Damascus JV football team with rape. Only the kids who were involved are facing punishment.

I don't care about the powderpuff football game. My child who is not a senior and did not skip school did.

I do care about arbitrarily taking away a privilege from all kids just because of the bad acts of a few.

She allowed the game to start and then a few minutes later, turned of the lights in the middle of the game because she changed her mind. She knew when the game started that seniors had skipped.

It is difficult for a parent to encourage their children to respect someone who breaks rules and is arbitrary.

I thought it was the case that there were not enough seniors to field a team. Did they have enough to play, but she canceled anyway?

This isn't the NFL. I doubt powderpuff football has a required minimum number of players on each team. Besides, if that's true, why turn off the lights? Sounds arbitrary, and dangerous, to me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOVE it that she enforced the rule even when it had implications for the game. She didn’t bow to pressure, which is great. Wish the students knew the full story (mine doesn’t) so it can serve a broader lesson. (What are seniors doing skipping in early fall, anyway? I get it at the end of the year, but in October??)

As a Churchill parent, I agree Mrs. Heckert is on the right path when she consistently enforces school rules. I also agree with your point that to have a greater effect, sending out an email addressing why the event was cancelled would remind students to not skip school in the future.

However, a reminder before the event would have persuaded students to be in school on Thursday and not skip. Perhaps the reminder was forgotten in this situation but perhaps could be done in the future. Mrs. Heckert is new and learning. Not the end of the world but room for correction.

"New and learning" doesn't cut it. She was at Bethesda Chevy Chase for 12 years. She was a principal intern at Clarksburg HS, and she taught HS math. She should know what HS kids are like. She should know how to deal with parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drive my kid to Churchill because teenagers need more sleep than a 7:45 AM school start allows (as discussed many times on this forum). He gets almost an extra 30 minutes of sleep by being driven to school instead of taking the bus (with its multiple stops and roundabout route). I have not encountered traffic problems at Churchill when we arrive at 7:25 AM. The new traffic patterns are certainly an improvement from last year.

My kid always takes the bus home.

Just curious - which loop are you using to drop off? Trying to see if I changed routes if that makes a difference.

I actually prefer the Victory Lane entrance even though I come from south of Tuckerman Lane. I think the separate entrances for the two lanes on Victory Lane has really speeded things up. One still has to be prepared to see students crossing the street anywhere and at anytime. And as others noted in this thread, students going to Seniors parking have to make an awkward crossing of the incoming dropoff traffic

+1 Any other time of day, I go on Gainsborough, driving up Postoak to Victory and then right into the lot is much better for drop off/pick up times.

The drop off on Gainsborough is a disaster. After 7:30, it's impossible to get in or out of the parking lot. Traffic backs up on Gainsborough half way to Cabin John Middle School. The security guard tells kids to walk through the parking lot instead of on the sidewalk. Really smart -- not!

I heard that the new principal personally did the traffic plan instead of asking for help from the MoCo traffic engineers who do this for a living. It will be on her if I kid gets hit because she's too arrogant to ask for help from people who know what they're doing.

+1 She’s made it more dangerous for both pedestrians and cars. That stadium parking lot is a dangerous place to drop off. There are too many kids who walk down that sidewalk to school. They are trying to help the cars get in more quickly by having the students walk through the parking lot and avoid the driveway. The issue is that there isn’t a sidewalk that goes all the way around. They need to step in the parking lot. Such a mess.