Letter from Cancellor re moving schools - opps - I got caught moving my kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of pressure must Wilson’s wife have applied to the deputy mayor for her to essentially compromise her reputation forever? The DM has to have known that this situation would be discovered. The wife must have held something over her head right?

Nah. I think she just had to tell her a very sad sob story. And for all we know something bad - bullying or whatever - was happening at Ellington.

She was there a MAXIMUM of 3 weeks. It is profoundly unlikely that she was so badly bullied that they ran out of options in less than a month. The explanation that she just wasn't ready for a program that was supposed to be audition based is much more likely.

Ether you've never been bullied or you're a victim of teenage feel good movies. It is entirely possible to be badly bullied in three weeks and to have your safety threatened. I don't know what happened in this situation. I assume that if bullying had been the issue, she would have gotten a safety transfer.

[Anonymous]

It’s not over yet.


For Immediate Release: February 17, 2018
Contact: Rebekah Caruthers, Communications Director: [phone]; [e-mail]

Councilmember Robert White Calls for Resignation of DCPS Chancellor Wilson

Washington, DC—Today, Councilmember Robert White calls for the resignation of DC Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson."I have lost confidence in our DC Public Schools leadership. Just months after Chancellor Antwan Wilson helped write a policy to prohibit public officials from obtaining discretionary school transfers, he has broken that policy, and with it, the trust of our DCPS parents and students. This violation comes just days after an internal investigation revealed a widespread culture of passing students who had not met the DCPS requirements, which led to 34% of students graduating with the assistance of policy violations, in all but two DCPS high schools.

As a member of the DC Council, I have seen no accountability within DCPS central office. With a persistent achievement gap, high teacher turnover, and mounting education scandals, the cornerstones for rebuilding our schools must be public trust and accountability. Without these, the future of our public schools is in jeopardy.
We expect DCPS leadership to follow its own policies and to report accurate data. It has done neither. I do not believe Chancellor Wilson can rebuild the confidence of the community or the Council with this latest breach of trust and, therefore, he must resign."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of pressure must Wilson’s wife have applied to the deputy mayor for her to essentially compromise her reputation forever? The DM has to have known that this situation would be discovered. The wife must have held something over her head right?

Nah. I think she just had to tell her a very sad sob story. And for all we know something bad - bullying or whatever - was happening at Ellington.

She was there a MAXIMUM of 3 weeks. It is profoundly unlikely that she was so badly bullied that they ran out of options in less than a month. The explanation that she just wasn't ready for a program that was supposed to be audition based is much more likely.

Ether you've never been bullied or you're a victim of teenage feel good movies. It is entirely possible to be badly bullied in three weeks and to have your safety threatened. I don't know what happened in this situation. I assume that if bullying had been the issue, she would have gotten a safety transfer.

Yes, and the DME would not have handed in her resignation. She knows she did the wrong thing. And he knew she was doing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know the mayor a bit. I would be surprised if she inquired after his children. She’s pretty much all business with her staff and cabinet -not a lot of small talk.

Maybe she should work on her EQ/soft skills. If she took time to ask these kinds of questions, she might pick up on little things that raise a little flag (or huge red flashing siren lights) and avoid a gigantic mess later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know the mayor a bit. I would be surprised if she inquired after his children. She’s pretty much all business with her staff and cabinet -not a lot of small talk.

Maybe she should work on her EQ/soft skills. If she took time to ask these kinds of questions, she might pick up on little things that raise a little flag (or huge red flashing siren lights) and avoid a gigantic mess later.

Of course she knew, DC is a small place; however, she probably chose to not ask him or told him not to tell her!

[Anonymous]

The mayor was at eastern market today collecting petition signatures and I asked her about this. She said while she can't condone what Wilson did, she thinks that having stability in DCPS leadership is important and there shouldn't be a change during the school year. I asked if that means he'd be leaving at the end of the year and she wouldn't say. She did say that other than this one mistake he is a good chancellor.

I asked her if his daughter actually auditioned for Ellington and she said "I'm sure she did." I asked how she could have auditioned when she didn't live in DC last school year and she didn't know (I mean, she could have flown in for the audition, done a video audition--I'm not saying she broke the Ellington rules too, but I wanted to see if the Mayor had looked into it). She said the daughter is a dancer. I asked her why she thought Wilson only made one mistake if she didn't know whether he cheated to get his kid into Ellington AND Wilson and she said BEGA and the IG were handling the situation and that her goal was to move forward.

[Anonymous]

Are we just assuming that there was no audition to get into Ellington?

If that turns out to be true, isn't this scandal just going to keep getting worse? You would think Bowser would have asked for all the details before just saying "I'm sure that" the child applied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are we just assuming that there was no audition to get into Ellington?

If that turns out to be true, isn't this scandal just going to keep getting worse? You would think Bowser would have asked for all the details before just saying "I'm sure that" the child applied.

I am not assuming that at all. But agree that it's appropriate that the IG / Ethics board look into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we just assuming that there was no audition to get into Ellington?

If that turns out to be true, isn't this scandal just going to keep getting worse? You would think Bowser would have asked for all the details before just saying "I'm sure that" the child applied.

I am not assuming that at all. But agree that it's appropriate that the IG / Ethics board look into it.

Why do you need an IG/Ethics Board investigation to learn whether the child auditioned to attend Ellington? A quick Q/A would do it, wouldn't it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we just assuming that there was no audition to get into Ellington?

If that turns out to be true, isn't this scandal just going to keep getting worse? You would think Bowser would have asked for all the details before just saying "I'm sure that" the child applied.

I am not assuming that at all. But agree that it's appropriate that the IG / Ethics board look into it.

Why do you need an IG/Ethics Board investigation to learn whether the child auditioned to attend Ellington? A quick Q/A would do it, wouldn't it?

They need to see who knew at DCPs, if the counsel was consulted, the email traffic, and all the details. No point in this coming out piecemeal. And besides the girl has FERPA rights. Her application file is a confidential (to the public) school record.

[Anonymous]

The mayor was at eastern market today collecting petition signatures and I asked her about this. She said while she can't condone what Wilson did, she thinks that having stability in DCPS leadership is important and there shouldn't be a change during the school year. I asked if that means he'd be leaving at the end of the year and she wouldn't say. She did say that other than this one mistake he is a good chancellor.

"Stability in leadership" means having a leader who can lead - with followers. If your followers won't follow, then you cannot lead any longer. And the stability is gone.

She would be in a much stronger position if she would just fire him. There is a good saying: Hire slow, fire fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we just assuming that there was no audition to get into Ellington?

If that turns out to be true, isn't this scandal just going to keep getting worse? You would think Bowser would have asked for all the details before just saying "I'm sure that" the child applied.

I am not assuming that at all. But agree that it's appropriate that the IG / Ethics board look into it.

Why do you need an IG/Ethics Board investigation to learn whether the child auditioned to attend Ellington? A quick Q/A would do it, wouldn't it?

They need to see who knew at DCPs, if the counsel was consulted, the email traffic, and all the details. No point in this coming out piecemeal. And besides the girl has FERPA rights. Her application file is a confidential (to the public) school record.

You seem to be ignoring how simple this is. Just ask Wilson if his daughter applied or was placed into Ellington. Nothing private about that. Sounds like Bowser didn't even ask or find out this rather important detail. The whole situation looks like clowns running a clown show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we just assuming that there was no audition to get into Ellington?

If that turns out to be true, isn't this scandal just going to keep getting worse? You would think Bowser would have asked for all the details before just saying "I'm sure that" the child applied.

I am not assuming that at all. But agree that it's appropriate that the IG / Ethics board look into it.

Why do you need an IG/Ethics Board investigation to learn whether the child auditioned to attend Ellington? A quick Q/A would do it, wouldn't it?

They need to see who knew at DCPs, if the counsel was consulted, the email traffic, and all the details. No point in this coming out piecemeal. And besides the girl has FERPA rights. Her application file is a confidential (to the public) school record.

You seem to be ignoring how simple this is. Just ask Wilson if his daughter applied or was placed into Ellington. Nothing private about that. Sounds like Bowser didn't even ask or find out this rather important detail. The whole situation looks like clowns running a clown show.

You're right. She's his boss, she can simply ask him - or she already knows the answer, and it isn't good!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we just assuming that there was no audition to get into Ellington?

If that turns out to be true, isn't this scandal just going to keep getting worse? You would think Bowser would have asked for all the details before just saying "I'm sure that" the child applied.

I am not assuming that at all. But agree that it's appropriate that the IG / Ethics board look into it.

Why do you need an IG/Ethics Board investigation to learn whether the child auditioned to attend Ellington? A quick Q/A would do it, wouldn't it?

Well, isn’t it the IGs job to do that Q&A and to keep things confidential if no rules were broken. Seems appropriate whatever the outcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we just assuming that there was no audition to get into Ellington?

If that turns out to be true, isn't this scandal just going to keep getting worse? You would think Bowser would have asked for all the details before just saying "I'm sure that" the child applied.

I am not assuming that at all. But agree that it's appropriate that the IG / Ethics board look into it.

Why do you need an IG/Ethics Board investigation to learn whether the child auditioned to attend Ellington? A quick Q/A would do it, wouldn't it?

They need to see who knew at DCPs, if the counsel was consulted, the email traffic, and all the details. No point in this coming out piecemeal. And besides the girl has FERPA rights. Her application file is a confidential (to the public) school record.

You seem to be ignoring how simple this is. Just ask Wilson if his daughter applied or was placed into Ellington. Nothing private about that. Sounds like Bowser didn't even ask or find out this rather important detail. The whole situation looks like clowns running a clown show.

You're right. She's his boss, she can simply ask him - or she already knows the answer, and it isn't good!

Look, you won’t believe a word she says regardless. Let the IG do it the right way.