Churchill Getting a New Principal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Taylor was an outstanding AP during his time at Churchill. Level headed, considerate, and approachable. He was a pleasure to work with as a teacher and his priorities seemed to be in keeping with making things work and working with the problems that were before him in a way that was fair and reasonable.

He was big on special ed, if I'm not mistaken his wife is a special ed teacher. He was very involved in the spec ed program at Churchill when he was there, going so far as to mentor students in the program who were high risk.

He's an ex-Marine, but you wouldn't know it to talk to him. That said, when you do get to know him you can see him being a Marine cut from the cloth of Robert Muller. Not an over-the-top rah, rah type, but proud and I'm confident he was good at what he did and had the respect of those he led.

He'll enforce the programs that he's expected to enforce by MCPS, and I'm sure in part this will be the continuance of the racial bias training that was far too much of last year for the teachers. This year we have "restorative justice", but this comes out of MCPS not the principal. Now that said, as a teacher at Churchill I'll tell you that without a doubt we have a problem with how minorities have been treated at the school. If you want a taste of those problems go to MinoritiesatChurchill on IG. The white fragility exhibited on this list is a bit over the top, we have FAR too many kids who are white and are clueless about their privilege and how to treat their non-white peers with respect, and this needs to change. Of course this is more an indictment of parents than kids as more often than not a kid who's acting racist is coming out of a racist household so I can see this issue is a touchy one for some folks. For most kids it's a matter of more being a bit obtuse in how they handle things than it is down home racism. Bottom line, the school needed to address this and to the degree possible fix it, but dedicating an entire year of professional development for teachers, during a pandemic where there were a lot of things that teachers were struggling with that were tied to the pandemic, was a bit over the top in my opinion.

Bottom line, I think John Taylor is an excellent choice for Churchill, mostly due to his seasoning coming out of CJ. I'm confident that barring it being a personal choice, Heckert lost the job due to her inexperience and, on some level, immaturity (her dismissive behavior towards Benz was well-noted by many, and how she dealt with the teachers her first year went over like a lead balloon); you won't have that with John Taylor.

He got woke while at CJMS. You sound woke too so you'll probably like it. But everyone else won't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor was an outstanding AP during his time at Churchill. Level headed, considerate, and approachable. He was a pleasure to work with as a teacher and his priorities seemed to be in keeping with making things work and working with the problems that were before him in a way that was fair and reasonable.

He was big on special ed, if I'm not mistaken his wife is a special ed teacher. He was very involved in the spec ed program at Churchill when he was there, going so far as to mentor students in the program who were high risk.

He's an ex-Marine, but you wouldn't know it to talk to him. That said, when you do get to know him you can see him being a Marine cut from the cloth of Robert Muller. Not an over-the-top rah, rah type, but proud and I'm confident he was good at what he did and had the respect of those he led.

He'll enforce the programs that he's expected to enforce by MCPS, and I'm sure in part this will be the continuance of the racial bias training that was far too much of last year for the teachers. This year we have "restorative justice", but this comes out of MCPS not the principal. Now that said, as a teacher at Churchill I'll tell you that without a doubt we have a problem with how minorities have been treated at the school. If you want a taste of those problems go to MinoritiesatChurchill on IG. The white fragility exhibited on this list is a bit over the top, we have FAR too many kids who are white and are clueless about their privilege and how to treat their non-white peers with respect, and this needs to change. Of course this is more an indictment of parents than kids as more often than not a kid who's acting racist is coming out of a racist household so I can see this issue is a touchy one for some folks. For most kids it's a matter of more being a bit obtuse in how they handle things than it is down home racism. Bottom line, the school needed to address this and to the degree possible fix it, but dedicating an entire year of professional development for teachers, during a pandemic where there were a lot of things that teachers were struggling with that were tied to the pandemic, was a bit over the top in my opinion.

Bottom line, I think John Taylor is an excellent choice for Churchill, mostly due to his seasoning coming out of CJ. I'm confident that barring it being a personal choice, Heckert lost the job due to her inexperience and, on some level, immaturity (her dismissive behavior towards Benz was well-noted by many, and how she dealt with the teachers her first year went over like a lead balloon); you won't have that with John Taylor.

He got woke while at CJMS. You sound woke too so you'll probably like it. But everyone else won't.

"Everyone else"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mr. Taylor is the Principal now. Perhaps the book thing can be discussed at one of the introductory meetings.

I am hoping for positivity and unity so students can be happy and successful. The focus should be the students at Churchill, not politics.

The focus does need to be the students at Churchill. ALL of them, including the black and brown students. Given previous race-related problems at the school and ingrained biases like the earlier poster in this thread, there will likely be more education about racial history in this country and its ongoing impact on the issues of today, not less. This thread makes me even more convinced that Mr. Taylor is an excellent choice.

If all means all, then discrimination and hate is not just a black/brown issue. ALL students would include all students regardless of their gender identity, sexual preference, racial identity, ethnic group, religious beliefs, and physical and mental disabilities. There are many examples at Churchill where students have been degraded and harassed by students. There’s also bias by teachers and staff that are barriers to educational and extra curricular opportunities at Churchill. The climate is toxic for learning. There’s a lot of work and training to be done with families and staff to support ALL students in the school.

One problem of the Heckert administration at Churchill is she excluded diversity in her focus groups. Her special programming was almost all targeted and attended by black/brown students. Those types of practices by Heckert separated students along skin color than unify the student population with an underlying respect for one another. Other groups who had horrible experiences at Churchill were left without a platform or a voice to work with school administrators to improve the school climate.

I have not personally read the books that are in question but plan to do so before the end of the summer. It’s hard to have a conversation about a book and make an independent analysis unless you actually take the time to read the text. I would encourage all Churchill families to do the same before passing judgment.

I hope with the new Principal, the Churchill community will unite to support all students. We should give him an opportunity to explain to us his plan and implement his vision.

Everyone absolutely should read the books their kids are assigned, especially books written to indoctrinate (Jason Reynolds words, not mine) kids into supporting something that goes against their best interests. And when you read these books, be prepared todo a lot of fact checking. Like the 1619 Project, many of these books are fictions pretending to be fact.

Just because you haven’t done the research doesn’t mean the previously untaught history of slavery and racism is fictional. It’s ugly, but it’s real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are you for or against discriminating against whites and Asians? Because Taylor is for it.

Bold claim. Where's your evidence?

He said he's an anti-racist in the mold of Kendi. And Kendi supports discriminations against whites and Asians.

Can you cite this? Or is it a "fact" you've invented?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mr. Taylor is the Principal now. Perhaps the book thing can be discussed at one of the introductory meetings.

I am hoping for positivity and unity so students can be happy and successful. The focus should be the students at Churchill, not politics.

The focus does need to be the students at Churchill. ALL of them, including the black and brown students. Given previous race-related problems at the school and ingrained biases like the earlier poster in this thread, there will likely be more education about racial history in this country and its ongoing impact on the issues of today, not less. This thread makes me even more convinced that Mr. Taylor is an excellent choice.

If all means all, then discrimination and hate is not just a black/brown issue. ALL students would include all students regardless of their gender identity, sexual preference, racial identity, ethnic group, religious beliefs, and physical and mental disabilities. There are many examples at Churchill where students have been degraded and harassed by students. There’s also bias by teachers and staff that are barriers to educational and extra curricular opportunities at Churchill. The climate is toxic for learning. There’s a lot of work and training to be done with families and staff to support ALL students in the school.

One problem of the Heckert administration at Churchill is she excluded diversity in her focus groups. Her special programming was almost all targeted and attended by black/brown students. Those types of practices by Heckert separated students along skin color than unify the student population with an underlying respect for one another. Other groups who had horrible experiences at Churchill were left without a platform or a voice to work with school administrators to improve the school climate.

I have not personally read the books that are in question but plan to do so before the end of the summer. It’s hard to have a conversation about a book and make an independent analysis unless you actually take the time to read the text. I would encourage all Churchill families to do the same before passing judgment.

I hope with the new Principal, the Churchill community will unite to support all students. We should give him an opportunity to explain to us his plan and implement his vision.

Everyone absolutely should read the books their kids are assigned, especially books written to indoctrinate (Jason Reynolds words, not mine) kids into supporting something that goes against their best interests. And when you read these books, be prepared todo a lot of fact checking. Like the 1619 Project, many of these books are fictions pretending to be fact.

Just because you haven’t done the research doesn’t mean the previously untaught history of slavery and racism is fictional. It’s ugly, but it’s real.

While the 1619 Project does contain some history, it is a work of fiction. The NYT and the author herself had to backtrack it's support for the project after this came to light.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are you for or against discriminating against whites and Asians? Because Taylor is for it.

Bold claim. Where's your evidence?

He said he's an anti-racist in the mold of Kendi. And Kendi supports discriminations against whites and Asians.

Can you cite this? Or is it a "fact" you've invented?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are you for or against discriminating against whites and Asians? Because Taylor is for it.

Bold claim. Where's your evidence?

He said he's an anti-racist in the mold of Kendi. And Kendi supports discriminations against whites and Asians.

Can you cite this? Or is it a "fact" you've invented?

If I do will you denounce Kendi and any MCPS teacher or administrator who supports him?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mr. Taylor is the Principal now. Perhaps the book thing can be discussed at one of the introductory meetings.

I am hoping for positivity and unity so students can be happy and successful. The focus should be the students at Churchill, not politics.

The focus does need to be the students at Churchill. ALL of them, including the black and brown students. Given previous race-related problems at the school and ingrained biases like the earlier poster in this thread, there will likely be more education about racial history in this country and its ongoing impact on the issues of today, not less. This thread makes me even more convinced that Mr. Taylor is an excellent choice.

If all means all, then discrimination and hate is not just a black/brown issue. ALL students would include all students regardless of their gender identity, sexual preference, racial identity, ethnic group, religious beliefs, and physical and mental disabilities. There are many examples at Churchill where students have been degraded and harassed by students. There’s also bias by teachers and staff that are barriers to educational and extra curricular opportunities at Churchill. The climate is toxic for learning. There’s a lot of work and training to be done with families and staff to support ALL students in the school.

One problem of the Heckert administration at Churchill is she excluded diversity in her focus groups. Her special programming was almost all targeted and attended by black/brown students. Those types of practices by Heckert separated students along skin color than unify the student population with an underlying respect for one another. Other groups who had horrible experiences at Churchill were left without a platform or a voice to work with school administrators to improve the school climate.

I have not personally read the books that are in question but plan to do so before the end of the summer. It’s hard to have a conversation about a book and make an independent analysis unless you actually take the time to read the text. I would encourage all Churchill families to do the same before passing judgment.

I hope with the new Principal, the Churchill community will unite to support all students. We should give him an opportunity to explain to us his plan and implement his vision.

Everyone absolutely should read the books their kids are assigned, especially books written to indoctrinate (Jason Reynolds words, not mine) kids into supporting something that goes against their best interests. And when you read these books, be prepared todo a lot of fact checking. Like the 1619 Project, many of these books are fictions pretending to be fact.

Just because you haven’t done the research doesn’t mean the previously untaught history of slavery and racism is fictional. It’s ugly, but it’s real.

Don't you mean "the work?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are you for or against discriminating against whites and Asians? Because Taylor is for it.

Bold claim. Where's your evidence?

He said he's an anti-racist in the mold of Kendi. And Kendi supports discriminations against whites and Asians.

Can you cite this? Or is it a "fact" you've invented?

If I do will you denounce Kendi and any MCPS teacher or administrator who supports him?

So let’s recap. You make a claim. When asked to corroborate your claim with legitimate evidence, you say you will only if the person requesting the evidence does something else. Doesn’t put you in a positive light and casts doubt about your original claim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are you for or against discriminating against whites and Asians? Because Taylor is for it.

Bold claim. Where's your evidence?

He said he's an anti-racist in the mold of Kendi. And Kendi supports discriminations against whites and Asians.

Can you cite this? Or is it a "fact" you've invented?

If I do will you denounce Kendi and any MCPS teacher or administrator who supports him?

Why the quid pro quo? Just trying to redirect?

[Anonymous]

This thread, specifically the last couple pages, is an embarrassment. The thread is about a new principal, not a book or some other topic. I suspect most people commenting have not even met this new principal and won't bother to show up at the information session.

Stop the hate and grievance, especially for someone most of the posters have never met. Imagine if you started a new job and this was the kind of vitriol that you encountered prior to day one. Is this what you want to teach the kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are you for or against discriminating against whites and Asians? Because Taylor is for it.

Bold claim. Where's your evidence?

He said he's an anti-racist in the mold of Kendi. And Kendi supports discriminations against whites and Asians.

:::Laughing::: You're so caught up in not seeing your own race issues that you're making up crap about other people.

Kendi's book, of which he's certainly most well-known, is "How to be an Antiracist", not a Black antiracist, an antiracist period, which means you're not discriminating against ANYONE, Black, white, Asian, Idigenous, and the list goes on. I'm guessing, and yes it's a guess, that you haven't read the book, likely because you figure you don't need to because of course you're not a racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread, specifically the last couple pages, is an embarrassment. The thread is about a new principal, not a book or some other topic. I suspect most people commenting have not even met this new principal and won't bother to show up at the information session.

Stop the hate and grievance, especially for someone most of the posters have never met. Imagine if you started a new job and this was the kind of vitriol that you encountered prior to day one. Is this what you want to teach the kids?

The Fox News/OAN/Newsmax cultural warriors are out in full force here. Principals, especially HS principals, need thick skin!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor was an outstanding AP during his time at Churchill. Level headed, considerate, and approachable. He was a pleasure to work with as a teacher and his priorities seemed to be in keeping with making things work and working with the problems that were before him in a way that was fair and reasonable.

He was big on special ed, if I'm not mistaken his wife is a special ed teacher. He was very involved in the spec ed program at Churchill when he was there, going so far as to mentor students in the program who were high risk.

He's an ex-Marine, but you wouldn't know it to talk to him. That said, when you do get to know him you can see him being a Marine cut from the cloth of Robert Muller. Not an over-the-top rah, rah type, but proud and I'm confident he was good at what he did and had the respect of those he led.

He'll enforce the programs that he's expected to enforce by MCPS, and I'm sure in part this will be the continuance of the racial bias training that was far too much of last year for the teachers. This year we have "restorative justice", but this comes out of MCPS not the principal. Now that said, as a teacher at Churchill I'll tell you that without a doubt we have a problem with how minorities have been treated at the school. If you want a taste of those problems go to MinoritiesatChurchill on IG. The white fragility exhibited on this list is a bit over the top, we have FAR too many kids who are white and are clueless about their privilege and how to treat their non-white peers with respect, and this needs to change. Of course this is more an indictment of parents than kids as more often than not a kid who's acting racist is coming out of a racist household so I can see this issue is a touchy one for some folks. For most kids it's a matter of more being a bit obtuse in how they handle things than it is down home racism. Bottom line, the school needed to address this and to the degree possible fix it, but dedicating an entire year of professional development for teachers, during a pandemic where there were a lot of things that teachers were struggling with that were tied to the pandemic, was a bit over the top in my opinion.

Bottom line, I think John Taylor is an excellent choice for Churchill, mostly due to his seasoning coming out of CJ. I'm confident that barring it being a personal choice, Heckert lost the job due to her inexperience and, on some level, immaturity (her dismissive behavior towards Benz was well-noted by many, and how she dealt with the teachers her first year went over like a lead balloon); you won't have that with John Taylor.

He got woke while at CJMS. You sound woke too so you'll probably like it. But everyone else won't.

"Woke" - and you're not "Woke", I mean of course not, why would being "woke" be accusatory? So let me think ... what's the opposite of being "woke"? Being asleep, right? So if you're not "woke" on an issue, you're otherwise "asleep" on it, right? Yeah, I guess I'm woke, and proud of being "woke" because being "asleep" means I'm oblivious to what's going on around me, which would seem to the case for you and your ilk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread, specifically the last couple pages, is an embarrassment. The thread is about a new principal, not a book or some other topic. I suspect most people commenting have not even met this new principal and won't bother to show up at the information session.

Stop the hate and grievance, especially for someone most of the posters have never met. Imagine if you started a new job and this was the kind of vitriol that you encountered prior to day one. Is this what you want to teach the kids?

+1