Wyngate Elementary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump this thread up. The frictions between the new principal and teachers/PTA are enhancing at Wyngate. While parents have kept on reporting the situation to her boss, his attitude was basically "training her is my job" to shovel the dirt under the carpet again and again. Now teachers may carry a strike or mass leaving next semester, and parents are devastated. Where to go next? Any experience or suggestions from this board?

Every time there is a new Principal there is a mass exodus of established/legacy teachers. This is not new or news. Wyngate is a strong ES in a terrrific cluster with a great community

It's not just a teacher thing. PTA got really intense relationship with this principal too.

Maybe because almost every Bethesda school has parents who think they know better than trained educators. And that bratty behavior gets passed down to the kids. She probably said “I don’t take nonsense” and looked around. Good on her.

Often the parents are better educated and more knowledgeable than the principal in a Bethesda school. It sounds like she wasn't a good fit.

NP - having an advanced degree doesn’t make someone more qualified in the field of education (or any other that isn’t their speciality). But thinking it is is exactly in line with the cliquish entitlement of that community.

I think you are underestimating just how many people in that area have ed-psych, PhD. Ed., etc in that area. They do often know more about what they are observing than others in the room.

No, I’m not. I have a PhD (clinical psychology) and a BS in education - pretty relevant fields. I still don’t know how to run a school better than a principal does. I do know enough to recognize my limits.

Then, actually you do know better how to run a school. Embrace your expertise. It's okay to own what you know. Ps. A PhD in education is super easy to attain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump this thread up. The frictions between the new principal and teachers/PTA are enhancing at Wyngate. While parents have kept on reporting the situation to her boss, his attitude was basically "training her is my job" to shovel the dirt under the carpet again and again. Now teachers may carry a strike or mass leaving next semester, and parents are devastated. Where to go next? Any experience or suggestions from this board?

Every time there is a new Principal there is a mass exodus of established/legacy teachers. This is not new or news. Wyngate is a strong ES in a terrrific cluster with a great community

It's not just a teacher thing. PTA got really intense relationship with this principal too.

Maybe because almost every Bethesda school has parents who think they know better than trained educators. And that bratty behavior gets passed down to the kids. She probably said “I don’t take nonsense” and looked around. Good on her.

Often the parents are better educated and more knowledgeable than the principal in a Bethesda school. It sounds like she wasn't a good fit.

NP - having an advanced degree doesn’t make someone more qualified in the field of education (or any other that isn’t their speciality). But thinking it is is exactly in line with the cliquish entitlement of that community.

I think you are underestimating just how many people in that area have ed-psych, PhD. Ed., etc in that area. They do often know more about what they are observing than others in the room.

No, I’m not. I have a PhD (clinical psychology) and a BS in education - pretty relevant fields. I still don’t know how to run a school better than a principal does. I do know enough to recognize my limits.

Then, actually you do know better how to run a school. Embrace your expertise. It's okay to own what you know. Ps. A PhD in education is super easy to attain.

The PP is correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work for mcps and Goshen is a much better fit for her style of leadership. It was a poor placement to begin with.

How so?

What was her “style of leadership “ that would make her more successful in a less affluent area?

Exactly why I asked how so, exactly why I hate DCUM a lot of times, and exactly why I made the earlier comment regarding how Bethesda parents don’t make leading a school easy. She isn’t the first Black female leader in that area to have faced constant pushback for just doing her job. And before people say “oh it’s not about race”, would another leader of a different background in that area be moved 2 YEARS into their position? There are just people in that area who implicitly won’t respect those that are different from them, and because of the constant measuring/competition, the people of color are seen as lower. She was highly qualified as well.

The long term principal of NBMS who retired a couple of years ago was Black and everyone loved him. And everyone loved Mr. McCall (which I think I’m spelling wrong) who basically functioned as the AP for a period under Ms Leister. I don’t know who you are talking about but I can’t think of any examples of other Black leaders in that school cluster who had problems with the parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump this thread up. The frictions between the new principal and teachers/PTA are enhancing at Wyngate. While parents have kept on reporting the situation to her boss, his attitude was basically "training her is my job" to shovel the dirt under the carpet again and again. Now teachers may carry a strike or mass leaving next semester, and parents are devastated. Where to go next? Any experience or suggestions from this board?

Every time there is a new Principal there is a mass exodus of established/legacy teachers. This is not new or news. Wyngate is a strong ES in a terrrific cluster with a great community

It's not just a teacher thing. PTA got really intense relationship with this principal too.

Maybe because almost every Bethesda school has parents who think they know better than trained educators. And that bratty behavior gets passed down to the kids. She probably said “I don’t take nonsense” and looked around. Good on her.

Often the parents are better educated and more knowledgeable than the principal in a Bethesda school. It sounds like she wasn't a good fit.

NP - having an advanced degree doesn’t make someone more qualified in the field of education (or any other that isn’t their speciality). But thinking it is is exactly in line with the cliquish entitlement of that community.

I do not think you have any first hand knowledge of that particular community. It is not cliquish or entitled. But the teachers at that schools are accustomed to being treated with respect by admin and parents (who truly appreciate our wonderful teachers) and the parents are accustomed to a pretty open line of communication with admin. I have no inside knowpedgr about why she left but I do know that there was no criticism of her on the parent listserve. And that at least some and staff parents were a little disappointed with her lack of visibility to the students and families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work for mcps and Goshen is a much better fit for her style of leadership. It was a poor placement to begin with.

How so?

What was her “style of leadership “ that would make her more successful in a less affluent area?

Exactly why I asked how so, exactly why I hate DCUM a lot of times, and exactly why I made the earlier comment regarding how Bethesda parents don’t make leading a school easy. She isn’t the first Black female leader in that area to have faced constant pushback for just doing her job. And before people say “oh it’s not about race”, would another leader of a different background in that area be moved 2 YEARS into their position? There are just people in that area who implicitly won’t respect those that are different from them, and because of the constant measuring/competition, the people of color are seen as lower. She was highly qualified as well.

The long term principal of NBMS who retired a couple of years ago was Black and everyone loved him. And everyone loved Mr. McCall (which I think I’m spelling wrong) who basically functioned as the AP for a period under Ms Leister. I don’t know who you are talking about but I can’t think of any examples of other Black leaders in that school cluster who had problems with the parents.

The last principal of Churchill HS was reassigned back to a VP position at another county high school after 2 years. She was Caucasian.

[Anonymous]

I heard the principal is leaving. Does anyone know why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard the principal is leaving. Does anyone know why?

She was recently hired as the new principal of Goshen ES in Gaithersburg.

[Anonymous]

I work at Wyngate and can tell you that the morale from the staff is low and we're frustrated with being ignored. It's impossible to get the administrators fired and they act like dictators until you're forced to leave. Peter Young III is coming in from South Africa. Glad they got someone's that's not corrupted by MCPS yet!

[Anonymous]

New Wyngate principal just announced 3 hours ago: Mr. Peter Young joined AISCT in July 2018, after having served as an elementary school principal in Washington, D.C. for six years. Prior to being a principal, he served as an assistant principal for one year and prior to that taught Grade 5 in several schools from Northern Virginia to Boston. During this time, he met his wife Leah who is a part-time teacher in the high school at AISCT.

Passionate about early childhood education as well as the elementary years of education, Mr. Young knows that these are the formative years, when positive habits of mind are formed and students learn important foundational skills that will support their ability to learn at a high level later in school.

Mr. Young earned his bachelor’s double majoring in Elementary Education and Anthropology from Vanderbilt University. He holds a master’s degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New Wyngate principal just announced 3 hours ago: Mr. Peter Young joined AISCT in July 2018, after having served as an elementary school principal in Washington, D.C. for six years. Prior to being a principal, he served as an assistant principal for one year and prior to that taught Grade 5 in several schools from Northern Virginia to Boston. During this time, he met his wife Leah who is a part-time teacher in the high school at AISCT.

Passionate about early childhood education as well as the elementary years of education, Mr. Young knows that these are the formative years, when positive habits of mind are formed and students learn important foundational skills that will support their ability to learn at a high level later in school.

Mr. Young earned his bachelor’s double majoring in Elementary Education and Anthropology from Vanderbilt University. He holds a master’s degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.

Harvard seems like a good match for the Wyngate parent community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work at Wyngate and can tell you that the morale from the staff is low and we're frustrated with being ignored. It's impossible to get the administrators fired and they act like dictators until you're forced to leave. Peter Young III is coming in from South Africa. Glad they got someone's that's not corrupted by MCPS yet!

Can you explain what is happening at Wyngate with all of the staff turnover? If the Principal is leaving, why is there still so much turnover?

[Anonymous]

Wyngate teacher, I just want to say I’m sorry you’ve had a rough couple of years. We are out of wyngate now but we’re there for 11 years with 3 kids and really loved all out teachers. A few are still there and just want to say we appreciate you and hope the incoming admin is better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work at Wyngate and can tell you that the morale from the staff is low and we're frustrated with being ignored. It's impossible to get the administrators fired and they act like dictators until you're forced to leave. Peter Young III is coming in from South Africa. Glad they got someone's that's not corrupted by MCPS yet!

Can you explain what is happening at Wyngate with all of the staff turnover? If the Principal is leaving, why is there still so much turnover?

It seems high because it’s high for Wyngate, but it’s pretty common, people look for new employment often, we just had a lot of teachers choose to leave in 2023.

[Anonymous]

Class sizes are huge and ap is still there.

[Anonymous]

Class sizes are huge pretty much everywhere.