Alice Deal Middle School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s plenty of foundation to support the claim, (thread upon thread on this very forum). Accusing a school leader of turning a blind eye to violence or crime is BS.

Many of these same schools, (Deal and Hardy), had similar challenges as the ones they’re currently experiencing, (if not worse), but because they have different leaders all of a sudden the schools are “going down”.

Stop it. Everyone knows what this game is about. As soon as the leadership changes back to the desired norm, the problems will suddenly all be solved though nothing would have changed at all except for the school’s leader.

Total bullsh*t accusation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone who works in DCPS, I often find that there are so many inaccuracies in this forum. I’ve yet to discover if it’s the result of misinformation, bias, or something much more calculated.

There is no way a school leader would allow a drug deal to take place in their school and not do something about it. Especially if it were known. Senior leaders would not allow school leaders to remain at schools if this were a known problem. No school wakes up in the morning and says, I think I want to run a school in the ground. Bring the principal the receipts, (so that he/she is not accusing someone’s child of sellimg drugs based upon ancetodotes), and then allow the person to do something about it.

Parents should really visit schools, ask to shadow or volunteer so that they can see for themselves how safe our schools are.

I read inaccuracies about my school’s enrollment, class sizes, class offerings, etc all the time here. It's just blatantly wrong.

I also understand that parents create these narratives in part based upon their perception of the school’s leader and the demographics of the school.

The same for Mayor Bowser. So many people complain as if they can run a city as complex and diverse as this better than she can. Her perceived incompetence is rooted in one thing and one thing only.

If parents can run schools better than school leaders, you sure did an awful job with just a handful of kids, in a virtual setting.

Give leaders the feedback, offer your support, and give them the opportunity to fix it before you assume their appearance makes them incompetent.

Oh come on. Who do you think is going to snitch on the drug deal? The students? I would absolutely forbid my student from reporting it. I’m not stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure leaders can be criticized, (it comes with the territory). To be clear, it isn’t the criticism that’s the problem. Asking that a leader, (especially a competent one), step down or step aside based upon bogus claims is an issue.

Let’s not deflect here.

A school principal is a DCPS employee, no more no less. They don’t have some kind of special respect due to them that means they can’t face repercussions for how they do their job. Just like the rest of us at our jobs. If I was failing some essential part of my job I’d expect discipline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure leaders can be criticized, (it comes with the territory). To be clear, it isn’t the criticism that’s the problem. Asking that a leader, (especially a competent one), step down or step aside based upon bogus claims is an issue.

Let’s not deflect here.

Didn’t you say it was about one thing and one thing only? No, wait, that was about the mayor.

What about: Something much more calculated? The demographics of the school? Assuming a person’s appearance makes them incompetent?

Be clear. What are you saying about parents at the school who criticize the current principal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It certainly doesn't help that almost all behavior that is merely 'disruptive' and not actually violent gets a pass under the Fair Access to Schools Act:

Beginning in school year 2019-2020, no student in grades kindergarten through 8 may be subject to an out-of-school suspension or disciplinary unenrollment, unless a school administrator determines, consistent with school policy, that the student has willfully caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause bodily injury or emotional distress to another person, including behavior that happens off school grounds;

Schools are short-staffed as-is and it becomes challenging to enforce in-school suspension, especially when behavior such as smoking involves even 10, 15 students. That may only be 1% of the student body at Deal but when no punishment is possible because they can't staff in school suspension for 15 students at a time, others see that they can get away with these behaviors and things snowball.

Steps towards restorative justice are great, but schools still need to set expectations with clear and enforceable consequences.

The issue seems to be that they are not actually enforcing the law as written, if students who are violent are not suspended. Focusing on that rather than “lifestyle” infractions like smoking seems like the critical step.

The law as written is terrible. The inclusion of the word "willfully" makes it virtually impossible to suspend anyone for anything short of a school shooting with a videotaped manifesto and named victims.

Besides the lack of punishment for anything, the biggest problem in DCPS that I see is a complete lack of transparency. Everything gets swept under the rug and then causes a bigger problem down the line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s overdue for a change in leadership.

Having worked at Deal, this is absolutely true. There are amazing teachers, staff, and students working and learning in an extremely toxic educational environment.

[Anonymous]

I am a student at alice deal middle school and i do not recommend this school. The security guards are the most disrespectful they pick favorites and if they dislike you they will find any reason to get you introuble. They have judged and bullied kids off their situations at home like me. The counselors do nothing , their either not there or there busy and when u do need to talk to them they criticize you. The kids bully people and when you tell a teacher they so nothing and kids steal people things and teachers see it and dont do anything. The learning is horrible and the classes are never quite or people are bussing in classes yelling. There are fightd always happening and when their is a fight the teachers just look. The 7th grade dean at deal is horrible and he had lies to parents and when u tell him you want to vent , he will tell you to write a note and then he shows it to other people , he had showed it my friend even when i told him i wanted it to be private and there is more situations with him. And they took away youdr pouches to “stop bullying” but the bullying continues everyday. and the lines to get ur phone at 3-5 mins long because there are os many people. This school had drained me in everyway possible and the staff bullied and judged me when I was venting . I do not recommend this school at all.

[Anonymous]

Im going to start off with drug use in school, Their was a kid vaping in the halls and as soon as you walk into the girls bathroom it reeks like weed. The bullying never gets put to a stop. I know many kids who got put in children hospital because of suicidal thoughts because of the non stop bulling. When u tell a teacher about bulling they do nothing and the staff is so disrespectful. Manliy the security guards. All they seek is drama and get involved in it. They made me feel like i wasnt worth a thing. They judged me and criticized me so bad because of my home life. I would never come back to this school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone who works in DCPS, I often find that there are so many inaccuracies in this forum. I’ve yet to discover if it’s the result of misinformation, bias, or something much more calculated.

There is no way a school leader would allow a drug deal to take place in their school and not do something about it. Especially if it were known. Senior leaders would not allow school leaders to remain at schools if this were a known problem. No school wakes up in the morning and says, I think I want to run a school in the ground. Bring the principal the receipts, (so that he/she is not accusing someone’s child of sellimg drugs based upon ancetodotes), and then allow the person to do something about it.

Parents should really visit schools, ask to shadow or volunteer so that they can see for themselves how safe our schools are.

I read inaccuracies about my school’s enrollment, class sizes, class offerings, etc all the time here. It's just blatantly wrong.

I also understand that parents create these narratives in part based upon their perception of the school’s leader and the demographics of the school.

The same for Mayor Bowser. So many people complain as if they can run a city as complex and diverse as this better than she can. Her perceived incompetence is rooted in one thing and one thing only.

If parents can run schools better than school leaders, you sure did an awful job with just a handful of kids, in a virtual setting.

Give leaders the feedback, offer your support, and give them the opportunity to fix it before you assume their appearance makes them incompetent.

The nonsense and gaslighting in this post are exactly what I’d expect from a DCPS employee. “ Bring the principal the receipts” is an offensively ridiculous statement. PP didn’t even bother to try to come up with a plausible way of passing the buck. How exactly would that work for a parent in the real world?

Parents are concerned about drug use and drug dealing because their kids tell them they see it and don’t feel safe at school.

Saying “This couldn’t be happening” is exactly what every person in an organization that’s failing to protect kids it has a responsibility to protect has always said everywhere, until the truth comes out, then they say “How could we have known?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who works in DCPS, I often find that there are so many inaccuracies in this forum. I’ve yet to discover if it’s the result of misinformation, bias, or something much more calculated.

There is no way a school leader would allow a drug deal to take place in their school and not do something about it. Especially if it were known. Senior leaders would not allow school leaders to remain at schools if this were a known problem. No school wakes up in the morning and says, I think I want to run a school in the ground. Bring the principal the receipts, (so that he/she is not accusing someone’s child of sellimg drugs based upon ancetodotes), and then allow the person to do something about it.

Parents should really visit schools, ask to shadow or volunteer so that they can see for themselves how safe our schools are.

I read inaccuracies about my school’s enrollment, class sizes, class offerings, etc all the time here. It's just blatantly wrong.

I also understand that parents create these narratives in part based upon their perception of the school’s leader and the demographics of the school.

The same for Mayor Bowser. So many people complain as if they can run a city as complex and diverse as this better than she can. Her perceived incompetence is rooted in one thing and one thing only.

If parents can run schools better than school leaders, you sure did an awful job with just a handful of kids, in a virtual setting.

Give leaders the feedback, offer your support, and give them the opportunity to fix it before you assume their appearance makes them incompetent.

The nonsense and gaslighting in this post are exactly what I’d expect from a DCPS employee. “ Bring the principal the receipts” is an offensively ridiculous statement. PP didn’t even bother to try to come up with a plausible way of passing the buck. How exactly would that work for a parent in the real world?

Parents are concerned about drug use and drug dealing because their kids tell them they see it and don’t feel safe at school.

Saying “This couldn’t be happening” is exactly what every person in an organization that’s failing to protect kids it has a responsibility to protect has always said everywhere, until the truth comes out, then they say “How could we have known?”

I think all she is saying is that it is not going to work for a principal or school administrator to accuse a student of dealing drugs unless they have concrete, specific proof. Otherwise you open yourself up to a major issue from the accused's family, "advocates", lawyers, etc. So yes, the principal needs to be presented with pretty solid evidence of said drug dealing or whatever it is so that they can report it and document it in a way that is as airtight as can be in such circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here goes another witch hunt for the black school leader

Looks like Ms. Neal found the post. 🤣

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Set up schools within schools for students who constantly violate school norms with higher adult-to-student ratios, trauma-based services, and restricted access to the rest of the school. Pay teachers who work in these classrooms higher salaries.

Recreate the "Sweat Hogs"? That's your answer?

[Anonymous]

95% of the challenging kids are OOB students who have rights to Deal by virtue of lottery into ES. One WOTP ES school teacher confided to us that the OOB kids always had the most dangerous and disruptive behaviors. She eventually left to teach in VA after her principal refused to report a kid in her class who brought a knife and repeatedly threatened her.

[Anonymous]

I’m in my 2nd year at Deal and teaching here has its ups and downs, but most of what people say about Ms. Neal is true. She’s nice at first, but once you cross her, you’re dead to her. You’ll never make Impact and she’s make things extremely difficult for you especially if you’re white.

[Anonymous]

The teachers are great. But the school is WAY too big. It’s larger than every city high school, except JR (which is also too big). They make the academics work, but the rest of the school experience from the hallways, to the cafeteria, to the ability to make a sports team, to the amount of time to get through security are not acceptable. These are mostly political problems created by adults, unfortunately.