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Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)
Freedom Hill principal going to Haycock
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Anonymous
The Shrevewood position has been filled (Josh DeSmyter) and the announcement for the new principal at Timber Lane will be made tomorrow. |
Anonymous
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FH Parent here. Pamela Morgan is the interim principal at Freedom Hill. She has 33 years of experience in FCPS and a good number being a principal. Mr. Bloom and Mr. DeSmyter took care of a lot of things (staffing, scheduling, etc.) before they left. Ms. Morgan said she is hoping to get a retired asst. principal as an interim as well. They won't pick a permanent Asst. Principal until the Principal is selected - which I get, it makes sense.
As far as the new Principal at Freedom Hill, FCPS and the PTA asked the entire parent community to fill out input forms and send them to to Adam McGeehan at APMcGeehan@fcps.edu by Tues., Aug. 27. The questions for the candidates are formed by that input. They also asked people to be on the Principal Selection Panel. It's on the FHES PTA website. There's also a community meeting the night before open house (Aug. 22) with FCPS folks to discuss all the selection process info. People will meet Ms. Morgan at Open House on Friday. |
Anonymous
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I like Scott Bloom and Josh DeSmyter. Both upbeat, positive, good energy. Josh was at FHES barely 6 months but he seemed to bring a fun vibe. I'm sure he'll do well at Shrevewood.
Scott seemed to do well for the most part with most parents but some people didn't like for various reasons over the years. 7 years is a good stint as a principal. Sounds like a promotion for him to go to Haycock. Whoever said he doesn't rock the boat - that seems pretty on the money. |
Anonymous
| Carol Good will be the interim assistant principal |
Anonymous
| According to an email sent by the Assistant Superintendent to the Haycock community, "Principal Scott Bloom is on leave." Haycock will now have an interim principal. |
Anonymous
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OMG. Any guesses as to why he is being placed on leave?
The principal selection process is FCPS is so broken. Spring Hill, Chesterbrooke - none of these demanding schools can keep a principal. |
Anonymous
Stretching a bit there, aren’t you? |
Anonymous
Give me a break - have you taken a look at the process? It is one of the most comprehensive in America. There are several rounds of interviews and screenings, followed by an interview panel with community representatives, followed by several more interviews before an offer is made. Candidates are "weeded out" during each of these steps. Hard to point a finger at the leader. Perhaps the county needs to provide more administrative support as the job responsibilities grow and the families become more... demanding. |
Anonymous
| New principal named. An assistant principal from a LCPS school. |
Anonymous
Just to be clear, this was at Freedom Hill, not Haycock. |
Anonymous
m My kids go to the elementary your new principal is currently at. The kids LOVE him. He’s always in the halls, on lunch and bis duty, I’ve sat with him at IEP meetings. Great guy. You’re very lucky and the school will thrive with him as principal. I’m sad he’s leaving! |
Anonymous
Fellow PP, I am another IEP parent  What's the new principal like at IEP meetings? Does he advocate for the kids? Does he recognize the whole "twice-exceptional approach"? I am a Freedom Hill parent and we had a few people leave this year who knew my child so I am getting nervous with all these new folks.
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Anonymous
My child is not 2E so I have no direct experience with that. He was very pleasant in our IEP meetings and I say this as a parent who pulled my kid from one school because of the adversarial stance the principal took in the meetings with me. My husband attended last year’s review this April so the last one I was in was April 2018- I don’t remember specifics but he was very professional, listened and answered where appropriate, deferred to the teachers and specialists when necessary. Really a great guy, I think you will find the school thrives under his leadership. (I say this as a parent and an educator!) |
Anonymous
Not really! If you assign a brand new principal to a highly controversial Principal slot; a slot that took almost a full year to fill. You would hope that the new guy wouldn't be placed (i.e., FORCED) on leave for administrative matters. So, no, not stretching it at all. You'd think the vetting process at FCPS would be better and note, " ... hey, let's NOT assign this guy to a school like Haycock only to suspend him a few weeks later." Give me a break! And, even if he comes back now, ain't there no way he's gonna really be able to clear his name. There's always going to be cloud of 'yuck' around his return, and with the Haycock parents being who they are, good luck to him! I give him no more than 3 years, just like the other guy. You don't get over this. |
Anonymous
I think the cloud would last a couple months and assuming he does a good job and earns the respect of parents and teachers, by next year everyone will have forgotten. But I'm not sure if he's coming back. The Haycock community seems happy to have Augie in place for the foreseeable future. |