Navy Elementary - Principal Resignation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal was great. I adored him and it's a shame he's leaving. Our APs, especially SJ, are horrendous. I fear for the school if promoted.

- A Navy teacher

SJ sucks. Can she go instead? Respectfully, some of you teachers are a tad bonkers. You keep giving us parents extremely unsubtle hints that admin is incompetent and you want us to act. We just want our kids to have teachers and will complain on your behalf if you keep dropping us unsubtle hints. Make up your minds on what you want, please. Thank you.

Teachers want to be paid for all of their time and not have to deal with constant drama from parents, administrators, and gatehouse. You're welcome.

Why don't you teachers look into forming a union? Sounds like that is what you really need.

[Anonymous]

FCPS is the root of the problem. The parents were complaining because the 6th grade situation has been pretty terrible. It looked like things would be improving but now he has resigned, which is surprising because many of us were for starting to feel hopeful about the changes being put into place. He also seemed pretty upbeat and positive last week so I don't know what happened this week to change that. The kids all seemed to like him, so as usual, that's who will be negatively affected.

[Anonymous]

This is bizarre to have him resign now. Why wouldn't Gatehouse just give him extra support this year and plan on replacing him next year? My impression was that he just didn't know how to lead and tried to micromanage things, but wasn't terrible. I definitely think he came in with a set idea of how things were going to be and didn't give teachers who had been there a very long time any autonomy. This was after Coch, who gave them wide leeway, and the retired principal who stepped in and was also loved by the teachers.

Parents are the same as they've always been, it's only admin who has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is bizarre to have him resign now. Why wouldn't Gatehouse just give him extra support this year and plan on replacing him next year? My impression was that he just didn't know how to lead and tried to micromanage things, but wasn't terrible. I definitely think he came in with a set idea of how things were going to be and didn't give teachers who had been there a very long time any autonomy. This was after Coch, who gave them wide leeway, and the retired principal who stepped in and was also loved by the teachers.

+1 this is the real problem IMO. The teachers were used to so much freedom and autonomy and the new guy came in and ruined that. Anyone new hereafter will be similar.
Parents are the same as they've always been, it's only admin who has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is bizarre to have him resign now. Why wouldn't Gatehouse just give him extra support this year and plan on replacing him next year? My impression was that he just didn't know how to lead and tried to micromanage things, but wasn't terrible. I definitely think he came in with a set idea of how things were going to be and didn't give teachers who had been there a very long time any autonomy. This was after Coch, who gave them wide leeway, and the retired principal who stepped in and was also loved by the teachers.

Parents are the same as they've always been, it's only admin who has changed.

This is the root of the problem actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is bizarre to have him resign now. Why wouldn't Gatehouse just give him extra support this year and plan on replacing him next year? My impression was that he just didn't know how to lead and tried to micromanage things, but wasn't terrible. I definitely think he came in with a set idea of how things were going to be and didn't give teachers who had been there a very long time any autonomy. This was after Coch, who gave them wide leeway, and the retired principal who stepped in and was also loved by the teachers.

+1 this is the real problem IMO. The teachers were used to so much freedom and autonomy and the new guy came in and ruined that. Anyone new hereafter will be similar.
Parents are the same as they've always been, it's only admin who has changed.

+10000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal was great. I adored him and it's a shame he's leaving. Our APs, especially SJ, are horrendous. I fear for the school if promoted.

- A Navy teacher

SJ sucks. Can she go instead? Respectfully, some of you teachers are a tad bonkers. You keep giving us parents extremely unsubtle hints that admin is incompetent and you want us to act. We just want our kids to have teachers and will complain on your behalf if you keep dropping us unsubtle hints. Make up your minds on what you want, please. Thank you.

Teachers want to be paid for all of their time and not have to deal with constant drama from parents, administrators, and gatehouse. You're welcome.

Having a job comes with dealing with difficult situations and people at times. Responding to parent emails is not “drama” and answering to your boss, client, or customer from time to time is part of every job in the world. Perhaps there needs to be training offered on how to receive constructive feedback in a work environment without getting all emotional about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal was great. I adored him and it's a shame he's leaving. Our APs, especially SJ, are horrendous. I fear for the school if promoted.

- A Navy teacher

SJ sucks. Can she go instead? Respectfully, some of you teachers are a tad bonkers. You keep giving us parents extremely unsubtle hints that admin is incompetent and you want us to act. We just want our kids to have teachers and will complain on your behalf if you keep dropping us unsubtle hints. Make up your minds on what you want, please. Thank you.

Teachers want to be paid for all of their time and not have to deal with constant drama from parents, administrators, and gatehouse. You're welcome.

Having a job comes with dealing with difficult situations and people at times. Responding to parent emails is not “drama” and answering to your boss, client, or customer from time to time is part of every job in the world. Perhaps there needs to be training offered on how to receive constructive feedback in a work environment without getting all emotional about it.

Yep.

[Anonymous]

There are some WILD things going on with administration in elementary schools across the whole county. The issues at Navy are NOTHING compared to other schools, yet this is where gatehouse chooses to step in and make a stand. It's baffling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some WILD things going on with administration in elementary schools across the whole county. The issues at Navy are NOTHING compared to other schools, yet this is where gatehouse chooses to step in and make a stand. It's baffling

Like what? Squeaky wheel.

[Anonymous]

There is an elementary school where, last year, the principal (50+) had a very visible affair with a counselor (24+). She moved into his office, how marriage imploded. Somebody blabbed to gatehouse and they did an investigation where the results was that the counselor was asked to leave at the end of the year. Administration told specific teachers who spoke out against him to leave at the end of the year. There was a large exodus of wonderful and experienced teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is bizarre to have him resign now. Why wouldn't Gatehouse just give him extra support this year and plan on replacing him next year? My impression was that he just didn't know how to lead and tried to micromanage things, but wasn't terrible. I definitely think he came in with a set idea of how things were going to be and didn't give teachers who had been there a very long time any autonomy. This was after Coch, who gave them wide leeway, and the retired principal who stepped in and was also loved by the teachers.

Parents are the same as they've always been, it's only admin who has changed.

It’s possible he was tired of the constant emails battering him and the ones where he was cc’ed for minor stuff that parents should have just gone to their teachers about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some WILD things going on with administration in elementary schools across the whole county. The issues at Navy are NOTHING compared to other schools, yet this is where gatehouse chooses to step in and make a stand. It's baffling

+1 Yep. Navy teachers are in for a very rude awakening. They wanted this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is the root of the problem. The parents were complaining because the 6th grade situation has been pretty terrible. It looked like things would be improving but now he has resigned, which is surprising because many of us were for starting to feel hopeful about the changes being put into place. He also seemed pretty upbeat and positive last week so I don't know what happened this week to change that. The kids all seemed to like him, so as usual, that's who will be negatively affected.

This. 6th grade parents were strongly advocating for an actual teacher after the sub left that class in shambles. Every 6th grade parent I know was absolutely thrilled with the principal’s decision to have the new teacher take over, as he is not only an experienced 6th grade teacher, but also beloved by the kids. I thought this would be a huge win and a positive PR boost for the principal. I also felt like he was finally starting to feel comfortable in his role. Then he resigned. It’s unfortunate, but I don’t blame him one bit. Navy would have been a challenging environment for even the most experienced principal. A brand new one never stood a chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When are they going to get rid of the AAP Center and just turn Navy into an LLIV school? Crossfield has its own AAP program, why do people send their kids to Navy? It's so strange.

Navy has better academic after school activities (science olympiad, math counts, math olympiad) and it's much more Asian.