That Takoma Principal Part 2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are we airing our dirty laundry? The educational professional community is beginning to take note of schools who have toxic parent communities in DC. If you think we will attract/keep a quality school leader doing this you are sadly mistaken. And as a black parent, I am wondering if we have some cultural insensitivity surfacing amongst our parental community. Not good.

Thanks, Brandon. Also, I see you with the attempt to inject race into it. You (BC) are not a poor leader because of your skin color but rather the content of your character.

[Anonymous]

So because I disagree with how this is being handled you dismiss my comment as the principal’s comment? According to you Principal Clayton is unhinged and he already told you where to go, so why would he post an anonymous comment? He’d say it to your face because he’s unhinged, right? Grow up.

[Anonymous]

this entire thread is lolz but also why is "unhinged" white people's favorite insult?!

[Anonymous]

I have students at Takoma and had no idea that this is going on there. I consider myself an active parent and I have a good relationship with the teachers that I have encountered thus far. I can tell that they are passionate about what they do and that they really care for the students. My kids love Takoma and I can't imagine them elsewhere. I missed the last PTO meeting and am bummed that I did so. Does anyone have additional details about this 4th grade situation? Who is this teacher and what is she accused of doing? Has anyone investigated anything? I am truly clueless and would love to be informed.

[Anonymous]

My kid also loves Takoma and we have generally been extremely happy there. From a parent/student perspective, its everything an elementary school should be.

I was also not aware of the situation until the PTO meeting, which is probably how it should be. This is between the teacher, students, parents and administration. The principal shared that he has met multiple times with students, the teacher, parents, counselor, and union. And its now out of his hands and its been escalated above him.

A lot of the criticism on here is his delivery of the information. He seemed very unprepared to have any pushback from parents, which would seem part of the job. He knew the topic was going to be brought up at the meeting. I am not sure why he didn't have prepared remarks about what he could share and the general process DCPS does when they have complaints. Instead he seemed unprofessional and made it about himself.

[Anonymous]

An anonymous site like this is a terrible way to get information! There is no way to know who is writing, what their true motivations are, and if there is any truth in the posts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid also loves Takoma and we have generally been extremely happy there. From a parent/student perspective, its everything an elementary school should be.

I was also not aware of the situation until the PTO meeting, which is probably how it should be. This is between the teacher, students, parents and administration. The principal shared that he has met multiple times with students, the teacher, parents, counselor, and union. And its now out of his hands and its been escalated above him.

A lot of the criticism on here is his delivery of the information. He seemed very unprepared to have any pushback from parents, which would seem part of the job. He knew the topic was going to be brought up at the meeting. I am not sure why he didn't have prepared remarks about what he could share and the general process DCPS does when they have complaints. Instead he seemed unprofessional and made it about himself.

Thank you for explaining this. It makes a lot more sense now.

[Anonymous]

Hey this forum is crazy.

[Anonymous]

This was posted in a teacher’s group and some of the horrible teachers (one is that 4th grade teacher) are trying to cover this up or trash talk those who know this ordeal was unprofessional.

Mr. Clayton is unprofessional and rude. This PTO meeting was just the tip of the iceberg and he would do well to be careful about what he says.

[Anonymous]

Clayton has a pretty bad history if anyone cares to actually do research on him. But more importantly, there are a LOT of abusive behaviors that are insidious at Takoma and the buck stops with the leadership. Unfortunately he’s covered similar behavior up in the past and continues to excuse such behavior, and so I don’t have a lot of hope going forward. He’s been abusive himself towards several teachers in the past. One even consulted a lawyer about what options they had.

It doesn’t surprise me that many parents are ignorant to what’s going on. There has been an active effort to keep it hush hush and certain staff are afraid to speak out because it likely means potentially loss of a job or being blacklisted in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

I feel sorry for those who have had a bad experience with Clayton, and I hate to put a mirror up to your face or ask your work community about your toxic selves. As a parent of TES kids, they are happy and thriving. When I did have a concern, I found a way to work with the teacher. The time I did approach the Principal, I found him knowledgeable, responsive and the issue was taken care of.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the post that this chat is crazy! I was at the PTO meeting and totally confused. The parent who started this discussion doesn’t even have kids in 4th grade. The one parent who does have a child in the class who spoke up said her child has gone from a level 1 to a level 4 and is doing great in the teacher’s class that is in discussion. And all she said was the teacher is strict.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel sorry for those who have had a bad experience with Clayton, and I hate to put a mirror up to your face or ask your work community about your toxic selves. As a parent of TES kids, they are happy and thriving. When I did have a concern, I found a way to work with the teacher. The time I did approach the Principal, I found him knowledgeable, responsive and the issue was taken care of.

I'm not sure that you're being fair in this assessment. You can't say that one positive experience invalidates the pattern of inapprorpriate and unprofessional behavior. Glad it worked for you, but many of us have actually suffered from decisions he has made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clayton has a pretty bad history if anyone cares to actually do research on him. But more importantly, there are a LOT of abusive behaviors that are insidious at Takoma and the buck stops with the leadership. Unfortunately he’s covered similar behavior up in the past and continues to excuse such behavior, and so I don’t have a lot of hope going forward. He’s been abusive himself towards several teachers in the past. One even consulted a lawyer about what options they had.

It doesn’t surprise me that many parents are ignorant to what’s going on. There has been an active effort to keep it hush hush and certain staff are afraid to speak out because it likely means potentially loss of a job or being blacklisted in DCPS.

+1 It's no coincidence that the weekly PrinciPAL message is all about only saying positive things about each other, unifying, highlighting the good, etc. Probably drafted by the same poster who said "let's not air our dirty laundry."

[Anonymous]

As a TES parent, I truly cannot say enough about how wonderful most of the teachers are, as well as some of the administrative staff we have interacted with, though those interactions have been infrequent. They are passionate, caring, and completely focused on their students. What I have noticed, however, is that the teachers or administrative staff I did not have as positive an experience with tend to appear more in the principal’s messages/photos. While I do not want to generalize, this can create the impression of an inner circle and may help explain why there is so much divergence in how the principal’s character and effectiveness are subjectively perceived.