Call to discuss the state of Hardy 05/15/23

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's one thing, the dedicated teachers at Hardy that feel like the principal change is unnecessary appear to have little awareness of how poor the instruction provided by their "second variety" colleagues actually was. It is like they think that because they could run strong 90-minute lessons they assume their colleagues were doing so too. They weren't.

The parents should have never been the ones to fix problematic teaching. It is the principal, not the parents, that the teachers should be concerned about. But when the principal is doing nothing, there is no other choice but to involve others and advocate for the needed change.

And, as has been repeatedly stated in this thread, problematic teaching was not even in the top 5 issues that led to the principal's ouster. We've had terrific teachers at Hardy. Their skill, empathy, mastery of their craft, and communication style have little in common with the incoherent raging upthread. My children's (excellent) teachers
deserve better leadership, and in signing the petition, I was supporting their right to a safe, well-run workplace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's one thing, the dedicated teachers at Hardy that feel like the principal change is unnecessary appear to have little awareness of how poor the instruction provided by their "second variety" colleagues actually was. It is like they think that because they could run strong 90-minute lessons they assume their colleagues were doing so too. They weren't.

The parents should have never been the ones to fix problematic teaching. It is the principal, not the parents, that the teachers should be concerned about. But when the principal is doing nothing, there is no other choice but to involve others and advocate for the needed change.

And, as has been repeatedly stated in this thread, problematic teaching was not even in the top 5 issues that led to the principal's ouster. We've had terrific teachers at Hardy. Their skill, empathy, mastery of their craft, and communication style have little in common with the incoherent raging upthread. My children's (excellent) teachers
deserve better leadership, and in signing the petition, I was supporting their right to a safe, well-run workplace.

There are so many rational, calm teacher responses on this thread that it's sad parents keep going back to the incoherent raging well.
It's also offensive and patronizing to say that you signed that petition for us. You don't know better than us, and you didn't ask what we wanted.

[Anonymous]

I'd like to go back to the PE/Locker issue again. So the boys got to go to PE for 2 weeks but the girls did not? Why was that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's one thing, the dedicated teachers at Hardy that feel like the principal change is unnecessary appear to have little awareness of how poor the instruction provided by their "second variety" colleagues actually was. It is like they think that because they could run strong 90-minute lessons they assume their colleagues were doing so too. They weren't.

The parents should have never been the ones to fix problematic teaching. It is the principal, not the parents, that the teachers should be concerned about. But when the principal is doing nothing, there is no other choice but to involve others and advocate for the needed change.

And, as has been repeatedly stated in this thread, problematic teaching was not even in the top 5 issues that led to the principal's ouster. We've had terrific teachers at Hardy. Their skill, empathy, mastery of their craft, and communication style have little in common with the incoherent raging upthread. My children's (excellent) teachers
deserve better leadership, and in signing the petition, I was supporting their right to a safe, well-run workplace.

There are so many rational, calm teacher responses on this thread that it's sad parents keep going back to the incoherent raging well.
It's also offensive and patronizing to say that you signed that petition for us. You don't know better than us, and you didn't ask what we wanted.

dp: I won't claim to know what you wanted, but I do understand that you somehow find it egregious that parents acted in the interest of what was good for their kids (which was signing a petition; DCPS makes the decisions). I understand how the events may have been abrupt, but I don't understand how they were so violating to you.

Like kids should have just stuck with a bad situation because...what? I have heard no end to that sentence. It's not because the admin was working so wonderfully at Hardy, not because you loved PJ and thought he was such a capable and promising leader, not because parents have a history of being needlessly disruptive.

It's some vague notion that parents and DCPS Central reaching the end of their patience is "overstepping" to teachers. There is no logic to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's one thing, the dedicated teachers at Hardy that feel like the principal change is unnecessary appear to have little awareness of how poor the instruction provided by their "second variety" colleagues actually was. It is like they think that because they could run strong 90-minute lessons they assume their colleagues were doing so too. They weren't.

The parents should have never been the ones to fix problematic teaching. It is the principal, not the parents, that the teachers should be concerned about. But when the principal is doing nothing, there is no other choice but to involve others and advocate for the needed change.

And, as has been repeatedly stated in this thread, problematic teaching was not even in the top 5 issues that led to the principal's ouster. We've had terrific teachers at Hardy. Their skill, empathy, mastery of their craft, and communication style have little in common with the incoherent raging upthread. My children's (excellent) teachers
deserve better leadership, and in signing the petition, I was supporting their right to a safe, well-run workplace.

There are so many rational, calm teacher responses on this thread that it's sad parents keep going back to the incoherent raging well.
It's also offensive and patronizing to say that you signed that petition for us. You don't know better than us, and you didn't ask what we wanted.

Um, OK then! Not sure how you got “incoherent raging” from PP …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd like to go back to the PE/Locker issue again. So the boys got to go to PE for 2 weeks but the girls did not? Why was that?

Because the girls locker room was locked for two weeks and the gym teacher told the girls they couldn't participate while wearing their school clothes. When the girls -- ladies, really -- pointed out that the boys often wear their school clothes, they were told that they didn't want to get sweaty. The principal knew and did nothing, then lied to the whole PTO call about his knowledge.

Literally. This is what happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's one thing, the dedicated teachers at Hardy that feel like the principal change is unnecessary appear to have little awareness of how poor the instruction provided by their "second variety" colleagues actually was. It is like they think that because they could run strong 90-minute lessons they assume their colleagues were doing so too. They weren't.

The parents should have never been the ones to fix problematic teaching. It is the principal, not the parents, that the teachers should be concerned about. But when the principal is doing nothing, there is no other choice but to involve others and advocate for the needed change.

And, as has been repeatedly stated in this thread, problematic teaching was not even in the top 5 issues that led to the principal's ouster. We've had terrific teachers at Hardy. Their skill, empathy, mastery of their craft, and communication style have little in common with the incoherent raging upthread. My children's (excellent) teachers
deserve better leadership, and in signing the petition, I was supporting their right to a safe, well-run workplace.

There are so many rational, calm teacher responses on this thread that it's sad parents keep going back to the incoherent raging well.
It's also offensive and patronizing to say that you signed that petition for us. You don't know better than us, and you didn't ask what we wanted.

dp: I won't claim to know what you wanted, but I do understand that you somehow find it egregious that parents acted in the interest of what was good for their kids (which was signing a petition; DCPS makes the decisions). I understand how the events may have been abrupt, but I don't understand how they were so violating to you.

Like kids should have just stuck with a bad situation because...what? I have heard no end to that sentence. It's not because the admin was working so wonderfully at Hardy, not because you loved PJ and thought he was such a capable and promising leader, not because parents have a history of being needlessly disruptive.

It's some vague notion that parents and DCPS Central reaching the end of their patience is "overstepping" to teachers. There is no logic to it.

It's because, and I apologize for being a little frustrated but I have had to share this multiple times on this thread, the end of the year is already a frantic time at a school. There are big events, field trips, graduations going on. There is also a ton of hiring and preparing for next year. This is an incredibly destabilizing event, and one that could have waited 5 more weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's one thing, the dedicated teachers at Hardy that feel like the principal change is unnecessary appear to have little awareness of how poor the instruction provided by their "second variety" colleagues actually was. It is like they think that because they could run strong 90-minute lessons they assume their colleagues were doing so too. They weren't.

The parents should have never been the ones to fix problematic teaching. It is the principal, not the parents, that the teachers should be concerned about. But when the principal is doing nothing, there is no other choice but to involve others and advocate for the needed change.

And, as has been repeatedly stated in this thread, problematic teaching was not even in the top 5 issues that led to the principal's ouster. We've had terrific teachers at Hardy. Their skill, empathy, mastery of their craft, and communication style have little in common with the incoherent raging upthread. My children's (excellent) teachers
deserve better leadership, and in signing the petition, I was supporting their right to a safe, well-run workplace.

There are so many rational, calm teacher responses on this thread that it's sad parents keep going back to the incoherent raging well.
It's also offensive and patronizing to say that you signed that petition for us. You don't know better than us, and you didn't ask what we wanted.

dp: I won't claim to know what you wanted, but I do understand that you somehow find it egregious that parents acted in the interest of what was good for their kids (which was signing a petition; DCPS makes the decisions). I understand how the events may have been abrupt, but I don't understand how they were so violating to you.

Like kids should have just stuck with a bad situation because...what? I have heard no end to that sentence. It's not because the admin was working so wonderfully at Hardy, not because you loved PJ and thought he was such a capable and promising leader, not because parents have a history of being needlessly disruptive.

It's some vague notion that parents and DCPS Central reaching the end of their patience is "overstepping" to teachers. There is no logic to it.

It's because, and I apologize for being a little frustrated but I have had to share this multiple times on this thread, the end of the year is already a frantic time at a school. There are big events, field trips, graduations going on. There is also a ton of hiring and preparing for next year. This is an incredibly destabilizing event, and one that could have waited 5 more weeks.

This is not quite accurate. Parents were told the 8th grade trip to NJ was approved by DCPS. In fact, it had not even been submitted for approval. It is entirely unclear if any such trip would have actually occurred.

And, hiring: Hardy has just under a dozen vacancies. Hiring it taking place literally, but not at all commensurate with the speed and needs of the school.

Yes, it was destabilizing. I don't think you understand that in the minds of the DCPS decisionmakers, the need was so great that destabilization was actually needed just to get the school ready for next year. And, again, have you asked Errol if he decided to walk right away? Maybe you should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's one thing, the dedicated teachers at Hardy that feel like the principal change is unnecessary appear to have little awareness of how poor the instruction provided by their "second variety" colleagues actually was. It is like they think that because they could run strong 90-minute lessons they assume their colleagues were doing so too. They weren't.

The parents should have never been the ones to fix problematic teaching. It is the principal, not the parents, that the teachers should be concerned about. But when the principal is doing nothing, there is no other choice but to involve others and advocate for the needed change.

And, as has been repeatedly stated in this thread, problematic teaching was not even in the top 5 issues that led to the principal's ouster. We've had terrific teachers at Hardy. Their skill, empathy, mastery of their craft, and communication style have little in common with the incoherent raging upthread. My children's (excellent) teachers
deserve better leadership, and in signing the petition, I was supporting their right to a safe, well-run workplace.

There are so many rational, calm teacher responses on this thread that it's sad parents keep going back to the incoherent raging well.
It's also offensive and patronizing to say that you signed that petition for us. You don't know better than us, and you didn't ask what we wanted.

dp: I won't claim to know what you wanted, but I do understand that you somehow find it egregious that parents acted in the interest of what was good for their kids (which was signing a petition; DCPS makes the decisions). I understand how the events may have been abrupt, but I don't understand how they were so violating to you.

Like kids should have just stuck with a bad situation because...what? I have heard no end to that sentence. It's not because the admin was working so wonderfully at Hardy, not because you loved PJ and thought he was such a capable and promising leader, not because parents have a history of being needlessly disruptive.

It's some vague notion that parents and DCPS Central reaching the end of their patience is "overstepping" to teachers. There is no logic to it.

It's because, and I apologize for being a little frustrated but I have had to share this multiple times on this thread, the end of the year is already a frantic time at a school. There are big events, field trips, graduations going on. There is also a ton of hiring and preparing for next year. This is an incredibly destabilizing event, and one that could have waited 5 more weeks.

So to repeat also:

The parents wanted a decision to hire a new principal before the hiring window closes. Waiting til summer would have meant no principal hired for next year.

Either DCPS or PJ -- not the parents -- decided to end the assignment last week. The parents, too, were surprised by the timing.

So all this is about DCPS's or PJ's choice of timing? Really?

So now we have:
The kids should have stuck out a bad situation because the teachers would have preferred an interim principal for a year, rather than for 5 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's one thing, the dedicated teachers at Hardy that feel like the principal change is unnecessary appear to have little awareness of how poor the instruction provided by their "second variety" colleagues actually was. It is like they think that because they could run strong 90-minute lessons they assume their colleagues were doing so too. They weren't.

The parents should have never been the ones to fix problematic teaching. It is the principal, not the parents, that the teachers should be concerned about. But when the principal is doing nothing, there is no other choice but to involve others and advocate for the needed change.

And, as has been repeatedly stated in this thread, problematic teaching was not even in the top 5 issues that led to the principal's ouster. We've had terrific teachers at Hardy. Their skill, empathy, mastery of their craft, and communication style have little in common with the incoherent raging upthread. My children's (excellent) teachers
deserve better leadership, and in signing the petition, I was supporting their right to a safe, well-run workplace.

There are so many rational, calm teacher responses on this thread that it's sad parents keep going back to the incoherent raging well.
It's also offensive and patronizing to say that you signed that petition for us. You don't know better than us, and you didn't ask what we wanted.

dp: I won't claim to know what you wanted, but I do understand that you somehow find it egregious that parents acted in the interest of what was good for their kids (which was signing a petition; DCPS makes the decisions). I understand how the events may have been abrupt, but I don't understand how they were so violating to you.

Like kids should have just stuck with a bad situation because...what? I have heard no end to that sentence. It's not because the admin was working so wonderfully at Hardy, not because you loved PJ and thought he was such a capable and promising leader, not because parents have a history of being needlessly disruptive.

It's some vague notion that parents and DCPS Central reaching the end of their patience is "overstepping" to teachers. There is no logic to it.

It's because, and I apologize for being a little frustrated but I have had to share this multiple times on this thread, the end of the year is already a frantic time at a school. There are big events, field trips, graduations going on. There is also a ton of hiring and preparing for next year. This is an incredibly destabilizing event, and one that could have waited 5 more weeks.

So to repeat also:

The parents wanted a decision to hire a new principal before the hiring window closes. Waiting til summer would have meant no principal hired for next year.

Either DCPS or PJ -- not the parents -- decided to end the assignment last week. The parents, too, were surprised by the timing.

So all this is about DCPS's or PJ's choice of timing? Really?

So now we have:
The kids should have stuck out a bad situation because the teachers would have preferred an interim principal for a year, rather than for 5 weeks.

I'm worn out trying to explain. It feels like we'll never be heard by you.

[Anonymous]

You are not alone. You don't feel like you're being heard. Put yourself in a parent's shoes: they don't feel like they were heard for months and months on end. Finally something happens, teachers are justifiably complaining that they're not being heard all the while not hearing the parents.

Step back from feeling attacked and look at this with a wider perspective. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying you're not alone. Can you agree with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd like to go back to the PE/Locker issue again. So the boys got to go to PE for 2 weeks but the girls did not? Why was that?

Because the girls locker room was locked for two weeks and the gym teacher told the girls they couldn't participate while wearing their school clothes. When the girls -- ladies, really -- pointed out that the boys often wear their school clothes, they were told that they didn't want to get sweaty. The principal knew and did nothing, then lied to the whole PTO call about his knowledge.

Literally. This is what happened.

This was a ticking time bomb. A couple good lawyers and shit could get ugly for DCPS fast. The district had to act. They did.

[Anonymous]

Hope Patterson moves out too.This discussion is not about racism is about leadership and teaching the kids to be a better person .He didn't dib anything been the kid was punched or bullied .are kid without control and thinking they can do anything they want . They needed to learn how be a better kid with discipline I am glad the parents take Accion because is some substitute teachers really doing nothing to make this place better .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd like to go back to the PE/Locker issue again. So the boys got to go to PE for 2 weeks but the girls did not? Why was that?

I'd also like to go back to this. Circumstances aside, parents really emailed the super about this? Just...wow.

How are your kids going to handle life? I ask in all seriousness, because this sounds detrimental to their development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd like to go back to the PE/Locker issue again. So the boys got to go to PE for 2 weeks but the girls did not? Why was that?

I'd also like to go back to this. Circumstances aside, parents really emailed the super about this? Just...wow.

How are your kids going to handle life? I ask in all seriousness, because this sounds detrimental to their development.

I think it's fair enough for parents being concerned about a dismissive, sexist teacher declining to teach their DDs a class he gets paid to teach and that the law requires them to take.

I would be more worried about the life skills of employees who are outraged at the 'customers' because the upper management dismissed a different employee.