WES Head of School resigns

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many teachers and parents have been extremely unhappy with Mr. Duncan and claimed "his heart was not in the job." Kinda rings true -- he found a new job after being at WES for only 3 years.

I find it troubling that he resigns at the end of a three-year contract (after 7 years) at Holy Innocents' in Atlanta and comes to WES in July 2011 (he actually didn't come directly - he went to a foundation after leaving Holy Innocents' which sounds more like an agreed-upon departure from Holy Innocents'). He then "resigns" at the end of a three-year contract at WES to move again, starting July 1 at Carolina Day School in Asheville, N. Carolina. And wife is coming down from New York to join him there. Why couldn't she have been the chaplain at WES? The chaplain position is a revolving door at WES. Or any of the other area Epis. schools? http://carolinaday.org/learn-more-about-the-search-process-for-carolina-day-schools-next-head-of-school/. Sounds like another "agreed upon" departure and not a true resignation which makes sense. Things weren't working well.

Could you imagine the scale of posts at DCUM had Sarah become the chaplain at WES while Kirk was the Head of school? This would have been considered as a good source of debate for months to come on "conflict of interest". Just read the previous slanders against the children of the Board members. The last sentence is an irrational conclusion to an irrational proposition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many teachers and parents have been extremely unhappy with Mr. Duncan and claimed "his heart was not in the job." Kinda rings true -- he found a new job after being at WES for only 3 years.

I find it troubling that he resigns at the end of a three-year contract (after 7 years) at Holy Innocents' in Atlanta and comes to WES in July 2011 (he actually didn't come directly - he went to a foundation after leaving Holy Innocents' which sounds more like an agreed-upon departure from Holy Innocents'). He then "resigns" at the end of a three-year contract at WES to move again, starting July 1 at Carolina Day School in Asheville, N. Carolina. And wife is coming down from New York to join him there. Why couldn't she have been the chaplain at WES? The chaplain position is a revolving door at WES. Or any of the other area Epis. schools? http://carolinaday.org/learn-more-about-the-search-process-for-carolina-day-schools-next-head-of-school/. Sounds like another "agreed upon" departure and not a true resignation which makes sense. Things weren't working well.

Wouldn't it be a conflict to have the wife be an employee of her husband? It was certainly less than the average tenure of a typical head of school but I get why she didn't come to WES. I understand why they went to a place where they can be together; you can't blame them for that. To have the wife be an employee at WES just would have been weird.

[Anonymous]

Yes, WES has a great location. And, yes, WES has great facilities. Previous posts suggesting merge seem to be a bit envious!

[Anonymous]

WES is third tier at best. Check the transfers per class. It's a tradition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WES is third tier at best. Check the transfers per class. It's a tradition.

This is an inflamattory post with no content and does not deserve a response. Contact the school Admssions and ask where graduating class ends up.

[Anonymous]

Current parent here. WES provides a very strong educational product and I would put the WES teachers up against any in the area. In fact, I have noticed several transfers into WES from other schools rather than going the other way (I'm not saying it doesn't happen but it appears to be less and less). At the end of the day, every school is not right for every child. Parents should do their homework and find the school that is the right fit both for their child and for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another happy WES family of seven years weighing in. To those debating a possible merge, go merge your own school. Ours is not for sale. The academic program is second to none in the entire region. We have superb outplacement and our grads perform at the top of their high school classes. As for community, my kids will never have closer friends.

To the poster who thought that the lack of fundraising from alum parents indicated some problem, what a peculiar observation. WES is actually unusual in that our founding families are still around and active. What percentage of your school's annual fund comes from parents of alums? Unless your kids are attending a high school, I'm betting it's a tiny percentage - which would be typical for K-8s.

Oh, Puhleeze. I was in charge of annual fund for our class at WES. I wrote, called, begged, did everything to try and get CURRENT parents to even donate a few bucks so I could get us above 70%. If I could have, I would have put in $5.00 for every family unwilling to give to the annual fund to bring me up to 100%. As it was, I think I scored highest at 84%. What a grind. And don't get me started on the push to give to the cap. campaign. There is NO ONE from our original class giving money to the school.

WES has been at or very close to 100% annual giving participation for the last 6-7 years so this must have been a while ago. I am sorry you had a negative experience at WES but I do think things have been changing for the good over the past few years. There is a good buzz among the families and the community is stronger than ever. Even with the head transition, people are excited at what is to come. My children are very happy and so are we. No need to be malicious on this blog. The WES motto is "Be Kind" and I think many on this blog can learn from that. Deep breaths, everyone...

Actually, if a parent pledges to give to the annual fund at the beginning of the year, but never follows through with payment, it is still counted in the participation numbers. So just because you see 100% participation for a class, does not necessarily mean that 100% of the parents actually submitted their payment.

A few years back, I would have also been one of the positive parents posting on this board saying how much I loved the school. But each year it is a bit of a crap shoot as to whether you have a good year or a bad year. For the few first years we were at WES, we absolutely LOVED the teachers. Then last year we got our first taste of having one of the "bad" teachers for the grade. It was a horrible experience and a very difficult year for my DC. We stuck it out, thinking it couldn't be that bad again, but actually this year has been worse. Fool me once.....I will miss the WES community very much. The parents and the kids are truly nice people. But I am just not willing to spend $30K+ anymore for bad teachers. I know that some parents supplement with tutors to overcome this problem because they love the school community so much, but we just simply can't afford to do that option. To all the positive WES posters, I really hope that you continue to have such a great experience at WES, but you do need to know that there are lots of other current and former WES parents who have not been so lucky.

[Anonymous]

PP, we had the EXACT same experience as you. I ignored the previous threads on here about the "luck of the draw" with regards to the teachers and the bad teachers being "off the charts mean." We found out the hard way that this is indeed true. One of the "off the charts mean" teachers is a recent hire, so it's not just the "old guard" teachers that have been around too long. Same problems at WES, but no one will take any action or constructive criticism. We left angry and will never contribute a penny to this school in the future. I believe that the positive posters are having a good experience at WES, but they were fortunate with the "luck of the draw," and some teachers are real gems. The tuition is too high to be subjected to the misery of one of the mean/bad teachers. We also had two in a row. Now our DC is happier than ever at a different school. To anyone that left WES a long time ago, I can confirm that it's still business as usual over there.

[Anonymous]

DC had a very mean WES teacher. Crazy mean and yes, she's still teaching at WES despite the numerous complaints
From numerous people to the 2 different heads of school. This particular teacher is friends with her immediate supervisor and much interference has been run on her behalf. There are some really fine teachers at WES. But, the quality is inconsistent . WES is not in the 30,000 plus league.

[Anonymous]

I think WES is well with the price. We'll definitely pay for a 6:1 ratio versus 30:1 (ratio in MoCo public schools). And while other private schools have similar ratios, I think WES goes the extra mile to cultivate each student's strengths while working through any specific challenges an individual may be facing. The education and resources my child receives are wonderful. It's too bad about the negative posts here because WES has really been great to us.

[Anonymous]

There are 6 children to a teacher in your class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are 6 children to a teacher in your class?

I am just saying that is student to faculty ratio for the school. I just checked the web site and it's 7:1. Close enough. The point is that there are great homeroom teachers and lots of other resource/specialty faculty that work with the students everyday.

[Anonymous]

My kid is in kindergarten at WES and there are 19 kids split between 3 teachers. My fifth grader has 13 kids in his class. We are pretty happy with those ratios.

[joromo703]

I decided to actually sign in to add to this thread because the anonymous negative comments are a bit frustrating, especially since they appear to come from former parents (or from just one person pretending to be lots of people) with an axe to grind, as opposed to current parents who actually have an informed opinion about the current state of the school.

As a parent of three children who currently attend WES I have a fair amount of experience with the teachers and the overall environment at WES. Is WES perfect? Of course not. But overall WES has been wonderful for all three of my kids. In addition, I have been very pleased with the quality of the new teachers brought in under Kirk and I think he did a very good job at WES. I understand why he is leaving, but I'm sad to see him go.

WES is a close-knit and loving environment as well as a top notch school. (Though the prior posts about WES parents focusing on getting their kids into the "big 3" high schools doesn't mesh with my experience at all -- I have never heard that brought up once by another parent).

And the prior comments about favoritism for the children of WES Board Members in choosing the Three Kings for the Christmas Pageant are so ridiculous that I feel silly stooping to address them, but just in case someone out there takes them seriously I feel I should. Two of the Three Kings were not the children of Board Members this year, despite the fact that multiple Board Members have children in the 3rd grade. The one King who was the child of a Board Member was not only talented but was probably the only boy in 3rd grade who actually wanted to sing in front of the whole school (and no, he's not my kid). The two girls who were the other Kings were clearly chosen on talent alone -- one in particular was transcendent. Someone posting on this board just likes stirring the pot for fun.

Every school, public or private, has its own politics, and no school is perfect for every child. WES has been a great school for my kids however, and I would recommend it highly for people looking for a school that is more nurturing and less high stress than most top DC area grade schools.

[Anonymous]

joromo703 wrote:I decided to actually sign in to add to this thread because the anonymous negative comments are a bit frustrating, especially since they appear to come from former parents (or from just one person pretending to be lots of people) with an axe to grind, as opposed to current parents who actually have an informed opinion about the current state of the school.

As a parent of three children who currently attend WES I have a fair amount of experience with the teachers and the overall environment at WES. Is WES perfect? Of course not. But overall WES has been wonderful for all three of my kids. In addition, I have been very pleased with the quality of the new teachers brought in under Kirk and I think he did a very good job at WES. I understand why he is leaving, but I'm sad to see him go.

WES is a close-knit and loving environment as well as a top notch school. (Though the prior posts about WES parents focusing on getting their kids into the "big 3" high schools doesn't mesh with my experience at all -- I have never heard that brought up once by another parent).

And the prior comments about favoritism for the children of WES Board Members in choosing the Three Kings for the Christmas Pageant are so ridiculous that I feel silly stooping to address them, but just in case someone out there takes them seriously I feel I should. Two of the Three Kings were not the children of Board Members this year, despite the fact that multiple Board Members have children in the 3rd grade. The one King who was the child of a Board Member was not only talented but was probably the only boy in 3rd grade who actually wanted to sing in front of the whole school (and no, he's not my kid). The two girls who were the other Kings were clearly chosen on talent alone -- one in particular was transcendent. Someone posting on this board just likes stirring the pot for fun.

Every school, public or private, has its own politics, and no school is perfect for every child. WES has been a great school for my kids however, and I would recommend it highly for people looking for a school that is more nurturing and less high stress than most top DC area grade schools.

No, they (whomever they are - it wasn't me- we left long ago) aren't stirring the pot. THIS favoritism is exactly why there shouldn't be a parent board at WES or any other K-8 and why many parents left because it was the Board's children who were favored. You just inadvertently admitted that - and I'm laughing (sadly) that "King" issue hasn't been resolved in all the years since we've left. The Board member's kids were the ones pushed in photographs, chosen to play the violins at events, singing, given the leads in class plays, etc. Even when we attended, everyone knew that the three kings (yeah, female one year) were hand-selected out of Board Member's kids because they were the one's being groomed to go St. Alban's. The third king was usually the one that we would all see go off to St. Alban's the next year. Plus it was the headmaster who was asking moms to work on auction/set up events/give money/made board appointments and he was also the one who would go to bat or not for you when it came time to move to high school. We all knew that.

Every year I was there the three Kings were Board Members' kids, including the black son of an Episcopal minister (whom I saw twice at the school before they ran off to St. Alban's). A friend whose son sang far better was so frosted that her son wasn't even considered. She was not on the board. And, yes, the third king always did go off to ST. Alban's at the first opportunity. It would be funny if not so painful in my memories. My DCs still remember which kids were favored and which were not and why. Just the other day DC cracked a joke about how DC was never selected for anything in school plays because ___'s kids were in the class. All three of my kids were made to feel useless and uninteresting at WES. And, yes, us parents worked the auction, the book fair, the home room stuff, the cap. campaign, the teacher appreciation lunch, etc. but if you weren't selected by the headmaster to be on the Board because you hadn't chaired the auction or given sufficient money to the school, then your kid was not going to be a "king" and go to St. Albans. I can't believe I'm typing this. WES really needs to look at its internal structure or it will never work itself out of the mess it is in.