Underwhelming appearance by Principal Martin at Wilson HS Open House

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: She sounded hesitant and non-articulated.

That's non-articulate, Einstein.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: She sounded hesitant and non-articulated.

That's non-articulate, Einstein.

Actually, it's inarticulate, dear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: She sounded hesitant and non-articulated.

That's non-articulate, Einstein.

OP disclosed she's hispanic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WTH, you guys? There wasn't anything wrong with her post, if it was indeed Ms. Martin posting. Some people don't use paragraphs; others make every sentence a new paragraph, perhaps for dramatic effect. Not sure why you all are the arbiters of such matters and immediately jumped all over the post.

I'm dismayed at the level of nitpicking here. I hope this is not representative of most Wilson parents.

-an AA mom zoned for Wilson

These types of convos are pretty much just ways for certain people to passively express their aggression ... or aggressively express their passivity.. I dunno which lol ...

Dont let it bother you.

The sane people are easy to spot, as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: She sounded hesitant and non-articulated.

That's non-articulate, Einstein.

Actually, it's inarticulate, dear.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the feedback about the Open House. I regret that my performance was less than you anticipated. The questions and answers I provided during the unscripted Q and A were somewhat vague, I agree, and in my perspective they were questions that I would typically answer in an email or individual conversation, but not in front of a large group, due to their complexity. For instance, "what do you anticipate being the biggest issue in the next five years" and "is your school safe?" (there was no question about discipline). In my view, those questions require a bit of background knowledge and, as I mentioned in my response to the group, have many variables to consider, which I'm not sure a group of parents who are largely unconnected to our school would understand. In fact, I hold monthly Parent Coffees, which are well attended by Wilson parents, and I often hear that these meetings are informative, thoughtful and productive. The parents who are present set the monthly agenda, however, we do not speak about issues like school safety, presumably because it is not an issue for parents who are insiders. In thinking about school safety: does the speaker want to know about our suspension rates? The number of fights in the school? The number of safety drills we have each month? The results of the student satisfaction survey? The results of the teacher survey? Or are there other factors that are important? Perhaps there is something more to the question, of which I am unaware? When I prompted the speaker for clarification, he stated, "does your school feel safe?" How am I to answer a questions about "feeling" without discussing how someone "feels," which is why I stated, "my son feels safe and students tell me they feel safe." I could have stated that our suspension rate has declined over the last several years, but does that mean a school is more or less safe in an outsiders' perspective? In relation to the questions about my biggest concern for the next five years, I am quite concerned about the boundary issues that have been discussed and analyzed over the last few months since I've arrived. Our school is the largest school in DCPS and as I mentioned in the Open House, we are 150 students over capacity THIS YEAR, but as our enrollment continues to increase....? When asked, "what will you do about it?" I explained that there are several possible solutions, none that has been determined to be THE solution as yet. Then I was asked, "what are the possible options for solving this problem?" I stated that there are several possible solutions that have been discussed, which include looking at our boundaries and making changes to our boundaries, as has been done within the last 12 months, and changes were already implemented last year. Then, "why is this a concern?" and yes, I stumbled, because I hesitate to say that our school may unwittingly exclude a specific demographic of students and yes, then the question of race came up. If there was concern from me about the presentation it was that I was being asked to answer to situations that are already and still occurring and in forums like this, I cannot share "what ifs" since my words are often distorted and those distortions are made as fact.
How my race plays into this conversation is another matter entirely and I will not comment on that in this forum or at any other time.
All the best,
Kim Martin

*if this is really the principal, which I assume it is*

APPLAUSE. great, thoughtful answers.

No kidding. Fantastic response.

Ms. Martin. Awesome response

Based on this message, I would agree, she's a class act.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear Principal Martin,

I know that school administrators sometimes monitor these boards, and if you find reading these threads to be useful intelligence gathering, then go for it.

But I don't think it's a good idea to respond to anything you see here. This is an anonymous forum and you have no way of knowing if the views expressed here are actually shared by the majority of parents you will encounter in real life. Engaging here just lowers you to the level of an anonymous discussion board. That's a pretty low bar for civil, rational thinking. Surely you have better things to do with your time.

Take the feedback you feel is valid or useful in preparing for the next open house, and don't worry about defending your reputation on DCUM -- it doesn't matter! No one is going to admit to their friends that they actually read the stuff on here. At least, I read these boards but I would never admit that to a fellow parent.

I agree. Be above the nonsense that is this anonymous open forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: She sounded hesitant and non-articulated.

That's non-articulate, Einstein.

Actually, it's inarticulate, dear.

Hopefully, none of you applied to become Wilson's principal.

And, hopefully, she has better things to do than writing quite deficient messages in DCUM...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the feedback about the Open House. I regret that my performance was less than you anticipated. The questions and answers I provided during the unscripted Q and A were somewhat vague, I agree, and in my perspective they were questions that I would typically answer in an email or individual conversation, but not in front of a large group, due to their complexity. For instance, "what do you anticipate being the biggest issue in the next five years" and "is your school safe?" (there was no question about discipline). In my view, those questions require a bit of background knowledge and, as I mentioned in my response to the group, have many variables to consider, which I'm not sure a group of parents who are largely unconnected to our school would understand. In fact, I hold monthly Parent Coffees, which are well attended by Wilson parents, and I often hear that these meetings are informative, thoughtful and productive. The parents who are present set the monthly agenda, however, we do not speak about issues like school safety, presumably because it is not an issue for parents who are insiders. In thinking about school safety: does the speaker want to know about our suspension rates? The number of fights in the school? The number of safety drills we have each month? The results of the student satisfaction survey? The results of the teacher survey? Or are there other factors that are important? Perhaps there is something more to the question, of which I am unaware? When I prompted the speaker for clarification, he stated, "does your school feel safe?" How am I to answer a questions about "feeling" without discussing how someone "feels," which is why I stated, "my son feels safe and students tell me they feel safe." I could have stated that our suspension rate has declined over the last several years, but does that mean a school is more or less safe in an outsiders' perspective? In relation to the questions about my biggest concern for the next five years, I am quite concerned about the boundary issues that have been discussed and analyzed over the last few months since I've arrived. Our school is the largest school in DCPS and as I mentioned in the Open House, we are 150 students over capacity THIS YEAR, but as our enrollment continues to increase....? When asked, "what will you do about it?" I explained that there are several possible solutions, none that has been determined to be THE solution as yet. Then I was asked, "what are the possible options for solving this problem?" I stated that there are several possible solutions that have been discussed, which include looking at our boundaries and making changes to our boundaries, as has been done within the last 12 months, and changes were already implemented last year. Then, "why is this a concern?" and yes, I stumbled, because I hesitate to say that our school may unwittingly exclude a specific demographic of students and yes, then the question of race came up. If there was concern from me about the presentation it was that I was being asked to answer to situations that are already and still occurring and in forums like this, I cannot share "what ifs" since my words are often distorted and those distortions are made as fact.
How my race plays into this conversation is another matter entirely and I will not comment on that in this forum or at any other time.
All the best,
Kim Martin

*if this is really the principal, which I assume it is*

APPLAUSE. great, thoughtful answers.

No kidding. Fantastic response.

Ms. Martin. Awesome response

Based on this message, I would agree, she's a class act.

Very funny. Yeah, she descended from the heavens to engage in some "unscripted" Q and A...

[Anonymous]

Brava, Ms. Martin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the feedback about the Open House. I regret that my performance was less than you anticipated. The questions and answers I provided during the unscripted Q and A were somewhat vague, I agree, and in my perspective they were questions that I would typically answer in an email or individual conversation, but not in front of a large group, due to their complexity. For instance, "what do you anticipate being the biggest issue in the next five years" and "is your school safe?" (there was no question about discipline). In my view, those questions require a bit of background knowledge and, as I mentioned in my response to the group, have many variables to consider, which I'm not sure a group of parents who are largely unconnected to our school would understand. In fact, I hold monthly Parent Coffees, which are well attended by Wilson parents, and I often hear that these meetings are informative, thoughtful and productive. The parents who are present set the monthly agenda, however, we do not speak about issues like school safety, presumably because it is not an issue for parents who are insiders. In thinking about school safety: does the speaker want to know about our suspension rates? The number of fights in the school? The number of safety drills we have each month? The results of the student satisfaction survey? The results of the teacher survey? Or are there other factors that are important? Perhaps there is something more to the question, of which I am unaware? When I prompted the speaker for clarification, he stated, "does your school feel safe?" How am I to answer a questions about "feeling" without discussing how someone "feels," which is why I stated, "my son feels safe and students tell me they feel safe." I could have stated that our suspension rate has declined over the last several years, but does that mean a school is more or less safe in an outsiders' perspective? In relation to the questions about my biggest concern for the next five years, I am quite concerned about the boundary issues that have been discussed and analyzed over the last few months since I've arrived. Our school is the largest school in DCPS and as I mentioned in the Open House, we are 150 students over capacity THIS YEAR, but as our enrollment continues to increase....? When asked, "what will you do about it?" I explained that there are several possible solutions, none that has been determined to be THE solution as yet. Then I was asked, "what are the possible options for solving this problem?" I stated that there are several possible solutions that have been discussed, which include looking at our boundaries and making changes to our boundaries, as has been done within the last 12 months, and changes were already implemented last year. Then, "why is this a concern?" and yes, I stumbled, because I hesitate to say that our school may unwittingly exclude a specific demographic of students and yes, then the question of race came up. If there was concern from me about the presentation it was that I was being asked to answer to situations that are already and still occurring and in forums like this, I cannot share "what ifs" since my words are often distorted and those distortions are made as fact.
How my race plays into this conversation is another matter entirely and I will not comment on that in this forum or at any other time.
All the best,
Kim Martin

Just ran this through writing quality software. It's 10th grade level.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
Just ran this through writing quality software. It's 10th grade level.

At which grade do students learn the definition of "obsession"?

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Just ran this through writing quality software. It's 10th grade level.

At which grade do students learn the definition of "obsession"?

No idea. But I hope they do after learning about "curiosity."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear Principal Martin,

I know that school administrators sometimes monitor these boards, and if you find reading these threads to be useful intelligence gathering, then go for it.

But I don't think it's a good idea to respond to anything you see here. This is an anonymous forum and you have no way of knowing if the views expressed here are actually shared by the majority of parents you will encounter in real life. Engaging here just lowers you to the level of an anonymous discussion board. That's a pretty low bar for civil, rational thinking. Surely you have better things to do with your time.

Take the feedback you feel is valid or useful in preparing for the next open house, and don't worry about defending your reputation on DCUM -- it doesn't matter! No one is going to admit to their friends that they actually read the stuff on here. At least, I read these boards but I would never admit that to a fellow parent.

I agree. Be above the nonsense that is this anonymous open forum.

+2
read, learn, regroup
don't engage while identifiable

[Anonymous]

I think Kim Martin had a good, well-written response.
I'm not sure why one poster is obsessed with her response being
10th grade level. 10th grade and college level writing is not all
that different and computer programs that determine
the level and rigor of writing have a high degree of
error.