Haycock Principal

[Anonymous]

It’s a far more reliable indicator of the assessment of the quality of the schools in that pyramid than the bitter diatribes of a few nasty haters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a far more reliable indicator of the assessment of the quality of the schools in that pyramid than the bitter diatribes of a few nasty haters.

If this were a good situation, obviously there would not be so many "haters."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a far more reliable indicator of the assessment of the quality of the schools in that pyramid than the bitter diatribes of a few nasty haters.

If this were a good situation, obviously there would not be so many "haters."

More likely you’re a sock puppet in overdrive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, OP. Haycock isn't going to live down firing their principal. Not for years.

Shrevewood parents and teachers had its principal fired last year and no one seems to care about that.

Not exactly a fair characterization when it takes 8 years of teachers fleeing the building in order to have anyone take notice.

[Anonymous]

Moved to county for Haycock and all I got was this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is the real world, and then there is DCUM, so it's always amusing to read the posts from the haters. Meanwhile you can't find a detached single family house in the Haycock district for under $1.6 million.

Ours was under half that. We decided to expand and upgrade it significantly, but it was certainly livable as-is (or with limited refurbishment). We wanted and could afford more space and updated layouts/appliances/etc. But it’s not impossible to get into Haycock for well under $1M, as a couple neighbors have in past year or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is the real world, and then there is DCUM, so it's always amusing to read the posts from the haters. Meanwhile you can't find a detached single family house in the Haycock district for under $1.6 million.

Ours was under half that. We decided to expand and upgrade it significantly, but it was certainly livable as-is (or with limited refurbishment). We wanted and could afford more space and updated layouts/appliances/etc. But it’s not impossible to get into Haycock for well under $1M, as a couple neighbors have in past year or two.

PP was referring to what’s currently on the market. There are less expensive homes and they usually get snapped up fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I think every Haycock parent would be thrilled to have the interim principal stay permanently. Obviously that is not what he is looking for. OP is asking some understandable questions. My opinion is that this interim is likely better than anyone Haycock can hire, that we are fortunate to have him, and that, as long as he is willing to stay, I am happy for the process to move slowly.

Re: the last principal, I don't disagree that many Haycock parents are a PITA, but it was the teachers who had issues with the principal. The parents sided with the teachers for both logical and likely personal reasons. It had become an untenable situation and something major needed to change.

What exactly did the last principal want to do?

The former principal was a young, inexperienced guy named Jerome Donnelly, who had never been a principal before. His first 2-3 years as principal were relatively uneventful. People didn't think he was great, and the number of teachers leaving started to increase, but there were no major problems.

Then, in early 2018, he announced that he was ending the longstanding practice of allowing teachers in the upper grades to focus on a particular subject area, with kids moving to different classes during the day. And he did so unilaterally, without consulting with the teachers or families in advance and telling them at first that he wouldn't answer any questions about his decision. Many of the teachers were unhappy and made clear that even more would leave if he didn't change his mind. When the parents found out, most backed the teachers. Donnelly then backed off, but it was clear that he'd lost the trust of the teachers and parents, and he soon stepped down. He was replaced with Augie Frattali, who had previously been the principal at Carson MS for many years (and obviously had lots of experience dealing with demanding AAP parents at a large school). Frattali was the interim for the 2018-19 school year.

Next, over the summer of 2019, FCPS announced that Scott Bloom, who had been the principal at Freedom Hill ES in Vienna, would take over as the new principal. Bloom was off to a reasonably good start but was arrested last December for having failed to report allegations of abuse by two teacher's aides at Freedom Hill. Bloom was suspended following his arrest and Frattali returned. As OP notes, there hasn't been much to suggest that FCPS has been looking very hard to find a permanent replacement.

This should have been a good first school for him to learn how to principal, with good experienced teachers and administration. But the parents were totally out of control and ruined his career.

Now no one will touch the school. No one who values their career.

I wouldn’t say haycock has a lot of experienced teachers. Most seem to have taught under 10 years, many under 5.

Yeah the teachers are very inexperienced at Haycock. I have two kids there, and it is a tough working environment for the teachers for a number of reasons. The biggest that I see are the crazy number of "type A" parents who are too involved. The other issue is that as a school that is closer to DC, the real estate prices are very high in the surrounding areas. As a teacher you will make the same salary teaching at Haycock as you will teaching in Chantilly where the cost of living is a lot lower. You could make more teaching in Arlington county which is just down the road.

As to the experience level of the teachers in general at Haycock, most of the teachers my kids have had have been very early in their career. For many it was their first year at Haycock or they had only been teacher for a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I think every Haycock parent would be thrilled to have the interim principal stay permanently. Obviously that is not what he is looking for. OP is asking some understandable questions. My opinion is that this interim is likely better than anyone Haycock can hire, that we are fortunate to have him, and that, as long as he is willing to stay, I am happy for the process to move slowly.

Re: the last principal, I don't disagree that many Haycock parents are a PITA, but it was the teachers who had issues with the principal. The parents sided with the teachers for both logical and likely personal reasons. It had become an untenable situation and something major needed to change.

What exactly did the last principal want to do?

The first thing that really drove the parents nuts was that he had the nerve to cancel the kindergarten Halloween parade! The PTA and parents revolted and caused a big stink over this and got it re-instated.

[Anonymous]

Haycock parent here, our kids distance learning is:

Weeks 1-5: Nothing, maybe a few flip grid posts so kids can share videos with their friends
Week 6: First attempt at distance learning, it didn't work, so 1 hour of attempted learning this week + take home packets from the district and a few assignments in google classroom
Week 7: Second attempt at distance learning, it didn't work. Take home packets from the district and a few more assignments in google classroom
Week 8+: 1 hour a day of in person class Monday - Thursday on Blackboard. Packets + google classroom assignments

Some of the assignments are turned in, none of them are graded and no new material is being covered between now and the end of the year. School seems to be optional, but my kids attend as does most of their class. My kids can complete all of their work in a few hours each day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is the real world, and then there is DCUM, so it's always amusing to read the posts from the haters. Meanwhile you can't find a detached single family house in the Haycock district for under $1.6 million.

Unfortunately, the housing price does not promise anything about the quality of school administration or the neighbors as illustrated in the prior posts.

NP but with these prices comes an expectation. Parents (and sorry, but their students, too) are entitled and quickly develop pushy attitudes. Often PTA cabal drives decisions.

-Longtime substitute FCPS and Haycock is a least favorite school.

[Anonymous]

I'd rather have a school like Haycock that is liked by most families than by some random DCUM poster. It's a great pyramid, and people try hard to get their kids into Haycock.

Being dissed on DCUM is a good sign that a school is desirable. Same thing happens regularly to Langley and TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather have a school like Haycock that is liked by most families than by some random DCUM poster. It's a great pyramid, and people try hard to get their kids into Haycock.

Being dissed on DCUM is a good sign that a school is desirable. Same thing happens regularly to Langley and TJ.

Those schools are also filled with entitled, overbearing parents. Haycock is where the games begin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather have a school like Haycock that is liked by most families than by some random DCUM poster. It's a great pyramid, and people try hard to get their kids into Haycock.

Being dissed on DCUM is a good sign that a school is desirable. Same thing happens regularly to Langley and TJ.

Those schools are also filled with entitled, overbearing parents. Haycock is where the games begin.

Ah, so you spread around your resentment. Lovely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haycock parent here, our kids distance learning is:

Weeks 1-5: Nothing, maybe a few flip grid posts so kids can share videos with their friends
Week 6: First attempt at distance learning, it didn't work, so 1 hour of attempted learning this week + take home packets from the district and a few assignments in google classroom
Week 7: Second attempt at distance learning, it didn't work. Take home packets from the district and a few more assignments in google classroom
Week 8+: 1 hour a day of in person class Monday - Thursday on Blackboard. Packets + google classroom assignments

Some of the assignments are turned in, none of them are graded and no new material is being covered between now and the end of the year. School seems to be optional, but my kids attend as does most of their class. My kids can complete all of their work in a few hours each day.

Sounds a lot like what other schools are doing.