Bullis HOS “exit was messier than it appeared” according to the Post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bullis has a new head of school, Christian Sullivan, who is an experienced administrator and very teacher and student oriented. I truly believe Bullis is now on the right path. There are still issues with Pat Caulfield, but he will be the head of the Board for only one more year. Christian had cleaned house of 15 positions (all are related to admin and programs that are not needed at least for the coming year, no teachers were fired) and he is adding three teachers and three learning specialists. He has made a commitment to smaller teaching loads (capping the number of students a given teacher teaches) and is very teacher-centric. I fully expect things to improve for both students and teachers at Bullis. The Boarman Discovery Center should be renamed. I think it should be named after the very long term science teacher who left last year due to health reasons. I’m just not using her name here as I haven’t asked her if she would be in favor of such an honor. Yes, I am a Bullis teacher.

Nice try but...the Board Chair is only one bad seed among MANY. And as PP noted, this Board hired the new Head. Read elsewhere that he has also demanded expensive renovations to the campus house.

"Cleaning house??" 15 people suddenly lost their jobs at a time when morale is already low. Hmmmm. Keep drinking that Kool-Aid.

Under Boarman he hired WAY to many admin, oftentimes cronies of his from former schools. These have all been trimmed which is a good thing. I personally know some of the board members and they are not all out for themselves. Give it some time, things are a changing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bullis has a new head of school, Christian Sullivan, who is an experienced administrator and very teacher and student oriented. I truly believe Bullis is now on the right path. There are still issues with Pat Caulfield, but he will be the head of the Board for only one more year. Christian had cleaned house of 15 positions (all are related to admin and programs that are not needed at least for the coming year, no teachers were fired) and he is adding three teachers and three learning specialists. He has made a commitment to smaller teaching loads (capping the number of students a given teacher teaches) and is very teacher-centric. I fully expect things to improve for both students and teachers at Bullis. The Boarman Discovery Center should be renamed. I think it should be named after the very long term science teacher who left last year due to health reasons. I’m just not using her name here as I haven’t asked her if she would be in favor of such an honor. Yes, I am a Bullis teacher.

Nice try but...the Board Chair is only one bad seed among MANY. And as PP noted, this Board hired the new Head. Read elsewhere that he has also demanded expensive renovations to the campus house.

"Cleaning house??" 15 people suddenly lost their jobs at a time when morale is already low. Hmmmm. Keep drinking that Kool-Aid.

Under Boarman he hired WAY to many admin, oftentimes cronies of his from former schools. These have all been trimmed which is a good thing. I personally know some of the board members and they are not all out for themselves. Give it some time, things are a changing.

His cronies left as few years ago (fired by the Board). The 15 people let go included a 30 year cafeteria worker. It was heartless - especially coming from a new Head who is making almost as much money as Boardman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the appeal of Bullis? Why do parents choose to send their children there with so many alternatives in the area?

Because their kids got rejected from Prep, Landon, Gonzaga.

Landon, probably. But not Prep or Gonzaga. Kids rejected from these school go to other Catholic alternatives like St John’s. Or they go to public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the appeal of Bullis? Why do parents choose to send their children there with so many alternatives in the area?

Because their kids got rejected from Prep, Landon, Gonzaga.

Not true. We prefer a coed school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bullis has a new head of school, Christian Sullivan, who is an experienced administrator and very teacher and student oriented. I truly believe Bullis is now on the right path. There are still issues with Pat Caulfield, but he will be the head of the Board for only one more year. Christian had cleaned house of 15 positions (all are related to admin and programs that are not needed at least for the coming year, no teachers were fired) and he is adding three teachers and three learning specialists. He has made a commitment to smaller teaching loads (capping the number of students a given teacher teaches) and is very teacher-centric. I fully expect things to improve for both students and teachers at Bullis. The Boarman Discovery Center should be renamed. I think it should be named after the very long term science teacher who left last year due to health reasons. I’m just not using her name here as I haven’t asked her if she would be in favor of such an honor. Yes, I am a Bullis teacher.

Nice try but...the Board Chair is only one bad seed among MANY. And as PP noted, this Board hired the new Head. Read elsewhere that he has also demanded expensive renovations to the campus house.

"Cleaning house??" 15 people suddenly lost their jobs at a time when morale is already low. Hmmmm. Keep drinking that Kool-Aid.

Under Boarman he hired WAY to many admin, oftentimes cronies of his from former schools. These have all been trimmed which is a good thing. I personally know some of the board members and they are not all out for themselves. Give it some time, things are a changing.

His cronies left as few years ago (fired by the Board). The 15 people let go included a 30 year cafeteria worker. It was heartless - especially coming from a new Head who is making almost as much money as Boardman.

The employees who lost their jobs are the BDC grill workers (the grill will not be operating this year and the 30-year cafeteria worker is way past retirement age), some sports positions (which will not be operating this year), one security team member (how many schools have huge security teams?), and a few admin positions. It’s true that Natasha, Mike and Darlene left two years ago and that at least indicates that the board when pushed by the faculty does some good. The simple fact is that there were too many non-teaching, non-facilities, non-cafeteria, non-essential business office employees. Jerry loved hiring and was irresponsible minding the coffers. The board let him get away with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bullis has a new head of school, Christian Sullivan, who is an experienced administrator and very teacher and student oriented. I truly believe Bullis is now on the right path. There are still issues with Pat Caulfield, but he will be the head of the Board for only one more year. Christian had cleaned house of 15 positions (all are related to admin and programs that are not needed at least for the coming year, no teachers were fired) and he is adding three teachers and three learning specialists. He has made a commitment to smaller teaching loads (capping the number of students a given teacher teaches) and is very teacher-centric. I fully expect things to improve for both students and teachers at Bullis. The Boarman Discovery Center should be renamed. I think it should be named after the very long term science teacher who left last year due to health reasons. I’m just not using her name here as I haven’t asked her if she would be in favor of such an honor. Yes, I am a Bullis teacher.

Nice try but...the Board Chair is only one bad seed among MANY. And as PP noted, this Board hired the new Head. Read elsewhere that he has also demanded expensive renovations to the campus house.

"Cleaning house??" 15 people suddenly lost their jobs at a time when morale is already low. Hmmmm. Keep drinking that Kool-Aid.

Under Boarman he hired WAY to many admin, oftentimes cronies of his from former schools. These have all been trimmed which is a good thing. I personally know some of the board members and they are not all out for themselves. Give it some time, things are a changing.

His cronies left as few years ago (fired by the Board). The 15 people let go included a 30 year cafeteria worker. It was heartless - especially coming from a new Head who is making almost as much money as Boardman.

The employees who lost their jobs are the BDC grill workers (the grill will not be operating this year and the 30-year cafeteria worker is way past retirement age), some sports positions (which will not be operating this year), one security team member (how many schools have huge security teams?), and a few admin positions. It’s true that Natasha, Mike and Darlene left two years ago and that at least indicates that the board when pushed by the faculty does some good. The simple fact is that there were too many non-teaching, non-facilities, non-cafeteria, non-essential business office employees. Jerry loved hiring and was irresponsible minding the coffers. The board let him get away with it.

And that Board is still there and hired the new Head. Glad you can rationalize all the firings but not everyone agrees with your assessment. Morale is at an all time low and especially because the school is asking teachers to return to the classroom. Whether you agree with that or not know that all of the teachers I know are miserable. Having 15 people let go was a major hit at an already down time. There is nothing good about 15 colleagues losing their jobs during a pandemic. And the Post article makes everyone embarrassed to be affiliated with a school whose reputation always suffers and now feels even worse. Bullis is a $@#*show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bullis has a new head of school, Christian Sullivan, who is an experienced administrator and very teacher and student oriented. I truly believe Bullis is now on the right path. There are still issues with Pat Caulfield, but he will be the head of the Board for only one more year. Christian had cleaned house of 15 positions (all are related to admin and programs that are not needed at least for the coming year, no teachers were fired) and he is adding three teachers and three learning specialists. He has made a commitment to smaller teaching loads (capping the number of students a given teacher teaches) and is very teacher-centric. I fully expect things to improve for both students and teachers at Bullis. The Boarman Discovery Center should be renamed. I think it should be named after the very long term science teacher who left last year due to health reasons. I’m just not using her name here as I haven’t asked her if she would be in favor of such an honor. Yes, I am a Bullis teacher.

If you have the same board head anywhere around the school, even sitting in the parking lot not technically serving on the board, you will be right back in the same place in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bullis has a new head of school, Christian Sullivan, who is an experienced administrator and very teacher and student oriented. I truly believe Bullis is now on the right path. There are still issues with Pat Caulfield, but he will be the head of the Board for only one more year. Christian had cleaned house of 15 positions (all are related to admin and programs that are not needed at least for the coming year, no teachers were fired) and he is adding three teachers and three learning specialists. He has made a commitment to smaller teaching loads (capping the number of students a given teacher teaches) and is very teacher-centric. I fully expect things to improve for both students and teachers at Bullis. The Boarman Discovery Center should be renamed. I think it should be named after the very long term science teacher who left last year due to health reasons. I’m just not using her name here as I haven’t asked her if she would be in favor of such an honor. Yes, I am a Bullis teacher.

Nice try but...the Board Chair is only one bad seed among MANY. And as PP noted, this Board hired the new Head. Read elsewhere that he has also demanded expensive renovations to the campus house.

"Cleaning house??" 15 people suddenly lost their jobs at a time when morale is already low. Hmmmm. Keep drinking that Kool-Aid.

Under Boarman he hired WAY to many admin, oftentimes cronies of his from former schools. These have all been trimmed which is a good thing. I personally know some of the board members and they are not all out for themselves. Give it some time, things are a changing.

His cronies left as few years ago (fired by the Board). The 15 people let go included a 30 year cafeteria worker. It was heartless - especially coming from a new Head who is making almost as much money as Boardman.

The employees who lost their jobs are the BDC grill workers (the grill will not be operating this year and the 30-year cafeteria worker is way past retirement age), some sports positions (which will not be operating this year), one security team member (how many schools have huge security teams?), and a few admin positions. It’s true that Natasha, Mike and Darlene left two years ago and that at least indicates that the board when pushed by the faculty does some good. The simple fact is that there were too many non-teaching, non-facilities, non-cafeteria, non-essential business office employees. Jerry loved hiring and was irresponsible minding the coffers. The board let him get away with it.

Um, that is not exactly how Boards should work! Are you proud to be affiliated with a school that operates like that? Yowza.

[Anonymous]

The problem with the schools starts with the chairman of the board.

Heads of school can’t really make decisions on levels of levels of spend with out BOT consent or approval from the board.

Until there is major overhaul with the board (the chairman of the board should be forced out) I don’t see how anything changes with the school

[jsteele]

I just received the following "report":

"Mr. Steele - the topic of this thread is likely the topic of a future slander/libel and/or breach of confidentiality lawsuit. The “whistle blower” ex-Trustee quoted in the article was involuntarily removed from the Board for cause, leaked documents which he agreed in writing upon joining the Board to keep confidential, and has given unsubstantiated allegations to the press in an apparent reprisal. While some of the information in the article is true, I know factually that some of it is false. Specific names and allegations are being posted on this thread, and it seems very probable that they are being generated by or encouraged via proxy by the person who is the subject of this likely future legal action. I request that you scour this string for unsubstantiated personal allegations so that DCUM does not get drawn into the Action as an accomplice. The request has been screenshot for documentation."

Since I don't know which allegations are unsubstantiated and which aren't, I have no intention of scouring the thread. Also, since this report was sent anonymously, I similarly have no intention of taking it seriously.

But all of you should be aware that I do respond to subpoenas so your posts here may be subject to legal action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And that Board is still there and hired the new Head. Glad you can rationalize all the firings but not everyone agrees with your assessment. Morale is at an all time low and especially because the school is asking teachers to return to the classroom. Whether you agree with that or not know that all of the teachers I know are miserable. Having 15 people let go was a major hit at an already down time. There is nothing good about 15 colleagues losing their jobs during a pandemic. And the Post article makes everyone embarrassed to be affiliated with a school whose reputation always suffers and now feels even worse. Bullis is a $@#*show.

This makes me so sad, as a supporter of Bullis teachers and staff.

Here is my question, and I would love some concrete advice: How exactly does the Bullis community get Caulfield out, if he doesn't want to leave and he has such sway over the board members that they won't vote him out?

[Anonymous]

My guess is the lawyer doesn't like the implications of her relationship with this guy. Her children's schooling, her own employment and home, and obviously her ethics as a lawyer are being called into question, as they should be.

[Anonymous]

^ That was in response to Jeff

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:I just received the following "report":

"Mr. Steele - the topic of this thread is likely the topic of a future slander/libel and/or breach of confidentiality lawsuit. The “whistle blower” ex-Trustee quoted in the article was involuntarily removed from the Board for cause, leaked documents which he agreed in writing upon joining the Board to keep confidential, and has given unsubstantiated allegations to the press in an apparent reprisal. While some of the information in the article is true, I know factually that some of it is false. Specific names and allegations are being posted on this thread, and it seems very probable that they are being generated by or encouraged via proxy by the person who is the subject of this likely future legal action. I request that you scour this string for unsubstantiated personal allegations so that DCUM does not get drawn into the Action as an accomplice. The request has been screenshot for documentation."

Since I don't know which allegations are unsubstantiated and which aren't, I have no intention of scouring the thread. Also, since this report was sent anonymously, I similarly have no intention of taking it seriously.

But all of you should be aware that I do respond to subpoenas so your posts here may be subject to legal action.

Ridiculous that someone sent you this! More ridiculous it was anonymously sent to you! Anyhow isn't DCUM full of "unsubstantiated personal allegations"? (think COVID Washington Ballet thread, the party hostess and her friend got a lot of "unsubstantiated personal allegations" thrown at them and they didn't threaten legal action.) I support free speech ... and a little gossip, so love DCUM! (For the record, first time I am posting on this thread, so I have no dog in this fight!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And that Board is still there and hired the new Head. Glad you can rationalize all the firings but not everyone agrees with your assessment. Morale is at an all time low and especially because the school is asking teachers to return to the classroom. Whether you agree with that or not know that all of the teachers I know are miserable. Having 15 people let go was a major hit at an already down time. There is nothing good about 15 colleagues losing their jobs during a pandemic. And the Post article makes everyone embarrassed to be affiliated with a school whose reputation always suffers and now feels even worse. Bullis is a $@#*show.

This makes me so sad, as a supporter of Bullis teachers and staff.

Here is my question, and I would love some concrete advice: How exactly does the Bullis community get Caulfield out, if he doesn't want to leave and he has such sway over the board members that they won't vote him out?

They cannot, likely.

This is not a surprising outcome at all if you consider how boards operate in general. No need to libel, slander, etc.

Board governance methods are aspirational, not required by independent school associations, and leave plenty of space for this sort of dynamic to evolve. Bullis is not alone in this sort of issue- other area privates have similar problems. Not all, but certainly more than one. You can read more on the websites of the associations of which the private schools are a member. They are not clear on the enforcement because they have best practices and advisory statements but they are not punitive in nature. This is part of why it is difficult for a school to achieve membership in these associations, but they almost never lose it.

Parents can review the best practices and make decisions regarding their affiliations that they feel are in their best interests as they learn more about a school.

I read the article as a non-community member of Bullis but a longstanding member of other independent school communities. It's really not that outrageous. The Post did not indicate that any laws were shown to have been broken. I've heard and seen worse from other schools. They are private after all.

If the board had wanted more privacy in their dealings, they should have been more careful about choosing a school treasurer who would stay quiet or was more involved in what they were trying to do. That's what typically happens and why these stories don't often get out.