Churchill Getting a New Principal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does she not understand special ed procedures, or were you just unhappy with the outcome for your own child?

Glaring procedural violations and lack of implementation of agreed accommodations and support. Her verbiage inside meetings and via emails showed a disregard for the needs of my child and acknowledgement that the team’s documentation was a binding legal obligation for Churchill and MCPS. As far as her interactions with my child, Dr. Howard was mean and uncaring.

Don’t kid yourself: this is systematic. After Weast v. Shaffer Supreme Court decision MCPS principals undoubtedly went through training to limit services to special education children. They just PRETEND they are ignorant to cover serious violations of IDEA. The problem at the high school level is that the time runs out and there are state requirements (hence the Bridge Program scandal at Richard Montgomery a few years ago).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Diversity, special needs, pride, immersion are all “good” non English speaker needs are all good things and bad things.

My brothers public school did all of this. His public school was majority white Catholic and Jewish. All A students.

It ended up driving the whole school core out and ratings went into free fall. Parents pay for private school

This is almost, but not quite, completely incoherent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You don't get to ask questions if you are on a panel.

If your kids are having mental health issues, get them help. Schools educate, not provide mental health.

Because mental health is unrelated to education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Monifa is smart, she will make as many appointments that reflect her commitment to diversity, because I highly doubt she will be the permanent replacement for Dr. Smith. Too many people internally can't stand her, and they will pressure the Board of Education to hire someone else.

She is not where she is at without being politically savvy. Even if she doesn’t get the MCPS Superintendent position now, she will not rock the boat too much to ruin future chances in MCPS or other school districts.

I am supportive of hiring a black/brown Principal for Churchill. Perhaps the truly bigoted families will leave for private school which would be an improvement. However, there are many other problems in the school that color alone will not fix.

Fortunately there are some visionary Black principals in MCPS who can tackle all the problems you mention, though not overnight obviously.

[Anonymous]

Also I think the quick timeline gives them time to fill another position if need be, though I do agree they must have someone in mind already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does she not understand special ed procedures, or were you just unhappy with the outcome for your own child?

Glaring procedural violations and lack of implementation of agreed accommodations and support. Her verbiage inside meetings and via emails showed a disregard for the needs of my child and acknowledgement that the team’s documentation was a binding legal obligation for Churchill and MCPS. As far as her interactions with my child, Dr. Howard was mean and uncaring.

Don’t kid yourself: this is systematic. After Weast v. Shaffer Supreme Court decision MCPS principals undoubtedly went through training to limit services to special education children. They just PRETEND they are ignorant to cover serious violations of IDEA. The problem at the high school level is that the time runs out and there are state requirements (hence the Bridge Program scandal at Richard Montgomery a few years ago).

Dig deep enough into Canvas (no matter what school your special needs child is at) you will see a scandal greater than Richard Montgomery. Compare Canvas with Synergy to see if a passing report card grade (Synergy) is really passing performance (Canvas). Use Canvas to measure your child’s educational performance and compare that to how your child performed before the pandemic closure.

Did your child make a year’s worth of progress when looking at the data? How many exemptions and how many grade changes did it take for your child to get that next grade bump? Did the Annual Review IEP team discuss compensatory services for the lack of services during the pandemic? If the answer is no for these two questions, file a State Complaint. The complaint will only go back one year so time is ticking to do so.

[Anonymous]

My sister is a special Ed type teaching retiring after 38 years of service. On Long Island NY.

Around the early 1990s they went full throttle special needs and became best public school in country at one point fit autistic students. Literally it was like having a 60k private education for free for your special needs kids.

But no good deed goes unpunished. They literally had couples moving on from everywhere. NJ, NYC, CT, upstate NY and burden rose. They became the public school for autistic kids wishing a 60 mile radius as just move into school zone you are in.

It actually helped home prices but the downside expensive model as school taxes are in the real estate taxes. So property taxes very high. The kids with special needs control school district. Which is ok but they also control the budget and vote yes for everything.

My sister was making 140k a year and she has 200k to 400k administrators. They hire the best so pay the most.

My brother lives in that town and if 2,000 square foot house on a 55x100 lot with 18k taxes will when he sells be snatched up by parents with autistic kids thinking 18k taxes are a bargain

[Anonymous]

and 25 years ago people used to move to Montgomery Country for special ed programs. No longer, they have been gutted, like everything good in our school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Monifa is smart, she will make as many appointments that reflect her commitment to diversity, because I highly doubt she will be the permanent replacement for Dr. Smith. Too many people internally can't stand her, and they will pressure the Board of Education to hire someone else.

She is not where she is at without being politically savvy. Even if she doesn’t get the MCPS Superintendent position now, she will not rock the boat too much to ruin future chances in MCPS or other school districts.

I am supportive of hiring a black/brown Principal for Churchill. Perhaps the truly bigoted families will leave for private school which would be an improvement. However, there are many other problems in the school that color alone will not fix.

Fortunately there are some visionary Black principals in MCPS who can tackle all the problems you mention, though not overnight obviously.

Yes! They should hire the best black person they can find, regardless of qualifications.

[Anonymous]

Comparing Long Island and their approach with one disability to MCPS is a stretch.

Getting back to Churchill - did students with disabilities receive the accommodations and services they needed during the pandemic? No. As a result, there has been a lot of regression with skills previously learned.

For the PP who thinks students with disabilities are a drain on the ranking of Churchill, many students with disabilities have unusually high areas of strengths along with their weaknesses. IQ and their ability to learn has nothing to do with some children’s disabilities. Elon Musk is an example of a highly successful individual with a disability.

Children with disabilities are vital members of the Churchill community. They should be treated with respect and dignity by both staff and other students. They have a right to be main streamed to the full extent possible. It’s abhorrent that someone thinks they should be shipped off to another school.

[Anonymous]

Any word on principals new position?

[Anonymous]

Could she be taking over at NW or RM?

[Anonymous]

No way. I bet she's going to be a dean foe the virtual academy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way. I bet she's going to be a dean foe the virtual academy.

If that’s the case, then why not announce the position? It’s not like the MCPS directory won’t show her new title come July 1st.

BTW - for the Principals at NW and RM, their new positions have been made public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way. I bet she's going to be a dean foe the virtual academy.

They're still accepting applications on the MCPS careers site for the position of Dean, Montgomery Virtual High School Academy. The posting dates are Jun 7, 2021, 9:49:18 AM - Jun 13, 2021, 11:59:00 PM.