Letter from Cancellor re moving schools - opps - I got caught moving my kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I picture this: Wilson announces to his family that they are moving to DC. Child doesn't want to upend life and leave friends yadda yadda. A teenager can be difficult in the best of circumstances. Imagine this one. Parents tell her, but we'll be in an awesome house and this fantastic, brand new performing arts high school where you can study dance. You'll love it. Let's go! Fast forward to three weeks into the school year--new place, new people, hard to break into social groups in sophomore year. School does not live up to the awesome experience her parents promised to get her across the country. She's lonely, anxious, depressed, still in touch with good friends back in Oakland, mad as hell at her parents. emotional and social crisis ensues. Parents panic and do whatever it takes to get their lovely, happy girl back amidst guilt over making her so unhappy. "tunnel vision". The worst is that IF she was making a good go of it at Wilson, she has now been yanked out of that school. Horrible all around. No matter what the dad has done, I do wish they had let the girl stay at Wilson until the end of the year if at all possible. Also wish the parents had opted for private or Dunbar if she absolutely had to leave Ellington. Going private due to social/emotional issues is much easier to explain than cheating the whole system and losing integrity and trust.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meeting just ended with Bowser, Grosso and Mendelsohn.

Mendelsohn said they discussed 'all options' wrt the chancellor's status.

I think Bowser will have to fire him or announce that he's staying through the end of the year, because this issue will not go away.

Even if it dies down a little, it will flare back up the day after the lottery results are out and everyone unhappy with their result is even more pissed off than normal.

[Anonymous]

If the move happened in September, does anyone know why it's just becoming known now? Haven't read anything about that.

[Anonymous]

Trayon White out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the move happened in September, does anyone know why it's just becoming known now? Haven't read anything about that.

Because only very recently did someone alert the IG about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Well, earlier this fall when my husband and I thought our son was struggling with anxiety what did we do? We paid out-of-pocket for a neuropsych evaluation. It is what his pediatrician recommended. And trust me, we do not have the financial means the chancellor clearly has. But we did what we needed for our child. I agree with PP that he is trumping up the claims of social emotional issues because as DC’s supposed supreme educator why wouldn’t Wilson have arranged for an evaluation for his daughter.? Perhaps he did but you would think he would mention it. And my guess is he wouldn’t even have had to do it out of pocket. He could probably pick up the phone and have DCPS do the evaluation, which takes the rest of us kicking and screaming to get. He’s an embarrassing excuse maker.

+1 Furious at his excuses. The cruel irony is that I spent years as a very committed volunteer and advocate for education issues in DC, just as Chancellor Wilson has told people they should. It took me away from my kids multiple nights a week and was incredibly stressful. Unlike the Chancellor, I didn't get paid for it. I found that DCPS and DC elected officials expected too much of parents and started relying on me to do their jobs. Eventually I gave up and quit because I didn't see it helping my kids. A few years later, my child's persona, behavior and grades changed dramatically at the start of this school year. We have persevered for 6 months so far (not 3 weeks like Chancellor Wilson) working every day to help our child while fearing for the child's health and welfare. We have personally paid for a neuropsych evaluation and are paying for expensive therapy -- with far less income and resources than the Chancellor's. We know that there are no better options currently available in DCPS beyond our in-boundary school. If it comes to it, our only choice is to home school our child for the rest of the year or longer -- until we can move or get a spot in a private school (and figure out how to pay for either option).

Plus my husband would never throw me or our kids under the bus like that. Never.

I agree. There are hundreds if not thousands of us who have felt our kids were in real distress at one time or another who didn't have anyone to appeal to for 'options.'

We cobbled together solutions we've paid for or moved or spent hours at our kid's school trying to figure it out.

His talking points are so wrong on this -- he might (doubtful) be able to survive it if he simply said "I have so much more understanding of the reality of our system, where we don't have enough choices and quality solutions for everyone who needs them and I'm going to do XYZ to fix that."

This this this. I feel SO sorry for the daughter in question. It is NOT her mess yet here she is at the center of it. What a terrible way for her father to have handled this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if only he had consulted DCUM...

DCUM could have saved his job.

No one could be surprised by the anger such a move would generate from parents of DC students. Even if he keeps his job, he'll never recover in the eyes of parents and all his talk about building up schools will ring hollow and meaningless.

really?! there was no such outpouring of wrath for Fenty (who went on to do it a second time). Even last year - no heads rolled, no kids lost their spots. This is surprising to me. I feel very sorry for him and his family but I am very happy to see this bullshit will no longer be tolerated. It will never happen again (Fenty's kids are on their own now - if they want Latin or SWS then they'll have to go through the process).

Plenty of folks I know were seething about the Snowden placement and thought her child should have been moved out of Logan.

They seethed on DCUM, they didn't email their reps .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meeting just ended with Bowser, Grosso and Mendelsohn.

Mendelsohn said they discussed 'all options' wrt the chancellor's status.

I think Bowser will have to fire him or announce that he's staying through the end of the year, because this issue will not go away.

Even if it dies down a little, it will flare back up the day after the lottery results are out and everyone unhappy with their result is even more pissed off than normal.

Yup. All the lottery "losers" will be so angry all over again. (FWIW, I support the lottery).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I picture this: Wilson announces to his family that they are moving to DC. Child doesn't want to upend life and leave friends yadda yadda. A teenager can be difficult in the best of circumstances. Imagine this one. Parents tell her, but we'll be in an awesome house and this fantastic, brand new performing arts high school where you can study dance. You'll love it. Let's go! Fast forward to three weeks into the school year--new place, new people, hard to break into social groups in sophomore year. School does not live up to the awesome experience her parents promised to get her across the country. She's lonely, anxious, depressed, still in touch with good friends back in Oakland, mad as hell at her parents. emotional and social crisis ensues. Parents panic and do whatever it takes to get their lovely, happy girl back amidst guilt over making her so unhappy. "tunnel vision". The worst is that IF she was making a good go of it at Wilson, she has now been yanked out of that school. Horrible all around. No matter what the dad has done, I do wish they had let the girl stay at Wilson until the end of the year if at all possible. Also wish the parents had opted for private or Dunbar if she absolutely had to leave Ellington. Going private due to social/emotional issues is much easier to explain than cheating the whole system and losing integrity and trust.

We all feel for the kid and the situation is no different from any other family that had to deal with a work transfer except that the dad cheated the school placement. We all know it’s tough on kids to change schools and most of us balance that into the choices we make to the degree we can. He chose not to balance things be relocating his family IB immediately when he needed to last fall and should lose his position as a result.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why he didn't buy a house in NW. Really. All of this could have been so easily avoided!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if only he had consulted DCUM...

DCUM could have saved his job.

No one could be surprised by the anger such a move would generate from parents of DC students. Even if he keeps his job, he'll never recover in the eyes of parents and all his talk about building up schools will ring hollow and meaningless.

really?! there was no such outpouring of wrath for Fenty (who went on to do it a second time). Even last year - no heads rolled, no kids lost their spots. This is surprising to me. I feel very sorry for him and his family but I am very happy to see this bullshit will no longer be tolerated. It will never happen again (Fenty's kids are on their own now - if they want Latin or SWS then they'll have to go through the process).

Plenty of folks I know were seething about the Snowden placement and thought her child should have been moved out of Logan.

Would be great if this flares up enough to engulf Snowden. I don’t want to punish her kid but she should have gotten more — at a minimum unpaid time off

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it’s been said already but I still cannot get over why he would buy in NE with 3 school-aged kids. Even if he assumed his daughter would be okay at Wilson, what was his plan for his other two kids? He could’ve bought a gorgeous home in Shepherd Park for $1m (same as what he paid in NE).

Have you seen the pics of the home he bought in N.E.? It’s Langdon, not Brookland, and screams nouveau-riche.

NP, I tried shopblocker to no avail.

Please share, if someone knows. Because evidently the chancellor and I must be close neighbors if he is in Langdon. I'd really like to know why MY son has to play the lottery and hope for the best to avoid Dunbar, but his daughter is somehow above my child.

Easily searchable on redfin. The Post reported that he paid 980k for it in June of 2017.

[Anonymous]

I doubt Snowden cares, but I like this bubbling up just to be reminded that Henderson helped her mainly because she’s such a PIA and it’s not worth dealing with her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why he didn't buy a house in NW. Really. All of this could have been so easily avoided!

But that's why this scandal is so good in a way. For once we are talking g about how ***y so many eotp schools are. Why do we March over gun violence but not over kids lives effectively being ended generation after generation by being warehoused? How many of those kids end up degree less, gang member, pimped, pregnant, imprisoned, dead? Where do you think you Go with a Ballou education? Really go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it’s been said already but I still cannot get over why he would buy in NE with 3 school-aged kids. Even if he assumed his daughter would be okay at Wilson, what was his plan for his other two kids? He could’ve bought a gorgeous home in Shepherd Park for $1m (same as what he paid in NE).

Have you seen the pics of the home he bought in N.E.? It’s Langdon, not Brookland, and screams nouveau-riche.

NP, I tried shopblocker to no avail.

Please share, if someone knows. Because evidently the chancellor and I must be close neighbors if he is in Langdon. I'd really like to know why MY son has to play the lottery and hope for the best to avoid Dunbar, but his daughter is somehow above my child.

Easily searchable on redfin. The Post reported that he paid 980k for it in June of 2017.

So he closed on the house after the lottery fornthis current school year. Bizarre to me that he has a nearly $300k salary and didn’t buy IB for Wilson.