FCPS school authority hierarchy
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Anonymous
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We have an issue raised at principal level with multiple layers to it.
The resolution proposed by the principal is not satisfactory and lacks rational justification. What is the next level (and the entire ladder) of authority to help us look at it? I really do not want to out this matter for public discussion even as I feel strongly about being discriminated. Thanks for the advice. |
Anonymous
Next up in the hierarchy are the executive principal and regional superintendent for your region. You can also contact the family/student ombudsman: https://www.fcps.edu/department/office-family-student-ombudsman The rule of thumb in FCPS is that you have to be persistent and noisy to get what you need. Otherwise the bureaucrats just circle the wagons around one of their own. |
Anonymous
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Thanks. That’s exactly what we have faced.
Does it ever escalate any further? Or does it end with regional superintendent + ombudsman review? Please let me know if you had any experience - this is much appreciated. |
Anonymous
| Isn't that when you go to the superintendent or your school board member? |
Anonymous
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I didn't escalate beyond regional super, but would go to the school board/superintendent. Do call to follow up as I never got a response to the form I filled out online, but when I called I got an immediate response from regional super and follow up from principal.
Good luck! |
Anonymous
| Get the press involved and FCPS will react to what you are saying. |
Anonymous
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When I and a small group of parents went to the regional super about an atrocious teacher and a weak, ineffective principal who refused to deal with her what happened was she got transferred to a school on the other side of the county where nobody would be the wiser.
This was quite a few years ago, I wonder if they still handle things that way. |
Anonymous
Easier said than done, unless it’s like the Marshall HS teacher who told an AA student to read a poem by Langston Hughes “blacker” out loud in class. |
Anonymous
| I have found the School Board members to be very helpful. |
Anonymous
This is the protocol. If you complain to the superintendent or a school board member, it automatically gets kicked to the regional superintendent to follow up. The regional superintendent contacts the principal and works it from there. |
Anonymous
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op here.
Thanks everyone. This was helpful. |
Anonymous
| Just tell them all. CC them all and ask who will handle it and when. If you don’t pound on someone, the cover up and hiding begins. Share the school? The region? Maybe someone on here can help. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
In fairfax they all cover up |
Anonymous
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op here.
Okay, help me out please -- Do I have a legitimate cause to escalate? DH wants to leave it alone, while I want fairness and appropriate challenge level for my son... My son will be starting grade 3. Principal refused to place my son in local L4 aap, after the school made a mistake in aap file. We caught the error late...in June... the school included inaccurate test score, which suggested below avg rather than close to cut-off achievement. So, all the paperwork we put together for parent-referral was for nothing with that score. I also got WISC later for appeal, unaware of previous error in package by school[!]. I will omit other layers of the case for simplicity, but I observed teacher incompetence in both academic and child's behavior analysis on teacher' part last school year for the first time actually - things were goon in K and grade 1. The year was a disaster, compared to K- and 1st grade with all indications of ahead of the curve performance... 2nd grade teacher was very young, with provisional license, must be her early career, so I do feel for her - everyone deserves a chance and has to start somewhere. However, when in her hand-written note she spells "using" as "useing" that's a red line, and there were more similar red lines that are kind of unacceptable one would think. Bottom-line, we had a bad match with a teacher in the second grade... grades went down across the board from predominantly 4s to 3s. - I did not complain during the year although considered it seriously, but I had many iterations on math grades that were low despite accurate answers, which was puzzling, and triggered my follow-ups directly with teacher only... - ultimately, low math grade on test could not be justified by her and she insisted: 3 is still a good grade, and just, trust us, other kids provide more complete answers to word problems. Regional super (RS) is aware of my request "to principal-place to L4 even for a few months to see if it works," but RS did not interfere - just heard me out together with principal in June. Now, August, and principal rejected my request... and just apologized for the error with the file. So my June request was answered, after two follow-ups, only last week... Not sure if RS was notified by school. Most likely "no." Additional support for my child's academic achievement that makes him a potential candidate for ft app track comes from WISC scores; that Russian school of math identified DC as advanced 3rd grader level; that third-party FCPS teacher w 20years of experience tested DC, and concluded the reading level is much more advanced than assessed by 2nd grade school teacher. Generally, my son kept saying grade 2 was too easy, and we had to enrich at home to provide appropriate challenge... I am also keen to hear from teachers... am I taking it too far? To me, the whole thing boils down to a borderline kid whose app file was screwed-up, and so the kid did not get a fair review... why not give him a chance? if this does not work out, he is too young to realize a step back, if a step-back as a potential consequence is feared possibly by the principal [?]... Thanks for the feedback. |