Call to discuss the state of Hardy 05/15/23

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused. I read DCUM and I thought the prevailing narrative was that charters were bad because "they aren't accountable" to anyone but a private board. Seems like the parents have been making noise about persistent failures of the principal at Hardy and DCPS Central has ignored those entreaties. That is shocking since I was led to believe that parents had a direct voice in leadership hiring and retention at DCPS schools.

Sincerely,
SHOCKED BY THIS DEVELOPMENT

Well, we’re about to find out . . .

The broader question (my sarcasm aside) is how is it any different to lobby DCPS Central than the Board of a charter school? Answer: It isn't. The idea of "accountability" is laughable. DCPS Central is insulated from all criticism and accountability. The IS forced out, discriminated against cost the city $$$$ in a lawsuit at JOW and the solution was...move JOW out of her division. Hundreds of millions in improper contracting dollars are spent and the answer is some low level, unnamed people are disciplined. No report and no higher ups lose their jobs.

Sure, but the stakes for Ferrebee are high on this one. They are pouring tens of millions into a new HS to relieve J-R that will be fed by Hardy. That new HS will never get anywhere if Hardy continues to go down the shitter. A good chunk of the high-performing ESs could go too. We don’t need to get into the fallout from any future security incidents. And a letter that strong, drafted by the entire parent engagement team for all three grades, is not an everyday event.

You think that because it impacts your school and your community and you think W3 schools and your community are the most important. You would be wrong. But points for being as self centered as the W3 cliche would suggest.

Where is the self centered-ness? Any principal who has overseen such a dramatic deterioration in school performance and safety - which can be directly attributed to their incompetence - should be out of a job. That should happen in Ward 8 just as it should happen in Ward 3. No parent in this city should be silent when school leadership is failing to perform their most basic duties. You can do what you do to promote silly stereotypes and sow ethnic division, but I’m damn glad that there are parent volunteers in this city doing what needs to be done to ensure that DCPS doesn’t fall any father than it has already.

Where is the grace? Is this not his first year as a principal? Are you saying that the first year or the first time you performed a duty you knocked it out of the park? It is so easy to throw stones in a glass house. To call for his resignation in his first year is extreme and atypical as such. I wonder what the real reason you want him to be removed...hmmm

It is extreme and it is warranted because his stewardship of Hardy this year has been extremely bad. Those who have worked with him intensely to fix the issues that have arisen under his stewardship see no reason to believe that things will be any better next year. These are people who have worked for years to make Hardy one of the best middle schools in the city. They wanted nothing more than to help him succeed, but have arrived at the unfortunate realization that it is not just going to happen. To imply that this action is somehow motivated by ulterior motivations is both disgusting and stupid.

[Anonymous]

The problem is not simply that there are problems, or that the principal is new, it's the lack of response (or deliberate non-response) to problems.

I was tempted to give examples here, but it's really not appropriate. Suffice it to say that all the parents are fully aware of how extreme the request is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a rising 5th grader who will be going to Hardy. How worried should I be? Is physical safety a problem for kids who don’t engage in fights? Is it so bad that students have to worry about being in the wrong place at the wrong time? My DD does not like physical confrontation, so she wouldn’t be involved unless she was attacked or there was a huge fight and she was physically unable to move out of the way.

You're describing my daughter. She is safe.

There is commotion during transitions. It is more than there should be and it is not controlled, but I don't think it poses any real threats to most kids.

The commotion is natural and the principal/administration shouldn't be blamed for it. But the unwillingness or inability to stymie it and the more serious physical altercations is on him/them. Fights that go unaddressed just beget more fights. The adults in that building need to be doing much more than holing themselves up in their offices. A few minutes before every bell, every non-teaching adult should be in the hallways and stairwells until they restore expectations of order. Teachers should stand by their classroom doors, not inside their classrooms.

One of the tragedies of Hardy this year is that this is all so fixable. The parents have been trying to mentor and support him for months. He seems to have this arrogance about him underneath the bright smile that just rejects any notion of help. That or his realization that better than Dunbar is good enough for him.

While his lack of ability to lead the school is burning it to the ground this year, I don't think it is physically unsafe for most kids similar to those you describe. One warning, though: unless the administration starts getting actually serious about putting staff out in front of Safeway after school, have your kid grab the bus at a different stop. And, no, Principal Johnson briefly standing on the school side of the street ain't good enough.

Maybe his "arrogance" is a defense against parents weird desire to "mentor" him

DP: I agree "mentor" is the wrong word to use there, but the community has exercised cooperation, communicativeness, and patience from the start.

[Anonymous]

Even people involved on the hiring panel have had enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have two at Hardy. This is a witch and hunt and stupid. My kids are fine and doing well at Hardy. Can we acknowledge that all schools are experiencing higher levels of violence in the post-pandemic era. Did you see the news student that was killed? Dcps need to take steps to address the overall issue and provide support to our students and staff. The new principal should be given an opportunity to do his job, and the district should provide him with resources and support to address any issues that may come up. Let me go gather up the other 95% of parents and go see the chancellor.

“DCPS is violent and therefor we have to tolerate violence at Hardy” is … quite a take.

I am not a Hardy parent but am enrolling my child at a DCPS MS in W6. The principal has not shied away at all from describing measures they take to make sure dismissal and transitions are orderly and safe. Hardy parents should expect the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused. I read DCUM and I thought the prevailing narrative was that charters were bad because "they aren't accountable" to anyone but a private board. Seems like the parents have been making noise about persistent failures of the principal at Hardy and DCPS Central has ignored those entreaties. That is shocking since I was led to believe that parents had a direct voice in leadership hiring and retention at DCPS schools.

Sincerely,
SHOCKED BY THIS DEVELOPMENT

Well, we’re about to find out . . .

The broader question (my sarcasm aside) is how is it any different to lobby DCPS Central than the Board of a charter school? Answer: It isn't. The idea of "accountability" is laughable. DCPS Central is insulated from all criticism and accountability. The IS forced out, discriminated against cost the city $$$$ in a lawsuit at JOW and the solution was...move JOW out of her division. Hundreds of millions in improper contracting dollars are spent and the answer is some low level, unnamed people are disciplined. No report and no higher ups lose their jobs.

Sure, but the stakes for Ferrebee are high on this one. They are pouring tens of millions into a new HS to relieve J-R that will be fed by Hardy. That new HS will never get anywhere if Hardy continues to go down the shitter. A good chunk of the high-performing ESs could go too. We don’t need to get into the fallout from any future security incidents. And a letter that strong, drafted by the entire parent engagement team for all three grades, is not an everyday event.

You think that because it impacts your school and your community and you think W3 schools and your community are the most important. You would be wrong. But points for being as self centered as the W3 cliche would suggest.

Where is the self centered-ness? Any principal who has overseen such a dramatic deterioration in school performance and safety - which can be directly attributed to their incompetence - should be out of a job. That should happen in Ward 8 just as it should happen in Ward 3. No parent in this city should be silent when school leadership is failing to perform their most basic duties. You can do what you do to promote silly stereotypes and sow ethnic division, but I’m damn glad that there are parent volunteers in this city doing what needs to be done to ensure that DCPS doesn’t fall any father than it has already.

Where is the grace? Is this not his first year as a principal? Are you saying that the first year or the first time you performed a duty you knocked it out of the park? It is so easy to throw stones in a glass house. To call for his resignation in his first year is extreme and atypical as such. I wonder what the real reason you want him to be removed...hmmm

Why should parents give DCPS “grace” to let their MS be used for training wheels for an inexperienced administrator? This isn’t about smoothing out a few hiccups, but safety and order needed to run a school, as well as clear communication with parents. If he cannot handle those two things, he should go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused. I read DCUM and I thought the prevailing narrative was that charters were bad because "they aren't accountable" to anyone but a private board. Seems like the parents have been making noise about persistent failures of the principal at Hardy and DCPS Central has ignored those entreaties. That is shocking since I was led to believe that parents had a direct voice in leadership hiring and retention at DCPS schools.

Sincerely,
SHOCKED BY THIS DEVELOPMENT

Well, we’re about to find out . . .

The broader question (my sarcasm aside) is how is it any different to lobby DCPS Central than the Board of a charter school? Answer: It isn't. The idea of "accountability" is laughable. DCPS Central is insulated from all criticism and accountability. The IS forced out, discriminated against cost the city $$$$ in a lawsuit at JOW and the solution was...move JOW out of her division. Hundreds of millions in improper contracting dollars are spent and the answer is some low level, unnamed people are disciplined. No report and no higher ups lose their jobs.

Sure, but the stakes for Ferrebee are high on this one. They are pouring tens of millions into a new HS to relieve J-R that will be fed by Hardy. That new HS will never get anywhere if Hardy continues to go down the shitter. A good chunk of the high-performing ESs could go too. We don’t need to get into the fallout from any future security incidents. And a letter that strong, drafted by the entire parent engagement team for all three grades, is not an everyday event.

You think that because it impacts your school and your community and you think W3 schools and your community are the most important. You would be wrong. But points for being as self centered as the W3 cliche would suggest.

Where is the self centered-ness? Any principal who has overseen such a dramatic deterioration in school performance and safety - which can be directly attributed to their incompetence - should be out of a job. That should happen in Ward 8 just as it should happen in Ward 3. No parent in this city should be silent when school leadership is failing to perform their most basic duties. You can do what you do to promote silly stereotypes and sow ethnic division, but I’m damn glad that there are parent volunteers in this city doing what needs to be done to ensure that DCPS doesn’t fall any father than it has already.

Where is the grace? Is this not his first year as a principal? Are you saying that the first year or the first time you performed a duty you knocked it out of the park? It is so easy to throw stones in a glass house. To call for his resignation in his first year is extreme and atypical as such. I wonder what the real reason you want him to be removed...hmmm

Why should parents give DCPS “grace” to let their MS be used for training wheels for an inexperienced administrator? This isn’t about smoothing out a few hiccups, but safety and order needed to run a school, as well as clear communication with parents. If he cannot handle those two things, he should go.

Agreed. He has shown himself to be dishonest and incompetent. Middle school is just three years long. We can't waste any of them on an ineffectual and untrustworthy school leader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused. I read DCUM and I thought the prevailing narrative was that charters were bad because "they aren't accountable" to anyone but a private board. Seems like the parents have been making noise about persistent failures of the principal at Hardy and DCPS Central has ignored those entreaties. That is shocking since I was led to believe that parents had a direct voice in leadership hiring and retention at DCPS schools.

Sincerely,
SHOCKED BY THIS DEVELOPMENT

Well, we’re about to find out . . .

The broader question (my sarcasm aside) is how is it any different to lobby DCPS Central than the Board of a charter school? Answer: It isn't. The idea of "accountability" is laughable. DCPS Central is insulated from all criticism and accountability. The IS forced out, discriminated against cost the city $$$$ in a lawsuit at JOW and the solution was...move JOW out of her division. Hundreds of millions in improper contracting dollars are spent and the answer is some low level, unnamed people are disciplined. No report and no higher ups lose their jobs.

Sure, but the stakes for Ferrebee are high on this one. They are pouring tens of millions into a new HS to relieve J-R that will be fed by Hardy. That new HS will never get anywhere if Hardy continues to go down the shitter. A good chunk of the high-performing ESs could go too. We don’t need to get into the fallout from any future security incidents. And a letter that strong, drafted by the entire parent engagement team for all three grades, is not an everyday event.

You think that because it impacts your school and your community and you think W3 schools and your community are the most important. You would be wrong. But points for being as self centered as the W3 cliche would suggest.

Where is the self centered-ness? Any principal who has overseen such a dramatic deterioration in school performance and safety - which can be directly attributed to their incompetence - should be out of a job. That should happen in Ward 8 just as it should happen in Ward 3. No parent in this city should be silent when school leadership is failing to perform their most basic duties. You can do what you do to promote silly stereotypes and sow ethnic division, but I’m damn glad that there are parent volunteers in this city doing what needs to be done to ensure that DCPS doesn’t fall any father than it has already.

Where is the grace? Is this not his first year as a principal? Are you saying that the first year or the first time you performed a duty you knocked it out of the park? It is so easy to throw stones in a glass house. To call for his resignation in his first year is extreme and atypical as such. I wonder what the real reason you want him to be removed...hmmm

My lord I hate this phrase. Requesting "grace" is a shield used to avoid responsibility while asking the aggrieved to lay off. In essence what is being said is, "I do not acknowledge any wrongdoing or mistakes or the validity of what you allege, but please back off, leave me alone and give me more time...even though I haven't acknowledged anything you said and am making no specific or general commitment to improve or change."

Requesting grace is lazy. It is rooted in some ham-fisted religious nonsense and should be laughed out of the room. You want me to give you time and space while my kids are unsafe and their education is at risk? N.F.W. Take your grace and shove it.

[Anonymous]

Well say the parents who are ok with him are the parents of the bad behavior kids .To all this group of selfish parents check your kids phones and check language and fighting is going around Every week .selling marijuana cookies and vaping in the bathrooms ? Where is the principal when all is happening??!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Current Hardy parent. I’m not sure about all the ins and outs of what is happening and I trust those who are closest to the situation. However, some of the examples of this principal’s failures don’t seem to have much to do with him specifically and have a lot to do with DCPS red tape and this school system’s inefficiency. I understand that at the heart of the issue may be how he responds to these concerns. But some of these concerns are not new.
As an example, someone mentioned a lack of instruction in a class this year. One of my kids was at Hardy during principal Cookes first or second year. A teacher fell ill in the early weeks of school. My kid had subs for that core class until April or May. Principal Cooke did not alert any of the parents that this was happening until some parents realized it was going on in January—got fed up and organized meetings with him about it . The kids had nearly no instruction that year and worksheets and goofing off seemed perfectly acceptable to Cooke until the parents got mad about this. It was only at that point that any attention was given to that class. This happened in a few classes during my kids’ 3 years at Hardy. Teacher absenteeism, inability to fire/rehire quickly, use of of long term subs is a DCPS wide problem that has only been made worse by the pandemic. My kids’ years at Hardy under Cooke were “meh” at best. They had a couple of good teachers, some terrible ones, and a lot of absenteeism from a lot of teachers. The fighting was also constant—they didn’t have Snapchat but there were fights all the time. This was 4 or 5 years ago. Was it acceptable then? No. Is it acceptable now? No. But is there a hint of hysteria about the amount of fighting that is taking place? I don’t know. My current middle schooler there has never mentioned feeling unsafe and said the fighting is mostly between a small group of 7th graders. I would not feel afraid to send my kid there.

I am more concerned about the 90 minute block classes. It sounds like the principal had a chance to fix this problem and sort out better options for electives and hire new teachers and failed to do so. If that is correct, that is very concerning. Why did that happen? I worry my kid cannot concentrate for this long and next year they will be bored again. Is there any hope of changing the schedules now? Will there be more teachers hired? My child has complained of large class sizes and next year I had hoped would be different.

If the principal is not removed is there any chance he will receive better support and guidance as a second year principal? What are steps short of removal that can help? I’m just thinking long term. If he’s still here next year how will we know he is getting the help and supervision he needs.

[Anonymous]

I’m checking Instagram and don’t see any Hardy fight pages or Hardy middle school fights. I have also checked child’s phone and see lots of silly Insta Hardy pages including one fake fight with two girls in costume but no real fights. What am I missing? Have they been removed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First: It was the school's responsibility to notify parents on incidents of safety and security. If you are just now finding out about these things it's because (1) the school failed in it's duty to tell you and (2) other parents in a position to know are jumping in to tell you.

Let's be appreciative of those parents for speaking up rather than critiquing them for the timing of what should not be their responsibility.

Second: It sounds like parent leaders have been trying to work with the school and DCPS *all year* on issues of safety and security, behavior, academics, staff management, school planning, culture, etc.

What they've seen and what they've been hearing from other parents finally reached a tipping point. In the past couple of weeks, there was...
-- a security incident for which the principal swept under the rug;
-- the surprise news that the recent budget+staffing decisions by the principal means that Hardy will be short the target number of teachers next year and, once again, 'electives' will be limited and "pre-selected."
-- the prospect that a few good teachers will be leaving.
-- uncertainty about the 8th grade end of year events (dues collected, plans missing, or something pike that)

Those straws broke the camels back, I think.

The problems have been happening along different vectors, and the various people who deal with these things -- the LSAT, the PTO, the parent liaisons, etc -- have been trying to address them through the usual ways. And it's been fruitless on all fronts.

If you haven't heard your kid complaining about fights or excited because they watched another movie in their too-long-to-focus classes, then you are lucky. Listen to what these other parents have to say and realize that the

TLDR: These parents are taking extraordinary steps to fix a multitude of problems that the school admin hasn't before another school year starts.

My child has been complaining all year and I've been too wrapped up in other life to do more than write a couple of emails. I, for one, am *very* thankful for the huge time and effort that these parents have put in to try to effect some needed change.

Uh, you can copy and paste this and we can make a thread for Stoddert too, this is an exact mirror of what's happening over there right now as well.

Please do tell. What is going on at Stoddert?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m checking Instagram and don’t see any Hardy fight pages or Hardy middle school fights. I have also checked child’s phone and see lots of silly Insta Hardy pages including one fake fight with two girls in costume but no real fights. What am I missing? Have they been removed?

I did find one TikTok video that was a bit uncomfortable to watch, but I don’t know if it’s ok to share with the rules of this forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Current Hardy parent. I’m not sure about all the ins and outs of what is happening and I trust those who are closest to the situation. However, some of the examples of this principal’s failures don’t seem to have much to do with him specifically and have a lot to do with DCPS red tape and this school system’s inefficiency. I understand that at the heart of the issue may be how he responds to these concerns. But some of these concerns are not new.
As an example, someone mentioned a lack of instruction in a class this year. One of my kids was at Hardy during principal Cookes first or second year. A teacher fell ill in the early weeks of school. My kid had subs for that core class until April or May. Principal Cooke did not alert any of the parents that this was happening until some parents realized it was going on in January—got fed up and organized meetings with him about it . The kids had nearly no instruction that year and worksheets and goofing off seemed perfectly acceptable to Cooke until the parents got mad about this. It was only at that point that any attention was given to that class. This happened in a few classes during my kids’ 3 years at Hardy. Teacher absenteeism, inability to fire/rehire quickly, use of of long term subs is a DCPS wide problem that has only been made worse by the pandemic. My kids’ years at Hardy under Cooke were “meh” at best. They had a couple of good teachers, some terrible ones, and a lot of absenteeism from a lot of teachers. The fighting was also constant—they didn’t have Snapchat but there were fights all the time. This was 4 or 5 years ago. Was it acceptable then? No. Is it acceptable now? No. But is there a hint of hysteria about the amount of fighting that is taking place? I don’t know. My current middle schooler there has never mentioned feeling unsafe and said the fighting is mostly between a small group of 7th graders. I would not feel afraid to send my kid there.

I am more concerned about the 90 minute block classes. It sounds like the principal had a chance to fix this problem and sort out better options for electives and hire new teachers and failed to do so. If that is correct, that is very concerning. Why did that happen? I worry my kid cannot concentrate for this long and next year they will be bored again. Is there any hope of changing the schedules now? Will there be more teachers hired? My child has complained of large class sizes and next year I had hoped would be different.

If the principal is not removed is there any chance he will receive better support and guidance as a second year principal? What are steps short of removal that can help? I’m just thinking long term. If he’s still here next year how will we know he is getting the help and supervision he needs.

Hear hear friend. I am trying to get together with those who share a systems approach to this problem. Get in touch with PTO pres with your thoughts if you want to be included.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current Hardy parent. I’m not sure about all the ins and outs of what is happening and I trust those who are closest to the situation. However, some of the examples of this principal’s failures don’t seem to have much to do with him specifically and have a lot to do with DCPS red tape and this school system’s inefficiency. I understand that at the heart of the issue may be how he responds to these concerns. But some of these concerns are not new.
As an example, someone mentioned a lack of instruction in a class this year. One of my kids was at Hardy during principal Cookes first or second year. A teacher fell ill in the early weeks of school. My kid had subs for that core class until April or May. Principal Cooke did not alert any of the parents that this was happening until some parents realized it was going on in January—got fed up and organized meetings with him about it . The kids had nearly no instruction that year and worksheets and goofing off seemed perfectly acceptable to Cooke until the parents got mad about this. It was only at that point that any attention was given to that class. This happened in a few classes during my kids’ 3 years at Hardy. Teacher absenteeism, inability to fire/rehire quickly, use of of long term subs is a DCPS wide problem that has only been made worse by the pandemic. My kids’ years at Hardy under Cooke were “meh” at best. They had a couple of good teachers, some terrible ones, and a lot of absenteeism from a lot of teachers. The fighting was also constant—they didn’t have Snapchat but there were fights all the time. This was 4 or 5 years ago. Was it acceptable then? No. Is it acceptable now? No. But is there a hint of hysteria about the amount of fighting that is taking place? I don’t know. My current middle schooler there has never mentioned feeling unsafe and said the fighting is mostly between a small group of 7th graders. I would not feel afraid to send my kid there.

I am more concerned about the 90 minute block classes. It sounds like the principal had a chance to fix this problem and sort out better options for electives and hire new teachers and failed to do so. If that is correct, that is very concerning. Why did that happen? I worry my kid cannot concentrate for this long and next year they will be bored again. Is there any hope of changing the schedules now? Will there be more teachers hired? My child has complained of large class sizes and next year I had hoped would be different.

If the principal is not removed is there any chance he will receive better support and guidance as a second year principal? What are steps short of removal that can help? I’m just thinking long term. If he’s still here next year how will we know he is getting the help and supervision he needs.

Hear hear friend. I am trying to get together with those who share a systems approach to this problem. Get in touch with PTO pres with your thoughts if you want to be included.

Too little too late. If some things were working well, then the prospects might be different. But everything -- safety, discipline, schedule, plans for boosting academic outcomes, communication, teacher retention and hiring -- is a mess.

Your assumption that help and supervision by DCPS has been the missing factor is not well-founded.