Documentary on DC METROPOLITAN Airing Tonight on PBS

[Anonymous]

DCPS still does the same termination of Principals that was been done over the years. At least they didn't call of the "non-reappointed" principals to the headquarters at the same time. Yes, they did that and everyone was sitting in the conference room, awaiting their doom and gloom.

She'd cried because she was angry. She spoke volumes when she said that you fall out of favor, early on with DCPS. When headquarters don't like you, there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

I remember when the Washington Post was interviewing the principal of the year and that principal received his "non-reappointment" while the reporter was in his office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS still does the same termination of Principals that was been done over the years. At least they didn't call of the "non-reappointed" principals to the headquarters at the same time. Yes, they did that and everyone was sitting in the conference room, awaiting their doom and gloom.

She'd cried because she was angry. She spoke volumes when she said that you fall out of favor, early on with DCPS. When headquarters don't like you, there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

I remember when the Washington Post was interviewing the principal of the year and that principal received his "non-reappointment" while the reporter was in his office.

WHAT??? Do you have a link to that article? The absurdity of it literally made me laugh out loud.

I also found it telling that she noticed she "wasn't being well-received" very early on. That made me suspect the usual personal vindictiveness, something DCPS cannot afford.

How's the DC MET and its new principal holding up these days? Does anybody know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS still does the same termination of Principals that was been done over the years. At least they didn't call of the "non-reappointed" principals to the headquarters at the same time. Yes, they did that and everyone was sitting in the conference room, awaiting their doom and gloom.

She'd cried because she was angry. She spoke volumes when she said that you fall out of favor, early on with DCPS. When headquarters don't like you, there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

I remember when the Washington Post was interviewing the principal of the year and that principal received his "non-reappointment" while the reporter was in his office.

WHAT??? Do you have a link to that article? The absurdity of it literally made me laugh out loud.

I also found it telling that she noticed she "wasn't being well-received" very early on. That made me suspect the usual personal vindictiveness, something DCPS cannot afford.

How's the DC MET and its new principal holding up these days? Does anybody know.

Principal of the Year during newspaper interview...Beloved principal who's in the process of having a documentary filmed...Really does make me start to wonder if there's a bunch of jealousy at the attention some people get. Like, nobody takes attention away from Baby. Or simply wanting to embarrass people. Really there's no need for firing GOOD PEOPLE from what it seems during interviews and documentaries. Or at all, really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I found was interesting about the Rufus story was that Aunt said she was transferring him to a closer school to home. Now the closer school was Suitland, which is in PG County. Where is the residency???? Did Rufus attend DCMET while residing in PG???

I found that odd too...couldn't tell if he was in boundary until moving to live with his aunt very recently and was given some type of waiver to finish out the year or what?

It seemed like he was getting to school, as truancy was not his issue.

They told all his business (mother dying, eviction one week later, unemployed father, time spent in group home, arrest, etc) but seemed to gloss over that part.

[Anonymous]

Re: Rufus...I believe he was living in a DC group home, prior to his aunt being granted custody. This may have been how he had been granted some kind of waiver to continue at DC MET? The aunt pulled him out because he wasn't getting back to PG by whatever time the courts had established was his curfew, and they were getting documented by the parole officer.

At the very end of the film, a paragraph stated that Rufus was arrested again for theft or something, and was back in DC living in another group home. This was something that he talked about in the film -- how much he hated living in group homes. It also said that he had been in three different high schools in 12 months.

[Anonymous]

OH this happened during the era when Arlene Ackerman was the Superintendent, rest her soul.

11:42, Now hold onto your coffee cup, the principal ended up being an Assistant Superintendent, as an out of court settlement. So the absurdity is like pouring sugar into black coffee. As an assistant superintendent he fell out of favor with Rhee and was banished off to over-seeing a warehouse of supplies. Don't laugh.

The shame of it all, is that vindictiveness is so evident at DCPS, you haven't lived until you've been on the wrong side of headquarters.

The "off with your head" attitude can come early in the school year. Yet, they will not lead on that you have a bull's eye on your back, it will upset the apple cart.

The Chancellor's staff is pretty transparent in who they like and don't like.

The days of being walked out of your school building was truly a power play and/or pissing match. The rumor was if they liked you enough they call you to Central Office and give you the news. But if they hated your guts or you had sorely pissed them off, they would escort you out of your school.

At one school they had the principal's replacement sitting beside her at the graduation, lyingly introduce the perspective new principal as a special guest to audience. Graduation was at 10am over at 12noon, the princicpal got the news to report to Central Office at 2pm. The new principal was moving in his boxes at 4pm.

Scandalous!!!

[Anonymous]

Didn't you love the final scenes where Gray said DC CAS scores were at a "five-year high?" It's cleverly phrased like that to throw you off from the fact that the highest scores in the last five years were five years ago.

That's right - in 2007, before Rhee arrived in the summer of that year.

Then Kaya says she doesn't "live or die" by the yearly scores -- but doesn't mention that her teachers and principals do - based on her directives.

People - what is going on here and why do we let it continue?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't you love the final scenes where Gray said DC CAS scores were at a "five-year high?" It's cleverly phrased like that to throw you off from the fact that the highest scores in the last five years were five years ago.

That's right - in 2007, before Rhee arrived in the summer of that year.

Then Kaya says she doesn't "live or die" by the yearly scores -- but doesn't mention that her teachers and principals do - based on her directives.

People - what is going on here and why do we let it continue?

This is what I don't understand.

Years ago, before the internet and so much focus being placed on the dsyfunction in DCPS, I can understand.

Now that we KNOW what type of foolery is going on, why do we allow it to continue.

It's too bad this documentary wasn't released on the same level Waiting for Superman was. Too bad these filmmakers and principal didn't get their turn on Oprah's couch.

It seems that if it doesn't fit the "blame the teachers, principals, schools" narrative it doesn't get heard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't you love the final scenes where Gray said DC CAS scores were at a "five-year high?" It's cleverly phrased like that to throw you off from the fact that the highest scores in the last five years were five years ago.

That's right - in 2007, before Rhee arrived in the summer of that year.

Then Kaya says she doesn't "live or die" by the yearly scores -- but doesn't mention that her teachers and principals do - based on her directives.

People - what is going on here and why do we let it continue?

Oh yeah, loved that part. I could tell it was a manipulation of data but wasn't aware that the highest scores were 5 years ago. I thought that perhaps the scores still sucked, like 10% proficiency or something but that was still the best it had been in the past 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OH this happened during the era when Arlene Ackerman was the Superintendent, rest her soul.

11:42, Now hold onto your coffee cup, the principal ended up being an Assistant Superintendent, as an out of court settlement. So the absurdity is like pouring sugar into black coffee. As an assistant superintendent he fell out of favor with Rhee and was banished off to over-seeing a warehouse of supplies. Don't laugh.

The shame of it all, is that vindictiveness is so evident at DCPS, you haven't lived until you've been on the wrong side of headquarters.

The "off with your head" attitude can come early in the school year. Yet, they will not lead on that you have a bull's eye on your back, it will upset the apple cart.

The Chancellor's staff is pretty transparent in who they like and don't like.

The days of being walked out of your school building was truly a power play and/or pissing match. The rumor was if they liked you enough they call you to Central Office and give you the news. But if they hated your guts or you had sorely pissed them off, they would escort you out of your school.

At one school they had the principal's replacement sitting beside her at the graduation, lyingly introduce the perspective new principal as a special guest to audience. Graduation was at 10am over at 12noon, the princicpal got the news to report to Central Office at 2pm. The new principal was moving in his boxes at 4pm.

Scandalous!!!

Don't laugh? Too late. I was laughing when I read that statement. Then I had to go back and read it again to make sure I got it right.

It's too bad that the kids get the short end of the stick with all of this posturing and bullshyt that's going on with the adults. That was obvious in the 180 Days documentary. Ms. Minor was able to move on and find an even better position, but where did that leave the kids??? They're the ones who suffer. The capable, educated adults simply move on to greener pastures where they don't have to deal with as much bullshyt once they run off to the burbs.

[Anonymous]

It's not just that teachers and the DCPS system are to blame (and I'm sure there are some great teachers and principals at DCPS - but there's also some lousy ones) - ghetto culture in DC is also to blame. Just because there are societal problems doesn't let teachers off the hook.

[Anonymous]

Link to both parts of the documentary:

http://www.pbs.org/programs/180-days-american-school/

[Anonymous]

What is with the ghetto culture? Find me the ghetto and the exclusivity to the neighborhood school. Now be mindful school boundaries and ward boundaries will have an impact on your outcomes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is with the ghetto culture? Find me the ghetto and the exclusivity to the neighborhood school. Now be mindful school boundaries and ward boundaries will have an impact on your outcomes.

What is with complete sentence? And complete thought?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is with the ghetto culture? Find me the ghetto and the exclusivity to the neighborhood school. Now be mindful school boundaries and ward boundaries will have an impact on your outcomes.

Pretty sure their isn't a "ghetto culture" in Ward 3 schools.