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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He resigned, or the mayor asked for his resignation.

that's just code for fired. He serves at her discretion in addition to being subject to termination due to cause.

Does he get any severance pay?

With cause $70K without case double

That's not a bad deal. Gets paid more to get fired than a GS-12 salary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He resigned, or the mayor asked for his resignation.

that's just code for fired. He serves at her discretion in addition to being subject to termination due to cause.

Does he get any severance pay?

With cause $70K without case double

Where did you see that? It would be highly unusual for a contract to provide severance for a "for cause" termination. My guess is there is a dispute/discussion on whether this is for cause and there likely be a negotiated settlement that splits the difference.

[Anonymous]

Who were the cronies he brought in with him? Are they going to be gone too? He did an astonishing rate of hiring and salary inflation while in Oakland.

[Anonymous]

If I were a boundary cheater Is begin to make a backup plan. If they are sacking the chancellor for this, they clearly see how impassioned the dc community is. This is a game changer

[Anonymous]

I'd....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Amanda Alexander should have been chancellor after Henderson (and possibly Davis), not Wilson. She lives here, she breathes DCPS -and has for some time, she knows all the people and places. Glad to see she’s getting her rightful place at the top. She’s as smart and as straight-arrow as they come.

+1. Looks impressive to me.

Yup. Too bad they had to go across the country to find a male before taking a good look around. Look forward to getting to know her.

It’s not a “they” - it was Bowser herself who found him in the wreckage he left in Oakland, got all hot for him, and brought him in and basically said, he is our new chancellor. She didn’t give anyone local a fair chance at the job even though everyone said it should be an internal hire. External hires in DCPS don’t ever last long, at any level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I were a boundary cheater Is begin to make a backup plan. If they are sacking the chancellor for this, they clearly see how impassioned the dc community is. This is a game changer

But he wasn't a boundary cheater. I doubt this will lead to a major effort to route out boundary fraud.

[Anonymous]

https://wamu.org/story/18/02/20/d-c-schools-chancellor-antwan-wilson-school-transfer-scandal/

"Wilson’s family lives in-boundary for Dunbar High School, but Niles approved a transfer for the daughter to Wilson, even though the school has a waiting list with more than 600 names."

The waitlist is 600?!!! The school only has 1700 students right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who were the cronies he brought in with him? Are they going to be gone too? He did an astonishing rate of hiring and salary inflation while in Oakland.

Have you seen the new org chart and unfilled and interim chief positions? I hope Dr. Alexander sees the fluff for what it is and takes those positions right back out.

[Anonymous]

Alexander seems like a great choice. Wish they’d hired her first.

I knew Wilson was out of his depth when I learned he was originally a middle school principal in Kansas. It’s so easy to see to the racism between the lines when Wash Post commenters say “go back to Oakland,” but Wilson is a guy from Nebraska.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He resigned, or the mayor asked for his resignation.

that's just code for fired. He serves at her discretion in addition to being subject to termination due to cause.

Does he get any severance pay?

Depends on the contract.

WAMU/Austermuhle reported on Twitter than his departure would be 'negotiated.' Details have not been worked out yet.

https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/966079410972581889

What he did was so egregious under the circumstances, Mr. Equity and excellence, stamping out any signs of transgressions, hence the position of Ombudsman - it's almost like he wanted to be fired. Maybe he knew he wasn't up to the job

[Anonymous]

According to wamu, Alexander had applied for the chancellor position but that it eventually went to Wilson. Karma !!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides, I'm not sure dcps teachers understand how hard the parent community took this

The level of anger clearly took the Council by surprise. On Fri/Sat you could tell that Grosso thought this would blow over. He did a complete reversal. I do admire him for responding to what the voters want, but his original posturing shows how much he doesn't get it.

I find this very troubling. Lottery cheating is a "big deal" because the state of most DCPS school is atrocious-- so bad that people bend over backwards to find ways to enroll at the very few good schools we have. Additionally, the overcrowding in those good schools is a secondary but nonetheless real issue as well. Either they are not seeing the forest through the trees or they don't have kids in school today and don't know what it feels like when your child has but one shot at a decent education.

The vast majority of the DCUM crowd that is (rightfully) outraged by this has the option to move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides, I'm not sure dcps teachers understand how hard the parent community took this

The level of anger clearly took the Council by surprise. On Fri/Sat you could tell that Grosso thought this would blow over. He did a complete reversal. I do admire him for responding to what the voters want, but his original posturing shows how much he doesn't get it.

I find this very troubling. Lottery cheating is a "big deal" because the state of most DCPS school is atrocious-- so bad that people bend over backwards to find ways to enroll at the very few good schools we have. Additionally, the overcrowding in those good schools is a secondary but nonetheless real issue as well. Either they are not seeing the forest through the trees or they don't have kids in school today and don't know what it feels like when your child has but one shot at a decent education.

The vast majority of the DCUM crowd that is (rightfully) outraged by this has the option to move.

not really. It's not like I could afford a good-great school pyramid in the suburbs either. I could buy into a good elementary district, but middle and high school would be iffier. Less iffy than DC but not solid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The interim replacement for Wilson will be Amanda Alexander, chief of DCPS elementary schools

https://twitter.com/PeteJamison/status/966059982448885760

Does anyone know anything about her?

https://dcps.dc.gov/biography/dr-amanda-alexander

Dr. Amanda Alexander is the Chief of the Office of Elementary Schools for the District of Columbia Public Schools. She provides leadership and vision for the district’s elementary schools and supervises a team of instructional superintendents. She also oversees early childhood programs (Pre-K3 and Pre-K4) and the federal Head Start program.

Dr. Alexander began her career with DCPS in 1998 as a kindergarten teacher at Walker-Jones Elementary School. She later joined New Leaders for New Schools and served as an assistant principal at PS 40 and PS 2 in New York City’s highly acclaimed District 2. With a refined understanding of progressive pedagogies in reading and writing and approaches to teacher professional development, she returned to DCPS to serve as the principal at Bunker Hill Elementary School and later Ross Elementary School. Under her leadership, both schools saw double digit gains in literacy and mathematics. The successes at these diverse schools led then Chancellor Michelle Rhee to charge Dr. Alexander with the redesign of the structure for principal supervision and the management of a cluster of elementary schools as an instructional superintendent. As evidenced by student achievement outcomes, attendance and teacher quality, her cluster of schools significantly outperformed other clusters in the district.

2013, she was asked by Chancellor Kaya Henderson to serve as the Deputy Chief of Schools and focus solely on the recruitment, development, and supervision of the K-12 instructional superintendent team. By leveraging a generous grant from the Wallace Foundation, she provided extensive professional learning opportunities for instructional superintendents focused on the knowledge and skills necessary to support principals in an era of new rigorous standards for student learning. For the pioneering work in the field of principal supervision, DCPS was featured in a documentary and publication of the foundation. Over the course of her time as a central office administrator, Dr. Alexander has also led literacy initiatives and a district-wide taskforce to identify and implement evidenced-based practices to improve student performance. Her efforts in this area have been recognized by the Reading Recovery Council of North America as she is the organization’s 2018 recipient of the Excellence in Literacy Leadership Award.

Dr. Alexander has a B.A. in English and a M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction from Howard University, a M.S.Ed. in educational leadership from Baruch College, and a Ph.D. in education from American University.

Nice to see someone who has taken a solid upward trajectory without skipping steps. Always frustrated that Rhee only taught for 3 years and never served in an administrative role in a school system before becoming chancellor. You need that organizational and institutional experience to understand the impacts of your policies.

Good to see someone with solid educational credentials.

Wow, she sounds actually qualified.

Team Alexander!!

so why was she passed over just a year ago?

Because the likes of Kamras, John Davis, etc. wanted the job and had more seniority etc... so picking her would have been difficult to justify vs. an outside candidate. Kamras and Davis have both gone elsewhere, thankfully. They passed over her a year ago because they’d never actually pick someone with recent, sustained school based experience and a background heavier in actual teaching and pedagogy than policy / management. Now they couldn’t get someone outside DC within their right mind to touch this job so they somewhat accidentally landed on someone with some actual school experience. I’m hopeful for her but not at all surprised she was never a top choice to begin with. If you’ve never heard of her it’s probably because she doesn’t spend her time posturing and spinning PR... and cheating. Refreshing. Signed, A DCPS Teacher

I was really impressed with Alexander as she began her rise - and she did great things with Ross. I have been less impressed with her leading elementary education. I'm wary of her approach to the upper NW elementary schools. I'm also sick to death of LEAP, and wonder where she falls on LEAP. Looking at her resume, I'd guess she was a big supporter. It's wreaked havoc with the budget of my kids' elementary school and removed specialists from classrooms. I do think she's a straight arrow, and I do think she's worked her way to the top, and I am glad the other two jokers are gone (Kamras and Davis). So, fingers crossed.