Navy Elementary New Principal

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We should really be more concerned at this point about the quality of teaching and homework levels at Navy. Let’s weed out those teachers who are inappropriately gossiping with parents or who are bullying our students. Let’s weed out the slideshow teachers who are phoning it in and piling on the homework, relying on parents to teach their kids. Regarding the “bomb threat,” the principal made the decision there was nothing to report based on FCPS guidelines and he explained that last night. If you’re still planning to swarm a community meeting at another elementary school to air these silly grievances, you will end up looking at worst like racist, and at best like idiots.



-1


Yes, bulldozer parent, we know it’s you


-2
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We should really be more concerned at this point about the quality of teaching and homework levels at Navy. Let’s weed out those teachers who are inappropriately gossiping with parents or who are bullying our students. Let’s weed out the slideshow teachers who are phoning it in and piling on the homework, relying on parents to teach their kids. Regarding the “bomb threat,” the principal made the decision there was nothing to report based on FCPS guidelines and he explained that last night. If you’re still planning to swarm a community meeting at another elementary school to air these silly grievances, you will end up looking at worst like racist, and at best like idiots.



-1


Yes, bulldozer parent, we know it’s you


-2


Such a compelling response. LOL!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We should really be more concerned at this point about the quality of teaching and homework levels at Navy. Let’s weed out those teachers who are inappropriately gossiping with parents or who are bullying our students. Let’s weed out the slideshow teachers who are phoning it in and piling on the homework, relying on parents to teach their kids. Regarding the “bomb threat,” the principal made the decision there was nothing to report based on FCPS guidelines and he explained that last night. If you’re still planning to swarm a community meeting at another elementary school to air these silly grievances, you will end up looking at worst like racist, and at best like idiots.



-1


Yes, bulldozer parent, we know it’s you


Or maybe it's a teacher that can't tell the difference between negative and positive numbers. I hear she's not very good at math.
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Anonymous wrote:I think the real issue is that some of the staff don’t like him. There is no safety issue whatsoever - what a crock of sh*t. Then those staff should leave.


To the parents and teachers involved with this effort to smear the new principal’s reputation, have you even once stepped out of your neighborhood echo chamber to see how this effort to take him down for literally doing nothing wrong comes off as racist to most of the Navy community?

You don’t like him, but you can’t articulate one valid reason why. You create a fake security issue to bolster your point and send mass emails to bring him down. This is literally so blatantly racist. Check yourselves.


That is what racists do. They isolate the individual they are targeting, ostracize them and gather up large groups to exclude and demean the individual to the point that they are forced out. Typical bullying racist behavior on the playground or the work world. Fortunately, we live in a day and age where the racists are easily spotted, condemned and called out for their behavior. People are much more savvy today, but a few others think they can still act like this is the 1950s.


I tend to agree with some of this but I can't go along with the racism accusations. These accusations are baseless and take away from your credibility.


Everyone knows who the racists are in the school, community and even our neighborhoods. It’s talked about openly. We don’t need your “credibility” when actions speak for themselves.


Your statement contains no facts in support of your argument.


Neither does the email about Principal Simms-Smith.


Matlock here (whoever called me that must be real old). The PP's statement (that the allegations concerning the principal are due to racism) is not based on any known facts. Just that "we all know who the racists are in the community." No we really don't and neither do you. There is no proof of racism and the person that sent the email is a POC herself. Similarly devoid of facts, is the email that circulated around. Neither are ripe with any factual information whatsoever. I will listen to neither.



I think you were called Matlock to mock you for being such dum-dum. Just sayin.

People do know who the bigots in their community are ... its obvious to anyone who pays attention. Just look at how parents and teachers stood up and had their voices heard for a man that could have killed someone with his car smashing into someone's house while throwing back a ton of alcohol. But the new principal gets greeted with torches and pitchforks at another schools meeting??!?! The last 2 sentences are facts. If you "will listen to neither" then why are you on this thread posting? Did the "racists in the neighborhood" comment hit a little too close to home for you Matlock?


Bingo. The only reason they wanted him back was to make their lives easier. They were used to coasting without supervision. As a result, their teaching suffered.


And our children continue to suffer their laziness. Every night we have to do homework and teach the material ourselves to our DC because the material IS NOT TAUGHT IN CLASS. The children are expected to stay focused but the teacher gives them nothing to focus on and then they yell at them. I guess having 20 weeks off a year is not enough to ease their bad attitudes.


What grade?


I'm not looking to give specifics on which teacher(s). Not looking to directly hurt anyone (unlike what they are trying to do to the principal). I just wish they would actually teach our children with the same level of effort they did before the pandemic.


Fair enough. Navy in general for us has been a very homework heavy school because they don’t seem to get much done in class. What isn’t finished in class usually becomes homework. It becomes tedious when it’s all digital and takes twice as long. The kids are kind of flailing around on their own in class. Last year my kid watched a lot of videos and YouTube clips for science and social studies and learned nothing.


Everything you just wrote is 100% what our child is going through. And I have talked to others that are going through similar stories in different grades with different teachers. I think the level of slacking is at an all time high while the level of work demanded of these children without guidance is also at an all time high. Of course, we don't want to let our child fail so we take it upon ourselves to do the work night after night with them, because the slacker don't care to do their job during the day.


Is this happening in AAP classes, too?


The AAP teachers treat the students very badly. They do not teach and take pleasure in abusive behavior. These teachers really do not like the students and are always yelling at them.


I know exactly who you are talking about and we dealt with her too. I had PTSD about how bad that year was almost for a full year afterwards.


I hope she is planning on leaving. She is VERY cruel and does not deserve to teach children. Why do people like this go into teaching?


I hope she is one of the 7 leaving. She’s also a terrible teacher. Many parents complained about her to Jon and he didn’t do sh*t.


+1 Not entirely true. He moved her to a lower grade where she could do more damage to younger children.


Does her name sound like Sneeze?


Yes she is a very bad teacher. I do not know of one family that has had a positive experience from her. Many have suffered a lot from this toxic bitter teacher. I hope future don't have to.


Yet Jon did nothing about her. Kids didn’t feel safe in her class and she was allowed to bully kids. Where was the parental outage then? Why weren’t we trying to get Jon replaced?


Yes bully is the best way to describe her. She has a pattern of attacking children and insulting them openly. She has complete disrespect for the value of being a kind nurturing teacher that should lover her job. Instead she is angry and vengeful. All parents have lost trust in her.


I hope the parents do go to the new admin about her. I went 3 times under Jon and nothing was done. My child suffered emotionally in her class and the scars have lasted. Not only was she a horrible person, she also didn’t know how to teach properly.


+1 You hit the nail on the head! The teachers had ZERO accountability under the previous principal. They are being asked to do the normal things a teacher should do and they are having a tantrum about it. So they invent made up excuses to try and fire him in the hopes of getting the prior principal back or the prior AP. These teachers can go ahead and quit (and I hope they do) but they are going to find out that any new school they go to will most likely have a principal that has standards and expectations of their teachers and not allow maniacs like the teacher in the PP. Unfortunately, I do not think she will leave because if she does then any new school would fire her... and she knows that. They all know that. That is why I am sure there will not be a mass exodus that they are claiming.


The email said 7 are leaving. I know 1 is the teacher who has the class that needed to evacuate and who inappropriately gossips with the bulldozer parent from PP. I am so curious as to who the other 6 are.
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:Anyone planning on attending this meeting? Can we listen in online?


The email asks parents to register and go to a community meeting at another school. This doesn’t seem right at all.


Anyone from the FCPS community is invited to come and that school is the location where the meeting is behind held. It is a community wide event and not specifically for that one school.


Except the email specifically is encouraging Navy families to come and air grievances about the new Navy principal. Shame on whoever is involved.


All this because the new principal isn’t as easily swayed by PTA moms?


I'm not going to paste the email, but it made reference to a couple of recent incidents where there was apparently police involvement but the school community was not notified. I can't verify whether the information is true or not -- I had not heard anything about either incident. It is concerning if true. The other part of the email referred to staff feeling unsupported. That part came off more whiny to me and not something that a parent should be bringing up on behalf of teachers, in my opinion. It makes the teachers look bad. Clearly someone is complaining to parents. Even if you hate your principal that is unprofessional. At Navy the lines between parents and teachers are a little too blurry sometimes. Maybe parents shouldn't be allowed to frequently sub at their kids' own school. You want to make money as a sub, do it somewhere else. Don't do it so you can spy on your kid's school day and get the best teacher placements for your kid.


This gossip shouldn’t be spread in a malicious email like this. This quite frankly is looking more and more like a witch hunt. It honestly all sounds like sour grapes.



For police involvement I was there when the cop interviewed a kid next to the sign in sign out laptop. I think the interview should have taken place somewhere more private.


“Interview”? BS. More like a question.


I can repeat the particulars. The cop was asking questions for the entire 5 min while I waited for my kid.

Had to do with what was said, religion, what classes they had together (6th grade AAP) etc.


I still fail to see how that shows we need a new principal. Our current one is fantastic.


Communications could be better. I don't think any info went out about the drone incident either.


Drone incident??


Late in 2023, my child told me that their class had been evacuated. I asked more about the incident and was told that this is actually the third time since school started (2 months at that point). Each time was due to the violent outbursts of one student (throwing chairs, knocking over desks, screaming, knocking things over...). I asked about the student involved and was told that this student also tried to stab another one with a pencil.

Concerned, I emailed Amos and he responded that the while the classroom had been evacuated multiple times, there was no attempting stabbing. The wording of the email ("if the teacher knows about it, i'm sure she dealt with it appropriately") gave me the impression that he had not spoken with the teacher prior to responding. Unsatisfied, I spoke with the teacher a few days later at a parent teacher conference. When I repeatedly asked her about the attempt to stab another student, her eventual response was "we stopped it before anything happened". I think, and hopefully i'm not alone here, attempting to stab another student is a serious allegation, and one that should not be dismissed without some rudimentary investigation.

I would have liked to have heard about the classroom being evacuated, so that I would be prepared to talk to my child about it, but did not receive any communications.
I do feel like Amos either lied to me about the potential stabbing, or just failed to do any due diligence, either way its bad.

I went to event tonight with the principal. One of the parents asked about the allegations in the email, in particular about the bomb threat and whether the police were called. Amos admitted that there was a bomb threat, but it was a joke between friends. When asked about the police being called he responded that they were... Another parent asked what she's supposed to tell her 2nd grader, who thinks the police only show up for gangs and drug dealers... His response was to tell the child the police like to stop by school and visit. When asked why there was no communication sent home, he was elusive and danced around the question until the conversation moved on.

I have heard about this email going around... Amos' failure to be transparent, and denying the incidents mentioned above occurred (lying) mirrors my own experience with him. When I reach out to my child's principal to discuss an incident that I think is serious, I do not want to be lied to. After my own experience in 2023 and hearing that Amos initially lied about the bomb threat and police presence, only to admit tonight the truth, I don't trust him to be truthful in our communications.




Lady, this is par for the course at most elementary schools across the country. This happens at our school occasionally and no, parents are not notified every single time. That's ridiculous. Navy parents are so entitled.
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Anyone planning on attending this meeting? Can we listen in online?


The email asks parents to register and go to a community meeting at another school. This doesn’t seem right at all.


Anyone from the FCPS community is invited to come and that school is the location where the meeting is behind held. It is a community wide event and not specifically for that one school.


Except the email specifically is encouraging Navy families to come and air grievances about the new Navy principal. Shame on whoever is involved.


All this because the new principal isn’t as easily swayed by PTA moms?


I'm not going to paste the email, but it made reference to a couple of recent incidents where there was apparently police involvement but the school community was not notified. I can't verify whether the information is true or not -- I had not heard anything about either incident. It is concerning if true. The other part of the email referred to staff feeling unsupported. That part came off more whiny to me and not something that a parent should be bringing up on behalf of teachers, in my opinion. It makes the teachers look bad. Clearly someone is complaining to parents. Even if you hate your principal that is unprofessional. At Navy the lines between parents and teachers are a little too blurry sometimes. Maybe parents shouldn't be allowed to frequently sub at their kids' own school. You want to make money as a sub, do it somewhere else. Don't do it so you can spy on your kid's school day and get the best teacher placements for your kid.


This gossip shouldn’t be spread in a malicious email like this. This quite frankly is looking more and more like a witch hunt. It honestly all sounds like sour grapes.



For police involvement I was there when the cop interviewed a kid next to the sign in sign out laptop. I think the interview should have taken place somewhere more private.


“Interview”? BS. More like a question.


I can repeat the particulars. The cop was asking questions for the entire 5 min while I waited for my kid.

Had to do with what was said, religion, what classes they had together (6th grade AAP) etc.


I still fail to see how that shows we need a new principal. Our current one is fantastic.


Communications could be better. I don't think any info went out about the drone incident either.


Drone incident??


Late in 2023, my child told me that their class had been evacuated. I asked more about the incident and was told that this is actually the third time since school started (2 months at that point). Each time was due to the violent outbursts of one student (throwing chairs, knocking over desks, screaming, knocking things over...). I asked about the student involved and was told that this student also tried to stab another one with a pencil.

Concerned, I emailed Amos and he responded that the while the classroom had been evacuated multiple times, there was no attempting stabbing. The wording of the email ("if the teacher knows about it, i'm sure she dealt with it appropriately") gave me the impression that he had not spoken with the teacher prior to responding. Unsatisfied, I spoke with the teacher a few days later at a parent teacher conference. When I repeatedly asked her about the attempt to stab another student, her eventual response was "we stopped it before anything happened". I think, and hopefully i'm not alone here, attempting to stab another student is a serious allegation, and one that should not be dismissed without some rudimentary investigation.

I would have liked to have heard about the classroom being evacuated, so that I would be prepared to talk to my child about it, but did not receive any communications. I do feel like Amos either lied to me about the potential stabbing, or just failed to do any due diligence, either way its bad.

I went to event tonight with the principal. One of the parents asked about the allegations in the email, in particular about the bomb threat and whether the police were called. Amos admitted that there was a bomb threat, but it was a joke between friends. When asked about the police being called he responded that they were... Another parent asked what she's supposed to tell her 2nd grader, who thinks the police only show up for gangs and drug dealers... His response was to tell the child the police like to stop by school and visit. When asked why there was no communication sent home, he was elusive and danced around the question until the conversation moved on.

I have heard about this email going around... Amos' failure to be transparent, and denying the incidents mentioned above occurred (lying) mirrors my own experience with him. When I reach out to my child's principal to discuss an incident that I think is serious, I do not want to be lied to. After my own experience in 2023 and hearing that Amos initially lied about the bomb threat and police presence, only to admit tonight the truth, I don't trust him to be truthful in our communications.




The police were only called because you, a meddling parent, overreacted as usual. They found it not be credible and it didn’t meet the criteria for notification to the community. Amos confirmed at the meeting that a parent called the police, not him. He also explained why the community wasn’t notified. Why is that not good enough for you?
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Anyone planning on attending this meeting? Can we listen in online?


The email asks parents to register and go to a community meeting at another school. This doesn’t seem right at all.


Anyone from the FCPS community is invited to come and that school is the location where the meeting is behind held. It is a community wide event and not specifically for that one school.


Except the email specifically is encouraging Navy families to come and air grievances about the new Navy principal. Shame on whoever is involved.


All this because the new principal isn’t as easily swayed by PTA moms?


I'm not going to paste the email, but it made reference to a couple of recent incidents where there was apparently police involvement but the school community was not notified. I can't verify whether the information is true or not -- I had not heard anything about either incident. It is concerning if true. The other part of the email referred to staff feeling unsupported. That part came off more whiny to me and not something that a parent should be bringing up on behalf of teachers, in my opinion. It makes the teachers look bad. Clearly someone is complaining to parents. Even if you hate your principal that is unprofessional. At Navy the lines between parents and teachers are a little too blurry sometimes. Maybe parents shouldn't be allowed to frequently sub at their kids' own school. You want to make money as a sub, do it somewhere else. Don't do it so you can spy on your kid's school day and get the best teacher placements for your kid.


This gossip shouldn’t be spread in a malicious email like this. This quite frankly is looking more and more like a witch hunt. It honestly all sounds like sour grapes.



For police involvement I was there when the cop interviewed a kid next to the sign in sign out laptop. I think the interview should have taken place somewhere more private.


“Interview”? BS. More like a question.


I can repeat the particulars. The cop was asking questions for the entire 5 min while I waited for my kid.

Had to do with what was said, religion, what classes they had together (6th grade AAP) etc.


I still fail to see how that shows we need a new principal. Our current one is fantastic.


Communications could be better. I don't think any info went out about the drone incident either.


Drone incident??


Late in 2023, my child told me that their class had been evacuated. I asked more about the incident and was told that this is actually the third time since school started (2 months at that point). Each time was due to the violent outbursts of one student (throwing chairs, knocking over desks, screaming, knocking things over...). I asked about the student involved and was told that this student also tried to stab another one with a pencil.

Concerned, I emailed Amos and he responded that the while the classroom had been evacuated multiple times, there was no attempting stabbing. The wording of the email ("if the teacher knows about it, i'm sure she dealt with it appropriately") gave me the impression that he had not spoken with the teacher prior to responding. Unsatisfied, I spoke with the teacher a few days later at a parent teacher conference. When I repeatedly asked her about the attempt to stab another student, her eventual response was "we stopped it before anything happened". I think, and hopefully i'm not alone here, attempting to stab another student is a serious allegation, and one that should not be dismissed without some rudimentary investigation.

I would have liked to have heard about the classroom being evacuated, so that I would be prepared to talk to my child about it, but did not receive any communications. I do feel like Amos either lied to me about the potential stabbing, or just failed to do any due diligence, either way its bad.

I went to event tonight with the principal. One of the parents asked about the allegations in the email, in particular about the bomb threat and whether the police were called. Amos admitted that there was a bomb threat, but it was a joke between friends. When asked about the police being called he responded that they were... Another parent asked what she's supposed to tell her 2nd grader, who thinks the police only show up for gangs and drug dealers... His response was to tell the child the police like to stop by school and visit. When asked why there was no communication sent home, he was elusive and danced around the question until the conversation moved on.

I have heard about this email going around... Amos' failure to be transparent, and denying the incidents mentioned above occurred (lying) mirrors my own experience with him. When I reach out to my child's principal to discuss an incident that I think is serious, I do not want to be lied to. After my own experience in 2023 and hearing that Amos initially lied about the bomb threat and police presence, only to admit tonight the truth, I don't trust him to be truthful in our communications.




You lost me at “attempted pencil stabbing.” Yes, let’s overthrow the brand new principal because there’s possibly a child with special needs in a class who can’t control herself. This happens everywhere. I’m sure the admin and teachers know you are one of those parents - hyper anxious, controlling, and stamping your feet when you don’t get your way.


"Happens everywhere" don't be ridiculous. Kids are not stabbed everywhere. And nobody said anything about special needs, so typical to just make baseless assumptions. I bet you're one of the ones calling everyone a racist


Don’t be obtuse. A kid who has extreme emotional reactions such that the class must be evacuated obviously has some kind of special needs.

And yes, an attempted pencil stabbing does frequently occur in schools. Kids do that. Plus no stabbing actually happened!


Will the real Amos please stand up, go back to work, stop lurking on some random forum pretending to be five different people

You are unhinged and all over this post with your craziness.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Anyone planning on attending this meeting? Can we listen in online?


The email asks parents to register and go to a community meeting at another school. This doesn’t seem right at all.


Anyone from the FCPS community is invited to come and that school is the location where the meeting is behind held. It is a community wide event and not specifically for that one school.


Except the email specifically is encouraging Navy families to come and air grievances about the new Navy principal. Shame on whoever is involved.


All this because the new principal isn’t as easily swayed by PTA moms?


I'm not going to paste the email, but it made reference to a couple of recent incidents where there was apparently police involvement but the school community was not notified. I can't verify whether the information is true or not -- I had not heard anything about either incident. It is concerning if true. The other part of the email referred to staff feeling unsupported. That part came off more whiny to me and not something that a parent should be bringing up on behalf of teachers, in my opinion. It makes the teachers look bad. Clearly someone is complaining to parents. Even if you hate your principal that is unprofessional. At Navy the lines between parents and teachers are a little too blurry sometimes. Maybe parents shouldn't be allowed to frequently sub at their kids' own school. You want to make money as a sub, do it somewhere else. Don't do it so you can spy on your kid's school day and get the best teacher placements for your kid.


This gossip shouldn’t be spread in a malicious email like this. This quite frankly is looking more and more like a witch hunt. It honestly all sounds like sour grapes.



For police involvement I was there when the cop interviewed a kid next to the sign in sign out laptop. I think the interview should have taken place somewhere more private.


“Interview”? BS. More like a question.


I can repeat the particulars. The cop was asking questions for the entire 5 min while I waited for my kid.

Had to do with what was said, religion, what classes they had together (6th grade AAP) etc.


I still fail to see how that shows we need a new principal. Our current one is fantastic.


Communications could be better. I don't think any info went out about the drone incident either.


Drone incident??


Late in 2023, my child told me that their class had been evacuated. I asked more about the incident and was told that this is actually the third time since school started (2 months at that point). Each time was due to the violent outbursts of one student (throwing chairs, knocking over desks, screaming, knocking things over...). I asked about the student involved and was told that this student also tried to stab another one with a pencil.

Concerned, I emailed Amos and he responded that the while the classroom had been evacuated multiple times, there was no attempting stabbing. The wording of the email ("if the teacher knows about it, i'm sure she dealt with it appropriately") gave me the impression that he had not spoken with the teacher prior to responding. Unsatisfied, I spoke with the teacher a few days later at a parent teacher conference. When I repeatedly asked her about the attempt to stab another student, her eventual response was "we stopped it before anything happened". I think, and hopefully i'm not alone here, attempting to stab another student is a serious allegation, and one that should not be dismissed without some rudimentary investigation.

I would have liked to have heard about the classroom being evacuated, so that I would be prepared to talk to my child about it, but did not receive any communications. I do feel like Amos either lied to me about the potential stabbing, or just failed to do any due diligence, either way its bad.

I went to event tonight with the principal. One of the parents asked about the allegations in the email, in particular about the bomb threat and whether the police were called. Amos admitted that there was a bomb threat, but it was a joke between friends. When asked about the police being called he responded that they were... Another parent asked what she's supposed to tell her 2nd grader, who thinks the police only show up for gangs and drug dealers... His response was to tell the child the police like to stop by school and visit. When asked why there was no communication sent home, he was elusive and danced around the question until the conversation moved on.

I have heard about this email going around... Amos' failure to be transparent, and denying the incidents mentioned above occurred (lying) mirrors my own experience with him. When I reach out to my child's principal to discuss an incident that I think is serious, I do not want to be lied to. After my own experience in 2023 and hearing that Amos initially lied about the bomb threat and police presence, only to admit tonight the truth, I don't trust him to be truthful in our communications.




You lost me at “attempted pencil stabbing.” Yes, let’s overthrow the brand new principal because there’s possibly a child with special needs in a class who can’t control herself. This happens everywhere. I’m sure the admin and teachers know you are one of those parents - hyper anxious, controlling, and stamping your feet when you don’t get your way.


"Happens everywhere" don't be ridiculous. Kids are not stabbed everywhere. And nobody said anything about special needs, so typical to just make baseless assumptions. I bet you're one of the ones calling everyone a racist


Don’t be obtuse. A kid who has extreme emotional reactions such that the class must be evacuated obviously has some kind of special needs.

And yes, an attempted pencil stabbing does frequently occur in schools. Kids do that. Plus no stabbing actually happened!


Will the real Amos please stand up, go back to work, stop lurking on some random forum pretending to be five different people

You are unhinged and all over this post with your craziness.


I think that poster was actually making a joke.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Anyone planning on attending this meeting? Can we listen in online?


The email asks parents to register and go to a community meeting at another school. This doesn’t seem right at all.


Anyone from the FCPS community is invited to come and that school is the location where the meeting is behind held. It is a community wide event and not specifically for that one school.


Except the email specifically is encouraging Navy families to come and air grievances about the new Navy principal. Shame on whoever is involved.


All this because the new principal isn’t as easily swayed by PTA moms?


I'm not going to paste the email, but it made reference to a couple of recent incidents where there was apparently police involvement but the school community was not notified. I can't verify whether the information is true or not -- I had not heard anything about either incident. It is concerning if true. The other part of the email referred to staff feeling unsupported. That part came off more whiny to me and not something that a parent should be bringing up on behalf of teachers, in my opinion. It makes the teachers look bad. Clearly someone is complaining to parents. Even if you hate your principal that is unprofessional. At Navy the lines between parents and teachers are a little too blurry sometimes. Maybe parents shouldn't be allowed to frequently sub at their kids' own school. You want to make money as a sub, do it somewhere else. Don't do it so you can spy on your kid's school day and get the best teacher placements for your kid.


This gossip shouldn’t be spread in a malicious email like this. This quite frankly is looking more and more like a witch hunt. It honestly all sounds like sour grapes.



For police involvement I was there when the cop interviewed a kid next to the sign in sign out laptop. I think the interview should have taken place somewhere more private.


“Interview”? BS. More like a question.


I can repeat the particulars. The cop was asking questions for the entire 5 min while I waited for my kid.

Had to do with what was said, religion, what classes they had together (6th grade AAP) etc.


I still fail to see how that shows we need a new principal. Our current one is fantastic.


Communications could be better. I don't think any info went out about the drone incident either.


Drone incident??


Late in 2023, my child told me that their class had been evacuated. I asked more about the incident and was told that this is actually the third time since school started (2 months at that point). Each time was due to the violent outbursts of one student (throwing chairs, knocking over desks, screaming, knocking things over...). I asked about the student involved and was told that this student also tried to stab another one with a pencil.

Concerned, I emailed Amos and he responded that the while the classroom had been evacuated multiple times, there was no attempting stabbing. The wording of the email ("if the teacher knows about it, i'm sure she dealt with it appropriately") gave me the impression that he had not spoken with the teacher prior to responding. Unsatisfied, I spoke with the teacher a few days later at a parent teacher conference. When I repeatedly asked her about the attempt to stab another student, her eventual response was "we stopped it before anything happened". I think, and hopefully i'm not alone here, attempting to stab another student is a serious allegation, and one that should not be dismissed without some rudimentary investigation.

I would have liked to have heard about the classroom being evacuated, so that I would be prepared to talk to my child about it, but did not receive any communications. I do feel like Amos either lied to me about the potential stabbing, or just failed to do any due diligence, either way its bad.

I went to event tonight with the principal. One of the parents asked about the allegations in the email, in particular about the bomb threat and whether the police were called. Amos admitted that there was a bomb threat, but it was a joke between friends. When asked about the police being called he responded that they were... Another parent asked what she's supposed to tell her 2nd grader, who thinks the police only show up for gangs and drug dealers... His response was to tell the child the police like to stop by school and visit. When asked why there was no communication sent home, he was elusive and danced around the question until the conversation moved on.

I have heard about this email going around... Amos' failure to be transparent, and denying the incidents mentioned above occurred (lying) mirrors my own experience with him. When I reach out to my child's principal to discuss an incident that I think is serious, I do not want to be lied to. After my own experience in 2023 and hearing that Amos initially lied about the bomb threat and police presence, only to admit tonight the truth, I don't trust him to be truthful in our communications.




In other words, you complained to your child’s teacher about this student due to the evacuations and the teacher then shared more information with you about the student that didn’t even relate to your child. (ie the attempted pencil stabbing). You then most likely went to the principal to complain and he didn’t do exactly what you wanted so you got pissed. Your child’s teacher was gossiping with you and hoping you would go to admin for her for some kind of help. Admin’s hands are tied when it comes to students like this. It takes time to document, convince the parents there is a problem, before something is actually done etc. Now the teacher who inappropriately gossiped with you is leaving next year, the child is apparently under control now, and you what to overthrow the new principal because your child had a bad class this year. Have I left out anything?


+1
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:We should really be more concerned at this point about the quality of teaching and homework levels at Navy. Let’s weed out those teachers who are inappropriately gossiping with parents or who are bullying our students. Let’s weed out the slideshow teachers who are phoning it in and piling on the homework, relying on parents to teach their kids. Regarding the “bomb threat,” the principal made the decision there was nothing to report based on FCPS guidelines and he explained that last night. If you’re still planning to swarm a community meeting at another elementary school to air these silly grievances, you will end up looking at worst like racist, and at best like idiots.


I really hope the superintendent has the principal's back on this one, because this is complete unhinged nonsense of teachers that had it way to easy for too long. No accountability and no recourse for their failing behavior. Once this is all over I hope there is new scrutiny on these Navy teachers. The quality of education has gone down over the years. Those with older children can attest to that and have told me as much. Teachers like this one above should never have been allowed to get away with as much as she has. I hope the new sheriff in town brings order back to the classroom and the teachers can get back to focusing on educating instead of focusing on the next happy hour.
Anonymous
First time poster, long time lurker since this was shared with me. I’m going to be so sad when this forum is shut down.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We should really be more concerned at this point about the quality of teaching and homework levels at Navy. Let’s weed out those teachers who are inappropriately gossiping with parents or who are bullying our students. Let’s weed out the slideshow teachers who are phoning it in and piling on the homework, relying on parents to teach their kids. Regarding the “bomb threat,” the principal made the decision there was nothing to report based on FCPS guidelines and he explained that last night. If you’re still planning to swarm a community meeting at another elementary school to air these silly grievances, you will end up looking at worst like racist, and at best like idiots.


I really hope the superintendent has the principal's back on this one, because this is complete unhinged nonsense of teachers that had it way to easy for too long. No accountability and no recourse for their failing behavior. Once this is all over I hope there is new scrutiny on these Navy teachers. The quality of education has gone down over the years. Those with older children can attest to that and have told me as much. Teachers like this one above should never have been allowed to get away with as much as she has. I hope the new sheriff in town brings order back to the classroom and the teachers can get back to focusing on educating instead of focusing on the next happy hour.


+1
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Anyone planning on attending this meeting? Can we listen in online?


The email asks parents to register and go to a community meeting at another school. This doesn’t seem right at all.


Anyone from the FCPS community is invited to come and that school is the location where the meeting is behind held. It is a community wide event and not specifically for that one school.


Except the email specifically is encouraging Navy families to come and air grievances about the new Navy principal. Shame on whoever is involved.


All this because the new principal isn’t as easily swayed by PTA moms?


I'm not going to paste the email, but it made reference to a couple of recent incidents where there was apparently police involvement but the school community was not notified. I can't verify whether the information is true or not -- I had not heard anything about either incident. It is concerning if true. The other part of the email referred to staff feeling unsupported. That part came off more whiny to me and not something that a parent should be bringing up on behalf of teachers, in my opinion. It makes the teachers look bad. Clearly someone is complaining to parents. Even if you hate your principal that is unprofessional. At Navy the lines between parents and teachers are a little too blurry sometimes. Maybe parents shouldn't be allowed to frequently sub at their kids' own school. You want to make money as a sub, do it somewhere else. Don't do it so you can spy on your kid's school day and get the best teacher placements for your kid.


This gossip shouldn’t be spread in a malicious email like this. This quite frankly is looking more and more like a witch hunt. It honestly all sounds like sour grapes.



For police involvement I was there when the cop interviewed a kid next to the sign in sign out laptop. I think the interview should have taken place somewhere more private.


“Interview”? BS. More like a question.


I can repeat the particulars. The cop was asking questions for the entire 5 min while I waited for my kid.

Had to do with what was said, religion, what classes they had together (6th grade AAP) etc.


I still fail to see how that shows we need a new principal. Our current one is fantastic.


Communications could be better. I don't think any info went out about the drone incident either.


Drone incident??


Late in 2023, my child told me that their class had been evacuated. I asked more about the incident and was told that this is actually the third time since school started (2 months at that point). Each time was due to the violent outbursts of one student (throwing chairs, knocking over desks, screaming, knocking things over...). I asked about the student involved and was told that this student also tried to stab another one with a pencil.

Concerned, I emailed Amos and he responded that the while the classroom had been evacuated multiple times, there was no attempting stabbing. The wording of the email ("if the teacher knows about it, i'm sure she dealt with it appropriately") gave me the impression that he had not spoken with the teacher prior to responding. Unsatisfied, I spoke with the teacher a few days later at a parent teacher conference. When I repeatedly asked her about the attempt to stab another student, her eventual response was "we stopped it before anything happened". I think, and hopefully i'm not alone here, attempting to stab another student is a serious allegation, and one that should not be dismissed without some rudimentary investigation.

I would have liked to have heard about the classroom being evacuated, so that I would be prepared to talk to my child about it, but did not receive any communications. I do feel like Amos either lied to me about the potential stabbing, or just failed to do any due diligence, either way its bad.

I went to event tonight with the principal. One of the parents asked about the allegations in the email, in particular about the bomb threat and whether the police were called. Amos admitted that there was a bomb threat, but it was a joke between friends. When asked about the police being called he responded that they were... Another parent asked what she's supposed to tell her 2nd grader, who thinks the police only show up for gangs and drug dealers... His response was to tell the child the police like to stop by school and visit. When asked why there was no communication sent home, he was elusive and danced around the question until the conversation moved on.

I have heard about this email going around... Amos' failure to be transparent, and denying the incidents mentioned above occurred (lying) mirrors my own experience with him. When I reach out to my child's principal to discuss an incident that I think is serious, I do not want to be lied to. After my own experience in 2023 and hearing that Amos initially lied about the bomb threat and police presence, only to admit tonight the truth, I don't trust him to be truthful in our communications.




So you want a class or community notification because one kid threatened to stab another with a pencil (a pencil!)?? You are living in a little fantasy bubble. I hope to god a principal doesn’t have to get involved over something like this. Ongoing? Sure, get involved. Actually happened? Sure, get involved. Talking smack to another little kid? Nope, no principal involvement. There are layers of conversations and consequences before a principal should be involved. You need a reality check.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Anyone planning on attending this meeting? Can we listen in online?


The email asks parents to register and go to a community meeting at another school. This doesn’t seem right at all.


Anyone from the FCPS community is invited to come and that school is the location where the meeting is behind held. It is a community wide event and not specifically for that one school.


Except the email specifically is encouraging Navy families to come and air grievances about the new Navy principal. Shame on whoever is involved.


All this because the new principal isn’t as easily swayed by PTA moms?


I'm not going to paste the email, but it made reference to a couple of recent incidents where there was apparently police involvement but the school community was not notified. I can't verify whether the information is true or not -- I had not heard anything about either incident. It is concerning if true. The other part of the email referred to staff feeling unsupported. That part came off more whiny to me and not something that a parent should be bringing up on behalf of teachers, in my opinion. It makes the teachers look bad. Clearly someone is complaining to parents. Even if you hate your principal that is unprofessional. At Navy the lines between parents and teachers are a little too blurry sometimes. Maybe parents shouldn't be allowed to frequently sub at their kids' own school. You want to make money as a sub, do it somewhere else. Don't do it so you can spy on your kid's school day and get the best teacher placements for your kid.


This gossip shouldn’t be spread in a malicious email like this. This quite frankly is looking more and more like a witch hunt. It honestly all sounds like sour grapes.



For police involvement I was there when the cop interviewed a kid next to the sign in sign out laptop. I think the interview should have taken place somewhere more private.


“Interview”? BS. More like a question.


I can repeat the particulars. The cop was asking questions for the entire 5 min while I waited for my kid.

Had to do with what was said, religion, what classes they had together (6th grade AAP) etc.


I still fail to see how that shows we need a new principal. Our current one is fantastic.


Communications could be better. I don't think any info went out about the drone incident either.


Drone incident??


Late in 2023, my child told me that their class had been evacuated. I asked more about the incident and was told that this is actually the third time since school started (2 months at that point). Each time was due to the violent outbursts of one student (throwing chairs, knocking over desks, screaming, knocking things over...). I asked about the student involved and was told that this student also tried to stab another one with a pencil.

Concerned, I emailed Amos and he responded that the while the classroom had been evacuated multiple times, there was no attempting stabbing. The wording of the email ("if the teacher knows about it, i'm sure she dealt with it appropriately") gave me the impression that he had not spoken with the teacher prior to responding. Unsatisfied, I spoke with the teacher a few days later at a parent teacher conference. When I repeatedly asked her about the attempt to stab another student, her eventual response was "we stopped it before anything happened". I think, and hopefully i'm not alone here, attempting to stab another student is a serious allegation, and one that should not be dismissed without some rudimentary investigation.

I would have liked to have heard about the classroom being evacuated, so that I would be prepared to talk to my child about it, but did not receive any communications. I do feel like Amos either lied to me about the potential stabbing, or just failed to do any due diligence, either way its bad.

I went to event tonight with the principal. One of the parents asked about the allegations in the email, in particular about the bomb threat and whether the police were called. Amos admitted that there was a bomb threat, but it was a joke between friends. When asked about the police being called he responded that they were... Another parent asked what she's supposed to tell her 2nd grader, who thinks the police only show up for gangs and drug dealers... His response was to tell the child the police like to stop by school and visit. When asked why there was no communication sent home, he was elusive and danced around the question until the conversation moved on.

I have heard about this email going around... Amos' failure to be transparent, and denying the incidents mentioned above occurred (lying) mirrors my own experience with him. When I reach out to my child's principal to discuss an incident that I think is serious, I do not want to be lied to. After my own experience in 2023 and hearing that Amos initially lied about the bomb threat and police presence, only to admit tonight the truth, I don't trust him to be truthful in our communications.




So you want a class or community notification because one kid threatened to stab another with a pencil (a pencil!)?? You are living in a little fantasy bubble. I hope to god a principal doesn’t have to get involved over something like this. Ongoing? Sure, get involved. Actually happened? Sure, get involved. Talking smack to another little kid? Nope, no principal involvement. There are layers of conversations and consequences before a principal should be involved. You need a reality check.


+ 1
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Anyone planning on attending this meeting? Can we listen in online?


The email asks parents to register and go to a community meeting at another school. This doesn’t seem right at all.


Anyone from the FCPS community is invited to come and that school is the location where the meeting is behind held. It is a community wide event and not specifically for that one school.


Except the email specifically is encouraging Navy families to come and air grievances about the new Navy principal. Shame on whoever is involved.


All this because the new principal isn’t as easily swayed by PTA moms?


I'm not going to paste the email, but it made reference to a couple of recent incidents where there was apparently police involvement but the school community was not notified. I can't verify whether the information is true or not -- I had not heard anything about either incident. It is concerning if true. The other part of the email referred to staff feeling unsupported. That part came off more whiny to me and not something that a parent should be bringing up on behalf of teachers, in my opinion. It makes the teachers look bad. Clearly someone is complaining to parents. Even if you hate your principal that is unprofessional. At Navy the lines between parents and teachers are a little too blurry sometimes. Maybe parents shouldn't be allowed to frequently sub at their kids' own school. You want to make money as a sub, do it somewhere else. Don't do it so you can spy on your kid's school day and get the best teacher placements for your kid.


This gossip shouldn’t be spread in a malicious email like this. This quite frankly is looking more and more like a witch hunt. It honestly all sounds like sour grapes.



For police involvement I was there when the cop interviewed a kid next to the sign in sign out laptop. I think the interview should have taken place somewhere more private.


“Interview”? BS. More like a question.


I can repeat the particulars. The cop was asking questions for the entire 5 min while I waited for my kid.

Had to do with what was said, religion, what classes they had together (6th grade AAP) etc.


I still fail to see how that shows we need a new principal. Our current one is fantastic.


Communications could be better. I don't think any info went out about the drone incident either.


Drone incident??


Late in 2023, my child told me that their class had been evacuated. I asked more about the incident and was told that this is actually the third time since school started (2 months at that point). Each time was due to the violent outbursts of one student (throwing chairs, knocking over desks, screaming, knocking things over...). I asked about the student involved and was told that this student also tried to stab another one with a pencil.

Concerned, I emailed Amos and he responded that the while the classroom had been evacuated multiple times, there was no attempting stabbing. The wording of the email ("if the teacher knows about it, i'm sure she dealt with it appropriately") gave me the impression that he had not spoken with the teacher prior to responding. Unsatisfied, I spoke with the teacher a few days later at a parent teacher conference. When I repeatedly asked her about the attempt to stab another student, her eventual response was "we stopped it before anything happened". I think, and hopefully i'm not alone here, attempting to stab another student is a serious allegation, and one that should not be dismissed without some rudimentary investigation.

I would have liked to have heard about the classroom being evacuated, so that I would be prepared to talk to my child about it, but did not receive any communications. I do feel like Amos either lied to me about the potential stabbing, or just failed to do any due diligence, either way its bad.

I went to event tonight with the principal. One of the parents asked about the allegations in the email, in particular about the bomb threat and whether the police were called. Amos admitted that there was a bomb threat, but it was a joke between friends. When asked about the police being called he responded that they were... Another parent asked what she's supposed to tell her 2nd grader, who thinks the police only show up for gangs and drug dealers... His response was to tell the child the police like to stop by school and visit. When asked why there was no communication sent home, he was elusive and danced around the question until the conversation moved on.

I have heard about this email going around... Amos' failure to be transparent, and denying the incidents mentioned above occurred (lying) mirrors my own experience with him. When I reach out to my child's principal to discuss an incident that I think is serious, I do not want to be lied to. After my own experience in 2023 and hearing that Amos initially lied about the bomb threat and police presence, only to admit tonight the truth, I don't trust him to be truthful in our communications.




So you want a class or community notification because one kid threatened to stab another with a pencil (a pencil!)?? You are living in a little fantasy bubble. I hope to god a principal doesn’t have to get involved over something like this. Ongoing? Sure, get involved. Actually happened? Sure, get involved. Talking smack to another little kid? Nope, no principal involvement. There are layers of conversations and consequences before a principal should be involved. You need a reality check.


+1 I see why Amos didn’t follow up about the “attempted” pencil stabbing - it’s not relevant because the actual stabbing didn’t happen. He even supported the teacher by telling you she probably handled it. But that wasn’t enough for you. You badgered the teacher at the parent teacher conference to get more details about a pencil incident that didn’t lead to anyone actually being harmed instead of focusing on your own child’s academic performance. The teacher finally told you they prevented the incident to shut you up. Then you became upset and started saying Amos lied to you about the attempted stabbing incident. Do you even hear yourself?
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