Reply to Expanded High school electives at TJ

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ohhhh Japanese is back. Awesome! That could be good for my kid if they are accepted this year.[/quote]

I really like that this new Principal is doing things to make TJ academically excellent rather than engaging in social engineering.[/quote]

By making TJ like any other high school?[/quote]

+1
I like the guy (and I liked Dr B too) but this is my sr TJ kid's complaint. They've been stripping out some of the things that makes it different. [/quote]

Like what?[/quote]

The entire culture at TJ has become very negative and toxic and this all a result of Mukai's lack of leadership. He doesn't respect his teachers and has shut them out and even the division leaders out of actual collaboration. Instead of coming in and getting to know the staff and the students first, he has dictated everything without any clear vision or justification. He flip-flops constantly to the point that teachers cannot trust anything he says and he bullies any teachers who question anything he says or does. [/quote]

Any specific examples?
Because Mukai has held more useful parent zoom calls in the first year than Bonitatibus did her entire tenure.
He seems significantly more engaged with the parents.  I can't comment on his dynamic with the teachers but I have heard good things from the teachers at his old high school.  Why would his management style have changed so drastically for the worse?[/quote]

If the info shared here is to be believed:

1. He is courting the parents, but ignoring the students and faculty. A good leader collects input from ALL stakeholders.
2. He's withholding climate survey data, which I think is meant to be public, so that seems problematic without knowing the reason for this.
3. He's making curricular changes that are more in line with a base school than a unique, magnet school. I can see how WSHS folks might've been pleased with this kind of decision-making, but attending TJ is a choice. Families select it because they like the vision or the class choices or whatever reason. If the classes now offered at TJ are essentially the same on paper as my kid's base school, and they can take those courses without a longer day and terrible commute, PLUS possibly get better college outcomes, why the heck would they choose TJ?

[/quote]

He's not Courting parents so much as he is including them (or at least keeping them informed).  Parents used to be excluded except for the woke DEI parents.
The kids are generally very happy with the curriculum changes because nothing is actually changing except for AP credit (the AP seminar change is a real change but improving writing seems pretty important).
The families are generally very happy with the changes.
The faculty is generally happy with the changes.
The woke crowd is very unhappy.[/quote]

I can guarantee that the faculty is not happy with the changes. You have no idea what you are talking about. Maybe he is including parents more while shutting teachers out of any actual conversations or collaboration. He treats teachers as if they are easily irreplaceable and seems more interested in being a figurehead that actually leading the school. He has zero presence in the school. I can't recall a single time that I have seen him during the school day. He actively avoids interacting with staff and will make up a million excuses why he can't meet with divisions or one-on-one with staff. [/quote]

I've met more toxic teachers at TJ than my child's entire life in schools up to that point. So maybe he wants those folks to leave. [/quote]

There is definitely a group of TJ teachers that think that teaching at TJ makes them special and the students are there for them.  
And there is definitely a handful of teachers that fall into this category but they are not the ones that are acting like they are spoecial or that kids are lucky to be in their class.
For the most part what makes TJ special is the students.  It attracts good teachers but it attracts ALL teachers and a good principal will keep the good ones.  A bad principal (like Bonitatibus) will keep the ones that are ideologically aligned with them.[/quote]

I wouldn't say that's the kind of toxic we've experienced. The kind of toxic we've seen is teachers who don't believe in teaching. The math department, in particular, doesn't teach. Then when the kids struggle they don't step in or do anything at all. They continue to double down that the kids should teach each other. [/quote]

Yep. TJ’s math dept largely expects the kids to teach themselves. This was DD’s experience in multiple classes at least. [/quote]

Genuinely asking as confused-what do the teachers do during class period if not lecture or provide assistance? [/quote]

They teach the basics and then the tests are convoluted derivations of the basic material.

It would be like teaching addition and subtraction and then using a sudoku puzzle for the test.  They don't actually teach the math techniques and put it together.[/quote]

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