Reply to Why are dozens of principals leaving Fairfax Co. schools?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]At least some of them are retiring to get FCPS pensions while collecting a salary in a new division.

I get the impression Reid actually expects some results from principals and the ones who quit were used to Brabrand’s do-nothing style.[/quote]

+1. I also get a strong sense from community meetings that Reid is out here pushing for real results - especially for the most disadvantaged and those lagging far behind the norm. I think some principals, specifically those closer to retirement, realize it's going to be hard work to fix the failing schools and jumping ship to a system with less expectations is an easy way out.[/quote]

Administrator here ... my take is that it is some of both. Dr. Reid IS pushing for real results, but she has horrible interpersonal skills and has not demonstrated an understanding of the nuances and complexities that make up FCPS. She relies on old research to back many of her ideas, and it seems like she is trying to replicate what she did in Washington in a system that is very, very different.

While I do believe she wants what is best for kids and is willing to prioritize that over creating/maintaining a caring culture, I don't believe that the two have to be done in such conflict with one another. Her perceived incompetence/unwillingness to truly understand our system coupled with severe lack of regard for relationships is leading to the admin exit we are seeing.   [/quote]

I wonder what you mean about horrible interpersonal skills? Can you explain elaborate? I haven’t seen that in my several interactions with her (but I am not a principal).[/quote]

Honestly, she is willing to ask principals in a really clear, direct manner about metrics, data, results, financial efficiency, etc. She doesn't "wonder" which is a HUGE FCPS cultural way of saying "I need to call this out but can't speak directly to it." In a lot of ways, she reminds me of men I've worked for prior to getting into education and working up into admin at my school. Weirdly, I have heard the most complaining from peers who are either: (1) annoyed she is asking hard questions and (2) annoyed she is finding problems so quickly.

I will say as a personal note, I work in a high needs school. I had a meeting with her and other principals and our exec principal and raised some clear issues around central support that we were "receiving" on paper but in reality were utter BS and ineffective. I won't go into the details but she got to the bottom of the issue quickly (like it's resolved now in Nov. and it was raised this year). She pissed some of the Gatehouse off in the process, but in terms of accountability, I was shocked because in 15 years (plus) in working in FCPS, I never, ever saw anything like this before.

In a nutshell, she's different. That will make some people leave, but it isn't an indictment of her effectiveness if the people who are leaving don't like being held to account.[/quote]

Ok that’s every school in FCPS. No school is getting the support needed from central. No one is getting the solution to move these kids that need another placement.

A lot of that is out of her control with sped laws. But she won’t have time to fix this in all schools. [/quote]

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