Reply to Elana Bell moves to Takoma Education Campus

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What can you comment on Principal Bell's educational philosophy? Many posters have discussed equity, but that is not a pedagogical style or philosophy. For instance, is she supportive of PARCC as a reasonable way to assess students? What changes did she make in the instructional curriculum? For instance, is she a big proponent of phonics education for early readers? Can you point to instances where she was supportive of teachers? Thank you.[/quote]

Honestly this is an interesting question and one that made me think- I don’t think she has one - I am racking my brain to think of one educational philosophy she has brought to the table besides closing the achievement gap — she follows DCPS and any of their new ideas and programs without question - I can’t tell you one thing the school is about - she really doesn’t know what is best and has little leadership to back any one philosophy up. [/quote]

New poster here. No idea about an educational philosophy. She did get Peabody some sort of creative curriculum certification. She also got Writers Workshop started last year - a good move. I do think she hires good teachers. I like her personally but unfortunately can't disagree with some of the criticism here. Her communication is horrible. Doesn't reply to emails. She strikes me as a micromanager who doesn't work hard enough to keep the work flowing. So, for example, she wanted to see flyers from PTA before they got copied and put in  folders, so the rule was you had to give her a week's notice so she had time to comment on your flyers...its hard enough being a parent volunteer without feeling so mistrusted that you can't announce a family event without her approval. It was impossible to do anything without going through her. She did start sports for 4th and 5th grade - too bad sports tryouts would come and go without ANY communication to parents announcing it was happening, so kids totally missed out.  School won the city soccer championship? She didn't go to the game or include any sort of kudos to those kids in her newsletter. Announcements about basketball games? Non-existent. Some of the cuts mentioned are unfair criticisms - DCPS cuts budgets. The "increases" aren't enough to cover teacher pay raises so every year she has to cut positions. That part isn't her fault. But, case in point on communications - this year there were more cuts to the budget...not a single communication went out to the community to announce changes for next year.  [/quote]

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