Reply to Underwhelming appearance by Principal Martin at Wilson HS Open House

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OK. I have kept this for myself for almost one week. Though I am an on and off DCUM user (normally I am in during the year before a new school cycle of one of my kids), I know how incendiary this Forum can be…

So last Wednesday I attended the Wilson HS open house. Great to see again families from our ex ES who are re-considering DCPS after charter or private middles schools!!
Everything went very well, the school infrastructure is always impressive, the school choir looked and sounded beautiful, the students were inspiring and the Assistant Principals sounded solid, dedicated and in control.  So, all went well until… the new Principal Ms Kimberly Martin took the microphone (believe me when I say that I feel uncomfortable and sad in sharing my negative views about a professional who’s been entrusted with the task of steering the HS education of almost 2,000 students/year of the largest HS in the District of Columbia…).

She sounded by far the least articulated speaker of the group (including students). She sounded hesitant and non-articulated. She babbled at tract , with no words coming to her… Her answers to the parents' questions were no answers  (Parent: “What about the discipline and crime inside the school?”  Principal “Oh, it’s so much better than where I come from… Plus my son is here and he’s very happy”… Is this an answer?  ). She looked uncomfortable. Regarding the overcrowding, she gave very wrong answers (“One hypothesis is that I think DCPS might consider withdrawing the feeder rights”) , which made some parents very concerned, and disoriented others. If she has insights from DCPS on this matter, well, that was not the arena to disclose them..If it was her personal guess, again, do not share it openly. That was wrong and stupid.

My impression is that she made parents puzzled and disoriented. Some got very nervous for the lack of content in her answers… I understand the pressure she was feeling from a large audience of (almost all white) demanding parents…and I also understand that she is new. However we felt that her performance was too much sub-standard and below everyone’s expectations.

I would like to know the impressions from others who have attended the open houses or visited the school recently. Are we missing something? Was it just a bad day for her?

[b]More concerning: what are DCPS plan about the school? After having met her, I cannot but think that there must be a plan behind the removal of a strong and respected Principal to be replaced by such a weaker figure.[/b] I do not get it. And HS choice for us is just a few months away.

Thank you for reading and for your feedback.
[/quote]

Maybe a weaker principal at Wilson is precisely what DCPS wants.  It seems to be a problem they've had at other schools - i.e., finding strong leaders who will only do as they're told.  Who knows the deciding factors in choosing Kimberly Martin, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they wanted someone experienced in dealing with gaping wealth and achievement disparities.  Obviously, a lot of the pull and pressure comes from higher SES parents, which takes attention away from poorer, underachieving kids - the source of pressure from DCPS.  They want someone who will be more responsive to those lower end needs.

All of which likely makes a room full of white parents somewhat stressful, especially following the public stomping she got on this forum before she'd even moved to town.[/quote]

sorry, I can't follow your post. first you say that a weaker leader was exactly what DCPS wanted, then you said that the same happened at other schools where DCPS looked for "strong" leader who will only do as they are told - did you mean "weak" leaders?

also, where did you get that she was selected because of experience in dealing with gaping wealth and achievement disparities? if I recall she had been principal of a rural school in the Midwest and then spent several years at a HS in Aspen, with mostly white, middle class and upper middle class students. where did you see that she has experience with bridging the gap? the "public stomping" she got on this forum was simply people like me wondering what in her resume would point to experience managing a school with 2000 students with very different SES backgrounds and huge gap in education levels (leaving aside little things like I will finish my PDH while I manage Wilson and Kaya is the best educator in the nation)[/quote]

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