Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Despite the admin turn over would you recommend school for grade 4 and 5

Yes. The departmentalized approach is great, so the teachers teach what they’re good at/interested in, and the 4th and 5th grade teaching teams are very solid. Small class sizes too. Upper grades also have basketball, newspaper, Geoplunge, etc.

Thanks we are 3 on the waiting list for 4th grade hoping we can get a spot

Check the list - my 4th grader got a spot yesterday.

Congratulations!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Despite the admin turn over would you recommend school for grade 4 and 5

Yes. The departmentalized approach is great, so the teachers teach what they’re good at/interested in, and the 4th and 5th grade teaching teams are very solid. Small class sizes too. Upper grades also have basketball, newspaper, Geoplunge, etc.

Thanks we are 3 on the waiting list for 4th grade hoping we can get a spot

Check the list - my 4th grader got a spot yesterday.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Despite the admin turn over would you recommend school for grade 4 and 5

Yes. The departmentalized approach is great, so the teachers teach what they’re good at/interested in, and the 4th and 5th grade teaching teams are very solid. Small class sizes too. Upper grades also have basketball, newspaper, Geoplunge, etc.

Thanks we are 3 on the waiting list for 4th grade hoping we can get a spot

Anonymous wrote:Despite the admin turn over would you recommend school for grade 4 and 5

Yes. The departmentalized approach is great, so the teachers teach what they’re good at/interested in, and the 4th and 5th grade teaching teams are very solid. Small class sizes too. Upper grades also have basketball, newspaper, Geoplunge, etc.

Despite the admin turn over would you recommend school for grade 4 and 5

No principal is permanent. DCPS puts them on one-year contracts to make them toe the line/discourage them from becoming too independent.

Anonymous wrote:Not the sped teacher I’m talking about. Agreed she had no choice with the one you’re talking about… You’ll see when you see who doesn’t come back next year. Teachers are not speaking up because they are weary of turnover and Miller isn’t awful, and gotta give her credit for staying the course in a tough role in a tough year. That doesn’t mean no one resents the way she was assigned and now made permanent.

It's very difficult for a principal to remove an incumbent DCPS teacher from a position they aren't excising and the new principal hasn't even been at LT long enough to have put that process in place. So unless the teacher wasn't well loved by past admin either, wasn't on a normal contract (which would normally be a short-term thing then), was trying to switch positions or her position was being excised, then I don't understand how this is possible.

Resenting how she was assigned is baffling to me. The principal split with almost no notice and DCPS gave the school its second choice from the panel who still happened to be available. What method assignment would have been preferable from the teachers' perspective? There's no way it could have gone to the brand new AP (new to being an AP and new to the school) and there was no one else at the school who even meets the technical requirements to be principal, so what should DCPS possibly have done instead? Serious question. And did they really want yet another hiring committee, so the school remained in limbo longer? And it's not like the committee has a great track record.

I don't think PP is wrong to say that some people enjoy and benefit from stirring the pot and so they do.

Anonymous wrote:Not the sped teacher I’m talking about. Agreed she had no choice with the one you’re talking about… You’ll see when you see who doesn’t come back next year. Teachers are not speaking up because they are weary of turnover and Miller isn’t awful, and gotta give her credit for staying the course in a tough role in a tough year. That doesn’t mean no one resents the way she was assigned and now made permanent.

Then they can leave. Are they going to leave teaching entirely to cut off their noses to spite their faces? Or are they going to change schools to go work for another admin team they also didn't hire or select? The threat and logic here make zero sense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Idk. She is forcing out/driving away some good people (a very well loved SPED teacher for example) for next year. A lot of teachers and staff are unhappy. Even though they do want more consistency than we’ve had, they now have a principal who was never approved by committee and is ignoring the committees preferences on hiring/retaining in favor of people she knows. Maybe her picks are amazing. We’ll see…

She’s not forcing out that SPED teacher at all… DCPS ended the program she teaches at the school and the Principal fought to keep it. She lost, but she did get one other canceled program extended another year. There is no one she has decided not to retain in their existing position.

The current principal was the selection committee’s second choice last time and their letter indicated they would be happy with her too.

I have not heard substantial unrest among teachers about her at all. Though there are definitely a couple of teachers who complain about everything. They were vocally opposed to the last two principals too. At some point you wonder who the problem is.

No, we don't. There are entrenched teachers who like the musical chairs of admins because it leaves them to fill the power vacuum and continue to do whatever the hell they want. The committees expressed preferences - those are nonbinding and as a leader she has the right (ne the obligation) to fill leadership roles with people she feels are best suited for the job. If she fails she doesn't get to blame that she listened to the committee's preferences. Were I taking over LT (or any DC school) I too would not welcome the foxes into the henhouse so they could undermine my efforts.

Only in public education do the staff get to complain that they are unhappy because they didn't get to pick or approve their boss or their boss's discretionary hires. .

Not the sped teacher I’m talking about. Agreed she had no choice with the one you’re talking about… You’ll see when you see who doesn’t come back next year. Teachers are not speaking up because they are weary of turnover and Miller isn’t awful, and gotta give her credit for staying the course in a tough role in a tough year. That doesn’t mean no one resents the way she was assigned and now made permanent.

Anonymous wrote:Idk. She is forcing out/driving away some good people (a very well loved SPED teacher for example) for next year. A lot of teachers and staff are unhappy. Even though they do want more consistency than we’ve had, they now have a principal who was never approved by committee and is ignoring the committees preferences on hiring/retaining in favor of people she knows. Maybe her picks are amazing. We’ll see…

She’s not forcing out that SPED teacher at all… DCPS ended the program she teaches at the school and the Principal fought to keep it. She lost, but she did get one other canceled program extended another year. There is no one she has decided not to retain in their existing position.

The current principal was the selection committee’s second choice last time and their letter indicated they would be happy with her too.

I have not heard substantial unrest among teachers about her at all. Though there are definitely a couple of teachers who complain about everything. They were vocally opposed to the last two principals too. At some point you wonder who the problem is.

Idk. She is forcing out/driving away some good people (a very well loved SPED teacher for example) for next year. A lot of teachers and staff are unhappy. Even though they do want more consistency than we’ve had, they now have a principal who was never approved by committee and is ignoring the committees preferences on hiring/retaining in favor of people she knows. Maybe her picks are amazing. We’ll see…

I hadn’t realized Ms. Miller had moved to Ludlow-Taylor! She was AP at Murch for many years. A much-deserved promotion for Principal Miller, and great news for the LT community.

Anonymous wrote:Penelope Miller, the interim principal who was appointed to that role in October, told families today that she has been made the permanent principal! I assumed when there was no news about another panel, but I am thrilled to know for sure. All of the admin turnover has been hard on the school community, especially during COVID, and she's been really solid even having to play massive catch up after 1.25 years of crap. I'm excited to see what she can do with time to prepare for next year and the knowledge she is staying! She seems to have both teacher and parent support, which a principal hasn't really had since Principal Smith left.

Yes. This was good, if expected, news. (Expected just because she clearly wanted the job and things seem - as least to this pretty out-of-the-loop parent - to be going smoothly.)

Penelope Miller, the interim principal who was appointed to that role in October, told families today that she has been made the permanent principal! I assumed when there was no news about another panel, but I am thrilled to know for sure. All of the admin turnover has been hard on the school community, especially during COVID, and she's been really solid even having to play massive catch up after 1.25 years of crap. I'm excited to see what she can do with time to prepare for next year and the knowledge she is staying! She seems to have both teacher and parent support, which a principal hasn't really had since Principal Smith left.