Who makes the actual hiring decision, the PTA or DCPS? Thanks.

Anonymous wrote:Hearst should be grateful they are receiving this news now so that the very best candidates can panel for the job. The later you get into the summer the harder it gets, not to mention the personal summer time that members of the selection committee have to dedicate to the process. I say this from experience. Our school ended up with a great principal but the summer process was stressful. Onward, upward Hearst! Get moving quickly. Don't get shocked into inaction and too distracted by end of the school year stuff. Form your committee and start requesting that the chancellor get working on your panel. Good luck!

Thanks! Our PTA started the committee formation process within 5 hours of the announcement - we are all over it

Former Eaton parent who lived through the Dr. Drakeford year. It was not a great year for Eaton.
From what I witnessed that year, parents and teachers were not satisfied and then she left after only one year (thankfully-imo). One day in July, we got a robocall saying that she was leaving.
Please, ask lots of questions, get lots of references, take a good look at all the different schools that she spent only a short amount of time at. If you can, talk to peole at those schools.

A possible replacement mentioned is a Dr. Drakeford, who used to be principal at John Eaton ES.

Anonymous wrote:I am a Hearst parent and while I definitely am a big fan of Dr. B, no principal is perfect. I am choosing to view this as an opportunity to find a new principal who is strong in areas that she was not. I have total faith in the PTA and parent community that they will form a great search committee and find an awesome new leader for our school.

Teachers and staff are a part of the process as well.

Hearst should be grateful they are receiving this news now so that the very best candidates can panel for the job. The later you get into the summer the harder it gets, not to mention the personal summer time that members of the selection committee have to dedicate to the process. I say this from experience. Our school ended up with a great principal but the summer process was stressful. Onward, upward Hearst! Get moving quickly. Don't get shocked into inaction and too distracted by end of the school year stuff. Form your committee and start requesting that the chancellor get working on your panel. Good luck!

I have to say I am shocked. I am on the wl and last week had a long conversation with an administrator there where I asked the question about Dr. B's leaving and was told she had no plans to leave. This surprised me because it seems that principals have a life span of 4 years in DCPS. This is a bummer.

Also, all of her hard work coupled with invested parents and a new building will likely allow for great candidates to be interested

I am a Hearst parent and while I definitely am a big fan of Dr. B, no principal is perfect. I am choosing to view this as an opportunity to find a new principal who is strong in areas that she was not. I have total faith in the PTA and parent community that they will form a great search committee and find an awesome new leader for our school.

^^i agree. Teachers have a lot of experience, and I think more IB families will keep choosing it especially if some come from Murch.

We are IB starting K next year. No worries. Great teachers. Brand new facilities. PS3 in 2015 for younger sibling. All good.

What a great promotion.

I think lots of here at Hearst are just absorbing this right now. The news just came out and it is obvious that very few people knew this was coming. But at the same time, we all knew that we were on borrowed time. The principal lives quite far from the school and is leaving to take a job that is close to her house. Honestly, swapping a 2 hour commute (both ways) for a 15 minute commute. Hard to blame her. So it is a shock, but at the same time shouldn't be. It was bound to happen eventually.

But I think while we are all taking it in right now, we are still a strong community. The principal will finish out the year, parent and teacher hiring committees will be formed, and we will begin a search for another awesome principal to lead our wonderful little school.

Wow.

Hearst just tweeted out that Dr. B is leaving to run Manassas Park HS.

We are incoming to Hearst. Anyone have any predictions on the impact?