Anonymous wrote:^^ I was with the Cluster during the Dawn Clemens days, then there when Bell began her tenure.

Clemen’s was greatly disliked (for reasons you can read about on old threads). When Bell began she was absolutely supported and embraced — by teachers and parents alike. In fact, some parents who eventually soured on her, began as her staunchest supporters.

+1. Everyone was super excited for Bell when she came. It is just not fair to say that parents weren’t ready to buy in. She basically intentionally pitted the two half of the school in terms of SES against each other for her own purposes. That’s not what you want in the principal of a school with the a diverse student body.

^^ I was with the Cluster during the Dawn Clemens days, then there when Bell began her tenure.

Clemen’s was greatly disliked (for reasons you can read about on old threads). When Bell began she was absolutely supported and embraced — by teachers and parents alike. In fact, some parents who eventually soured on her, began as her staunchest supporters.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was really saddened to hear Principal Bell is leaving. I think she is an excellent principal who focuses on equity, which is so important. This is my family's second year at Watkins and I am hoping for a new principal with a similar commitment.

Honestly can you tell me what she has actually done for equity beyond just talking about it — I am interested to know what you think because honestly all I have heard my last 4 years at the school is “focus” but no action — and a book club is not getting it done!! There is a reason the achievement gap is getting wider — can’t spend years talking about it -

Honestly I think improving schools, reducing achievement gaps, and strengthening school community is hard work and takes time. Principals have to balance the often urgent need to make changes with the time it takes to build relationships and trust with teachers and families. From my view, she hasn't been fully supported from the beginning. You're right that talk alone isn't enough, but I think she has done more than talk around discipline practices, training for teachers, and working to distribute resources more equitably. And, I don't think starting from scratch with a new principal is the right answer.

Anonymous wrote:I was really saddened to hear Principal Bell is leaving. I think she is an excellent principal who focuses on equity, which is so important. This is my family's second year at Watkins and I am hoping for a new principal with a similar commitment.

Honestly can you tell me what she has actually done for equity beyond just talking about it — I am interested to know what you think because honestly all I have heard my last 4 years at the school is “focus” but no action — and a book club is not getting it done!! There is a reason the achievement gap is getting wider — can’t spend years talking about it -

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a Peabody/Watkins family, but I am surprised. I know she has gotten some pushback, but she seemed like a decent principal when I met her at an open house.

Nope. Her level of disgust at current parents was off the chart. Best thing to happen to Watkins in years.

Maybe, problem is, we have no idea who will replace her.

We've been in the LT Taylor district for 14 years and the school has had four different principals during our time in the neighborhood. We'd cheer the departure of an awful principal at LT, only to find that another deeply flawed head was running the school. At long last, LT has a good principle, after more than a decade of the school struggling under a succession of bad or mediocre heads. Be careful what you wish for in DCPS.

That is debatable. Good principal by whose standards?

Pretty much everyone at the school. I’m not the PP, but Principal is pretty universally respected by the parents; opinions seem to run the gamut from decent to loved, no one really dislikes him. He’s done a great job keeping the long term teachers who are the core of the school, as well as meeting the needs of the evolving student population while keeping the parent community harmonious. A super tricky balance for a gentrifying and legitimately diverse school, as Watkins’ experience shows.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a Peabody/Watkins family, but I am surprised. I know she has gotten some pushback, but she seemed like a decent principal when I met her at an open house.

Nope. Her level of disgust at current parents was off the chart. Best thing to happen to Watkins in years.

Maybe, problem is, we have no idea who will replace her.

We've been in the LT Taylor district for 14 years and the school has had four different principals during our time in the neighborhood. We'd cheer the departure of an awful principal at LT, only to find that another deeply flawed head was running the school. At long last, LT has a good principle, after more than a decade of the school struggling under a succession of bad or mediocre heads. Be careful what you wish for in DCPS.

That is debatable. Good principal by whose standards?

I was really saddened to hear Principal Bell is leaving. I think she is an excellent principal who focuses on equity, which is so important. This is my family's second year at Watkins and I am hoping for a new principal with a similar commitment.

Anonymous wrote:The principal was young and self absorbed. Thanks DCPS!

+1,000

This is the best news for the cluster in a long time!

The principal was young and self absorbed. Thanks DCPS!

I hope that a good parent principal selection committee forms at Watkins sooner rather than later.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a Peabody/Watkins family, but I am surprised. I know she has gotten some pushback, but she seemed like a decent principal when I met her at an open house.

Nope. Her level of disgust at current parents was off the chart. Best thing to happen to Watkins in years.

Maybe, problem is, we have no idea who will replace her.

We've been in the LT Taylor district for 14 years and the school has had four different principals during our time in the neighborhood. We'd cheer the departure of an awful principal at LT, only to find that another deeply flawed head was running the school. At long last, LT has a good principle, after more than a decade of the school struggling under a succession of bad or mediocre heads. Be careful what you wish for in DCPS.

Agree. Same story with Wilson HS.

We have a 3rd grader at Watkins, and think there are lots of good things about the school. There is a ton of potential -- we just need the right leader. Hopefully we get a good one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a Peabody/Watkins family, but I am surprised. I know she has gotten some pushback, but she seemed like a decent principal when I met her at an open house.

Nope. Her level of disgust at current parents was off the chart. Best thing to happen to Watkins in years.

Maybe, problem is, we have no idea who will replace her.

We've been in the LT Taylor district for 14 years and the school has had four different principals during our time in the neighborhood. We'd cheer the departure of an awful principal at LT, only to find that another deeply flawed head was running the school. At long last, LT has a good principle, after more than a decade of the school struggling under a succession of bad or mediocre heads. Be careful what you wish for in DCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is awesome for Watkins! Maybe the civil war can end.

What is the civil war?

"A Fight to Remove a Principal on Capitol Hill Gets Ugly"
https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/article/20864768/a-fight-to-remove-a-dcps-principal-on-capitol-hill-gets-ugly

But that was from 3 years ago, and I got the sense that things had calmed down. But we left Watkins after last year, so I don't know what's happened recently.

Anonymous wrote:This is awesome for Watkins! Maybe the civil war can end.

What is the civil war?