Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about having a consistent and transparent process so that teachers know exactly what standards students need to meet and what the process is for communicating with parents and administration about students in danger of being released. Students are released throughout the year, especially 9th graders. This is not just something that happens during the summer.

The 3.0 GPA requirement is no longer a thing, or at least it hasn't been enforced at all.

There should be a consistent standard and process, because I have seen parents put up a fight and drag the process on for months while some students are released right away because they don't have someone advocating for them. This puts teachers in a difficult situation.

The standard is 3.0 that has been the standard the whole time. The fact that Bonitatibus didn't enforce that standard through a liberal waiver policy doesn't change the standard.

All this happens at the end of a school year, how do parents drag it out for months ... during the summer, how are teachers ever involved ... are you suggesting that teachers should change their grades to prevent this?

This doesn't happen in the middle of a semester or at the end of the fall semester. It happens at the end of a school year.

It's hard to believe you are a teacher at TJ and you would not know this.

1. Glazer enforced the rule when it was new. Bonitatibus was at TJ largely during Covid and recent post-Covid times. Brabrand and the schoolboard controlled the 3.0 process at that time, when kids were being given extra chances left and right at all schools, so it seems reasonable this is why the process at TJ was paused. New leadership with Reid and Mukai is likely why the process is running again.

2. If you haven't gone through it, how would you know how it works? Teachers, admin, students and parents are all involved all year long. They don't just send you a letter and say you're out without intervening along the way. And yes, kids are being asked to consider returning mid-year. This is Mukai's policy, as the reg does not specify -when- kids are sent back. Parents have the right to appeal and sometimes that can involve a lot of conversations and go higher than the principal, which can in fact drag on and on.

So are the standards shifting and unclear under Mukai?
Is he being arbitrary and capricious or targetting certain students based on non-academic factors?

Nah, they're not arbitrary. It's 3.0 But some people don't like that they are enforcing that standard after a hiatus under Bonitatibus. This seems inconsistent to them because all of a sudden unqualified students are being sent back even if they want to stay at TJ and fail.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about having a consistent and transparent process so that teachers know exactly what standards students need to meet and what the process is for communicating with parents and administration about students in danger of being released. Students are released throughout the year, especially 9th graders. This is not just something that happens during the summer.

The 3.0 GPA requirement is no longer a thing, or at least it hasn't been enforced at all.

There should be a consistent standard and process, because I have seen parents put up a fight and drag the process on for months while some students are released right away because they don't have someone advocating for them. This puts teachers in a difficult situation.

The standard is 3.0 that has been the standard the whole time. The fact that Bonitatibus didn't enforce that standard through a liberal waiver policy doesn't change the standard.

All this happens at the end of a school year, how do parents drag it out for months ... during the summer, how are teachers ever involved ... are you suggesting that teachers should change their grades to prevent this?

This doesn't happen in the middle of a semester or at the end of the fall semester. It happens at the end of a school year.

It's hard to believe you are a teacher at TJ and you would not know this.

1. Glazer enforced the rule when it was new. Bonitatibus was at TJ largely during Covid and recent post-Covid times. Brabrand and the schoolboard controlled the 3.0 process at that time, when kids were being given extra chances left and right at all schools, so it seems reasonable this is why the process at TJ was paused. New leadership with Reid and Mukai is likely why the process is running again.

2. If you haven't gone through it, how would you know how it works? Teachers, admin, students and parents are all involved all year long. They don't just send you a letter and say you're out without intervening along the way. And yes, kids are being asked to consider returning mid-year. This is Mukai's policy, as the reg does not specify -when- kids are sent back. Parents have the right to appeal and sometimes that can involve a lot of conversations and go higher than the principal, which can in fact drag on and on.

It wasn't COVID. The failing students wouldn't be concentrated in just the incoming freshman if that was the case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about having a consistent and transparent process so that teachers know exactly what standards students need to meet and what the process is for communicating with parents and administration about students in danger of being released. Students are released throughout the year, especially 9th graders. This is not just something that happens during the summer.

The 3.0 GPA requirement is no longer a thing, or at least it hasn't been enforced at all.

There should be a consistent standard and process, because I have seen parents put up a fight and drag the process on for months while some students are released right away because they don't have someone advocating for them. This puts teachers in a difficult situation.

The standard is 3.0 that has been the standard the whole time. The fact that Bonitatibus didn't enforce that standard through a liberal waiver policy doesn't change the standard.

All this happens at the end of a school year, how do parents drag it out for months ... during the summer, how are teachers ever involved ... are you suggesting that teachers should change their grades to prevent this?

This doesn't happen in the middle of a semester or at the end of the fall semester. It happens at the end of a school year.

It's hard to believe you are a teacher at TJ and you would not know this.

Literally everything you said is not true. I personally know students who were dismissed during the school year. I also know of students failing multiple classes, but the parents dragged out the process for several months. The 3.0 GPA is not being enforced consistently at all.

No, I do not think teachers should be changing grades to prevent students from being released. I don't even know how you inferred that from my post. I have actually been trying to stay ahead by notifying admin about students who are failing and struggling at TJ, but every AP handles things differently and Mukai constantly moves the goal posts, that no one has no idea what the process is

The 3.0 Standard was standard except during Bonitatibus who gave all the failing kids waivers to hide the failure of the new admissions process. If COVID was the reason for all the waivers, you would expect the failing kids to be spread out through all grades and not concentrated among just the kids that came in under the new process.

How are you (a teacher) relevant to the process? Why do you need to know?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mukai won regional principal of the year.

TJ is in its own region, so not the flex you think it is.

And yet Bonitatibus was never nominated or awarded the recognition.

Anonymous wrote:Mukai won regional principal of the year.

TJ is in its own region, so not the flex you think it is.

Reading through a month+ of posts about TJ, I want only to comment on the decision to offer more AP courses. For context, I had three kids who went through TJ (admitted before the most recent admissions changes), the oldest of which started with Dr. G and finished with Dr. B. My third child graduated 2 years ago.

There was a long-standing tradition at TJ of early coursework -- like Statistics, and freshman bio -- that was covering a large portion of the AP curriculum but not calling the course AP. When Dr. B came in, she made a huge effort to reduce summer school offerings. In particular, summer statistics for incoming freshmen was disallowed (except when students had completed precalc before starting TJ). Then the college board introduced AP Pre-caluclus and TJ did not offer it. As a consequence, an incoming 9th grader who completed Algebra 2 in 8th grade and is also interested in the arts (say, orchestra) could decide:
- Go to base school and take AP Pre-calculus, getting GPA boost, and then plan to take Calculus BC sophomore year (also with GPA bump). Take orchestra the same year.
- Go to TJ and either take both Statistics 1 (honors, not AP) and Math 4/5 (honors, not AP), giving up orchestra for freshman year, OR take Statistics 1 and 2 (I think Stats 2 was considered AP, but stats 1 was honors), and take Orchestra. In this case, student would take Math 4/5 sophomore year, and not get to take Calc BC until Junior year. In both cases, student does not receive the full GPA boost.

The problem is that each step of this process -- adding the statistics requirement, not giving the +1 boost to advanced coursework, requiring freshmen to take a design class (which generally was not very well integrated into IBET), not having summer school offering to address students who were half-way through the standard freshman math curriculum-- were all leading in the same direction: TJ was less appealing than some base schools. (Some) parents were feeling concerned that TJ students were at a disadvantage compared to how they would be in the base school, right from freshman year, even if the student could earn straight As at a significantly more challenging school. Then -- mapping out the trajectory -- TJ students didn't have AP offerings of English in 11th grade. The didn't have AP Physics 1 and 2. Even AP Physics C was one course instead of two at many schools. Add to it that students were finding it more and more difficult to get into selective colleges from TJ, often noticing that peers at base schools were getting admitted to selective colleges with GPAs that were as high as those at TJ, and easier to come by.

You can say that people shouldn't care about GPA, that parents shouldn't weigh things like whether their child can take Calc BC sophomore year, etc etc. But the reality on the ground is that parents of highly accomplished kids are often themselves people who DO care about these things. It stands as obvious to me that we want kids who are accepted to TJ to go to TJ. If you are comparing TJ to a school that doesn't have many advanced offerings and your child is advanced, then it's a no brainer to go to TJ. But if you are comparing TJ to a school that has many advanced offerings, you could reasonably notice that you may as well stay at your base school and get almost everything TJ has to offer, plus you're more likely to get into UVA or an even more selective college/university.

As far as those people who say that all TJ students look alike: that was ALREADY the case (academically) when there weren't AP courses. Every junior took Honors English 11, for example (and for the most part, that class WAS AP level, based on what I saw with one of my kids who didn't attend TJ). So now they can take HN English 11, or an AP course -- it seems that you will see more differences, not fewer. I HOPE that TJ teachers have just tacked on the AP label to reasonably get that +1 boost in GPA. It was an uphill struggle many years ago (before my kids got there) to get the +1 boost to post-AP courses. I suspect that TJ admin looked into getting that +1 for courses that aren't labeled AP, and they could not. So they turned to the best way to do it. I think it's the right decision for the school to keep attracting talent.

If they want to differentiate TJ from good local high schools, they need to keep the mutlidisciplinary programs like IBET (but drop the T or let it be satisfied by another art credit), continue the unusual advanced offerings even if enrollment dips, and introduce more experiences that are unique to TJ in the sophomore and junior years. If they want to differentiate amongst TJ students, they should come up with some creative reports to colleges or opportunities for students to excel outside of the standard curriculum. I often felt that TJ worked the students so hard that kids had little time for exciting and non-traditional opportunities, like science fairs.

Mukai won regional principal of the year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about having a consistent and transparent process so that teachers know exactly what standards students need to meet and what the process is for communicating with parents and administration about students in danger of being released. Students are released throughout the year, especially 9th graders. This is not just something that happens during the summer.

The 3.0 GPA requirement is no longer a thing, or at least it hasn't been enforced at all.

There should be a consistent standard and process, because I have seen parents put up a fight and drag the process on for months while some students are released right away because they don't have someone advocating for them. This puts teachers in a difficult situation.

The standard is 3.0 that has been the standard the whole time. The fact that Bonitatibus didn't enforce that standard through a liberal waiver policy doesn't change the standard.

All this happens at the end of a school year, how do parents drag it out for months ... during the summer, how are teachers ever involved ... are you suggesting that teachers should change their grades to prevent this?

This doesn't happen in the middle of a semester or at the end of the fall semester. It happens at the end of a school year.

It's hard to believe you are a teacher at TJ and you would not know this.

1. Glazer enforced the rule when it was new. Bonitatibus was at TJ largely during Covid and recent post-Covid times. Brabrand and the schoolboard controlled the 3.0 process at that time, when kids were being given extra chances left and right at all schools, so it seems reasonable this is why the process at TJ was paused. New leadership with Reid and Mukai is likely why the process is running again.

2. If you haven't gone through it, how would you know how it works? Teachers, admin, students and parents are all involved all year long. They don't just send you a letter and say you're out without intervening along the way. And yes, kids are being asked to consider returning mid-year. This is Mukai's policy, as the reg does not specify -when- kids are sent back. Parents have the right to appeal and sometimes that can involve a lot of conversations and go higher than the principal, which can in fact drag on and on.

Credit to new principal for being honest about TJ’s rigor and helping students decide early on in freshman year whether returning to their base school makes sense. That’s way better than dragging things out for two years, dealing with constant stress, sleepless nights, retakes and tears, and then carry those bad grades back to base school. The whole remedial process was pretty much BS. There’s no real way it prepares students for the increasing rigor in later years. All middle school subject prep has to be done before entering TJ, no way to catch up after entering.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about having a consistent and transparent process so that teachers know exactly what standards students need to meet and what the process is for communicating with parents and administration about students in danger of being released. Students are released throughout the year, especially 9th graders. This is not just something that happens during the summer.

The 3.0 GPA requirement is no longer a thing, or at least it hasn't been enforced at all.

There should be a consistent standard and process, because I have seen parents put up a fight and drag the process on for months while some students are released right away because they don't have someone advocating for them. This puts teachers in a difficult situation.

The standard is 3.0 that has been the standard the whole time. The fact that Bonitatibus didn't enforce that standard through a liberal waiver policy doesn't change the standard.

All this happens at the end of a school year, how do parents drag it out for months ... during the summer, how are teachers ever involved ... are you suggesting that teachers should change their grades to prevent this?

This doesn't happen in the middle of a semester or at the end of the fall semester. It happens at the end of a school year.

It's hard to believe you are a teacher at TJ and you would not know this.

1. Glazer enforced the rule when it was new. Bonitatibus was at TJ largely during Covid and recent post-Covid times. Brabrand and the schoolboard controlled the 3.0 process at that time, when kids were being given extra chances left and right at all schools, so it seems reasonable this is why the process at TJ was paused. New leadership with Reid and Mukai is likely why the process is running again.

2. If you haven't gone through it, how would you know how it works? Teachers, admin, students and parents are all involved all year long. They don't just send you a letter and say you're out without intervening along the way. And yes, kids are being asked to consider returning mid-year. This is Mukai's policy, as the reg does not specify -when- kids are sent back. Parents have the right to appeal and sometimes that can involve a lot of conversations and go higher than the principal, which can in fact drag on and on.

So are the standards shifting and unclear under Mukai?
Is he being arbitrary and capricious or targetting certain students based on non-academic factors?

Why would a principal "have it out for" certain kids. It's not like TJ has a big discipline problem like many base schools where they may be "trouble-makers" a principal would love to offload. Just doesn't make sense.

He would actually have to know his students in order to "have it out for" for certain ones.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about having a consistent and transparent process so that teachers know exactly what standards students need to meet and what the process is for communicating with parents and administration about students in danger of being released. Students are released throughout the year, especially 9th graders. This is not just something that happens during the summer.

The 3.0 GPA requirement is no longer a thing, or at least it hasn't been enforced at all.

There should be a consistent standard and process, because I have seen parents put up a fight and drag the process on for months while some students are released right away because they don't have someone advocating for them. This puts teachers in a difficult situation.

The standard is 3.0 that has been the standard the whole time. The fact that Bonitatibus didn't enforce that standard through a liberal waiver policy doesn't change the standard.

All this happens at the end of a school year, how do parents drag it out for months ... during the summer, how are teachers ever involved ... are you suggesting that teachers should change their grades to prevent this?

This doesn't happen in the middle of a semester or at the end of the fall semester. It happens at the end of a school year.

It's hard to believe you are a teacher at TJ and you would not know this.

1. Glazer enforced the rule when it was new. Bonitatibus was at TJ largely during Covid and recent post-Covid times. Brabrand and the schoolboard controlled the 3.0 process at that time, when kids were being given extra chances left and right at all schools, so it seems reasonable this is why the process at TJ was paused. New leadership with Reid and Mukai is likely why the process is running again.

2. If you haven't gone through it, how would you know how it works? Teachers, admin, students and parents are all involved all year long. They don't just send you a letter and say you're out without intervening along the way. And yes, kids are being asked to consider returning mid-year. This is Mukai's policy, as the reg does not specify -when- kids are sent back. Parents have the right to appeal and sometimes that can involve a lot of conversations and go higher than the principal, which can in fact drag on and on.

So are the standards shifting and unclear under Mukai?
Is he being arbitrary and capricious or targetting certain students based on non-academic factors?

Why would a principal "have it out for" certain kids. It's not like TJ has a big discipline problem like many base schools where they may be "trouble-makers" a principal would love to offload. Just doesn't make sense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about having a consistent and transparent process so that teachers know exactly what standards students need to meet and what the process is for communicating with parents and administration about students in danger of being released. Students are released throughout the year, especially 9th graders. This is not just something that happens during the summer.

The 3.0 GPA requirement is no longer a thing, or at least it hasn't been enforced at all.

There should be a consistent standard and process, because I have seen parents put up a fight and drag the process on for months while some students are released right away because they don't have someone advocating for them. This puts teachers in a difficult situation.

The standard is 3.0 that has been the standard the whole time. The fact that Bonitatibus didn't enforce that standard through a liberal waiver policy doesn't change the standard.

All this happens at the end of a school year, how do parents drag it out for months ... during the summer, how are teachers ever involved ... are you suggesting that teachers should change their grades to prevent this?

This doesn't happen in the middle of a semester or at the end of the fall semester. It happens at the end of a school year.

It's hard to believe you are a teacher at TJ and you would not know this.

1. Glazer enforced the rule when it was new. Bonitatibus was at TJ largely during Covid and recent post-Covid times. Brabrand and the schoolboard controlled the 3.0 process at that time, when kids were being given extra chances left and right at all schools, so it seems reasonable this is why the process at TJ was paused. New leadership with Reid and Mukai is likely why the process is running again.

2. If you haven't gone through it, how would you know how it works? Teachers, admin, students and parents are all involved all year long. They don't just send you a letter and say you're out without intervening along the way. And yes, kids are being asked to consider returning mid-year. This is Mukai's policy, as the reg does not specify -when- kids are sent back. Parents have the right to appeal and sometimes that can involve a lot of conversations and go higher than the principal, which can in fact drag on and on.

So are the standards shifting and unclear under Mukai?
Is he being arbitrary and capricious or targetting certain students based on non-academic factors?

Absolutely yes to the first question.

Everything is arbitrary with Mukai. He constantly flip-flops on everything. He's say and agree with one thing and then say the opposite the very next day and deny he ever said otherwise.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about having a consistent and transparent process so that teachers know exactly what standards students need to meet and what the process is for communicating with parents and administration about students in danger of being released. Students are released throughout the year, especially 9th graders. This is not just something that happens during the summer.

The 3.0 GPA requirement is no longer a thing, or at least it hasn't been enforced at all.

There should be a consistent standard and process, because I have seen parents put up a fight and drag the process on for months while some students are released right away because they don't have someone advocating for them. This puts teachers in a difficult situation.

The standard is 3.0 that has been the standard the whole time. The fact that Bonitatibus didn't enforce that standard through a liberal waiver policy doesn't change the standard.

All this happens at the end of a school year, how do parents drag it out for months ... during the summer, how are teachers ever involved ... are you suggesting that teachers should change their grades to prevent this?

This doesn't happen in the middle of a semester or at the end of the fall semester. It happens at the end of a school year.

It's hard to believe you are a teacher at TJ and you would not know this.

1. Glazer enforced the rule when it was new. Bonitatibus was at TJ largely during Covid and recent post-Covid times. Brabrand and the schoolboard controlled the 3.0 process at that time, when kids were being given extra chances left and right at all schools, so it seems reasonable this is why the process at TJ was paused. New leadership with Reid and Mukai is likely why the process is running again.

2. If you haven't gone through it, how would you know how it works? Teachers, admin, students and parents are all involved all year long. They don't just send you a letter and say you're out without intervening along the way. And yes, kids are being asked to consider returning mid-year. This is Mukai's policy, as the reg does not specify -when- kids are sent back. Parents have the right to appeal and sometimes that can involve a lot of conversations and go higher than the principal, which can in fact drag on and on.

So are the standards shifting and unclear under Mukai?
Is he being arbitrary and capricious or targetting certain students based on non-academic factors?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about having a consistent and transparent process so that teachers know exactly what standards students need to meet and what the process is for communicating with parents and administration about students in danger of being released. Students are released throughout the year, especially 9th graders. This is not just something that happens during the summer.

The 3.0 GPA requirement is no longer a thing, or at least it hasn't been enforced at all.

There should be a consistent standard and process, because I have seen parents put up a fight and drag the process on for months while some students are released right away because they don't have someone advocating for them. This puts teachers in a difficult situation.

The standard is 3.0 that has been the standard the whole time. The fact that Bonitatibus didn't enforce that standard through a liberal waiver policy doesn't change the standard.

All this happens at the end of a school year, how do parents drag it out for months ... during the summer, how are teachers ever involved ... are you suggesting that teachers should change their grades to prevent this?

This doesn't happen in the middle of a semester or at the end of the fall semester. It happens at the end of a school year.

It's hard to believe you are a teacher at TJ and you would not know this.

1. Glazer enforced the rule when it was new. Bonitatibus was at TJ largely during Covid and recent post-Covid times. Brabrand and the schoolboard controlled the 3.0 process at that time, when kids were being given extra chances left and right at all schools, so it seems reasonable this is why the process at TJ was paused. New leadership with Reid and Mukai is likely why the process is running again.

2. If you haven't gone through it, how would you know how it works? Teachers, admin, students and parents are all involved all year long. They don't just send you a letter and say you're out without intervening along the way. And yes, kids are being asked to consider returning mid-year. This is Mukai's policy, as the reg does not specify -when- kids are sent back. Parents have the right to appeal and sometimes that can involve a lot of conversations and go higher than the principal, which can in fact drag on and on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about having a consistent and transparent process so that teachers know exactly what standards students need to meet and what the process is for communicating with parents and administration about students in danger of being released. Students are released throughout the year, especially 9th graders. This is not just something that happens during the summer.

The 3.0 GPA requirement is no longer a thing, or at least it hasn't been enforced at all.

There should be a consistent standard and process, because I have seen parents put up a fight and drag the process on for months while some students are released right away because they don't have someone advocating for them. This puts teachers in a difficult situation.

The standard is 3.0 that has been the standard the whole time. The fact that Bonitatibus didn't enforce that standard through a liberal waiver policy doesn't change the standard.

All this happens at the end of a school year, how do parents drag it out for months ... during the summer, how are teachers ever involved ... are you suggesting that teachers should change their grades to prevent this?

This doesn't happen in the middle of a semester or at the end of the fall semester. It happens at the end of a school year.

It's hard to believe you are a teacher at TJ and you would not know this.

Literally everything you said is not true. I personally know students who were dismissed during the school year. I also know of students failing multiple classes, but the parents dragged out the process for several months. The 3.0 GPA is not being enforced consistently at all.

No, I do not think teachers should be changing grades to prevent students from being released. I don't even know how you inferred that from my post. I have actually been trying to stay ahead by notifying admin about students who are failing and struggling at TJ, but every AP handles things differently and Mukai constantly moves the goal posts, that no one has no idea what the process is

This is the case at pretty much every school that is selective. Some parents/students are told that they are not meeting the standard. They look at the situation and realize it isn’t working and choose to leave. Some parents/students are told they are not meeting the standard, they want to stay but don’t know how to challenge the school and leave. Some parents/students are told they are not meeting the standard, they want to stay, they figure out how to challenge the system and they fight the decision.

The schools have to give parents an opportunity to appeal decisions and some people use that process. It might not be in the kids best interest but the families really want their kid at TJ.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm talking about having a consistent and transparent process so that teachers know exactly what standards students need to meet and what the process is for communicating with parents and administration about students in danger of being released. Students are released throughout the year, especially 9th graders. This is not just something that happens during the summer.

The 3.0 GPA requirement is no longer a thing, or at least it hasn't been enforced at all.

There should be a consistent standard and process, because I have seen parents put up a fight and drag the process on for months while some students are released right away because they don't have someone advocating for them. This puts teachers in a difficult situation.

The standard is 3.0 that has been the standard the whole time. The fact that Bonitatibus didn't enforce that standard through a liberal waiver policy doesn't change the standard.

All this happens at the end of a school year, how do parents drag it out for months ... during the summer, how are teachers ever involved ... are you suggesting that teachers should change their grades to prevent this?

This doesn't happen in the middle of a semester or at the end of the fall semester. It happens at the end of a school year.

It's hard to believe you are a teacher at TJ and you would not know this.

Literally everything you said is not true. I personally know students who were dismissed during the school year. I also know of students failing multiple classes, but the parents dragged out the process for several months. The 3.0 GPA is not being enforced consistently at all.

No, I do not think teachers should be changing grades to prevent students from being released. I don't even know how you inferred that from my post. I have actually been trying to stay ahead by notifying admin about students who are failing and struggling at TJ, but every AP handles things differently and Mukai constantly moves the goal posts, that no one has no idea what the process is