Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can a current Watkins parent speak to the effeciveness and composition of the PTO? And is it made up of inboundary parents, or OOB parents?

Most of the PTO is comprised of in-boundary parents. However, current president and many on the board are overly friendly with Clemens. This tends to cloud their judgement and their ability to evaluate the current state of affairs at Watkins. There was little or no help from them last year regarding the mass exodus of teachers and students. PTO president gets everything he wants for his children. Rest of the school can RIP.

The sheer fact that the Cluster has a PTA not a PTO should discredit this post. What's outlined is plain weird and has nothing to do with the reality. The Cluster PTA, just as at any school, is headed up by many different but all thoughtful voices.

As a point pf clarification - nearly the entire governing structure for the Cluster PTA is IB to LT (not Watkins). For some reason they shun their own IB ES school, which performs better than Watkins.

If Watkins is getting a Dean of Students, does that mean it went Title 1?

That may be true for the current leadership (last 2 year terms) but that isn't accurate over a longer horizon, and it is somewhat misleading. When the PTA president was first sending his kids to school in Peabody PK4, maybe PS3, they were IB for the Cluster because the were IB for Stuart Hobson; the IB for SH stopped conferring IB for Peabody/Watkins about 6-7 years ago, I think. They continued with the Cluster. I think that is also the same for 1 or 2 others. When I was on the board, it was about 60% IB, 40% OOB among leadership and that was pretty much the ratio over the last 8 years that I've been involved in the Cluster. I am IB for Peabody/Watkins.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can a current Watkins parent speak to the effeciveness and composition of the PTO? And is it made up of inboundary parents, or OOB parents?

Most of the PTO is comprised of in-boundary parents. However, current president and many on the board are overly friendly with Clemens. This tends to cloud their judgement and their ability to evaluate the current state of affairs at Watkins. There was little or no help from them last year regarding the mass exodus of teachers and students. PTO president gets everything he wants for his children. Rest of the school can RIP.

The sheer fact that the Cluster has a PTA not a PTO should discredit this post. What's outlined is plain weird and has nothing to do with the reality. The Cluster PTA, just as at any school, is headed up by many different but all thoughtful voices.

As a point pf clarification - nearly the entire governing structure for the Cluster PTA is IB to LT (not Watkins). For some reason they shun their own IB ES school, which performs better than Watkins.

If Watkins is getting a Dean of Students, does that mean it went Title 1?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can a current Watkins parent speak to the effeciveness and composition of the PTO? And is it made up of inboundary parents, or OOB parents?

Most of the PTO is comprised of in-boundary parents. However, current president and many on the board are overly friendly with Clemens. This tends to cloud their judgement and their ability to evaluate the current state of affairs at Watkins. There was little or no help from them last year regarding the mass exodus of teachers and students. PTO president gets everything he wants for his children. Rest of the school can RIP.

The sheer fact that the Cluster has a PTA not a PTO should discredit this post. What's outlined is plain weird and has nothing to do with the reality. The Cluster PTA, just as at any school, is headed up by many different but all thoughtful voices.

Anonymous wrote:Can a current Watkins parent speak to the effeciveness and composition of the PTO? And is it made up of inboundary parents, or OOB parents?

Most of the PTO is comprised of in-boundary parents. However, current president and many on the board are overly friendly with Clemens. This tends to cloud their judgement and their ability to evaluate the current state of affairs at Watkins. There was little or no help from them last year regarding the mass exodus of teachers and students. PTO president gets everything he wants for his children. Rest of the school can RIP.

Can a current Watkins parent speak to the effeciveness and composition of the PTO? And is it made up of inboundary parents, or OOB parents?

Anonymous wrote:My child goes to Watkins and I have not heard anything about their AP leaving...either the male one or the female one. I think it's just spiteful speculation.

Definitely true for one of them. I believe a letter went home in backpacks that the AP (he) is leaving at the end of the school year. Watkins will have a (new) principal, two assistant principals (one new), and a dean of students. That'll be a lot more leadership than it's seen in recent years.

My child goes to Watkins and I have not heard anything about their AP leaving...either the male one or the female one. I think it's just spiteful speculation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone tell me why the APs at Watkins are leaving this year? Just because they're getting a new principal or...?

Oh God no. Because they have been really horrible. Please refer to the epic Peabody to Watkins thread.

Please bring large salt lick with you when you go. Caveat emptor.

PP is a censor troll. That thread started what may finally result in a neighborhood school. Save your CHPSO BS for the truly ignorant. Watkins had a lot of really bizarre problems. Hopefully that's starting to be rectified. As one poster said in the Dump thread, to some it's a crappy school and to others not - put your kid in or don't. If you look at the CAS scores, don't think your kindergarten high performing kid is going to be a merit scholar.

What is CHPSO? You are the face of what is wrong with DCUM and the reason that evenhanded and open minded discussions seem impossible. You're so entrenched in some sort of ideology that you see conspiracies and agendas where there are none. The M-O of people like you who see the world as black and white is transparent to those of us that are capable of seeing nuance. You call "troll" when anyone disagrees with you or thinks that you might be wrong. Save the preemptive name calling for middle school, my friend. My point, ironically, was to warn that many people on DCUM have agendas and entrenchments that make reason and open-mindedness an impossibility. But you have illustrated my point much better than I ever could have myself, so thanks.

P.S. Please tell me you don't actually believe the hperbolic crap that the DCUM thread "thread started what may finally result in a neighborhood school. There are many people doing many things to try and improve the schools (and Watkins in particular). But loud mouths with agendas on anonymous boards are probably not chief among the reasons for positive changes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone tell me why the APs at Watkins are leaving this year? Just because they're getting a new principal or...?

Oh God no. Because they have been really horrible. Please refer to the epic Peabody to Watkins thread.

Please bring large salt lick with you when you go. Caveat emptor.

PP is a censor troll. That thread started what may finally result in a neighborhood school. Save your CHPSO BS for the truly ignorant. Watkins had a lot of really bizarre problems. Hopefully that's starting to be rectified. As one poster said in the Dump thread, to some it's a crappy school and to others not - put your kid in or don't. If you look at the CAS scores, don't think your kindergarten high performing kid is going to be a merit scholar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone tell me why the APs at Watkins are leaving this year? Just because they're getting a new principal or...?

Oh God no. Because they have been really horrible. Please refer to the epic Peabody to Watkins thread.

Please bring large salt lick with you when you go. Caveat emptor.

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone tell me why the APs at Watkins are leaving this year? Just because they're getting a new principal or...?

Oh God no. Because they have been really horrible. Please refer to the epic Peabody to Watkins thread.

Can anyone tell me why the APs at Watkins are leaving this year? Just because they're getting a new principal or...?

I love DCUM. I was KIDDING about it being impossible. And then the PP chimed in as if to illustrate my point. The same people poo pooing improving schools were right there with the same garbage when Brent was getting better, and when Maury was getting better, and as LT gets better and as...well, you get the point.

Okay. I now appreciate your snark. Problem is that there are some many folks on this thread warning against the dangers of Watkins (and schools like it), that it's hard to discern the sincerely over-the-top assertions from the ironic ones....

Come back and talk to us in 2-3 years.

Fair enough. Meanwhile, avoid destructive hyperbolic, fear-mongering statements, like "no Peabody parent would send their kid to Watkins"....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:smaller grades + fully modernized building + 100% in-bounds Peabody - current admin = a very different Watkins in the next few years

Impossible!!! The DCUM posters know better. Cluster wars are forever, as are their opinions. No child will ever go from Peabody to Watkins. I know, cause posters to DCUM say so regularly.

Luckily, this naysayer is wrong.

Signed, parent of a current Peabody Kindergartner who will be going to Watkins next year (despite entrance to a HRCS beloved by DCUM), and the financial ability to buy a house inbound for Brent, in upper NW, or the close-in burbs.

And the modernization, I believe, will be complete in fall 2016 (though others know details better). I think they're changing windows or something this summer. Real modernization won't begin for a year, though one can see the plans -- looks nice.

Come back and talk to us in 2-3 years.

I love DCUM. I was KIDDING about it being impossible. And then the PP chimed in as if to illustrate my point. The same people poo pooing improving schools were right there with the same garbage when Brent was getting better, and when Maury was getting better, and as LT gets better and as...well, you get the point.