Anonymous wrote:

Yes, it is true parents/students loved Ms. Hoover for good reasons. She was amazing for the kids and the program. Yes, the Principal got rid of her for personal vendetta and created instability for current students. Parents now have to spend their valuable time to make sure the integrity/purpose of the program is not compromised because of unreasonable/unexplained action of the Principal. Hate it too strong a word. But most magnet IB parents/students do not trust the current leadership thrust on them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I never said that the new person "won't be, and can't be up to the job". I do not know the future; I only said "she isn't up to the job" that Ms. Hoover was doing. BTW, the job that Ms. Hoover was doing is broken into three pieces now, while the DP coordinator implying ownership of the cream of the job. Her lack of qualification, experience is a fair question.

There was no need for an organizational restructuring. If there was, the Principal has done a piss poor job of explaining that to the parents and to the students. On top of it, the school has done a blunder with they way it made Ms. Hoover disappear. The Principal broke the trust of parents and students and his promise 3 years ago that he would not do anything to jeopardize the program. He is still lying about Ms. Hoover's situation in the excuse of "personnel" decision while selectively implying a few things.

A broken trust is very hard to repair. The school administration has an uphill battle until they prove itself as competent and reliable. The current parents/students who have no alternatives will have to weather this storm; they will verify everything the school administration says and does. The future parents/students must understand the situation and evaluate their alternatives.

Time will tell whether RM magnet IB program will go back to its days of glory or not. At this point, we are in the epicenter of an emergency that the Principal created and Ms. Shay helped. What happened at RM is a hostile takeover by a Principal and an accomplice teacher to further their career. No one should be excused for breaking something that was working and was working well.

I'm reading this as "We liked Ms. Hoover, you got rid of her, so we hate you."

Anonymous wrote:

I never said that the new person "won't be, and can't be up to the job". I do not know the future; I only said "she isn't up to the job" that Ms. Hoover was doing. BTW, the job that Ms. Hoover was doing is broken into three pieces now, while the DP coordinator implying ownership of the cream of the job. Her lack of qualification, experience is a fair question.

There was no need for an organizational restructuring. If there was, the Principal has done a piss poor job of explaining that to the parents and to the students. On top of it, the school has done a blunder with they way it made Ms. Hoover disappear. The Principal broke the trust of parents and students and his promise 3 years ago that he would not do anything to jeopardize the program. He is still lying about Ms. Hoover's situation in the excuse of "personnel" decision while selectively implying a few things.

A broken trust is very hard to repair. The school administration has an uphill battle until they prove itself as competent and reliable. The current parents/students who have no alternatives will have to weather this storm; they will verify everything the school administration says and does. The future parents/students must understand the situation and evaluate their alternatives.

Time will tell whether RM magnet IB program will go back to its days of glory or not. At this point, we are in the epicenter of an emergency that the Principal created and Ms. Shay helped. What happened at RM is a hostile takeover by a Principal and an accomplice teacher to further their career. No one should be excused for breaking something that was working and was working well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am the PP from the long post at 14:53. I have experienced Ms. Hoover's competency over last 8 years. She was efficient, empathetic, smart, authentic and articulate. She was not a run-of-the mill administrator. She was both the instructional and administrative leader of the program for 10 years. She was not perfect, but parents had no issue with her ever.

Teacher move to admin all the time, but this one is no admin job. This is extremely complex leadership job which also requires in depth understanding of "magnet" students' special need and IB philosophy. The new coordinator was a English teacher. She is ill prepared for this position. She doesn't know many basic activities/requirements of the IB. And she does not have IB certification. I think legally she might not be required to be the coordinator, but a very bad fit nonetheless.

No, I am not trying to dissuade anyone from applying. I already have my kids in the program and have no horse in this race. A change of this magnitude is huge, especially when the school dismissed Ms. Hoover abruptly without any transitional planning. There would be many missteps for the current kids before the school recovers, if it does at all. If I had known this situation two years back, I would have encouraged my kids to go to other programs they were invited or to stay in their home school. So, parents whose kids have other competing choices must understand the reality and make their own decisions.

If the program can't function properly unless Ms. Hoover is the administrator, it's not much of a program.

You seem to have already decided that the new person isn't, won't be, and can't be up to the job. Why not wait and see? We're not even a month into the school year.

Anonymous wrote:

I am the PP from the long post at 14:53. I have experienced Ms. Hoover's competency over last 8 years. She was efficient, empathetic, smart, authentic and articulate. She was not a run-of-the mill administrator. She was both the instructional and administrative leader of the program for 10 years. She was not perfect, but parents had no issue with her ever.

Teacher move to admin all the time, but this one is no admin job. This is extremely complex leadership job which also requires in depth understanding of "magnet" students' special need and IB philosophy. The new coordinator was a English teacher. She is ill prepared for this position. She doesn't know many basic activities/requirements of the IB. And she does not have IB certification. I think legally she might not be required to be the coordinator, but a very bad fit nonetheless.

No, I am not trying to dissuade anyone from applying. I already have my kids in the program and have no horse in this race. A change of this magnitude is huge, especially when the school dismissed Ms. Hoover abruptly without any transitional planning. There would be many missteps for the current kids before the school recovers, if it does at all. If I had known this situation two years back, I would have encouraged my kids to go to other programs they were invited or to stay in their home school. So, parents whose kids have other competing choices must understand the reality and make their own decisions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People say ib kids are really intense and I can see where it comes from. Teachers move to admin all the time. Staff members become managers. This is not an orderly taking on brain surgery. It is not like Ms Hoover had been there for 35 years and built the program up herself.

Yes, I'd almost think that somebody here is trying to discourage students from applying to RMIB, in order to torpedo the program.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have insight here? How is "teacher of the year" selected?

"teacher of the year" could be the best teacher or could be the teacher who makes their principle's job easiet.

How much does the teacher's principle's recommendation count toward the award?

"But she did win MCPS teacher of the year last year so she should be pretty good..."

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have insight here? How is "teacher of the year" selected?

"teacher of the year" could be the best teacher or could be the teacher who makes their principle's job easiet.

How much does the teacher's principle's recommendation count toward the award?

"But she did win MCPS teacher of the year last year so she should be pretty good..."

Anonymous wrote:People say ib kids are really intense and I can see where it comes from. Teachers move to admin all the time. Staff members become managers. This is not an orderly taking on brain surgery. It is not like Ms Hoover had been there for 35 years and built the program up herself.

Anonymous wrote:I would clarify a few misinformation about the issue with coordinator replacement, as well as mainstreaming the IB magnet program. I have kids who graduated from the school in the magnet IB program, as well kids who are in the program now. So, I am speaking from experience and knowledge of the school even before the principal came to the school.

[listThe magnet IB program at RM used to be different from other magnet programs in MCPS, by providing magnet level classes for all core classes (vs. magnet level SMACS, Humanities, Global Ecology, CAP etc). So, in other words, this is the only program in MCPS which promises to provide a magnet level all rounded liberal arts experience for HS students. This is the reason why many students who were invited to the many magnet programs and yet are not sure of their career path chose RM. With the current change regarding math pathway for sophomore, that promise is not kept for a small group of students. Many parents fear this is a trial balloon for changes to come in the future to dismantle the all rounded aspect of the magnet program.

The magnet IB program at RM is very different from other IB programs in MCPS. RM does not provide IB certificates (a la carte); it only provided IB Diploma. The IB cohort used to be selected at 9th grade through test-in application process. Yes, the cluster middle schools had an advantage over other middle schools in MCPS to be selected into the program. There were 100 seats for all MCPS school outside the cluster, while there were 25/30 additional seats for the JW only. While the 25/30 seats were offered through the same selection process the ratio of qualified students at JW and offered seats was much higher than the students who got selected in the 100 seats from out of cluster middle schools. There were a few students who were accepted into the diploma program in 11th grade from RM HS student pool only. But they went through a selection panel that the previous coordinator headed. This panel was stringent in accepting students into the program who were not ready to succeed. Frankly any student who entered 9th grade from JW and did not apply for the magnet program, might not be interested or committed to complete it in 11th grade.
I do not know the number, but from my knowledge the number of accepted students to the IB program in 11th grade was fairly small. In the recent years (last 3 years), the principal has pushed to accommodate more (40/45 additional) students to that pool. 40/45 students out of class of 160 is very big %. This created a power struggle between the Principal who wants to demonstrate access (Mettis report) for his political position vs. the coordinator who was responsible for the success of the students and reputation of the program and did not want to accept that many students unless they can succeed in the program. There is a possibility that the motivation to provide access to more students will result in big dip in diploma yield which would lead to RM giving up its diploma only IB philosophy and take the diploma certificate route. This would make RM similar to other IB program in the county.

The principal split the magnet coordinator position into two positions and as a result took away the centralized authority of a magnet IB coordinator. He promoted a teacher (who did not have IB certification) to be the diploma coordinator and hired a very inexperienced magnet coordinator (who had no experience with gifted students) to work as an administrator only. So, the person who would recruit the county wide academically gifted students is not responsible for the academic instruction of those students and the person who would be responsible for their academic success has no understanding/empathy for their individual sacrifices/challenges to succeed this program. This org restructuring concentrated the power in the hand of the principal to tweak the magnet program to his liking without any objective restraint from another leader. What adds to the agony of the parents/students that none of the trio have IB certification so far. The dismissal of the previous coordinator was devious and hence they cannot use her transitional support while these leaders learn.

The principal talks a good talk, so many parents who have not been in RM for several years and do not see the before and after picture, do not realize the zenga pieces being pulled out. The immediate effect of the change would be felt by students graduating this year and the real repercussion to the change to the magnet IB program will be seen couple of years out.