Thanks for the feedback about the Open House. I regret that my performance was less than you anticipated. The questions and answers I provided during the unscripted Q and A were somewhat vague, I agree, and in my perspective they were questions that I would typically answer in an email or individual conversation, but not in front of a large group, due to their complexity. For instance, "what do you anticipate being the biggest issue in the next five years" and "is your school safe?" (there was no question about discipline). In my view, those questions require a bit of background knowledge and, as I mentioned in my response to the group, have many variables to consider, which I'm not sure a group of parents who are largely unconnected to our school would understand. In fact, I hold monthly Parent Coffees, which are well attended by Wilson parents, and I often hear that these meetings are informative, thoughtful and productive. The parents who are present set the monthly agenda, however, we do not speak about issues like school safety, presumably because it is not an issue for parents who are insiders. In thinking about school safety: does the speaker want to know about our suspension rates? The number of fights in the school? The number of safety drills we have each month? The results of the student satisfaction survey? The results of the teacher survey? Or are there other factors that are important? Perhaps there is something more to the question, of which I am unaware? When I prompted the speaker for clarification, he stated, "does your school feel safe?" How am I to answer a questions about "feeling" without discussing how someone "feels," which is why I stated, "my son feels safe and students tell me they feel safe." I could have stated that our suspension rate has declined over the last several years, but does that mean a school is more or less safe in an outsiders' perspective? In relation to the questions about my biggest concern for the next five years, I am quite concerned about the boundary issues that have been discussed and analyzed over the last few months since I've arrived. Our school is the largest school in DCPS and as I mentioned in the Open House, we are 150 students over capacity THIS YEAR, but as our enrollment continues to increase....? When asked, "what will you do about it?" I explained that there are several possible solutions, none that has been determined to be THE solution as yet. Then I was asked, "what are the possible options for solving this problem?" I stated that there are several possible solutions that have been discussed, which include looking at our boundaries and making changes to our boundaries, as has been done within the last 12 months, and changes were already implemented last year. Then, "why is this a concern?" and yes, I stumbled, because I hesitate to say that our school may unwittingly exclude a specific demographic of students and yes, then the question of race came up. If there was concern from me about the presentation it was that I was being asked to answer to situations that are already and still occurring and in forums like this, I cannot share "what ifs" since my words are often distorted and those distortions are made as fact.
How my race plays into this conversation is another matter entirely and I will not comment on that in this forum or at any other time.
All the best,
Kim Martin

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Wilson parent, and have not been impressed at all by Principal Martin. She seems out of her depth. But, who knows, maybe she'll get better once she figures out Wilson and DCPS a bit.

I'm willing to cut her some slack and see if she improves. And if she doesn't, what can I do about it anyway? Even with a weak Principal, I think my child and my child's peers will still do fine at Wilson. The teacher quality, physical space, extracurriculars, etc. all exist regardless of whether the Principal is good or bad.

Well, not entirely true. The call for action before the summer to reinstate the cancelled funding was led by the outstanding interim Principal (current Assistant Principal) . Would she be such a driving and leading force should this happen again?

That was led by the PTSO and the parents - a group that will continue to make Wilson a good school regardless of who is at the top.

No the first message to the parents was by the interim Principal.

It was a call for action to the parents by the interim Principal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You referenced race and that seems to be your focus. Wilson, is the 2015 version of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is so sad what DC has become.

actually OP wrote a long post describing reasons she feels the principal may be weak and except for the reference to the almost white audience (which I agree was unnecessary, even if it was a fact) there is no mention of race. she said that the principal was the least articulate speaker, she gave examples of unsatisfying answers or answers that puzzled the parents. it does not seem to me that race was the focus of OP's post at all. it seems to me that you are focusing on an unnecessary detail of OP's post to avoid facing the focus of OP's post, which is that the principal did not performed well at the open house. with a 5th grader in a Wilson feeder, we are not at the school yet but watching closely and seriously hope that whoever is in charge at Wilson is the right person (regardless of race/gender/sexual orientation/religion and what else)

OP can speak for herself, but I've often heard "white demanding parents" to describe a certain, well, stereotype in DC. However, if accurate, I would be concerned about why hardly anyone from 50% of the parent body demographics showed up at Wilson back to school night. That is very concerning.

NP - it wasn't back to school night. It was an open house for prospective parents.

Same question. Indeed, when folks across the city want like anything to get their kids into Wilson, why would parents of only one demographic group basically show up?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Wilson parent, and have not been impressed at all by Principal Martin. She seems out of her depth. But, who knows, maybe she'll get better once she figures out Wilson and DCPS a bit.

I'm willing to cut her some slack and see if she improves. And if she doesn't, what can I do about it anyway? Even with a weak Principal, I think my child and my child's peers will still do fine at Wilson. The teacher quality, physical space, extracurriculars, etc. all exist regardless of whether the Principal is good or bad.

Well, not entirely true. The call for action before the summer to reinstate the cancelled funding was led by the outstanding interim Principal (current Assistant Principal) . Would she be such a driving and leading force should this happen again?

That was led by the PTSO and the parents - a group that will continue to make Wilson a good school regardless of who is at the top.

No the first message to the parents was by the interim Principal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blah blah blah. OP wrote a thoughtful and long post, and here come some whiners to whine. Add something substantial, such as, why did you NOT attend the Wilson meeting, if you care about your kid's future?

... because she is in 7th grade ...

That's a great time to be looking at high schools.

Maybe for you neurotic high-strung types.

Pathetic answer.

Amazing what DCPS has to deal with.

God forbid that I should turn into one of the harpies that I see running around the halls of our elementary schools. What is wrong with waiting until 8th grade to focus on high school especially when you are looking at a relatively small # of choices.

Lady, your participation in this thread is nothing short of stellar. You've displayed little insight and much whining, insulting others, ignorance and neglect.

What's wrong? That DCPS has to deal with the consequences of parents like you.

Please explain the possible consequences of my waiting until 8th grade to go to an open house at a high school (one that my child may never attend in any case).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Wilson parent, and have not been impressed at all by Principal Martin. She seems out of her depth. But, who knows, maybe she'll get better once she figures out Wilson and DCPS a bit.

I'm willing to cut her some slack and see if she improves. And if she doesn't, what can I do about it anyway? Even with a weak Principal, I think my child and my child's peers will still do fine at Wilson. The teacher quality, physical space, extracurriculars, etc. all exist regardless of whether the Principal is good or bad.

Well, not entirely true. The call for action before the summer to reinstate the cancelled funding was led by the outstanding interim Principal (current Assistant Principal) . Would she be such a driving and leading force should this happen again?

That was led by the PTSO and the parents - a group that will continue to make Wilson a good school regardless of who is at the top.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blah blah blah. OP wrote a thoughtful and long post, and here come some whiners to whine. Add something substantial, such as, why did you NOT attend the Wilson meeting, if you care about your kid's future?

... because she is in 7th grade ...

That's a great time to be looking at high schools.

Maybe for you neurotic high-strung types.

Pathetic answer.

Amazing what DCPS has to deal with.

God forbid that I should turn into one of the harpies that I see running around the halls of our elementary schools. What is wrong with waiting until 8th grade to focus on high school especially when you are looking at a relatively small # of choices.

Lady, your participation in this thread is nothing short of stellar. You've displayed little insight and much whining, insulting others, ignorance and neglect.

What's wrong? That DCPS has to deal with the consequences of parents like you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK. I have kept this for myself for almost one week. Though I am an on and off DCUM user (normally I am in during the year before a new school cycle of one of my kids), I know how incendiary this Forum can be…

So last Wednesday I attended the Wilson HS open house. Great to see again families from our ex ES who are re-considering DCPS after charter or private middles schools!!
Everything went very well, the school infrastructure is always impressive, the school choir looked and sounded beautiful, the students were inspiring and the Assistant Principals sounded solid, dedicated and in control. So, all went well until… the new Principal Ms Kimberly Martin took the microphone (believe me when I say that I feel uncomfortable and sad in sharing my negative views about a professional who’s been entrusted with the task of steering the HS education of almost 2,000 students/year of the largest HS in the District of Columbia…).

She sounded by far the least articulated speaker of the group (including students). She sounded hesitant and non-articulated. She babbled at tract , with no words coming to her… Her answers to the parents' questions were no answers (Parent: “What about the discipline and crime inside the school?” Principal “Oh, it’s so much better than where I come from… Plus my son is here and he’s very happy”… Is this an answer? ). She looked uncomfortable. Regarding the overcrowding, she gave very wrong answers (“One hypothesis is that I think DCPS might consider withdrawing the feeder rights”) , which made some parents very concerned, and disoriented others. If she has insights from DCPS on this matter, well, that was not the arena to disclose them..If it was her personal guess, again, do not share it openly. That was wrong and stupid.

My impression is that she made parents puzzled and disoriented. Some got very nervous for the lack of content in her answers… I understand the pressure she was feeling from a large audience of (almost all white) demanding parents…and I also understand that she is new. However we felt that her performance was too much sub-standard and below everyone’s expectations.

I would like to know the impressions from others who have attended the open houses or visited the school recently. Are we missing something? Was it just a bad day for her?

More concerning: what are DCPS plan about the school? After having met her, I cannot but think that there must be a plan behind the removal of a strong and respected Principal to be replaced by such a weaker figure. I do not get it. And HS choice for us is just a few months away.

Thank you for reading and for your feedback.

Maybe a weaker principal at Wilson is precisely what DCPS wants. It seems to be a problem they've had at other schools - i.e., finding strong leaders who will only do as they're told. Who knows the deciding factors in choosing Kimberly Martin, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they wanted someone experienced in dealing with gaping wealth and achievement disparities. Obviously, a lot of the pull and pressure comes from higher SES parents, which takes attention away from poorer, underachieving kids - the source of pressure from DCPS. They want someone who will be more responsive to those lower end needs.

All of which likely makes a room full of white parents somewhat stressful, especially following the public stomping she got on this forum before she'd even moved to town.

sorry, I can't follow your post. first you say that a weaker leader was exactly what DCPS wanted, then you said that the same happened at other schools where DCPS looked for "strong" leader who will only do as they are told - did you mean "weak" leaders?

also, where did you get that she was selected because of experience in dealing with gaping wealth and achievement disparities? if I recall she had been principal of a rural school in the Midwest and then spent several years at a HS in Aspen, with mostly white, middle class and upper middle class students. where did you see that she has experience with bridging the gap? the "public stomping" she got on this forum was simply people like me wondering what in her resume would point to experience managing a school with 2000 students with very different SES backgrounds and huge gap in education levels (leaving aside little things like I will finish my PDH while I manage Wilson and Kaya is the best educator in the nation)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blah blah blah. OP wrote a thoughtful and long post, and here come some whiners to whine. Add something substantial, such as, why did you NOT attend the Wilson meeting, if you care about your kid's future?

... because she is in 7th grade ...

That's a great time to be looking at high schools.

Maybe for you neurotic high-strung types.

Pathetic answer.

Amazing what DCPS has to deal with.

God forbid that I should turn into one of the harpies that I see running around the halls of our elementary schools. What is wrong with waiting until 8th grade to focus on high school especially when you are looking at a relatively small # of choices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blah blah blah. OP wrote a thoughtful and long post, and here come some whiners to whine. Add something substantial, such as, why did you NOT attend the Wilson meeting, if you care about your kid's future?

... because she is in 7th grade ...

That's a great time to be looking at high schools.

Maybe for you neurotic high-strung types.

Pathetic answer.

Amazing what DCPS has to deal with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blah blah blah. OP wrote a thoughtful and long post, and here come some whiners to whine. Add something substantial, such as, why did you NOT attend the Wilson meeting, if you care about your kid's future?

... because she is in 7th grade ...

That's a great time to be looking at high schools.

Maybe for you neurotic high-strung types.

PP here, on a serious note, we pretty know the lay of the land on high schools in DC we have not focused on Wilson bc its currently not a serious option of us - scale is not a good fit for our kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blah blah blah. OP wrote a thoughtful and long post, and here come some whiners to whine. Add something substantial, such as, why did you NOT attend the Wilson meeting, if you care about your kid's future?

... because she is in 7th grade ...

That's a great time to be looking at high schools.

Maybe for you neurotic high-strung types.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blah blah blah. OP wrote a thoughtful and long post, and here come some whiners to whine. Add something substantial, such as, why did you NOT attend the Wilson meeting, if you care about your kid's future?

... because she is in 7th grade ...

That's a great time to be looking at high schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You referenced race and that seems to be your focus. Wilson, is the 2015 version of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is so sad what DC has become.

This is beside the kind of feedback you are looking for OP, but wish you hadn't mentioned the crowd was almost all white. It makes no difference to your post, what professional is leading Wilson, or anything related to the operation of the school.

I agree, you kind of lost me when I read that sentence. Black parent with a 7th grader at Deal who is still not sold on Wilson. You lost are credibility when you mentioned race so now I am wondering if you are being truly honest in your feedback. Would love to hear from other parents who were there.

Blah blah blah. OP wrote a thoughtful and long post, and here come some whiners to whine. Add something substantial, such as, why did you NOT attend the Wilson meeting, if you care about your kid's future?

... because she is in 7th grade ...

Well, see what PP wrote above..."NP - it wasn't back to school night. It was an open house for prospective parents."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You referenced race and that seems to be your focus. Wilson, is the 2015 version of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is so sad what DC has become.

This is beside the kind of feedback you are looking for OP, but wish you hadn't mentioned the crowd was almost all white. It makes no difference to your post, what professional is leading Wilson, or anything related to the operation of the school.

I agree, you kind of lost me when I read that sentence. Black parent with a 7th grader at Deal who is still not sold on Wilson. You lost are credibility when you mentioned race so now I am wondering if you are being truly honest in your feedback. Would love to hear from other parents who were there.

White demanding parents is a well-know stereotype in some NW DCPS schools. I am at Hyde ES and Hardy MS and I am very familiar (especially at Hyde, although it looks like we will be receiving a larger injection of such parents in the near future at Hardy ) with that stereotype, which consist of asking questions with a tone and a phrasing which demands not only a reply, but also an endorsement by the school administrator of the instance behind the parent's question. For a new administrator such as Ms Martin, some DCPS parents might sound confrontational or even aggressive. This might require an adjustment or simply getting used to it. So the specification was not useless. Don't be naive.