Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think open is leading us...she writes principal's name, which. Clearly sounds black and she mentions audience is mostly white.

I'm laughing out loud as I grew up with a Kimmy Martin who was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white kid. The name Kimberly Martin does not "clearly sound black" to me at least.

I also know a white woman named kim martin.

I went to 2 parent coffees and principal martin was just fine. Well spoken, clearly getting up to speed on issues, admitted that she is still learning, very personably, seemed really smart and realistic. When i saw,her at a larger event in the auditorium, ahe was obviously super nervous and was not impressive at all at the microphone. I guess a,principal of a big high school should have good public speaking skills since its really part of the job so its hard to give her a pass on that.
Interestingly, cahall is the world's worst public speaker.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

If this really is the Principal, please don't waste your time. You will never be able to win over segment of the DC populace you decided you were not up to the task before you even started.

I seriously hope this was not her. Responding here with a point by point defense just makes her seem myopic with not enough to do and the inability to prioritize...especially on the day when high school PARCC scores are released...Now if she wants to DEMONSTRATE by action that she's not out of her depth in running our largest high school then I'm ready to watch that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think open is leading us...she writes principal's name, which. Clearly sounds black and she mentions audience is mostly white.

I'm laughing out loud as I grew up with a Kimmy Martin who was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white kid. The name Kimberly Martin does not "clearly sound black" to me at least.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

*if this is really the principal, which I assume it is*

APPLAUSE. great, thoughtful answers.

No kidding. Fantastic response.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

If this really is the Principal, please don't waste your time. You will never be able to win over segment of the DC populace you decided you were not up to the task before you even started.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

*if this is really the principal, which I assume it is*

APPLAUSE. great, thoughtful answers.

I doubt it can be her. Surely she knows the power of paragraphs?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

*if this is really the principal, which I assume it is*

APPLAUSE. great, thoughtful answers.

Anonymous wrote: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: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

*if this is really the principal, which I assume it is*

APPLAUSE. great, thoughtful answers.

Anonymous wrote: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:

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.

And he was an ally with the parents, not with DCPS.