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Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
FCPS exporting its management approach to Arlington
Posted by:
news reader
()
Date: February 04, 2011 08:19AM
Principal's accusations against superintendent leave Arlington concerned
By Kevin Sieff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 3, 2011; 6:01 PM
For more than a year, Kathy Francis kept her struggles with Arlington County Superintendent Patrick K. Murphy to herself. And then on Tuesday, exhausted and demoralized, the principal of Williamsburg Middle School let the world know, firing off a sharply worded, 1,700-word resignation e-mail to 1,200 parents and teachers.
.......
School Board members and many parents, meanwhile, have voiced support for Murphy, who took over as superintendent in 2009. He was chosen as superintendent after a four-year stint as assistant superintendent of accountability for Fairfax County schools.
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Excerpt from the resignation letter:
In summary, Dr. Murphy, and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Hobbs acting at his direction, has engaged in an ongoing series of actions to harass me and mischaracterize my performance and professional reputation in the hopes of encouraging my departure from APS.
These actions were taken in response to my fulfilling my responsibilities to ensure a safe learning environment at WMS and requesting that the Superintendent and Central Office take action on a longstanding and serious personnel situation at Williamsburg. That situation involved an individual with a well-documented, multiple year record of non-performance and who was extremely disruptive to the educational environment of the school.
Dr. Murphy refused to act and made it clear that he was concerned about the “perceptions†around such actions and, therefore, did not want difficult personnel matters brought to the Central Office. Following his directive, I fully utilized the limited school-based tools at my disposal, but the situation worsened. When the individual’s behavior became more disruptive, I again requested that Dr. Murphy take action consistent with APS policies.
The Superintendent refused to exercise his responsibilities and expressed displeasure at me for bringing it to his attention. Nonetheless, when the situation became a potential safety concern, in the interests of the students and staff, I was obliged to persist in requesting Central Office action. After many months, I finally prevailed and forced action.
Although there was overwhelming documentation for removal, the individual was transferred to another school.
By Kevin Sieff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 3, 2011; 6:01 PM
For more than a year, Kathy Francis kept her struggles with Arlington County Superintendent Patrick K. Murphy to herself. And then on Tuesday, exhausted and demoralized, the principal of Williamsburg Middle School let the world know, firing off a sharply worded, 1,700-word resignation e-mail to 1,200 parents and teachers.
.......
School Board members and many parents, meanwhile, have voiced support for Murphy, who took over as superintendent in 2009. He was chosen as superintendent after a four-year stint as assistant superintendent of accountability for Fairfax County schools.
----
Excerpt from the resignation letter:
In summary, Dr. Murphy, and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Hobbs acting at his direction, has engaged in an ongoing series of actions to harass me and mischaracterize my performance and professional reputation in the hopes of encouraging my departure from APS.
These actions were taken in response to my fulfilling my responsibilities to ensure a safe learning environment at WMS and requesting that the Superintendent and Central Office take action on a longstanding and serious personnel situation at Williamsburg. That situation involved an individual with a well-documented, multiple year record of non-performance and who was extremely disruptive to the educational environment of the school.
Dr. Murphy refused to act and made it clear that he was concerned about the “perceptions†around such actions and, therefore, did not want difficult personnel matters brought to the Central Office. Following his directive, I fully utilized the limited school-based tools at my disposal, but the situation worsened. When the individual’s behavior became more disruptive, I again requested that Dr. Murphy take action consistent with APS policies.
The Superintendent refused to exercise his responsibilities and expressed displeasure at me for bringing it to his attention. Nonetheless, when the situation became a potential safety concern, in the interests of the students and staff, I was obliged to persist in requesting Central Office action. After many months, I finally prevailed and forced action.
Although there was overwhelming documentation for removal, the individual was transferred to another school.
Re: FCPS exporting its management approach to Arlington
Posted by:
tmill9
()
Date: February 04, 2011 08:41AM
Yep, sounds a lot like FCPS. Typical Admin position would be:
"don't bring me bad news or problems. I only want stories that will help promote the image that we are an outstanding"
"don't bring me bad news or problems. I only want stories that will help promote the image that we are an outstanding"
Re: FCPS exporting its management approach to Arlington
Posted by:
Herity
()
Date: February 04, 2011 09:16AM
They need a Michelle Rhee type. You have a better chance of winning the power ball than firing someone in Fairfax County. They have to do something criminal and even then it has to be for something really bad.
Re: FCPS exporting its management approach to Arlington
Posted by:
countygrunt
()
Date: February 04, 2011 10:27AM
Herity Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They need a Michelle Rhee type. You have a better
> chance of winning the power ball than firing
> someone in Fairfax County. They have to do
> something criminal and even then it has to be for
> something really bad.
You're full of shit, dude. I've worked for the county for 26 years and I've known dozens of guys that got canned. My wife drives a school bus and she says they're even worse.
You might be right about it being hard to fire big shots, but I've seen many a grunt get fired for next to nothing.
-------------------------------------------------------
> They need a Michelle Rhee type. You have a better
> chance of winning the power ball than firing
> someone in Fairfax County. They have to do
> something criminal and even then it has to be for
> something really bad.
You're full of shit, dude. I've worked for the county for 26 years and I've known dozens of guys that got canned. My wife drives a school bus and she says they're even worse.
You might be right about it being hard to fire big shots, but I've seen many a grunt get fired for next to nothing.
Re: FCPS exporting its management approach to Arlington
Posted by:
hmm
()
Date: February 04, 2011 10:42AM
No, youre full of shit...dude...I did 31 years with the county , nobody ever got fired for not doing their jobs, switched around, buried,promoted , but not fired. Most who did for various reasons got reinstated by the worthless civil service board.Fairfax loves to bury its head in the sand with worthless, marginal, and lame and lazy.
Re: FCPS exporting its management approach to Arlington
Posted by:
question???
()
Date: February 04, 2011 04:43PM
news reader Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> He was chosen as
> superintendent after a four-year stint as
> assistant superintendent of accountability for
> Fairfax County schools.
The Accountabilty function was zero'd out last year in FCPS. Anyone know why?
-------------------------------------------------------
> He was chosen as
> superintendent after a four-year stint as
> assistant superintendent of accountability for
> Fairfax County schools.
The Accountabilty function was zero'd out last year in FCPS. Anyone know why?
Re: FCPS exporting its management approach to Arlington
Posted by:
FCPS Board priorities are FUBAR
()
Date: February 04, 2011 05:55PM
question??? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Accountabilty function was zero'd out last year in FCPS. Anyone know why?<
Yeah, so that Dale could fund foreign language immersion instruction in 31 of 134
elementary schools. Or was it elementary school stringed instrument instruction?
We know it wasn't for COLAs for teachers or All day K at the 37 schools that don't have it yet.
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Accountabilty function was zero'd out last year in FCPS. Anyone know why?<
Yeah, so that Dale could fund foreign language immersion instruction in 31 of 134
elementary schools. Or was it elementary school stringed instrument instruction?
We know it wasn't for COLAs for teachers or All day K at the 37 schools that don't have it yet.