Re: Woodson Principal Jeff Yost Retires.
Posted by:
Butterscotch
()
Date: June 13, 2021 08:03PM
I have no doubt that Mr. Yost was an average classroom teacher. The question is, was he qualified to be a principal? I daresay he was not. Please realize that we live in a very politically active area. Teachers appear to get promoted to assistant principal, and then make it to a principal position, based upon popularity with parents.
Mr. Yost had the opportunity to change several lives at Woodson. However, he chose to do what was immediately best for his popularity rating. He sent many children to traumatic expulsion trials, and literally ruined their lives. These trials may have been initiated by unqualified assistant principals, but the fact remains, that Mr. Yost signed off on each and every expulsion trial that was brought his way. Nick Stuben, many he rest in peace, was the real victim in this situation.
Mr. Yost was not more or less qualified than any other administrator at WT Woodson High School. Adam Entenberg was an assistant principal at Woodson for years until his retirement a few years ago. In my opinion, he was not qualified to be an assistant principal either. He always agreed with the majority of parents in each situation, which was Mr. Yost's method as well. I really thought that Mr. Entenberg was on his way to becoming a principal in FCPS. I wonder if his retirement was "forced" as Mr. Yost's was. Or did he merely retire early to collect a pension and then earn a salary in the Arlington school system?
Now they are both out of FCPS, and teaching in the classroom, where they can no longer traumatize and hurt students' feelings by their inability to look at students as individuals. Just because a student does not have an IEP or 504 does not mean their families don't need a little understanding.
I can see from this thread that people think this is some sort of popularity contest. There are fans of Jeff Yost. There are haters of Jeff Yost. He was a person who had a job that he was not intelligent enough to handle. Just look at the quality of educators today. It is no wonder that there are not enough smart people to promote into administration.
Again, it appeared to be the same situation with Adam Entenberg. He should have never left the classroom. Assistant principal Amanda Burke was the same way, but she is still at Woodson. I think she must have been very introspective into her flaws to retain her position.
Seriously, I wish they would share the numbers of recommendations for expulsions and the numbers of principal-vetoed expulsions. We do not need names, but the public has a right to know. How common is this? Why are unqualified administrators making final decisions regarding expulsion trials? Why are principals merely signing off on these decisions? How many kids from Woodson and other schools experienced an expulsion trial this past school year? How many?
It is common knowledge that children at WT Woodson barely sleep at night. They are incredibly pushed. The AP homework load at Woodson is unfairly brutal. At other schools, children can take a full load of AP course and do a few hours of homework each night. Woodson prides itself on having a very high success rate of AP scores. This is a false statistic based upon too much homework so that minorities and others cannot take these courses.
The stress at that school is tremendous. There are a great group of children there because people moved here who value education. But who really wants to be a teacher nowadays? There is a teacher shortage for a reason. How on Earth can you expect administrators to be the smartest of people?