Rumor has it that Principal Mark Merrell (Madison High School) is planning to retire soon. Everyone in the community knows that it's about time. Let's see - he is a consultant "off hours" at E4ae Consulting LLC - his company does business M-F 8:30 am - 5 pm. Many of his students have never seen him - gee, I wonder why. Drugs are rampant at the school - the kids know it, the community knows it, the Vienna Town Council knows it. The PTA Pres is worried about "home values", so she won't rat on him - how sick is that? Parents are afraid to speak out against him because he is very VINDICTIVE and will punish their kids -- as he did to the girl cut from volleyball because her mother reported a drug deal. He lied to her, and lied to the public. Everyone knows the score and prays that this principal who was expelled himself for drugs from this very same school will see the way to the Exit sign. Word of warning from anyone moving to the region - the SAT scores look good at this school - but stay away - this principal sucks and drugs are rampant at this school (just read the blogs from the kids). In case you are wondering why this principal is still there after all these years, he is one of the Superintendent's good ole boys...part of the Communist regime. The Superintendent is leaving next July, so Merrell's cover will be gone - so there is still hope for our children.

Scott?! I thought you were banned! GTFO

Next year, he'll be coaching girls' basketball at LB.

JOKE! Whiny parents need not start in again.

And we thought you moved here because of the schools, try again

Thank god I can afford private school.

FCPS sounds scary!

I totally concur with the opinion of the poster. This man is a bully to kids AND parents. As chairman of the high school principals association, Merrill was instrumental in getting video cameras placed in as many schools as possible last year. He hired a former marine as an assistant principal in 2005, and put him in charge of special education and students who had discipline problems, (often the former contributing to the later). This man was Another bully who refused to allow recording of meetings with him, left IEP meetings when he wasn't getting his way, and glowered across the table in a very menacing posture toward parents, students, and other personnel. Thankfully this man left Madison after one year and landed as principal at Eastern High School in D.C., where his aggressive nature led him to participate in a fist fight with a student. He was relieved of his post immediately. Merrell would no doubt rehire him if he had the chance. High school under this man's control was a total waste for my son.

How bad could he be? He's been there since 2001, 11 years is alot of time to be principal at a high school.


Welcome to JMHS
http://www.fcps.edu/MadisonHS/about/principal.html

A staple of the Vienna community, we have proudly served Fairfax County by educating and preparing global citizens since 1959. For over 50 years, we have challenged students to meet and exceed their potential abilities in their academic, artistic, and athletic endeavors. We establish great expectations for our students, and work tirelessly to ensure their success.

A can-do attitude of Rigor, Relevance & Relationships permeates throughout the entire educational program at JMHS. We offer a variety of activities and programs which are carefully designed to encourage our students to maximize their personal growth and development.
Rigor
Our courses are tailored to meet the needs of students of all abilities. We implement a curriculum which challenges students to creatively and critically think, to experiment with variables and ideas, and to explore new concepts while learning from lessons past. Through our well-established Professional Learning Communities (PLC), our teachers make data-driven instructional decisions. By utilizing frequent assessments designed to gauge student understanding, teachers can determine what levels of enrichment, extension, and/or remediation may be necessary for their students. Collaborative teams of teachers meet weekly to ascertain how to continually provide a demanding instructional program while still maintaining an attitude of joy for learning for our students. We want graduates to leave Madison High School with the tools needed to be successful and productive citizens of the world.
Relevance
Learning becomes more meaningful to students when instruction can be made applicable to the personal lives of students and to events taking place across the globe. To that end, we strive to ensure that our students can make meaningful connections between what is taught in the classroom and how that may relate to them personally, or to current or past events. A lively classroom discussion about how to assist a Third World country quickly can become an actual fundraiser bringing in thousands of dollars for humanitarian aid. We provide dozens of extracurricular activities with the mindset that our students look for different opportunities to support their personal interests.
Relationships
No amount of tangible resources can replace the one variable needed to ensure student success – the teacher/student relationship. We aim to hire only excellent teachers because we understand that the teacher is the single most decisive element in the classroom. At Madison High School, we are committed to overcoming challenges because we know that teachers and students working collaboratively together can achieve any goal. Our teachers model traits of respect, responsibility and civility to our students and, in turn, our students are expected to reciprocate the behaviors. Our teachers understand that our students are filled with limitless potential and they are ready to take risks, but only if the learning environment is safe, friendly, and nurturing. You will find JMHS teachers serving as mentors and coaches to our students. We want our students to know and feel that they are valued and cared for by the adults responsible for their education. We do not underestimate the sheer power of relationships in making James Madison High School an excellent place to learn and grow.

Mark A. Merrell
mamerrell@fcps.edu
(703) 319-2313
mamerrell@fcps.edu

Merrell was a total dick to people and kids that he didn't like as far back as 20 years ago when he was a teacher at JMHS. I was a student there in the 90's and most of the kids hated him. While I can't speak to how he runs the school now, tigers can't change their stripes and I'm sure he's still a prick.

I can't argue most of your points because I don't know the current situation, however, you are making things up and spreading rumors if you say he was expelled as he was certainly not expelled from madison. Can't say he graduated with honors, but wasn't expelled. This falsity highly discredits you.

Guess no one remembers that Merrell was sleeping with students when he was a teacher, and actually ended up marrying one when she got a little older. Hope she has kept her eye on him over the years.

PS - That school is cooked from the top down. The DSA (Link) and some coaches (Pudge et al) make side cash over camps and deals with sports and food venders.

MadisonLOL Wrote:
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> Guess no one remembers that Merrell was sleeping
> with students when he was a teacher, and actually
> ended up marrying one when she got a little older.
> Hope she has kept her eye on him over the years.


Oh, I remember that. It was well known by students.

Merrell should go as should Pudge and the rest of those dick lickers. Pudge never played Majors as a Little Leaguer. What a loser.

It is unbelievable the amount of lies, gossip, and falsehoods a bunch of haters will spread on the internet. Get your facts straight before you bash school officials online in a forum where they do not have the opportunity to defend themselves.

Each of the men you've named have backbones who have the ability to say the word "no" to whiny and self-entitled parents and kids. So, the only way to get revenge is by bashing them online and telling lies to slander their reputations. A+ for cowardice behavior, assholes.

"Unbelievable" - I know for a fact that everything I wrote is true. Tell Merrell, Link, or Pudge -- when you report back to them -- that they are fucking lucky that they haven't been arrested.

Is Pudge still selling $300 baseball gloves out of the back of his car?

With unbelievable. The biggest travesty in this area are parents who will make any and all excuses for their children. Your daughter not that good at volleyball and is cut? Blame someone else. Drugs are rampant at the school? Blame the school. How about parents role in their kids? Is it really the schools problem that the kids are on drugs? Yes, the school needs to help prevent and do what they can to not have it going on at school, but is it not the role of the parents more than the school to ensure that your children are doing the right thing?

Stop making excuses for your kids and stop trying to be their best friend. Be their mother and father, for a change.

Hey genius, most coaches in the county make money off of sports camps.

Which of you have the balls to try to be a school principal these days? MadisonLOL? Chipmunk? Let's see, job duties:

work 70+ hours a week (Merrell is at 100+ after-school events a year)
have a thankless job (ok, maybe a couple people on here seem thankful)
have to put up with your kids' sense of entitlement?
have to put up with parents who believe their kids 90% of the time over honest teachers
have to put up with pay freezes for you and your teachers for years on end
have to argue with dumb ass new school board members who want to make schools less safe for 99.5% of all kids
have to put up with ridiculous rumors all the time

AND, oh by the way, lead the education of your kids to a level that wins all kinds of national awards right and left (which Madison does every year)

This guy deserves a medal for putting up with all that, and still having to deal with liars like chipmunk and MadisonLOL every other day. I'd rather you two just said thank you and shut the fuck up.

chipmunk Wrote:
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> Rumor has it that Principal Mark Merrell (Madison
> High School)


It's Madison Time



Fairfaxunderground rules: Lilliputions, not ok. Midgettville ok. I got it now.

who cares

Merrell was expelled for smoking. This is fact. This is public knowledge. Everyone makes mistakes but he has been hypocritical regarding drugs etc. He is very vindictive to those no aligned with the "Madison way", protect your own. Coaches make side money... so... its thier way of life.

ha ha ha Wrote:
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> Thank god I can afford private school.
>
> FCPS sounds scary!


And just where do you think the drug dealers expelled from FCPS end up?

ha ha ha Wrote:
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> Thank god I can afford private school.
>
> FCPS sounds scary!


Exactly

He was also kicked off the basketball team for smoking, guess it was same incident. After college he was hired as an assistant bball coach, by the coach that kicked him off, then he backstabbed that coach to get the head coach position, with the backing of the parents of a couple of really good big men, one of whom played at Stanford, maybe both of them can't remember. He was a good coach when he had a couple of Div 1 players, once they graduated he wasn't so good! So, he "navigated" his way into admin. Reminds one of some policticians

To really know how good an administrator he's been ask the teachers, they know what's going on.

MadisonLOL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Guess no one remembers that Merrell was sleeping
> with students when he was a teacher, and actually
> ended up marrying one when she got a little older.
> Hope she has kept her eye on him over the years.


Oh, I remember that. It was well known by students.


Not to worry...pretty common knowledge she's boinking a neighbor she's known for years.

He is an ass. He absolutely slept with a student while he was teaching in 1986. It is well known. He is also incredibly vindictive. I do know that he is also quite the pussy. I am a completely different guy than I was in high school, but I got in his face and threatened him off school grounds and he stood there like a little bitch and did everything he could to keep me from graduating. I managed to graduate with my class but when my much younger brother came thru the same school years later, Merrel gave him a really hard time. My brother was raised in a much better home enviroment than myself and was a great student without ever having been in trouble. Really good kid. I would still punch him in the face for that all these years later if I thought I could do it without being arrested. Pudge is pretty cool IMO.

this guy has been at this schoolforever

Merrell was the principal at Madison all four years I was there, so I really got to see his lack of care for the students (unless you're a stud athlete). I vividly remember walking in the hall one day and he was passing me. We were the only ones in the hallway and he didn't say a word. He didn't even look at me. But of course, when my friend who was a stud athlete wanted to quit his sport his senior year, Merrell pulled him into his office to convince him otherwise. Merrell cares about himself and his ego, nothing more. I will give it to him, though, that he shows unconditional love for his daughter. Hopefully she becomes a stud athlete!

Oh...and lets not forget to mention that practically the entire administrative and security staff (Merrell, Lingenfelter, Pudge....and Kuhblank of course wishes) are all a part of their own little "good ole boys" club. People that like these guys...please stop. You look like a dumbass.

Merrell doesn't do shit at the school. The TEACHERS do.

Never Cared Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Merrell was the principal at Madison all four
> years I was there, so I really got to see his lack
> of care for the students (unless you're a stud
> athlete). I vividly remember walking in the hall
> one day and he was passing me. We were the only
> ones in the hallway and he didn't say a word. He
> didn't even look at me. But of course, when my
> friend who was a stud athlete wanted to quit his
> sport his senior year, Merrell pulled him into his
> office to convince him otherwise. Merrell cares
> about himself and his ego, nothing more. I will
> give it to him, though, that he shows
> unconditional love for his daughter. Hopefully she
> becomes a stud athlete!

Par for the course. Merrell has created a really lousy environment at Madison for anyone who's not in the in crowd. I hear parents are furious and that Marshall is better than Madison these days.

Downhill School Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Never Cared Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Merrell was the principal at Madison all four
> > years I was there, so I really got to see his
> lack
> > of care for the students (unless you're a stud
> > athlete). I vividly remember walking in the
> hall
> > one day and he was passing me. We were the only
> > ones in the hallway and he didn't say a word.
> He
> > didn't even look at me. But of course, when my
> > friend who was a stud athlete wanted to quit
> his
> > sport his senior year, Merrell pulled him into
> his
> > office to convince him otherwise. Merrell cares
> > about himself and his ego, nothing more. I will
> > give it to him, though, that he shows
> > unconditional love for his daughter. Hopefully
> she
> > becomes a stud athlete!
>
> Par for the course. Merrell has created a really
> lousy environment at Madison for anyone who's not
> in the in crowd. I hear parents are furious and
> that Marshall is better than Madison these days.

Two Madison kids got into Harvard last year and two got into MIT. But that wouldn't matter to this crowd.

Merrill is undergoing a mental breakdown while on the job at Madison HS. This could be his swan song. He plans retirement next year, but since his heart attack last year, he's exhibiting signs of instability to staff. Stay tuned to this thread.

http://m.insidenova.com/news/education/fairfax/madison-principal-merrell-to-retire-over-summer/article_bcb95778-18f1-11e5-a39b-b7d9b2da1287.html?mode=jqm

He is done Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> http://m.insidenova.com/news/education/fairfax/mad
> ison-principal-merrell-to-retire-over-summer/artic
> le_bcb95778-18f1-11e5-a39b-b7d9b2da1287.html?mode=
> jqm


Why was Mr. Hernandez sent packing? He was the best math teacher at Madison.

yea rigth teaching elementary math requires "skill"

only if proper grammar is required in the making of new word problems !

a line that was in the same way as the other line was called:

parallel. you fail.

Dvw7t Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yea rigth teaching elementary math requires
> "skill"
>
> only if proper grammar is required in the making
> of new word problems !


BC Calculus is not "elementary math" for most people.

Thank God he is retiring. It is well know that the "supporters" on this site of Pig Vomit are part of his 'crew'. Yes, he slept with students as a teacher and married one - and has continued to do so... Yes, his current wife is banging someone else. Yes, he is very vindictive to both students, parents, and his staff. Yes, he has - and continues doing drugs. Yes, he instituted a no fail policy that no kid gets a zero, but a 58% on work they don't turn-in and is gamed by the students. Yes, many teachers had 'silent' parties celebrating his retirement.

Question is - why was it so sudden??? Makes you think what is trying to be hidden.

he worked there for a while. He was there when I went to Madison from 2004-2008

So teachers at that school don't support the 53% Rule? Mount Vernon Also has that rule and by quarter F went down by 50% but sols scores stayed about the same.... Hopefully Nardous king lives so they can go back the normal grading scale


Peter Parker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank God he is retiring. It is well know that
> the "supporters" on this site of Pig Vomit are
> part of his 'crew'. Yes, he slept with students
> as a teacher and married one - and has continued
> to do so... Yes, his current wife is banging
> someone else. Yes, he is very vindictive to both
> students, parents, and his staff. Yes, he has -
> and continues doing drugs. Yes, he instituted a no
> fail policy that no kid gets a zero, but a 58% on
> work they don't turn-in and is gamed by the
> students. Yes, many teachers had 'silent' parties
> celebrating his retirement.
>
> Question is - why was it so sudden??? Makes you
> think what is trying to be hidden.

2004-2008 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> he worked there for a while. He was there when I
> went to Madison from 2004-2008


Shoot, he was a teacher there in the early 90's. Allegedly fucked a student then too.

who gives a shit why Merrell is leaving. the important thing to those of us who still go to Madison is who will take his place. rumor is Azimi

I go to Madison and my art teacher told us in the few months the new principal has been here he visited more times to her class than Marrell did the whole time he was principal. Isnt that hilarious? And Im kinda sad it wasnt Azimi but I heard the school board didnt want him in cause Marrell had trained him on how to become a principal like him XD.

jxWyt