Dear Dr. Sirgo,
As former and current members of the Kensington-Parkwood Elementary School (KPES) community, we have several ethical and professional concerns and questions regarding the Principal and the Principal’s leadership at KPES. As the Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) Director of School Support and Improvement of Elementary Schools in the Churchill, Magruder, and Walter Johnson Clusters, including KPES, we would like to bring your attention to our questions and concerns.
Our ethical concerns include the impact of the Principal’s outside employment as a realtor, questions regarding use of school resources for outside employment, questions regarding use of professional time or paid leave for outside employment, and questions related to the adherence to MCPS policies and procedures concerning outside employment. These valid and relevant questions and concerns are directly related to expectations for employee conduct presented in the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct.
These concerns are compounded because we believe they impact the leadership and effectiveness of our principal.
We have professional concerns regarding communication, collaboration, participation, visibility, transparency, responsiveness, community engagement, and information sharing. These professional concerns are directly related to the leadership standards, criteria, and descriptive examples for principals as outlined in the MCPS Administrative & Supervisory Professional Growth System Handbook.
Regretfully, we do not believe that it is possible to have these questions answered or concerns addressed at the school level. Additionally, several of our concerns rise to a level that necessitates they be brought to your attention and the attention of the MCPS Board of Education.
We believe our questions and concerns need to be taken seriously, and if they are founded, then efforts need to be made to address any impact they are having on our children's ability to realize their full potential as students, on our KP teacher's and staff's ability to realize their full potential and be empowered to be the best educators they can be, and on our entire KP school community from moving KP forward to be the best elementary school we could possibly be.
Therefore, we seek answers to our questions, a response to our concerns, and a path forward to address our concerns.
We look forward to your prompt attention to our community’s questions and concerns.
Signed:
44 Comments
KP parent for 10 years. 2.5 to go and counting. I completely disengaged from the school when nothing was done about the complaints 4 years ago. The professionalism and quality of Principals at NBMS and WJHS show how at risk KP is. Thank goodness for KPES quality teachers that have stuck it out for the children since private school isn't an option.
The information provided by Mr. Bonetti warrants investigation. We are new parents to the school and so far have been unimpressed by the lack of communication by the school administration. Of note, I was shocked that the school held lockdown drills without notifying the parents they were happening so that we could be prepared to answer questions from our kindergartner.
Current KPES parents. It does concern us at a basic level that the principal is also a professional Realtor; we would like to believe doing both successfully is possible, but see nothing wrong in asking questions about this commitment.
This issues deserves a full accounting and we do not appreciate the attacks on Mr. Bonetti who should be afforded whistleblower protection.
We pulled our three children out of KP and moved them to private school directly due to the ineffective leadership of Principal Leiss. For nearly two years, we tried to advocate for our children to no avail. Other families have and will continue to be affected in the way we were if Principal Leiss is not held accountable. Please listen to our concerns and act on them.
Our child attends KPES and I am very concerned about what I have read and feel a complete investigation is warranted. From my experience, I feel the principal could strongly work on her ability to listen to parents when they have concerns and make everyone feel welcomed at KPES.
I do think that there were lack of communication for the recent KP player program. I don't know if it's related with the raised issues here.
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Dear Dr. Sirgo,
As former and current members of the Kensington-Parkwood Elementary School (KPES) community, we have several ethical and professional concerns and questions regarding the Principal and the Principal’s leadership at KPES. As the Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) Director of School Support and Improvement of Elementary Schools in the Churchill, Magruder, and Walter Johnson Clusters, including KPES, we would like to bring your attention to our questions and concerns.
Our ethical concerns include the impact of the Principal’s outside employment as a realtor, questions regarding use of school resources for outside employment, questions regarding use of professional time or paid leave for outside employment, and questions related to the adherence to MCPS policies and procedures concerning outside employment. These valid and relevant questions and concerns are directly related to expectations for employee conduct presented in the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct.
These concerns are compounded because we believe they impact the leadership and effectiveness of our principal.
We have professional concerns regarding communication, collaboration, participation, visibility, transparency, responsiveness, community engagement, and information sharing. These professional concerns are directly related to the leadership standards, criteria, and descriptive examples for principals as outlined in the MCPS Administrative & Supervisory Professional Growth System Handbook.
Regretfully, we do not believe that it is possible to have these questions answered or concerns addressed at the school level. Additionally, several of our concerns rise to a level that necessitates they be brought to your attention and the attention of the MCPS Board of Education.
We believe our questions and concerns need to be taken seriously, and if they are founded, then efforts need to be made to address any impact they are having on our children's ability to realize their full potential as students, on our KP teacher's and staff's ability to realize their full potential and be empowered to be the best educators they can be, and on our entire KP school community from moving KP forward to be the best elementary school we could possibly be.
Therefore, we seek answers to our questions, a response to our concerns, and a path forward to address our concerns.
We look forward to your prompt attention to our community’s questions and concerns.
Signed:
44 Comments
Please investigate these concerns. If true, they would help explain the poor communication, minimization of real problems, and lack of engagement demonstrated by the KP administration that we have seen for past 4 years.
KP parent for 10 years. 2.5 to go and counting. I completely disengaged from the school when nothing was done about the complaints 4 years ago. The professionalism and quality of Principals at NBMS and WJHS show how at risk KP is. Thank goodness for KPES quality teachers that have stuck it out for the children since private school isn't an option.
The information provided by Mr. Bonetti warrants investigation. We are new parents to the school and so far have been unimpressed by the lack of communication by the school administration. Of note, I was shocked that the school held lockdown drills without notifying the parents they were happening so that we could be prepared to answer questions from our kindergartner.
Current KPES parents. It does concern us at a basic level that the principal is also a professional Realtor; we would like to believe doing both successfully is possible, but see nothing wrong in asking questions about this commitment.
This issues deserves a full accounting and we do not appreciate the attacks on Mr. Bonetti who should be afforded whistleblower protection.
We pulled our three children out of KP and moved them to private school directly due to the ineffective leadership of Principal Leiss. For nearly two years, we tried to advocate for our children to no avail. Other families have and will continue to be affected in the way we were if Principal Leiss is not held accountable. Please listen to our concerns and act on them.
Our child attends KPES and I am very concerned about what I have read and feel a complete investigation is warranted. From my experience, I feel the principal could strongly work on her ability to listen to parents when they have concerns and make everyone feel welcomed at KPES.
I do think that there were lack of communication for the recent KP player program. I don't know if it's related with the raised issues here.
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Please investigate these concerns. If true, they would help explain the poor communication, minimization of real problems, and lack of engagement demonstrated by the KP administration that we have seen for past 4 years.