The search is on for a new principal at Justice High School
Fairfax County Public Schools has begun the process of finding a new principal for Justice High School, following the announcement that Tiffany Narcisse is leaving.
FCPS Region 2 Assistant Superintendent Megan Vroman will host a virtual meeting for staff and community members on Tuesday, March 12, at 6 p.m., to discuss the hiring process and answer questions. Click here to join the meeting on Zoom.
Narcisse has received extensive criticism for a tone-deaf tweet following the fatal overdose of Justice 10th grader Madeline Valeria Moran Centeno in December.
The principal published a smiling selfie on Twitter, stating “Losing a student is never easy for a building principal. Still smiling. Still standing. Still leading. Still teaching, learning, and growing.”
Related story: Justice HS overdose victim identified
Many in the Justice community expressed outrage that Narcisse seemed to make that tragedy all about herself.
“Nobody with this little self-awareness and emotional intelligence should be in charge of leading vulnerable teenagers,” reads one comment on Lake Link, the newsletter for the Lake Barcroft community.
A petition seeking the removal of Narcisse drew this comment: “She is self-centered, egotistical, and insensitive. A child died, and she uses the situation to say how great she is.”
According to a Justice parent, students taped multiple copies of the tweet on the school’s walls.
Narcisse has been principal of Justice since July 1, 2021. Before that, she was a middle school principal in Houston. She is expected to stay at Justice until the end of the year and says she accepted a job as a high school principal in Bahrain.
The leaders of the parent-teacher associations at all the schools in the Justice High School pyramid sent a letter to Superintendent Michelle Reid and other FCPS leaders outlining an extensive list of the characteristics, abilities, and experience they would like to see in the next Justice principal.
Justice High School is going through its fifth principal selection process in 12 years. “Given this track record, we must more closely consider how our system selects and supports our administrators and how well our school community is really understood,” the letter states.
Related story: Town hall at Justice High School addresses fentanyl overdoses
“This revolving door of administrators has been detrimental to Justice High School’s ability to build continuity of effectiveness and further magnifies the negative perceptions of our school,” the letter continues. This situation has also made it harder to retain high-quality teachers and maintain staff morale.
The PTA leaders urge FCPS to expand the principal selection process to include more input from all sectors of the Justice community.
They urge FCPS to select candidates who “understand the Justice High School community and student population, particularly students for whom English is not a first language, students who have advanced academic expectations, students with disabilities, students whose life experiences are reflective of the span of our socioeconomic spectrum from poor to wealthy, and students whose family backgrounds span the education completion spectrum from grade school to doctorates.”
They also recommend that FCPS produce candidates who can “create an inclusive environment that is rooted in both empathy and high expectations,” who will promote community outreach and family engagement, and who can handle crises effectively.
The letter was signed by Justice PTSA President Kim Lanoue; the PTA presidents at Glasgow Middle School and Bailey’s, Beech Tree, Belvedere, Parklawn, and Sleepy Hollow elementary schools; and the Glen Forest Elementary School PTO president.
As much as I don’t want to loose him, Victor Powell from Glasgow would be amazing. He has proven himself to be an incredibly effective leader at Glasgow. I would love to see him be able to take the next step in his career as a high school principal while also staying in our pyramid.
I’ve heard nothing but complaints about the Glasgow principal and they’ve had a revolving door of teachers leaving because of his leadership. Look at how many teachers have left in the past two years.
There is a relatively high teacher attrition rate in general over the past few years. What I have seen is he has taken every step in his power to address key issues that have come up – when the halls became overcrowded, he removed every locker he could. When there were more fights in the halls, he has positioned safety officers at every key hallway intersection during class breaks. And while I can’t speak for the teachers, the interactions between him and the teachers that I have seen have been extremely professional, courteous, and respectful. This much is for sure: Glasgow is a challenging environment to teach. It is a HUGE Title 1 school (largest middle school in va) and has a ton of need.
Don’t get me wrong though… I would love to keep Mr Powell where he is :-). But if he wants to “move up”, I’d love for this to be the time so we keep him in the pyramid.
Same here. I was grateful that my son was at the tail end of 8th grade and didn’t have him as principal any longer. All the wonderful special Ed teachers we’d worked with for our three years at Glasgow left because of changes Powell implemented.
I was unimpressed with Mr. Powell while our child was at Glasgow (now in 9th grade). He seemed very focused on things that were surface/image focused and not so much on the underlying issues. For example–girls would be sent to the “reset room” for their clothing (even though it did not actually violate the dress code), but the boys who were sexually harassing girls were not punished.
Girls were reporting repeat offenders (on their own behalf and when they saw others being harassed), with details and specifics, and nothing happened. Boys even bragged about how they could do whatever they wanted or got scolded but no actual punishment (no reset room for them!).
I spoke to Mr. Powell about my concerns and although it seemed like a good conversation, nothing changed. He may be a great principal for the boys, not so much the girls.
Victor Powell is TERRIBLE. Glasgow has become completely unsafe under him. He does not address safety, discounts concerns, is terrible to the faculty. It is one of the worse schools in the states.
I truly hope that he sees your message and he sues you for defamation of character. I really do. You were never in the building. You do not know what he did to address the safety in the school. You do not know That he was pushing for title one so he could hire additional security To keep the children safe. You do not know the measures that he took All throughout the years and pushed them in staff meetings. He does not discount your concerns especially since he was at numerous PT meetings addressing your concerns.
And then your comment that he is terrible to the faculty. The biggest BS lie I’ve ever seen on this page. He is great to the faculty. He was great to the students. He got to know every staff member and every student and got to know about them not just as a student or faculty member but as a person.
And here you come waddling along slamming his character behind his back. I truly hope you get sued for defamation of character and slander
As a former Glasgow teacher, this is untrue. Ask current and former teachers, they are leaving because of him.
I’m a former Glasgow teacher. And one that was there for YEARS. Through MANY different administrations. He was the best I’ve seen.
You were saying?
Stop spewing your BS and promoting it as the truth.
The fact that you are calling yourself Pinocchio is really all anyone needs to know. As a current staff member, I can tell you MANY people (staff, students, families) are dissatisfied with the lack of leadership at Glasgow. If you truly felt it was the best leadership you’ve seen, why did YOU leave? Admitting your departure under this administration does not support your assertions. The truth is that the environment is an unhealthy, unhappy and unsafe one and there will be another wave of turnover of something is not done to address the climate at Glasgow.
I’d be glad to answer your questions.
“If you truly felt it was the best leadership you’ve seen, why did YOU leave?”
I had a chance to advance in my career which I had looked to do prior to his arrival (and prior to Madigan’s and prior to DeRose’s). When I had the opportunity, I took it. Just because I departed does not mean I hold ill will against anyone there. That community is great. I have some great memories there. I had not felt supported as a teacher much until Powell’s administration. Madigan wasn’t bad, but I did not enjoy DeRose’s administration at all. It was an opportunity that presented itself and I accepted it. It’s been a good experience.
“Admitting your departure under this administration does not support your assertions.”
Not necessarily. As stated above I left in order to advance my career. Let me ask you this question. You’re given a chance to grow. A chance to experience a new adventure that you’ve wanted for years. Do you pass it up to continue at your current location? The unknown will make many people uncomfortable. Could I have stayed? Sure. As I stated before, he IS outstanding.
“The truth is that the environment is an unhealthy, unhappy and unsafe one and there will be another wave of turnover of something is not done to address the climate at Glasgow”
Wrong. There will ALWAYS be turnover. No matter where you go in life. When Tangy Millard and Deirdre Lavery left – there was turnover. When Jim O’Brien filled in as an interim Principal, there was turnover. When Penny Gros left, there was turnover. When Shawn DeRose left, there was turnover. When Katie Madigan left, there was turnover. Turnover will happen. It’s a natural part of life.
Teachers sat in their classroom during transition instead of being present in the hallways. They did the same on their planning periods. They were asked to step out for 5 minutes to help make sure the hallways were supervised and clear, yet time and again they didn’t. Is that Victor’s fault? He gave the expectations in the first staff meeting to start the 2022-2023 School year. You had teachers not following directive nor being consistent. They were asked to emphasize the “off and away for the day” for cell phone and electronic use, but teachers would not be consistent with that. Is that Victor’s fault as well?
He was present in the hallways. He walked students who weren’t following instructions to class. He responded QUICKLY to requests for help. He was present with the PTA Meetings.
As I can tell by the tone of your response, you were one of those teachers who did not follow directives. You must have been one of those teachers who spent time being divisive and turning teachers on teachers; teachers on students; teachers on administration; and teachers on staff. Toxicity like that will never breed success.
Try to be a little more positive in life. You live life once.
Methinks the lady doth protest too much
I truly hope you get sued for defamation of character and slander. What you just stated is completely false. Which if you knew the definition of slander and defamation of character you will know violated that.
When you state that he does not address safety, discounts concerns and is terrible to the faculty it just goes to show you you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Let’s go point by point
He “does not address safety”
Wrong. It just goes to show that a person who was not in the building has no idea what they’re talking about. It was written in the guidelines for all staff last year and in previous years that they were to be outside of their classroom at their doorway supervising the hallway as well as on their off periods having a duty such as hallway duty or lunchroom duty to make sure that the students were safe. The problem is you had a lot of teachers who were outside in the doorway rather we’re sitting at their desk staring at their computer not doing what they were told. Is this Victor‘s fault? No . It is the teachers who were not doing what they were supposed to. He also pushed for the school to become a title one school which it had not been and was able to security so that the students would be safe. Last year they started off with two security Staff and jumped up to four. If I’m not mistaken four is more than two therefore he worked to get it stronger.
He “discounts concerns”
Yet again false statement. Not only did he attend all the PTA meetings but he did send out messages to the staff for feedback on how to improve the building building. It’s no shock to me that parent that doesn’t go in the building or a person who doesn’t work in the building can open up his mouth and run it all over the place when they don’t know what was going on in the building. He would take those and work on them to make the school stronger.
He is “terrible to the faculty”
This is the biggest bullshit lie I’ve ever seen. As a faculty member I have seen firsthand how he cares about the students and every faculty member in the school you have never been in the meetings. You’ve never seen the fact that he’s gone out to the community to make the community stronger. Not only does he get to know the students name and who they are, he gets to know the teachers in the faculty by name And who they are. He has done everything he can to continuously improve the school. But here you are Mr. keyboard warrior hiding behind your keyboard when you’ve never stepped foot inside the school as an educator nor have you seen what he’s done and you come out and slam him.
I truly hope he sues you for defamation of character and slander
Wait, let me get this straight. Are you hoping Mr. Powell sues Pinocchio for defamation of character and slander?
No. I’m hoping he sues “John M.” For Defamation of Character and Slander
Good riddance. Tiffany has caused nothing but problems at Justice and in the pyramid. She destroyed everything previous staff worked so hard for when Maria Eck was principal. She pushed out every single good and caring staff member known to the school community. The majority of her “Amazing 8” (administrators) are horrible and need to go, too. We need a strong, competent, and compassionate principal who genuinely cares about the community and will go above and beyond to support it. The school, community, and the pyramid deserve better. Justice needs competence, not social politics.
Tiffany will be missed by many on the faculty. She helped Justice increase staff diversity, was respectful to teachers and radiated positivity.
And not missed by many, many, many others. And the kids will be better off. Hope she makes all that money she’s been gunning for over in Bahrain.
How Many do you really think we miss her?
From everything I’ve heard she will not be missed.
Especially making a comment about still smiling after a student’s death. Pretty screwed up if you ask me
When I first saw an article about her egomaniacal Twitter post, I assumed it was a fictional satire piece from “The Onion” or some such publication – after all, the name Narcisse along with the absurdly narcissistic words etc. But no, it’s all true! So glad my kids did not study there under her “leadership.” Regarding her departure, did she jump or was she pushed?
And that’s what you get you hire teachers and principals based on DEI nonsense instead of the things that actually matter….. qualifications, merit and ability.
I’m amazed that a stable genius like yourself doesn’t know how teachers and principals are hired. Go sit down clown.
It’s disheartening to see so many negative remarks being shared here. Leading a school like Justice (and Glasgow) is challenging. Ms. Narcisse took on a demanding role, and I appreciate her willingness to try and her dedication. As a parent, not an educator, I can’t definitively judge her performance, but I’ve appreciated her visibility and open communication with parents. My children are doing well, but I also recognize that we have the resources (and privilege) at home to help with their success. I hope that others will extend gratitude for Ms. Narcisse’s efforts and wish her well.
You were not there to witness and experience how bad and out-of-control things were for educators and the students. Narcisse barely tried to make things better because she did not care. Don’t believe me? Ask the students at JHS and they will tell you the whole truth. Matter of fact, look what she did on Twitter and follow the digital footprint of that. Some of you parents need to wake up and smell the coffee of what’s really going on in your child’s school.