Holton brain drain?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The head of MS was at NCS as a teacher (or at least not in leadership). She got a job at Holton in leadership. She is taking the same job at NCS. Her heart is at NCS. There wasn't an opening at NCS so she went to Holton. Now she is going back. Has nothing to do with the head.

We are a long-time Holton family. There are ups and downs. I will take Holton any day over my son's school. Trust me. As I always say, if you have questions or concerns, instead of posting to an anonymous forum, reach out to the people in lower school. Reach out to development. If you don't get responses (or if you don't like the responses - or maybe they are fine for you but don't work for someone else), then make your decision based on what works for you.

No school is perfect. After three very different kids and three different private schools, there is no perfect school for everyone. It is about the fit for your child at that point in time. We love Holton, b/c it works for our kid who is currently there. Truth be told, I wanted to pull her in 8th grade. She refused to leave. She was right. Upper school has been great for her. BUT, it fits for her, and some of her unique circumstances.

Interested in why your daughter fought to stay and why it ended up being a good fit?

[Anonymous]

Maybe the same people who keep starting new threads and keep dumping on new Holton HOS would be better off finding a new hobby. Not very courageous to write childish, negative anonymous content continuously. Maybe raise your issues through conversations with school leadership and not attempt to bully through anonymous comments here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For current parents, please check how many students will be in a class. A new move is to have more students per teacher. There will be 18 or more students per subject.

It sounds like they are going to be overenrolled. Good for Holton, but not so good for the Bradley Boulevard Citizens Association who get very touchy when the enrollment cap is not followed. Just ask GDS how chill Tenlytown was when they did the same thing and didn’t report it.

No, not talking about over enrollment, having the same total number of students but each classroom size will be bigger with 1 teacher. Ratio of student to teacher will deteriorate, especially in Language dept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the same people who keep starting new threads and keep dumping on new Holton HOS would be better off finding a new hobby. Not very courageous to write childish, negative anonymous content continuously. Maybe raise your issues through conversations with school leadership and not attempt to bully through anonymous comments here.

Yes, raise your issues with her or the Board, surely they will listen...NOT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just so we're all clear, moving from being the division head of a division with 3 grades (3-6 at Holton) to one with 7 (Prek-5, at GDS) is not a lateral move. It is a bigger job, responsible for more kids, more employees, a bigger budget, and a longer curricular arch. The job title might be the same, and many of the responsibilities are the same, but this is not a lateral move.

When I went to Holton, we learned how to count.

Sorry that you, as a big fancy parent, didn’t learn the basics in math!

You’re a nasty one , aren’t you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the same people who keep starting new threads and keep dumping on new Holton HOS would be better off finding a new hobby. Not very courageous to write childish, negative anonymous content continuously. Maybe raise your issues through conversations with school leadership and not attempt to bully through anonymous comments here.

Yes, raise your issues with her or the Board, surely they will listen...NOT.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the same people who keep starting new threads and keep dumping on new Holton HOS would be better off finding a new hobby. Not very courageous to write childish, negative anonymous content continuously. Maybe raise your issues through conversations with school leadership and not attempt to bully through anonymous comments here.

We have. It didn’t make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Same. Met with head of school. She promised follow up that never happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holton is getting (maybe she's already there?) a top administrator from GDS. Definitely a good move by Holton.

Not impressive at all. They were hired to check some boxes in underrepresentation.

You're an idiot. She's a great, great hire.

[Anonymous]

Repeated, anonymous negative posts against HOS in a series of thread are cowardly, and certainly not consistent with how we teach our children about how to shut down bullying.

[Anonymous]

Is it bullying to point out that multiple long-term, well-regarded members of the school’s senior leadership are all suddenly departing in less than one academic year under the new HOS?

A true test will be to see if a year from now there are more leadership departures and/or if a number teachers follow their former colleagues to new destinations or are content to remain under the new HOS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it bullying to point out that multiple long-term, well-regarded members of the school’s senior leadership are all suddenly departing in less than one academic year under the new HOS?

A true test will be to see if a year from now there are more leadership departures and/or if a number teachers follow their former colleagues to new destinations or are content to remain under the new HOS.

+1

[Anonymous]

Right - the title of this thread is geared to who is leaving currently, plus speculation on the leaves that might occur next year. Please attempt to model behavior and commentary on the values we attempt to communicate to our kids. Bad form to convey to our kids that incessant, anonymous, and petty allegations is a great way to demand attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right - the title of this thread is geared to who is leaving currently, plus speculation on the leaves that might occur next year. Please attempt to model behavior and commentary on the values we attempt to communicate to our kids. Bad form to convey to our kids that incessant, anonymous, and petty allegations is a great way to demand attention.

Comms DirectorV3 would be wise to resist the urge to encourage sycophants to vilify posters and bemoan the existence of a chat board that’s been around DECADES. The problem isn’t this medium. It’s the message and the messenger.

It’s been 11 weeks since attendees to the black family affinity meeting were promised followup to their earnest and thoughtful questions and concerns. Individual emails from these and other concerned families have fallen on deaf ears since Feb 12. Meetings with affinity group leaders have been rebuffed, delayed and indefinitely cancelled. And in that time, 2 more senior and well-regarded administrators have resigned. Another comms director has left. All graduating Teaching Fellows have decided to take the fruits of their Holton-funded training to competitor schools. And though it pains them to leave a community they’ve dedicated their time and talent to, countless more teachers and staff are dusting off their resumes. And the deafening silence from the board grows louder with each passing week.

Here’s an article that took me 11 seconds to google on how to manage constituent complaints in the digital age. Catch up and do better.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/serenitygibbons/2018/09/20/why-businesses-need-to-see-customer-feedback-as-make-or-break/?sh=1e44f1a91083

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right - the title of this thread is geared to who is leaving currently, plus speculation on the leaves that might occur next year. Please attempt to model behavior and commentary on the values we attempt to communicate to our kids. Bad form to convey to our kids that incessant, anonymous, and petty allegations is a great way to demand attention.

Comms DirectorV3 would be wise to resist the urge to encourage sycophants to vilify posters and bemoan the existence of a chat board that’s been around DECADES. The problem isn’t this medium. It’s the message and the messenger.

It’s been 11 weeks since attendees to the black family affinity meeting were promised followup to their earnest and thoughtful questions and concerns. Individual emails from these and other concerned families have fallen on deaf ears since Feb 12. Meetings with affinity group leaders have been rebuffed, delayed and indefinitely cancelled. And in that time, 2 more senior and well-regarded administrators have resigned. Another comms director has left. All graduating Teaching Fellows have decided to take the fruits of their Holton-funded training to competitor schools. And though it pains them to leave a community they’ve dedicated their time and talent to, countless more teachers and staff are dusting off their resumes. And the deafening silence from the board grows louder with each passing week.

Here’s an article that took me 11 seconds to google on how to manage constituent complaints in the digital age. Catch up and do better.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/serenitygibbons/2018/09/20/why-businesses-need-to-see-customer-feedback-as-make-or-break/?sh=1e44f1a91083

Powerful response, pp.