Woods Academy HOS departure?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s never good in private school to be promoted in place to head. In my years working in private schools, it just never seems to work. Colleagues are resentful. Better to start fresh elsewhere. What is the name of the principal who got the job?

School name mentioned above

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a great choice. She brings academic/instructional chops lacking in the current admin. And high school placement isn't that complicated for Woods families. Woods kids get into good schools because Woods produces good kids, the school has a good reputation, and most families are full pay, not because Joe is working back-channel deals.

Parent of Woods Upper School here, what does being full
pay have to do with anything? I genuinely want to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a great choice. She brings academic/instructional chops lacking in the current admin. And high school placement isn't that complicated for Woods families. Woods kids get into good schools because Woods produces good kids, the school has a good reputation, and most families are full pay, not because Joe is working back-channel deals.

Parent of Woods Upper School here, what does being full
pay have to do with anything? I genuinely want to know.

NP, but the general idea is that asking for FA may lower your chances of getting accepted to some high schools. Presumably full-pay at Woods might translate to full-pay for HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a great choice. She brings academic/instructional chops lacking in the current admin. And high school placement isn't that complicated for Woods families. Woods kids get into good schools because Woods produces good kids, the school has a good reputation, and most families are full pay, not because Joe is working back-channel deals.

Parent of Woods Upper School here, what does being full
pay have to do with anything? I genuinely want to know.

NP, but the general idea is that asking for FA may lower your chances of getting accepted to some high schools. Presumably full-pay at Woods might translate to full-pay for HS.

Being full pay does not translate into getting in. Otherwise, multiple kids there every year would get into Sidwell or STA or NCS, etc. And even looking at the Catholic schools, full pay doesn’t translate into getting into Gonzaga or Prep or StoneRidge.

[Anonymous]

Of course full pay doesn’t translate to getting in. But FA can translate to being waitlisted, or at least that’s the idea. Schools will say otherwise, of course.

[Anonymous]

Well I’m disappointed by the new HOS. Not very diverse, cookie cutter DC Catholic with no fundraising history from mediocre MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I’m disappointed by the new HOS. Not very diverse, cookie cutter DC Catholic with no fundraising history from mediocre MCPS.

Woods has never had a head of school who wasn't White and Catholic. And the school isn't really known for focusing much on DEI so this doesn't really shock me. They found someone who looked the part and raised the tuition to try and mitigate concerns over fundraising.

[Anonymous]

They had better explain this choice to parents asap- seeing as it’s acceptance season. Poor choice and poor timing as far as I can see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I’m disappointed by the new HOS. Not very diverse, cookie cutter DC Catholic with no fundraising history from mediocre MCPS.

Woods has never had a head of school who wasn't White and Catholic. And the school isn't really known for focusing much on DEI so this doesn't really shock me. They found someone who looked the part and raised the tuition to try and mitigate concerns over fundraising.

But there is a sizable and growing Latino population at the school. They should have selected someone who would appeal to prospective families over the next 5 to 10 years. Did the candidate attend a Catholic high school? Her bio mentions that she went to a Catholic K - 8 in Silver Spring.

[Anonymous]

I'm very happy about this pick. Not cookie cutter at all. Woods needs to strengthen its academic program and teacher support and she has the expertise and experience to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm very happy about this pick. Not cookie cutter at all. Woods needs to strengthen its academic program and teacher support and she has the expertise and experience to do that.

I think she could be great, for sure. But the announcement didn't express any superior or strong qualities beyond her resume headlines and her feelings about being Catholic. The majority of the announcement focused on accolades for the search committee.

[Anonymous]

Upper school parent here and I expect we'll hear more from the search committee and/or board in the coming days. I'm also very enthusiastic about the new head and understand many parents will start having the opportunity to meet her in person very soon - I expect that will allay any concerns quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm very happy about this pick. Not cookie cutter at all. Woods needs to strengthen its academic program and teacher support and she has the expertise and experience to do that.

Not sure why you would think she can enhance the academic program. Rolling terrace has always been one of the worst performing ES in MCPS. . The most recent math proficiency is 8% at rolling terrace…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very happy about this pick. Not cookie cutter at all. Woods needs to strengthen its academic program and teacher support and she has the expertise and experience to do that.

Not sure why you would think she can enhance the academic program. Rolling terrace has always been one of the worst performing ES in MCPS. . The most recent math proficiency is 8% at rolling terrace…

+ 1 and she doesn’t have experience teaching in an independent school.

[Anonymous]

Shocker and disappointed for my upper school DD