Holton Truth?

[Anonymous]

We can only speak from our experience as relatively new parents. All our interactions with the HOS have been cordial and respectful - during convocations, coffee chats, blue and white night - she always greeted us personally, stopping to chat. We are not white. Of course this is just one datapoint and more on the surface type of interactions. And yes, how she treats families and faculty can be very different.

Our interactions with the LS HOS entail more deeper conversations and she has always been supportive and we can tell she truly cares and wants to help the families in whatever way she can (within reason of course).

While still too early to tell what impact the “changes” will have on our daughter, so far the teachers have provided high quality and thoughtful learning interactions and experiences. Our daughter has really grown a lot in the short time. Not to say everything is perfect, but the issues for us would be more the fundamental nature of Holton and fit for our child, not resulting from the HOS change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents of older children, how often in a week is your kid actually seeing their teachers? Are you finding classes only meet a couple times a week? Concerned about what I'm hearing.

As someone earlier said, there are a lot disruptions and often last minute changes or changes that aren't well-thought out and require last minute fixes. There are very few weeks where they actually have classes for five days straight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of older children, how often in a week is your kid actually seeing their teachers? Are you finding classes only meet a couple times a week? Concerned about what I'm hearing.

As someone earlier said, there are a lot disruptions and often last minute changes or changes that aren't well-thought out and require last minute fixes. There are very few weeks where they actually have classes for five days straight.

Is this upper schools or middle schools?

[Anonymous]

Just chiming in to say that I’ve always been impressed with the amount of time that teachers dedicate to the girls outside of class time. This is high school but also happened in middle. My daughter regularly seeks out various teachers to make sure she fully understands material before tests, and they always make time for her. I don’t have strong opinions about the HOS, we havent seen much real impact on my DD, but I can confidently say the teachers are more than generous with their time. Very impressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of older children, how often in a week is your kid actually seeing their teachers? Are you finding classes only meet a couple times a week? Concerned about what I'm hearing.

As someone earlier said, there are a lot disruptions and often last minute changes or changes that aren't well-thought out and require last minute fixes. There are very few weeks where they actually have classes for five days straight.

What sort of disruptions are you talking about? There have been three public holidays and school conferences since the start of school. Are you saying they shouldn’t close to those?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of older children, how often in a week is your kid actually seeing their teachers? Are you finding classes only meet a couple times a week? Concerned about what I'm hearing.

As someone earlier said, there are a lot disruptions and often last minute changes or changes that aren't well-thought out and require last minute fixes. There are very few weeks where they actually have classes for five days straight.

This is a strange comment. We have found the Holton schedule to be similar to other schools when it comes to days off, conferences etc. religious schools sometimes get different holidays but I don’t think the PP is considering context of modern school life.

What sort of disruptions are you talking about? There have been three public holidays and school conferences since the start of school. Are you saying they shouldn’t close to those?

[Anonymous]

Former Holton parent here. We are one of the parents who took the suggestion of many on this board and left the school because we were incredibly unhappy with how the school was being run. The school has changed drastically in the past few years. There is a lot of discussion about DEI because Penny came in guns blazing with a goal of gutting the school's DEI program. At the time, few white parents seemed bothered by that, despite some really abhorrent behavior on the part of Penny, the board and the administration. My understanding is that Penny was trying to "right-size" the school so that it would be more attractive to donors. It is also my understanding that this effort didn't work, and she failed to attract large donations. And instead, she is actually costing the school money. She hired an Assistant HOS, spent a fortune on the interior design of her school paid for home (that is what Holton parents should be livid about btw), and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on comms consultants (again, Holton parents, ask for a detailed accounting, this is all true). Part of the reason why the "what's the deal with Holton" question is so hard to acertain on DCUM is because Penny PAYS CONSULTANTS TO POST HERE.

Ok, so where were we?

She is in hole financially because she has mismanaged money, her right-wing politicking didn't end up in more money for the school, so what does she do? She is increasing enrollment at the school, leading to larger class sizes and the bid to expand the school. Many of the kids she's admitting aren't super strong academically, so the teachers have more kids to teach and more ground to cover. So sure, Holton girls currently in 11th and 12th grade will likely have strong outcomes because they were at the school Pre-Penny, but that is not going continue. Instead, Holton will be a lovely school for mid-tier students of very wealthy parents. It's such a shame.

I have no dog in this fight. We aren't there anymore, but I wanted to post so hopefully the OP sees this and understands what is being all the Holton angst here. Oh... and I could care less about the skirt length.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former Holton parent here. We are one of the parents who took the suggestion of many on this board and left the school because we were incredibly unhappy with how the school was being run. The school has changed drastically in the past few years. There is a lot of discussion about DEI because Penny came in guns blazing with a goal of gutting the school's DEI program. At the time, few white parents seemed bothered by that, despite some really abhorrent behavior on the part of Penny, the board and the administration. My understanding is that Penny was trying to "right-size" the school so that it would be more attractive to donors. It is also my understanding that this effort didn't work, and she failed to attract large donations. And instead, she is actually costing the school money. She hired an Assistant HOS, spent a fortune on the interior design of her school paid for home (that is what Holton parents should be livid about btw), and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on comms consultants (again, Holton parents, ask for a detailed accounting, this is all true). Part of the reason why the "what's the deal with Holton" question is so hard to acertain on DCUM is because Penny PAYS CONSULTANTS TO POST HERE.

Ok, so where were we?

She is in hole financially because she has mismanaged money, her right-wing politicking didn't end up in more money for the school, so what does she do? She is increasing enrollment at the school, leading to larger class sizes and the bid to expand the school. Many of the kids she's admitting aren't super strong academically, so the teachers have more kids to teach and more ground to cover. So sure, Holton girls currently in 11th and 12th grade will likely have strong outcomes because they were at the school Pre-Penny, but that is not going continue. Instead, Holton will be a lovely school for mid-tier students of very wealthy parents. It's such a shame.

I have no dog in this fight. We aren't there anymore, but I wanted to post so hopefully the OP sees this and understands what is being all the Holton angst here. Oh... and I could care less about the skirt length.

How on earth would you know that the newly admitted kids aren’t as strong academically? Seriously.

[Anonymous]

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former Holton parent here. We are one of the parents who took the suggestion of many on this board and left the school because we were incredibly unhappy with how the school was being run. The school has changed drastically in the past few years. There is a lot of discussion about DEI because Penny came in guns blazing with a goal of gutting the school's DEI program. At the time, few white parents seemed bothered by that, despite some really abhorrent behavior on the part of Penny, the board and the administration. My understanding is that Penny was trying to "right-size" the school so that it would be more attractive to donors. It is also my understanding that this effort didn't work, and she failed to attract large donations. And instead, she is actually costing the school money. She hired an Assistant HOS, spent a fortune on the interior design of her school paid for home (that is what Holton parents should be livid about btw), and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on comms consultants (again, Holton parents, ask for a detailed accounting, this is all true). Part of the reason why the "what's the deal with Holton" question is so hard to acertain on DCUM is because Penny PAYS CONSULTANTS TO POST HERE.

Ok, so where were we?

She is in hole financially because she has mismanaged money, her right-wing politicking didn't end up in more money for the school, so what does she do? She is increasing enrollment at the school, leading to larger class sizes and the bid to expand the school. Many of the kids she's admitting aren't super strong academically, so the teachers have more kids to teach and more ground to cover. So sure, Holton girls currently in 11th and 12th grade will likely have strong outcomes because they were at the school Pre-Penny, but that is not going continue. Instead, Holton will be a lovely school for mid-tier students of very wealthy parents. It's such a shame.

I have no dog in this fight. We aren't there anymore, but I wanted to post so hopefully the OP sees this and understands what is being all the Holton angst here. Oh... and I could care less about the skirt length.

How on earth would you know that the newly admitted kids aren’t as strong academically? Seriously.

I hope you love your new school, PP. we are a current family and are happy. No school is perfect but the quality of teachers is what I like best about the school. Thinking of my recent parent teacher conferences, over half of the teachers had many years at the school and the few who were newer both had a ton of impressive prior teaching experience and my kids are learning a lot. In particular, the English teacher seems amazing and has been teaching at Holton for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former Holton parent here. We are one of the parents who took the suggestion of many on this board and left the school because we were incredibly unhappy with how the school was being run. The school has changed drastically in the past few years. There is a lot of discussion about DEI because Penny came in guns blazing with a goal of gutting the school's DEI program. At the time, few white parents seemed bothered by that, despite some really abhorrent behavior on the part of Penny, the board and the administration. My understanding is that Penny was trying to "right-size" the school so that it would be more attractive to donors. It is also my understanding that this effort didn't work, and she failed to attract large donations. And instead, she is actually costing the school money. She hired an Assistant HOS, spent a fortune on the interior design of her school paid for home (that is what Holton parents should be livid about btw), and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on comms consultants (again, Holton parents, ask for a detailed accounting, this is all true). Part of the reason why the "what's the deal with Holton" question is so hard to acertain on DCUM is because Penny PAYS CONSULTANTS TO POST HERE.

Ok, so where were we?

She is in hole financially because she has mismanaged money, her right-wing politicking didn't end up in more money for the school, so what does she do? She is increasing enrollment at the school, leading to larger class sizes and the bid to expand the school. Many of the kids she's admitting aren't super strong academically, so the teachers have more kids to teach and more ground to cover. So sure, Holton girls currently in 11th and 12th grade will likely have strong outcomes because they were at the school Pre-Penny, but that is not going continue. Instead, Holton will be a lovely school for mid-tier students of very wealthy parents. It's such a shame.

I have no dog in this fight. We aren't there anymore, but I wanted to post so hopefully the OP sees this and understands what is being all the Holton angst here. Oh... and I could care less about the skirt length.

Penny PAYS CONSULTANTS TO POST HERE.? Nonsense, any admin or consultant can post here for free, including HOS herself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former Holton parent here. We are one of the parents who took the suggestion of many on this board and left the school because we were incredibly unhappy with how the school was being run. The school has changed drastically in the past few years. There is a lot of discussion about DEI because Penny came in guns blazing with a goal of gutting the school's DEI program. At the time, few white parents seemed bothered by that, despite some really abhorrent behavior on the part of Penny, the board and the administration. My understanding is that Penny was trying to "right-size" the school so that it would be more attractive to donors. It is also my understanding that this effort didn't work, and she failed to attract large donations. And instead, she is actually costing the school money. She hired an Assistant HOS, spent a fortune on the interior design of her school paid for home (that is what Holton parents should be livid about btw), and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on comms consultants (again, Holton parents, ask for a detailed accounting, this is all true). Part of the reason why the "what's the deal with Holton" question is so hard to acertain on DCUM is because Penny PAYS CONSULTANTS TO POST HERE.

Ok, so where were we?

She is in hole financially because she has mismanaged money, her right-wing politicking didn't end up in more money for the school, so what does she do? She is increasing enrollment at the school, leading to larger class sizes and the bid to expand the school. Many of the kids she's admitting aren't super strong academically, so the teachers have more kids to teach and more ground to cover. So sure, Holton girls currently in 11th and 12th grade will likely have strong outcomes because they were at the school Pre-Penny, but that is not going continue. Instead, Holton will be a lovely school for mid-tier students of very wealthy parents. It's such a shame.

I have no dog in this fight. We aren't there anymore, but I wanted to post so hopefully the OP sees this and understands what is being all the Holton angst here. Oh... and I could care less about the skirt length.

Penny PAYS CONSULTANTS TO POST HERE.? Nonsense, any admin or consultant can post here for free, including HOS herself.

Let the disgruntled teacher poison her mind with her own toxic thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
She is in hole financially because she has mismanaged money, her right-wing politicking didn't end up in more money for the school, so what does she do? She is increasing enrollment at the school, leading to larger class sizes and the bid to expand the school.

The school does not cover all expenses from tuition, nor has it ever -- donations make up the difference. This year it's about $2,800/student shortfall, but I don't think that's much different from previous years.

I've seen no evidence they are dipping into endowment to cover operating expenses... or perhaps you don't actually have the correct information?

As for increasing the enrollment, the school currently operates under a hard cap based on the occupancy limits, and that has not changed in years. Enrollment _can't_ increase any further at this point.

Yes, there is a request into the zoning board to allow the cap to be incresed, but that has not been approved and neighbors are opposed.

We have DDs in lower school and middle school, and are perfectly satisfied. They love their teachers, and in the parent conferences we've over the last 2 weeks, I've been impressed by them as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In reading between the lines and glancing at the new HOS background and the two schools she previously ran, my guess is that the new HOS is more pragmatic and less DEI focused than the previous head, and that's rubbed off the more progressive wing of the parents who see this as a rejection of their beliefs, fitting the pattern of progressives reactions to people who aren't in lockstep with their beliefs (as Fetterman himself said a few days ago). To them, they're seeing a regression from the morally righteous path. So they're upset.

To other parents who aren't as enamored of a lot of DEI, the new head seems perfectly fine and competent.

Seems about right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In reading between the lines and glancing at the new HOS background and the two schools she previously ran, my guess is that the new HOS is more pragmatic and less DEI focused than the previous head, and that's rubbed off the more progressive wing of the parents who see this as a rejection of their beliefs, fitting the pattern of progressives reactions to people who aren't in lockstep with their beliefs (as Fetterman himself said a few days ago). To them, they're seeing a regression from the morally righteous path. So they're upset.

To other parents who aren't as enamored of a lot of DEI, the new head seems perfectly fine and competent.

Seems about right.

Not quite. I am a long-time Holton parent who doesn’t care much for DEI. But I find the current HoS unimpressive and damaging to staff morale at the school. That’s just failure of leadership. A minor peeve: she cannot write/speak well. Her speeches and writing are often ridiculed by the girls.