Landon Dance

[Anonymous]

As a former Landon family, I understand the irony of this post. But it's true.

[Anonymous]

I'm so glad I have my child in public school in DC. Why do I say this? When I was a teen in DC in the 80's I would come in and out of the city; when here, I ran with a fast crowd and the private school kids were the ones who blew my mind (and tolerance levels) with what they were 'into'. The more elite the school, the more messed up the kids seemed to be. I realize this is a vast generalization-but somehow the combo of working or occupied parents, money, an atmosphere of money...yikes! Maybe just the fast-crowd ones were crazy, and those are the ones I knew, but they seemed really crazy. Scary crazy. I would just look very closely before switching my kid from middle of the road public to super private. My child's friends seem sheltered somehow...they try to pick up on stuff they think is 'cool', but overall they are kind of dorky and harmless and sweet. There are a few privates that I would look at like St. Anselm's or Gonzaga... very few. I actually would turn down most. Crazy, huh?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, you are crazy. And over generalizing, as you say. And self serving and self justifying, to make you feel better about not or not being able to put your kids in private school.

[Anonymous]

Right. I do have the option of putting child in, and have lots of inroads to the independent school world. Likeyou, I make my decisions based on info and experience. Just Sharing the experience that seems relevant to the kids will be kids thrust of this board. I am just saying keep an eye on your kids- and their friends. There are LOADS of negatives to public school, but one that I see much more pertinent to private and it's rarified air is growing up jaded. I knew lots and narrowly avoided that fate . Parents seemed either not to know or care ( sneaking out and going clubbing in se dc at age 14, dropping acid etc, suicidal tendencies) - just saying - my view into dc private hs was not exactly the pinnacle of healthy living...

[Anonymous]

MCPS grad here. We were into the exact same stuff, if not worse in late '80's MCPS.

I prefer private due to that!

[Anonymous]

Landon did not supervise this dance and that's what this thread is about. Yes, this stuff happens in both public and private schools. It's rare to hear about a dance that was handled this poorly from start to finish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS grad here. We were into the exact same stuff, if not worse in late '80's MCPS.

I prefer private due to that!

the common thread seems to be the 80's then. I'll hope it's that. But still, steering my kid away from private--I guess we all just know what we know....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS grad here. We were into the exact same stuff, if not worse in late '80's MCPS.

I prefer private due to that!

the common thread seems to be the 80's then. I'll hope it's that. But still, steering my kid away from private--I guess we all just know what we know....

Right, dances are a good reason to avoid private schools altogether. [sarcasm intended]

[Anonymous]

The way this particular dance was handled says a lot about the host school.

[Anonymous]

Well, yes, everything a school does says something about the school and, in important matters like this, it says a lot.

[Anonymous]

Sad to see, this school is in the news again in a horrible way.

[Anonymous]

The dance was run by the school's multi-cultural student alliance. the only "poor handling" of the event was that the students didn't realize they needed to sell tickets before hand because just about every high school student in the area tried to show up. Kids from OTHER SCHOOLS NOT LANDON were the ones who got the alcohol poisoning. get a grip people. don't be so quick to blame the school when you have no frame of reference as to what actually occurred.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was chaperoning at a middle-school dance at a school that I will not name here, and one of the girls was led off the dance floor in pallor and tremors. The other chaperones offered her a drink of water and asked whether she wished to call her parents and be pick up early, She declined, and nothing more was done about this girl. She could have been drinking. She could have been on drugs. This was never reported, so it never made the rounds of a forum like this. But this kind of thing happens at lots of schools.

Why didn't you do something then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do the nice kids who don't drink and don't go to these parties go to school? This is not meant to be a snarky question. If drinking is ubiquitous at many private and public social events, as the above posters suggest, I want to know where I can send my kids where they will not feel like social misfits if they choose not to socialize in this way, and where they will not feel a lot of peer pressure to drink?

Madeira - strong disciplinary rules

You think girls at Madeira don't drink?

Ahahaha. Ok, I'm in highschool right now, so I can provide some first hand insight. At every party I go to, the Madeira girls are - without fail - drinking and partying harder than just about anyone there. They're quite often the ones throwing up all over the place and clearly getting out of control. I love how clueless you guys are. Yeah right, girls at Madeira don't drink...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do the nice kids who don't drink and don't go to these parties go to school? This is not meant to be a snarky question. If drinking is ubiquitous at many private and public social events, as the above posters suggest, I want to know where I can send my kids where they will not feel like social misfits if they choose not to socialize in this way, and where they will not feel a lot of peer pressure to drink?

Madeira - strong disciplinary rules

You think girls at Madeira don't drink?

Ahahaha. Ok, I'm in highschool right now, so I can provide some first hand insight. At every party I go to, the Madeira girls are - without fail - drinking and partying harder than just about anyone there. They're quite often the ones throwing up all over the place and clearly getting out of control. I love how clueless you guys are. Yeah right, girls at Madeira don't drink...

I'm a parent and yes Madeira girls drink. All? Doubt it and just because a girl's at a party doesn't mean she drinks or always drinks to excess. Some groups of girls exert peer pressure to drink ... NOT the boys. "Madeira girls have something to say."