How Strong is Burgundy Farm Country Day Academically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Burgundy parent here. While I would not dismiss the significance of kids leaving after 6th or 7th grade, missing out the last year or two in a JK-8 school, I think you have to know the circumstances to know the reasons. The rising 7th grade lost one student, who joined a sibling in public school. The rising 8th grade lost four, which IS a lot in a class of 32, but not devastating. One left because of unhappiness with the school -- OK, it happens. Among the other kids, at least one applied to a major DC private school for 8th grade to have an extra chance of getting in an "off year" for admissions -- ie, not 9th grade! Another one may have simply tapped out on the math curriculum -- this was a brilliant kid who probably needed to be in a 7-12 environment to continue flying through math. You CAN accelerate in math at Burgundy, but there is acceleration and then there is acceleration. I don't think this reflects poorly on Burgundy -- with 32 kids per grade, there is a limit as to what they are going to offer in terms of extremely advanced work. We are not talking about a normally gifted kid - there are loads of those at Burgundy. This kid was a real rarity academically. Not sure about the 4th kid -- I was surprised because she came from a longtime Burgundy family, but people have their reasons, not all of which are a knock on the school.

Actually last year's 8th grade class only had 3 or 4 kids who had been at the school from JK or K. Out of a class of 30+, that is actually losing a lot of kids over the years. I am sure the kids left for various reasons,

[Anonymous]

PP here -- Oh, by the way, I can think of two trustees whose children left before 8th but who still remained on the board of trustees. Neither was a critic of the school.

The fact that the trustees behaved and in a mature and professional manner fulfilling their obligations speaks more to who they are than how they feel about the school. Privately they painted a very different picture and that is why they chose to withdraw their children.

[Anonymous]

19:38 here. Clarification. No one can say definitively what motivates another person except that person. I wouldn't want my interpretation of comments to be taken as fact. However, I do not think that people who are happy with a school tend to remove their child and place them in another school. Just my opinion not to be taken as fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Burgundy parent here. While I would not dismiss the significance of kids leaving after 6th or 7th grade, missing out the last year or two in a JK-8 school, I think you have to know the circumstances to know the reasons. The rising 7th grade lost one student, who joined a sibling in public school. The rising 8th grade lost four, which IS a lot in a class of 32, but not devastating. One left because of unhappiness with the school -- OK, it happens. Among the other kids, at least one applied to a major DC private school for 8th grade to have an extra chance of getting in an "off year" for admissions -- ie, not 9th grade! Another one may have simply tapped out on the math curriculum -- this was a brilliant kid who probably needed to be in a 7-12 environment to continue flying through math. You CAN accelerate in math at Burgundy, but there is acceleration and then there is acceleration. I don't think this reflects poorly on Burgundy -- with 32 kids per grade, there is a limit as to what they are going to offer in terms of extremely advanced work. We are not talking about a normally gifted kid - there are loads of those at Burgundy. This kid was a real rarity academically. Not sure about the 4th kid -- I was surprised because she came from a longtime Burgundy family, but people have their reasons, not all of which are a knock on the school.

This family moved out of the country ... it would have been a REALLY bad commute.

[Anonymous]

I have not previously commented in this thread. I am not the presumed angry poster everyone talks about. I am a former Burgundy parent with no ax to grind and with no dog in this hunt. What I do find interesting is how polarizing this school seems to be. Either posters are wild haters or blind lovers. Little inbetween.

What I do offer is background info (I do stay in touch and hear updates from those in the know) and the understanding that all schools experience this to some degree at one time or another. This just happens to be a time where Burgundy, like all other schools, is going through a transition to make it stronger, esp. in the Middle School.

Yes, there have been issues in the MS. Yes, there has been a huge turnover in MS teachers this year. Yes, the school is being responsive to the families.

If you are looking at Burgundy, don't go by what you've heard in the past. The MS has essentially almost completely changed. Go see it now and make your own judgements.

[Anonymous]

3 students from the class of 2009 are semi-finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program - pretty good out of a class of about 30!

[Anonymous]

It's true! the middle school has changed completely and the middle school head is a joke! It is so disappointing! The guy sent us an email asking us, parents, who pay almost 27K tuition not to email him because he "too busy".....hello?????
Not to mention the fact that all good teachers are leaving. Something's going on and we are angry! My DD is devastated because three very dear and good teachers have left in the middle of the school year and when you email the head of school and the middle school guy you don't even get an answer. That school is not what it used to be. Very sad

[Anonymous]

Which 3 teachers left?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's true! the middle school has changed completely and the middle school head is a joke! It is so disappointing! The guy sent us an email asking us, parents, who pay almost 27K tuition not to email him because he "too busy".....hello?????
Not to mention the fact that all good teachers are leaving. Something's going on and we are angry! My DD is devastated because three very dear and good teachers have left in the middle of the school year and when you email the head of school and the middle school guy you don't even get an answer. That school is not what it used to be. Very sad

Unfortunately, this strikes us as not inconsistent with our experiences there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It's true! the middle school has changed completely and the middle school head is a joke! It is so disappointing! The guy sent us an email asking us, parents, who pay almost 27K tuition not to email him because he "too busy".....hello?????
Not to mention the fact that all good teachers are leaving. Something's going on and we are angry! My DD is devastated because three very dear and good teachers have left in the middle of the school year and when you email the head of school and the middle school guy you don't even get an answer. That school is not what it used to be. Very sad


Unfortunately, this strikes us as not inconsistent with our experiences there.

Hmmm...can't say that our experience was too different.

[Anonymous]

Nancy, Joel, Travis, Anna, Tom, Sylvia....should I keep going?

[Anonymous]

...I think the other spanish teacher has been gone for almost 3 weeks, some family emergency I was told the sub doesn't speak spanish and I wonder how much these students are missing... 3 weeks is a very long time!! Stuff like this doesn't even even happen in public schools so why bfcds is doing such a bad job keeping the good teachers?? just saying..

[Anonymous]

3 students from the class of 2009 are semi-finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program - pretty good out of a class of about 30!

THIS BACK WHEN NANCY WAS THERE< THIS IS 2013 AND THE MS IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOW!

[Anonymous]

It's interesting to see the many forms of disclaimer opinion-only comments in this thread. I wonder whether people were afraid of litigation being commenced by the school. I know the school has litigated against parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:...I think the other spanish teacher has been gone for almost 3 weeks, some family emergency I was told the sub doesn't speak spanish and I wonder how much these students are missing... 3 weeks is a very long time!! Stuff like this doesn't even even happen in public schools so why bfcds is doing such a bad job keeping the good teachers?? just saying..

Hate to say it, but this DOES happen in the public schools too... all the time. My DD had frou teachers over the course of a single year in kindergarten at her "good" public school.