New STA parent seeking advice, suggestions, or just plain "I wish I had known X" info

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost everyone donates to the annual giving fund. You can tell by looking at the published list of donors. Parents donate even if they get financial aid. The amount of the donation can be nominal. Don't be fooled by the solicitation speeched citing the average donation as being in the $2000's; that number skews high because of a few very large donations. The more telling number would be the mean donation, which would be much lower. Because almost everyone donates, to fail to do so makes you very conspicuously missing from the donor list.

mean = average. I am guess you meant median or mode?

Ha PP here! Great I correct someone's statistics and make a gramatical error in the process!

I'm sure your mistake was a typo rather than a grammatical error, just as my using "mean" instead of "mode" was just carelessness and failure to proofread.

Oh, and I know you know how to spell "grammatical."

Enough corrections now!

[Anonymous]

i am glad know all of x info so i never apply to this schjool

[Anonymous]

What is "Running Club"?

[Anonymous]

Running Club is for lower-schoolers (4-8 grades) who do something wrong, like unscrew the cap of the salt-shaker at the lunch table just before a teacher uses the salt-shaker. The club is by invitation only, and one goes for a run around the cathedral close after school with the head of the lower school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Running Club is for lower-schoolers (4-8 grades) who do something wrong, like unscrew the cap of the salt-shaker at the lunch table just before a teacher uses the salt-shaker. The club is by invitation only, and one goes for a run around the cathedral close after school with the head of the lower school.

What?? Is this for real?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Running Club is for lower-schoolers (4-8 grades) who do something wrong, like unscrew the cap of the salt-shaker at the lunch table just before a teacher uses the salt-shaker. The club is by invitation only, and one goes for a run around the cathedral close after school with the head of the lower school.

What?? Is this for real?

It is a disciplinary thing--kind of like running laps for messing around at a sports practice. Friday afternoon after school for Lower Schoolers (4-8) It's about a mile and they run pretty slow! I think it's more an issue of having to face up "man to man" to the Lower School Head to atone for the misdeeds, then get in a little honest sweat. A rather unique twist on "getting sent to the principal's office.".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Running Club is for lower-schoolers (4-8 grades) who do something wrong, like unscrew the cap of the salt-shaker at the lunch table just before a teacher uses the salt-shaker. The club is by invitation only, and one goes for a run around the cathedral close after school with the head of the lower school.

What?? Is this for real?

It is a disciplinary thing--kind of like running laps for messing around at a sports practice. Friday afternoon after school for Lower Schoolers (4-8) It's about a mile and they run pretty slow! I think it's more an issue of having to face up "man to man" to the Lower School Head to atone for the misdeeds, then get in a little honest sweat. A rather unique twist on "getting sent to the principal's office.".

One of my concerns with this would be whether this was a public shaming sort of event. Perhaps no one sees who is out for a run with the Head of the Lower School, but it reminds me somewhat of the way in which Mater Dei handles discipline issues (ie: forcing a boy to wear a Barbie backpack for a messy bookbag, or sending boy home in a cab for an infraction.) We would like to apply to STA so I hope "the lesson" is not turned into a public spectacle.

[Anonymous]

17:42, I understand your concern, and might wonder the same things if I heard about it in a vacuum. It seems very matter of fact in tone, both with the participants and with the rest of the kids, who are absorbed in their own activities at the time. It just looks like a little junior high cross-country team out for a run. If you stay interested in the school, hopefully you will see the Lower School Head in action--he really is a treasure. Good sense of humor balanced with discipline, is respected by the boys but he likes and knows and respects them back. My observation of boys (and probably kids generally, but I'm thinking about boys now) is that if they know you like them, and KNOW them, and are fair about discipline/rules, they will accept structure pretty happily. (Lastly, the Mater Dei bookbag thing if true is pretty offensive and sounds ghastly.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Running Club is for lower-schoolers (4-8 grades) who do something wrong, like unscrew the cap of the salt-shaker at the lunch table just before a teacher uses the salt-shaker. The club is by invitation only, and one goes for a run around the cathedral close after school with the head of the lower school.

What?? Is this for real?

It is a disciplinary thing--kind of like running laps for messing around at a sports practice. Friday afternoon after school for Lower Schoolers (4-8) It's about a mile and they run pretty slow! I think it's more an issue of having to face up "man to man" to the Lower School Head to atone for the misdeeds, then get in a little honest sweat. A rather unique twist on "getting sent to the principal's office.".

One of my concerns with this would be whether this was a public shaming sort of event. Perhaps no one sees who is out for a run with the Head of the Lower School, but it reminds me somewhat of the way in which Mater Dei handles discipline issues (ie: forcing a boy to wear a Barbie backpack for a messy bookbag, or sending boy home in a cab for an infraction.) We would like to apply to STA so I hope "the lesson" is not turned into a public spectacle.

I think you're confusing discipline with humiliation. Running a mile with the Principal of the Lower School and a bunch of boys instills discipline and respect; wearing a Barbie backpack teaches humiliation. Two different messages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Running Club is for lower-schoolers (4-8 grades) who do something wrong, like unscrew the cap of the salt-shaker at the lunch table just before a teacher uses the salt-shaker. The club is by invitation only, and one goes for a run around the cathedral close after school with the head of the lower school.

What?? Is this for real?

It is a disciplinary thing--kind of like running laps for messing around at a sports practice. Friday afternoon after school for Lower Schoolers (4-8) It's about a mile and they run pretty slow! I think it's more an issue of having to face up "man to man" to the Lower School Head to atone for the misdeeds, then get in a little honest sweat. A rather unique twist on "getting sent to the principal's office.".

When my son first was "invited" to Running Club, it was probably the first time I truly understood that we were in an independent school setting. This would never take place in a public school. I love the notion. My son, a lower school boy, actually enjoyed it. Well enjoyed the minor celebrityhood this bestowed upon him among his friends, enjoyed complaining about it to anyone who would listen, and enjoyed the time with the lower shool head. Incidentally, the infraction that led to the invitation has not occurred since (that was 2 years ago).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Running Club is for lower-schoolers (4-8 grades) who do something wrong, like unscrew the cap of the salt-shaker at the lunch table just before a teacher uses the salt-shaker. The club is by invitation only, and one goes for a run around the cathedral close after school with the head of the lower school.

What?? Is this for real?

It is a disciplinary thing--kind of like running laps for messing around at a sports practice. Friday afternoon after school for Lower Schoolers (4-8) It's about a mile and they run pretty slow! I think it's more an issue of having to face up "man to man" to the Lower School Head to atone for the misdeeds, then get in a little honest sweat. A rather unique twist on "getting sent to the principal's office.".

When my son first was "invited" to Running Club, it was probably the first time I truly understood that we were in an independent school setting. This would never take place in a public school. I love the notion. My son, a lower school boy, actually enjoyed it. Well enjoyed the minor celebrityhood this bestowed upon him among his friends, enjoyed complaining about it to anyone who would listen, and enjoyed the time with the lower shool head. Incidentally, the infraction that led to the invitation has not occurred since (that was 2 years ago).

Some with my boy. The behavior that got him invited several times is no longer of issue. He felt a teeny bit uncomfortable the first few times during lineup in the cafeteria and then learning his infraction in the library. Never felt humiliated or like crap at all. Mr. Herman is a gem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Running Club is for lower-schoolers (4-8 grades) who do something wrong, like unscrew the cap of the salt-shaker at the lunch table just before a teacher uses the salt-shaker. The club is by invitation only, and one goes for a run around the cathedral close after school with the head of the lower school.

What?? Is this for real?

It is a disciplinary thing--kind of like running laps for messing around at a sports practice. Friday afternoon after school for Lower Schoolers (4-8) It's about a mile and they run pretty slow! I think it's more an issue of having to face up "man to man" to the Lower School Head to atone for the misdeeds, then get in a little honest sweat. A rather unique twist on "getting sent to the principal's office.".

When my son first was "invited" to Running Club, it was probably the first time I truly understood that we were in an independent school setting. This would never take place in a public school. I love the notion. My son, a lower school boy, actually enjoyed it. Well enjoyed the minor celebrityhood this bestowed upon him among his friends, enjoyed complaining about it to anyone who would listen, and enjoyed the time with the lower shool head. Incidentally, the infraction that led to the invitation has not occurred since (that was 2 years ago).

Some with my boy. The behavior that got him invited several times is no longer of issue. He felt a teeny bit uncomfortable the first few times during lineup in the cafeteria and then learning his infraction in the library. Never felt humiliated or like crap at all. Mr. Herman is a gem.

Meant to say *same* not some.

[Anonymous]

I wish I had known that in 6th grade, your son would be doing 5 hours of homework a night at least 2-3 nights a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish I had known that in 6th grade, your son would be doing 5 hours of homework a night at least 2-3 nights a week.

That sounds a bit out of control to me. Why are they giving so much homework?? How much to 4th graders do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish I had known that in 6th grade, your son would be doing 5 hours of homework a night at least 2-3 nights a week.

Lol. So false. Not even close to that for the Upper School. If that was not a fake post, I regret to tell you that your 6th grader has discovered . . . YouTube!