Whitman culture and policies

[Anonymous]

So I understand that restorative justice is the hope for most schools but it sounds mostly unsuccessful and a great way to revictimize the people hurt in the first place. How does Whitman handle:

— cyber bullying
—- on campus threats or bullying
—-off campus threats or bullying

Also, what, if any, is the dress code? We’ve seen kids with basically sports bras and pajama bottoms coming out of the school (not an exaggeration, look at the hilarious Whitman Shorts from the start of the year). Is that allowed in class or just at lunch or after school?

For homecoming, there is a non school sanctioned off campus homecoming get together. What if one student assaults another? How is that handled?

Last—if almost all work is done on the laptops, can’t a student buy a hardcover copy of the book and use that instead? I’m thinking of English class. Not great for a kid to read an entire book online after a day of online stuff at school. Is the laptop basically used all day?

[Anonymous]

Forgot to ask—how do people like the principal? We heard the last one was amazing.

[Anonymous]

Can we get all of the Whitman threads consolidated? One parent of a girl tennis player with anxiety is posting thread after thread. Maybe consolidate into a single post?

[Anonymous]

The principal is great.
They give you actual books.
Not much of a dress code. Pajama bottoms are allowed. I’m guessing the tops are not actual bras, but I get the gist. Yes, allowed.
If there is an assault of campus at a non school event, it would be the local police.
I haven’t heard of bullying, but not saying there isn’t any.

I think you need to chill a little. Whitman is a great school. But it is a large public school. If you want your kid coddled, go to private.

[Anonymous]

Whitman is a wealthy school with wealthy school advantages and issues.

[Anonymous]

I agree the Principal is a good guy.
Some of the counseling and admin staff are unhelpful and rude to the point of being opening (and in writing) hostile.
I think its a reflection of a) being overworked b) dealing with awful parents much of the time and c) being typical Marylanders.

[Anonymous]

And, the same rules and non-enforced dress code happens at all MCPS schools.

[Anonymous]

Dress code is not really enforced.
All MCPS high schools have lockdowns at some point, usually due to threats in the neighborhood, or a knife or gun brought to school. Not sure it's happened so far at Whitman, but it will eventually. There's the occasional fight, or occasional vape in the bathroom. Regularly MCPS schools have swastikas drawn on an outbuilding or on a desk. MCPS does its best to address the problem, but at this point I think it's a group of kids who just like to rile up the community, not Jew-hating people.

Whitman is known to be the wealthiest, most pressure-cooker school of MCPS.

Assaults happen in all schools. MCPS will not protect your child in the event of criminal behavior. Parents should call the police themselves and go from there.

This is not an indictment of Whitman, or MCPS. There are many things I love about MCPS (my senior is at Walter Johnson). But I'm just telling you the facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And, the same rules and non-enforced dress code happens at all MCPS schools.

Yeah, I think MCPS has backed off almost totally on dress codes because of the (IMO valid) criticism that they skewed much more heavily toward policing girls' clothing. Not sure whether there's anything in place about stuff like t-shirts with offensive language or drug references, though.

[Anonymous]

So is this an attempt to start a new thread on RJ but call it something else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we get all of the Whitman threads consolidated? One parent of a girl tennis player with anxiety is posting thread after thread. Maybe consolidate into a single post?

Um actually I’m the one with the girl tennis player and she has zero anxiety. That’s someone else. 😂😂

[Anonymous]

Are there exams or weren’t those eliminated in 2019? Final exams I mean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we get all of the Whitman threads consolidated? One parent of a girl tennis player with anxiety is posting thread after thread. Maybe consolidate into a single post?

you must be new here - no they cannot be consolidated and don't need to be

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there exams or weren’t those eliminated in 2019? Final exams I mean.

Final exams were eliminated in all high schools in 2016.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there exams or weren’t those eliminated in 2019? Final exams I mean.

Final exams were eliminated in all high schools in 2016.

for what it's worth, not all high schools in the US just in Moco