SSFS HOS leaving

[Anonymous]

If you do t mind sharing, I would love to know the school your child is now attending, your feedback is appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interim HOS is leaving now too? Ugh, where's the reliability, stability and steadiness one should expect from a $40k school? This sucks, now we have to look for a more reliable school. My kid complains of the curriculum being too easy at SSFS anyway. The curriculum is what should be more challenging, not the management. We wanted to like SSFS, we really did... but they just don't make it easy for some reason. Oh well, the plus side is that we'll save tons of money by going somewhere else.

We did struggle with some of the unevenness of the classes. Some things they did well, but some of the classes definitely moved too slow. i think part of the problem was that they didn't really have a good way of separating the kids into sections with similar skills maybe. So they taught pretty much down the middle for all the sections, and for some things like math - that resulted for us in a student who was free after about 10 minutes in class. The other issue we saw that that after the pandemic, exams didn't really come back and extensions were kind of silly. You only needed to ask to get an extension (didn't have to have an actual reason). this didn't encourage kids to challenge themselves to meet any kind of deadline, and the difference between a quiz and exam as that they didn't really need to have any study skills. Just some attention for the week to face the quiz at the end was good enough. When all the admin challenges really picked up steam this year, we had to make the hard decision to withdraw (hard because the student didn't want to change mid US program). It was a hard thing to shift but now we are really glad we did. The academics at our new school is a real cut above. My student is challenged, differentiated classes means they have to really study and stay on top of things. Exams are back (which are after all a part of life, so they might as well learn how to study for them). my student isn't making those easy As anymore. It is entirely possible it won't be a straight A report card this year. But I prefer to know they are actually being pushed to work hard which will serve better in the long run.

Hi do you mind sharing the school your child is now attending, thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interim HOS is leaving now too? Ugh, where's the reliability, stability and steadiness one should expect from a $40k school? This sucks, now we have to look for a more reliable school. My kid complains of the curriculum being too easy at SSFS anyway. The curriculum is what should be more challenging, not the management. We wanted to like SSFS, we really did... but they just don't make it easy for some reason. Oh well, the plus side is that we'll save tons of money by going somewhere else.

We did struggle with some of the unevenness of the classes. Some things they did well, but some of the classes definitely moved too slow. i think part of the problem was that they didn't really have a good way of separating the kids into sections with similar skills maybe. So they taught pretty much down the middle for all the sections, and for some things like math - that resulted for us in a student who was free after about 10 minutes in class. The other issue we saw that that after the pandemic, exams didn't really come back and extensions were kind of silly. You only needed to ask to get an extension (didn't have to have an actual reason). this didn't encourage kids to challenge themselves to meet any kind of deadline, and the difference between a quiz and exam as that they didn't really need to have any study skills. Just some attention for the week to face the quiz at the end was good enough. When all the admin challenges really picked up steam this year, we had to make the hard decision to withdraw (hard because the student didn't want to change mid US program). It was a hard thing to shift but now we are really glad we did. The academics at our new school is a real cut above. My student is challenged, differentiated classes means they have to really study and stay on top of things. Exams are back (which are after all a part of life, so they might as well learn how to study for them). my student isn't making those easy As anymore. It is entirely possible it won't be a straight A report card this year. But I prefer to know they are actually being pushed to work hard which will serve better in the long run.

Hi do you mind sharing the school your child is now attending, thank you!

I’m a little hesitant as that could identify the student. But it’s within 30 min of ssfs, so same general vicinity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interim HOS is leaving now too? Ugh, where's the reliability, stability and steadiness one should expect from a $40k school? This sucks, now we have to look for a more reliable school. My kid complains of the curriculum being too easy at SSFS anyway. The curriculum is what should be more challenging, not the management. We wanted to like SSFS, we really did... but they just don't make it easy for some reason. Oh well, the plus side is that we'll save tons of money by going somewhere else.

We did struggle with some of the unevenness of the classes. Some things they did well, but some of the classes definitely moved too slow. i think part of the problem was that they didn't really have a good way of separating the kids into sections with similar skills maybe. So they taught pretty much down the middle for all the sections, and for some things like math - that resulted for us in a student who was free after about 10 minutes in class. The other issue we saw that that after the pandemic, exams didn't really come back and extensions were kind of silly. You only needed to ask to get an extension (didn't have to have an actual reason). this didn't encourage kids to challenge themselves to meet any kind of deadline, and the difference between a quiz and exam as that they didn't really need to have any study skills. Just some attention for the week to face the quiz at the end was good enough. When all the admin challenges really picked up steam this year, we had to make the hard decision to withdraw (hard because the student didn't want to change mid US program). It was a hard thing to shift but now we are really glad we did. The academics at our new school is a real cut above. My student is challenged, differentiated classes means they have to really study and stay on top of things. Exams are back (which are after all a part of life, so they might as well learn how to study for them). my student isn't making those easy As anymore. It is entirely possible it won't be a straight A report card this year. But I prefer to know they are actually being pushed to work hard which will serve better in the long run.

Hi do you mind sharing the school your child is now attending, thank you!

I’m a little hesitant as that could identify the student. But it’s within 30 min of ssfs, so same general vicinity.

Can you share some advice on how you narrowed down your selection/search? Viewing the websites of other schools it’s so difficult to understand their curriculum. Any advice is truly appreciated. Thx again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interim HOS is leaving now too? Ugh, where's the reliability, stability and steadiness one should expect from a $40k school? This sucks, now we have to look for a more reliable school. My kid complains of the curriculum being too easy at SSFS anyway. The curriculum is what should be more challenging, not the management. We wanted to like SSFS, we really did... but they just don't make it easy for some reason. Oh well, the plus side is that we'll save tons of money by going somewhere else.

We did struggle with some of the unevenness of the classes. Some things they did well, but some of the classes definitely moved too slow. i think part of the problem was that they didn't really have a good way of separating the kids into sections with similar skills maybe. So they taught pretty much down the middle for all the sections, and for some things like math - that resulted for us in a student who was free after about 10 minutes in class. The other issue we saw that that after the pandemic, exams didn't really come back and extensions were kind of silly. You only needed to ask to get an extension (didn't have to have an actual reason). this didn't encourage kids to challenge themselves to meet any kind of deadline, and the difference between a quiz and exam as that they didn't really need to have any study skills. Just some attention for the week to face the quiz at the end was good enough. When all the admin challenges really picked up steam this year, we had to make the hard decision to withdraw (hard because the student didn't want to change mid US program). It was a hard thing to shift but now we are really glad we did. The academics at our new school is a real cut above. My student is challenged, differentiated classes means they have to really study and stay on top of things. Exams are back (which are after all a part of life, so they might as well learn how to study for them). my student isn't making those easy As anymore. It is entirely possible it won't be a straight A report card this year. But I prefer to know they are actually being pushed to work hard which will serve better in the long run.

Hi do you mind sharing the school your child is now attending, thank you!

I’m a little hesitant as that could identify the student. But it’s within 30 min of ssfs, so same general vicinity.

Can you share some advice on how you narrowed down your selection/search? Viewing the websites of other schools it’s so difficult to understand their curriculum. Any advice is truly appreciated. Thx again.

Visit other schools and ask questions, which is what everyone looking for a school needs to do.

PP is correct not to out their DC.

[Anonymous]

NP. For the person asking about other options, our child came close to choosing SSFS for HS out of a K-8. Ultimately the distance to the school was the deciding factor. We live in the Bethesda/Potomac area. The other two schools where they felt equally comfortable/interested were Burke and SAES. Is happily enrolled at one of them and doing really well, making good friends, and we really like the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. For the person asking about other options, our child came close to choosing SSFS for HS out of a K-8. Ultimately the distance to the school was the deciding factor. We live in the Bethesda/Potomac area. The other two schools where they felt equally comfortable/interested were Burke and SAES. Is happily enrolled at one of them and doing really well, making good friends, and we really like the community.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interim HOS is leaving now too? Ugh, where's the reliability, stability and steadiness one should expect from a $40k school? This sucks, now we have to look for a more reliable school. My kid complains of the curriculum being too easy at SSFS anyway. The curriculum is what should be more challenging, not the management. We wanted to like SSFS, we really did... but they just don't make it easy for some reason. Oh well, the plus side is that we'll save tons of money by going somewhere else.

We did struggle with some of the unevenness of the classes. Some things they did well, but some of the classes definitely moved too slow. i think part of the problem was that they didn't really have a good way of separating the kids into sections with similar skills maybe. So they taught pretty much down the middle for all the sections, and for some things like math - that resulted for us in a student who was free after about 10 minutes in class. The other issue we saw that that after the pandemic, exams didn't really come back and extensions were kind of silly. You only needed to ask to get an extension (didn't have to have an actual reason). this didn't encourage kids to challenge themselves to meet any kind of deadline, and the difference between a quiz and exam as that they didn't really need to have any study skills. Just some attention for the week to face the quiz at the end was good enough. When all the admin challenges really picked up steam this year, we had to make the hard decision to withdraw (hard because the student didn't want to change mid US program). It was a hard thing to shift but now we are really glad we did. The academics at our new school is a real cut above. My student is challenged, differentiated classes means they have to really study and stay on top of things. Exams are back (which are after all a part of life, so they might as well learn how to study for them). my student isn't making those easy As anymore. It is entirely possible it won't be a straight A report card this year. But I prefer to know they are actually being pushed to work hard which will serve better in the long run.

Hi do you mind sharing the school your child is now attending, thank you!

I’m a little hesitant as that could identify the student. But it’s within 30 min of ssfs, so same general vicinity.

Can you share some advice on how you narrowed down your selection/search? Viewing the websites of other schools it’s so difficult to understand their curriculum. Any advice is truly appreciated. Thx again.

As another poster said - visit and ask many questions. For us location is a practical downselector - we are not willing to commute an hour for the best school in the nation. So after running a commute time filter, you’re not left with that many options to luck through.

But then find objective metrics of measurement. List your priorities - see how the schools objectively compare. Ssfs has x foreign language options - xyz has this. Ssfs has x electives/AP options - xyz has this.

Things like academic scholarships or other competitive programs.

Obviously tuition is another practical and objective comparison.

But then as questions - what are the testing policies, what are the graduation requirements? How is GPA calculated, all these things are knowable and allows you to decide which seems like a better fit for your child.

If you know anyone that goes to the school than you should ask them a lot of questions. In our case we knew exactly why we no longer liked ssfs (obviously when we came years ago we researched it and liked it, but it was how it changed that turned us away) so our questions were focused around understanding how new schools were handling things that went downhill at ssfs.

In the end there is still a risk. The new school may not work out. You might get there and find you just don’t fit. So you just have to stay involved, be aware, re evaluate- demand answers, don’t settle for less just because change is hard. These schools cost a lot of money, it’s a yearly struggle to budget for the staggering tuition that is often more than college - so always ask questions and don’t accept the status quo cause people discourage you from rocking the boat. Good luck to your kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interim HOS is leaving now too? Ugh, where's the reliability, stability and steadiness one should expect from a $40k school? This sucks, now we have to look for a more reliable school. My kid complains of the curriculum being too easy at SSFS anyway. The curriculum is what should be more challenging, not the management. We wanted to like SSFS, we really did... but they just don't make it easy for some reason. Oh well, the plus side is that we'll save tons of money by going somewhere else.

We did struggle with some of the unevenness of the classes. Some things they did well, but some of the classes definitely moved too slow. i think part of the problem was that they didn't really have a good way of separating the kids into sections with similar skills maybe. So they taught pretty much down the middle for all the sections, and for some things like math - that resulted for us in a student who was free after about 10 minutes in class. The other issue we saw that that after the pandemic, exams didn't really come back and extensions were kind of silly. You only needed to ask to get an extension (didn't have to have an actual reason). this didn't encourage kids to challenge themselves to meet any kind of deadline, and the difference between a quiz and exam as that they didn't really need to have any study skills. Just some attention for the week to face the quiz at the end was good enough. When all the admin challenges really picked up steam this year, we had to make the hard decision to withdraw (hard because the student didn't want to change mid US program). It was a hard thing to shift but now we are really glad we did. The academics at our new school is a real cut above. My student is challenged, differentiated classes means they have to really study and stay on top of things. Exams are back (which are after all a part of life, so they might as well learn how to study for them). my student isn't making those easy As anymore. It is entirely possible it won't be a straight A report card this year. But I prefer to know they are actually being pushed to work hard which will serve better in the long run.

Hi do you mind sharing the school your child is now attending, thank you!

I’m a little hesitant as that could identify the student. But it’s within 30 min of ssfs, so same general vicinity.

Can you share some advice on how you narrowed down your selection/search? Viewing the websites of other schools it’s so difficult to understand their curriculum. Any advice is truly appreciated. Thx again.

As another poster said - visit and ask many questions. For us location is a practical downselector - we are not willing to commute an hour for the best school in the nation. So after running a commute time filter, you’re not left with that many options to luck through.

But then find objective metrics of measurement. List your priorities - see how the schools objectively compare. Ssfs has x foreign language options - xyz has this. Ssfs has x electives/AP options - xyz has this.

Things like academic scholarships or other competitive programs.

Obviously tuition is another practical and objective comparison.

But then as questions - what are the testing policies, what are the graduation requirements? How is GPA calculated, all these things are knowable and allows you to decide which seems like a better fit for your child.

If you know anyone that goes to the school than you should ask them a lot of questions. In our case we knew exactly why we no longer liked ssfs (obviously when we came years ago we researched it and liked it, but it was how it changed that turned us away) so our questions were focused around understanding how new schools were handling things that went downhill at ssfs.

In the end there is still a risk. The new school may not work out. You might get there and find you just don’t fit. So you just have to stay involved, be aware, re evaluate- demand answers, don’t settle for less just because change is hard. These schools cost a lot of money, it’s a yearly struggle to budget for the staggering tuition that is often more than college - so always ask questions and don’t accept the status quo cause people discourage you from rocking the boat. Good luck to your kids!

Thank you for the advice. Very helpful!

[Anonymous]

We have a present 8th grader and have been wondering if we should keep our child at this school considering the tumult. Over the last 2 weeks, we have had 8th grade parents' night at the upper school, the kids have had a shadow day, and today we had parent-teacher conferences. I am feeling really good about the school, especially the teachers and the thoughtfulness of the curriculum. We have been unsure of what to do because - we all should admit - the upheaval has been unsettling. But it's a wonderful place in many ways and I would encourage people to look at it and ask all the questions you have that are coming up here on this board. We/my child is going to stay, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

If I know a great candidate for lower school head who is a terrific communicator and has fantastic experience who should I contact?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I know a great candidate for lower school head who is a terrific communicator and has fantastic experience who should I contact?

Weird question. Have the person apply for the job. If you are a member of the SSFS community you can certainly put in a good word with the Interim Head but that’s it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a present 8th grader and have been wondering if we should keep our child at this school considering the tumult. Over the last 2 weeks, we have had 8th grade parents' night at the upper school, the kids have had a shadow day, and today we had parent-teacher conferences. I am feeling really good about the school, especially the teachers and the thoughtfulness of the curriculum. We have been unsure of what to do because - we all should admit - the upheaval has been unsettling. But it's a wonderful place in many ways and I would encourage people to look at it and ask all the questions you have that are coming up here on this board. We/my child is going to stay, FWIW.

We were in the same boat and we decided to apply out and don't plan to stay. It is just too much and we don't want to gamble with our child's high school years. Too important! Good luck to you all.

[Anonymous]

I get a strange vibe with the new interim. I can’t put my finger on it, maybe I’m just paranoid after all the turmoil. How are others feeling about her?

[Anonymous]

Most people seem pretty wary of her. She is a professional interim after all and she’s only here to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, I gather that she has already broken with some longstanding Quaker process in her communication with faculty. At this stage, I think we are all just trying to survive the school year and waiting to hear who comes next.