GDS high school
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Anonymous
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Two kids in the GDS high school and I hear a constant drum beat from them and their friends on how great most of the faculty is and how truly awful the high school administration is. Especially the high school principal who seems universally disliked by the kids
She’s described as being out of touch, not a presence in the high school, and viewed as being distant from the day to day of the school. Can other GDS HS parents confirm if they hear or see the same? |
Anonymous
| I had one child who graduated in 2020 (was there 9-12, 2016-20). Faculty was great for him. Admin was HORRIBLE in so many ways you don't want to get me started. I did not have my twins even apply to GDS, two years after the eldest went. |
Anonymous
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Sorry to say but this is what happens when you pick a first time principal. Someone whose total experience was running the DEI office (quite controversially) at another private school. No broad principal management experience at all.
Like many hiring decisions at that time, a massive mistake was made. I’m sure it will be undone in due time. |
Anonymous
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The teachers who would make truly great administrators rarely apply when those roles open up.
Type A, narcissist, alpha types apply in droves. These are also the personality types that tend to present well in interviews. What looks good on the outside, can be really rotten on the inside. Thankfully most children don’t have much interaction with the administrators. Faculty and staff I assume are more likely to be impacted. |
Anonymous
| I would love to hear more about the academics, rigor, and student life aspect of the school as we are applying for 9th. |
Anonymous
Some truly outstanding teachers in a number of humanities areas. Of course a few duds as well. Most faculty care deeply about their students. Go the extra mile for feedback Junior and senior electives offer very strong rigor for those who want. They call it UL here. Not AP. They dropped AP classes and AP testing last few years. Kids still register to take AP tests at local public schools in some cases. College office is ok not amazing. Many hire outside help too - at least outside essay reading. Like many institutions, they have backed off a bit from the over the top DEI stuff of last two years. That said, it’s still GDS….diversity of opinions is not that welcome. That said, this is now being discussed as a topic. So progress. |
Anonymous
Where did you apply for younger children? |
Anonymous
| Excellent faculty across the board. In our experience, they are incredibly smart, passionate about their subject, and care so much about their students. Lots of rigor if the student wants it (and all English courses are very rigorous whether wanted or not). Agree that administration is not as good as the faculty. |
Anonymous
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As a parent with a current applicant child who is interested HS (and as a parent not loving poor administration reports here), I'd love to hear more on.....
How does poor administration at GDS play out in terms of affecting your child, affecting you as a parent, or affecting other things at school (academics, social) or in school community? |
Anonymous
So well said. |
Anonymous
I'm a current HS parent. I don't find the administration "poor" -- maybe not as outstanding as the faculty, but certainly nothing in our experience that would rate as terrible. I asked my kid about the principal and the response I got was a teenaged "meh" and some criticisms about the semi-regular assemblies, which seem to be a bit out of touch and not very relevant for most of the kids. We're generally quite happy with the school. |
Anonymous
| This post reeks of racist gaslighting. |
Anonymous
Try harder. I despite lazy accusations of racism. Do you believe that the principal is immune from criticism because she's Black? The fact of the matter is that the principal had ZERO principal experience before she held this position. How does a school of GDS' stature put in place a HS principal with no principal experience whatsoever? She is hardly visible around school. I have yet to see her at a regular sporting event. The students don't find her engaging. When I've seen her, she's not been enthusiastic, warm, or friendly. A HS principal has to be able to connect to students, and she does not. A lot of people at GDS, including parents like myself who shell out $50K per year for the GDS experience, sincerely believe in the goals of DEI. But many of us are increasingly critical at the lack of effectiveness of DEI as it has played out in schools and colleges across this country. DEI programming is not working. Staffing schools with DEI people who seem to replicate what a good teacher already does seems wasteful. (That money would be better spent to pay teachers better and to fund scholarships, IMHO.) Students are afraid to have real conversations about diversity because the DEI administrators shame people into conformity and silence, and that's what they are modeling for the children as the appropriate response to different points of view. GDS has strayed away from its freewheeling intellectual roots, and it's a damn shame. |
Anonymous
OP here. This is outstanding and captures exactly what I’ve heard from my kids at the high school. An out of touch, aloof HS principal who is not present, does not engage with the kids at all. And on top of that someone who came in with zero experience running a school or a division.
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Anonymous
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Current division heads don’t desire a lateral move. They want to move up to become a HOS.
Very common for newly minted division heads to transition from other positions in school leadership (department chair, dean, DEI head etc.) They may not have ever led a division before and yes, that means there is a steep learning curve. Schools try to give at least 3 years for them to work out the kinks… |