St Marys versus St Louis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile, they kick out Boy Scouts, as if THAT were the source of all the problems.

St Mary's didn't kick out the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts left the values of the catholic faith.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's a good thing! Development more than pays for itself, and marketing and admissions are important. Great teachers like great students. And you want families to have a good admissions experience to set a good tone for their long-term commitment to the school. They'll complain less, volunteer more, give more money, etc.

If we want great teaching and administration and continuous improvement, we *want* BSSM to think of itself as competing with independent schools to deliver the best quality education around. There's no benefit to trying to force the school to "know its place" and "stop putting on airs."

Being a parochial school is great--the religion, the mission, the support of the the diocese, the ties to the local parish and community.

But being too "parochial" in attitude (dictionary: "narrow, limited, restricted") is a problem. It leads to complacency, excuses, and a failure to address problems quickly and proactively.

BSSM has recently suffered a lot of turnover, has a shortage of highly-experienced staff and faculty, just lost the highly-regarded Assistant Principal, and apparently already had a bad year in the middle school by not having it well-staffed.

The last thing the school should do now is say, "Oh well, we're just a parochial school. Losing lots of experienced people isn't a problem, it's just one of those things that happens. We'll just list the open roles on that one website like we always do and hire whoever applies before school starts in 8 weeks."

Instead, the school should say, "Most middle schools in this area had a good 2023-24 school year and have plenty of good teachers returning for 2024-25. Most schools in this area already have a good Vice Principal in place. We don't have any of that. We are seriously behind the 8-ball and now we're scrambling (again) to just to fill vacancies. Families are paying us and relying on us. We need to be more proactive about hiring, developing, and retaining great people."

BSSM should strive to be the very best it can be, not hold itself to lower standards.

Ok but will they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile, they kick out Boy Scouts, as if THAT were the source of all the problems.

St Mary's didn't kick out the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts left the values of the catholic faith.

What a joke. The St Mary’s Boy Scouts pack PRAYED before meeting. Its was “Boy Scouts” in name only. But I guess out cancel culture required that they be purged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile, they kick out Boy Scouts, as if THAT were the source of all the problems.

St Mary's didn't kick out the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts left the values of the catholic faith.

What a joke. The St Mary’s Boy Scouts pack PRAYED before meeting. Its was “Boy Scouts” in name only. But I guess out cancel culture required that they be purged.

The issue was less about how the pack operated and more about the affiliation with a national organization that didn't align with the church. You can't expect the church to be the host for a program it does not support.

[Anonymous]

But not all the churches in the Arlington Diocese kicked out the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts in favor of Trail Life and American Heritage Girls. Only some did, including St. Mary’s AND St. Louis.

[Anonymous]

Who cares? Why is hosting Boy Scouts at the physical school important? The organization was endangering children, went bankrupt, etc. Not to mention that it is Pride-centered rather than Christ-centered like Trail Life. If some families are set on participating with the organization formally known as Boy Scouts, go for it, but St. Mary's is not in any way obligated to partner with or physically host any particular organizations, especially those that lost their way so significantly that they went bankrupt and had to change their name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile, they kick out Boy Scouts, as if THAT were the source of all the problems.

St Mary's didn't kick out the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts left the values of the catholic faith.

What a joke. The St Mary’s Boy Scouts pack PRAYED before meeting. Its was “Boy Scouts” in name only. But I guess out cancel culture required that they be purged.

The issue was less about how the pack operated and more about the affiliation with a national organization that didn't align with the church. You can't expect the church to be the host for a program it does not support.

LOL. The school is literally located in ALEXANDRIA — the epicenter of liberal progressive woke-ism. But it doesn’t want to be “affiliated” with an entity that doesn’t align with the church? By letting a few kids have a monthly meeting in the basement? What nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Who cares? Even more nonsensical than the school not letting the scandal-plagued, child-endangering, bankrupt Boy Scouts have meetings inside the school is...insisting that the school HAS to do it. Surely the rebranded "Scouting America" was able to find another basement in the "epicenter of liberal progressive woke-ism?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares? Even more nonsensical than the school not letting the scandal-plagued, child-endangering, bankrupt Boy Scouts have meetings inside the school is...insisting that the school HAS to do it. Surely the rebranded "Scouting America" was able to find another basement in the "epicenter of liberal progressive woke-ism?

“scandal-plagued, child-endangering”

Pot kettle black? A little? Judge not lest ye be judged…

[Anonymous]

Interesting and sad reading this about BSSM. My youngest graduated only 3 years ago and we didn’t have any complaints/concerns then. Teachers were mostly good to great.

From my experience there are enough smart, active parents in this community. Many of them donate a lot of time and money to the school and would be willing to pay more for student and faculty benefits.

Hopefully, someone help lead the community to a better place in the coming years.

[Anonymous]

Math instruction here is ABYSMAL. Anyone thinking of going here should do their due diligence and ask a very simple question: What were the average, median, and standard deviations of your MAP RIT scores in 3rd - 5th grades. Will give you everything you need to know.

Another poster nailed the fundamental problem — not enough differentiation, so 7 or so children who need a lot of help slow down and derail the other 20 kids in the class.

[Anonymous]

Why do they go to mass every Friday? Gonzaga only goes once/month, right? Seems like a lot of lost instruction time. It adds up.

[Anonymous]

“scandal-plagued, child-endangering”

Pot kettle black? A little? Judge not lest ye be judged…

Thank you to this person who posted this. The thread on Boy Scouts is exactly why I am ashamed of being a part of BSSM. Our kids are taught to hate gays and even the most recent 8th grade trip was not permitted to meet the Pope as some of the conservative influential (news-worthy) parents does not like the Pope’s views on LBGTQ+. As Christians the kids should be taught to love everyone something BSSM does not teach. I am just happy we are moving on from BSSM.

[Anonymous]

It's not "hate" to not feel compelled to host the Boy Scouts forever. The Boy Scouts went through a scandal and a bankruptcy and a rebrand, and now this religious school hosts a religious scouting organization. Seems pretty reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Math instruction here is ABYSMAL. Anyone thinking of going here should do their due diligence and ask a very simple question: What were the average, median, and standard deviations of your MAP RIT scores in 3rd - 5th grades. Will give you everything you need to know.

Another poster nailed the fundamental problem — not enough differentiation, so 7 or so children who need a lot of help slow down and derail the other 20 kids in the class.

TBH math instruction was never great. I know they tried with the Singapore Math program, but it didn't really work.

for those who are hungry up on Mass attendance, the Diocese of Arlington is more Orthodox than ADW. St. Mary's is ground zero for Catholic orthodoxy in the diocese. If weekly mass is too much, then you should probably look at a different school.