I hope this does not give another black eye to Landon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Half the world is messed up because of alcohol and drugs and these patterns start when kids are teenagers. For the parents who think it is ok for teens to drink as long as they are not driving are just contributing to the continuation of a messed up society. I went back to visit my old home town last weekend. I heard about one guy from high school who back in the day was a good looking popular football player who just was in the cool party crowd. He is now in his forties living in his dead parents house and is so addicted to drugs and alcohol he rarely leaves the house. So sure parents keep telling yourselves it's better to be a cool parent than teaching your kids how alcohol is a slippery slope to a messed up life. There is a reason teenagers should not drink. The teenage brain makes bad impulsive decisions and a drunk teenage brain is basically useless.

Your comments are spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And regarding whether or not Landon has any Seniors who are 19, that is a joke. Many of those boys repeated a year along the way, so many of those kids turn 19 during the course of the school year (or before).

Half the graduating class will be 19 by June this year. Not unusual in private school.

Unusual for my kids' private school. In my two kids' two grades, there are only a total of four "summer birthday" holdbacks. And only two of them will turn 19 by the June following graduation. Either Landon does things far differently, or maybe you're speculating without any inside knowledge.

I do have inside knowledge. My son was one that turned 19 before he graduated. There are many boys that are fine, upstanding students at Landon. Every school has some bad eggs. Unfortunately, Landons seem to get an unfair amount of attention. That is what I find peculiar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I doubt this is the reaction you are looking for, but I find Landon's parents approach to beach week very responsible. They have chaperones and rules. My children's public schools had way less supervision.

Well of course the public schools "had way less supervision". The publics are in no way responsible for beach week. In fact, our Principal went so far as to tell parents at PTA meetings NOT to send their kids, not to sign leases, not to believe their kids when they say "everyone is doing it" because 'everyone is not doing it". Beach week is an excuse for inappropriate behavior and dangerous activities. We didn't participate and DC had no interest in doing so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And regarding whether or not Landon has any Seniors who are 19, that is a joke. Many of those boys repeated a year along the way, so many of those kids turn 19 during the course of the school year (or before).

Half the graduating class will be 19 by June this year. Not unusual in private school.

Unusual for my kids' private school. In my two kids' two grades, there are only a total of four "summer birthday" holdbacks. And only two of them will turn 19 by the June following graduation. Either Landon does things far differently, or maybe you're speculating without any inside knowledge.

I do have inside knowledge. My son was one that turned 19 before he graduated. There are many boys that are fine, upstanding students at Landon. Every school has some bad eggs. Unfortunately, Landons seem to get an unfair amount of attention. That is what I find peculiar.

The problem with Landon is that it seems every time a scandal starts to die down a new one pops up. So, the good that Landon does is, again, outweighed by the bad. It's the frequency of scandals. Every school has them but it seems Landon has much more than its fair share of scandals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do have inside knowledge. My son was one that turned 19 before he graduated. There are many boys that are fine, upstanding students at Landon. Every school has some bad eggs. Unfortunately, Landons seem to get an unfair amount of attention. That is what I find peculiar

So were literally half the boys in your son's class at Landon held back, redshirted, or whatever you want to call it, so they were 19 in June of their graduating year? that would mean even more were held back but just had not turned 19 by June. When was this? Can you say for certain that's the norm at Landon? If so, that's very different from my kids' school. Maybe it starts to explain what's happening at Landon.

[Anonymous]

Former Landon family here. Yes, there are lots of older kids
in Landon classes. Lots of redshirting .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former Landon family here. Yes, there are lots of older kids
in Landon classes. Lots of redshirting .

More than half the class, as PP suggested?

[Anonymous]

It's not unusual to see several boys 12 - 15 months older than their classmates. Often times it appears to be for sports and there is a lot of internal debate about the issue.

[Anonymous]

A graduating class from Landon is about 80-85 boys. Are 40+ boys per class redshirted/held back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And regarding whether or not Landon has any Seniors who are 19, that is a joke. Many of those boys repeated a year along the way, so many of those kids turn 19 during the course of the school year (or before).

Half the graduating class will be 19 by June this year. Not unusual in private school.

Unusual for my kids' private school. In my two kids' two grades, there are only a total of four "summer birthday" holdbacks. And only two of them will turn 19 by the June following graduation. Either Landon does things far differently, or maybe you're speculating without any inside knowledge.

I do have inside knowledge. My son was one that turned 19 before he graduated. There are many boys that are fine, upstanding students at Landon. Every school has some bad eggs. Unfortunately, Landons seem to get an unfair amount of attention. That is what I find peculiar.

The problem with Landon is that it seems every time a scandal starts to die down a new one pops up. So, the good that Landon does is, again, outweighed by the bad. It's the frequency of scandals. Every school has them but it seems Landon has much more than its fair share of scandals.

I think it's fair to say the SAT cheating that occurred more than a decade ago was a "scandal" even if kids from other schools at the testing site were able to get away with cheating. The "everyone was doing it" excuse doesn't hold up - especially at a school that prides itself on an honor code. As for the other other "scandals?" Hmm, not so much - except to those who are scandalized by everything Landon. In this latest instance, the supposed scandal isn't that high school grads had a wild beach party - like it or not , that's not a scandal. The supposed scandal is that the Maryland Attorney General was at a wild beach party in Delaware and didn't break it up. Landon will be just fine. As a parent, one important consideration that none of the supposed scandals involved a teacher or school official - those who you entrust your children to. I don't blame schools that have allowed teacher/student abuse - it's not easy to detect such deviants - but I'd think twice before entrusting my DC to their care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And regarding whether or not Landon has any Seniors who are 19, that is a joke. Many of those boys repeated a year along the way, so many of those kids turn 19 during the course of the school year (or before).

Half the graduating class will be 19 by June this year. Not unusual in private school.

Unusual for my kids' private school. In my two kids' two grades, there are only a total of four "summer birthday" holdbacks. And only two of them will turn 19 by the June following graduation. Either Landon does things far differently, or maybe you're speculating without any inside knowledge.

I do have inside knowledge. My son was one that turned 19 before he graduated. There are many boys that are fine, upstanding students at Landon. Every school has some bad eggs. Unfortunately, Landons seem to get an unfair amount of attention. That is what I find peculiar.

Ah, yes. The ubiquitous "everyone else does it" and "why are they picking on Landon?" defenses. Pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Landon just doesn't handle these issues as well as peer schools such as STA. Recall the "BB gun" incident when two boys drove to school and parked the car for the day. A non-lethal "BB gun" rifle replica was left in the back seat. One boy went to class while the other boy went into the woods. Having never shot a gun, the STA student tried it, put the gun back in the car and went to class. A mom saw the "shooter" in the woods with a 'sniper rifle', and made a 911 call the police. NCS, Sidwell and St. Albans were locked down within minutes. The BB gun was found in the back seat of the car and the car was traced to the boys. The boys were taken out of class in cuffs and the incident was widely reported with dramatic video on the web.

STA responded quickly. The boys were barred from school for the remaining few weeks of the year, but allowed to graduate. Both boys faced DC gun charges. Some said that STA's quick action was too harsh, but it was a lesson learned for the entire STA community.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell took a similar proactive approach when one the most beloved Sidwell teachers was found to have fondled a student. Though the teacher was among the most highly ranked at the school:

http://www.ratemyteachers.com/pete-peterson/513066-t/3

Sidwell wasted no time in putting him on leave and reassuring the family. The final outcome was the best possible under the difficult circumstances.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/20/AR2010092005889.html

[Anonymous]

Meanwhile, Beauvoir let a pedophile walk away free from the campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile, Beauvoir let a pedophile walk away free from the campus.

and your point is??????