Georgetown Prep is taking a beating with this Kanvanugh scandal...does it deserve it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to the Holton letter and many postings in this board, the partying culture still exists. It’s the attitude that (1) that doesn’t happen at our magical school and (2) if it does, it’s so much worse at Landon, NCS, Bullis, fill-in-name-of-any-school-not-the-we-pay-for. Yes, it happened at your school in the ‘80s and it happens now.

I have friends with sons at Prep now. By all accounts, it is a demanding school that also works hard to develop honorable young men. They do restrict partying and socializing. For example, while some privates have freshmen dances, the Prep boys are not allowed to attend as freshmen.

They actually have a fun freshman year social event with the Stone Ridge girls.
Overall I’d say that they are fine young men.,
And those high school dances are totally tame, PP. it’s still the ‘house parties’ that are the kicker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:nP. I agree that behavior was unfortunately not uncommon in the ‘80s among jerks who correctly thought they could get away with it back then. But I’ve never seen yearbook pages like that from the 80s. I thought that was appalling and indicated the school was well aware of, and at least implicitly condoned, this awful behavior.
Public, private, Catholic, secular—is never seen anything like those yearbook pages.

I suppose then that G Prep is responsible, though it’s the 1980’s Georgetown Prep that is responsible really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those year book page comments were like that at STA Albans too

I was in high school at this exact same time and those sort of yearbook statements would not be accepted in my public school. And rightfully so.



I am a born and raised practicing Catholic whose child attended a local catholic before going independent. Maybe Prep is not the same school it was back then, yet it seems he and Judge were not anomalies, and if you spend anytime at places like Columbia Country Club, among the Catholic families you’ll see seveal amazing Prep students and their families around. Yet you’ll also see a few Prep boys that act very similar to the jerky Prep caricature that we’ve all heard about for years.

I think whether or not someone's yearbook from that era contained lots of party references had less to do with public vs. private and more to do with the size of the school. I went to a big public school with a class of 600. We didn't get our own yearbook pages - just one photo and one quote. My husband went to a small public - I think some of the inside jokes on those pages were pretty similar to the Prep pages that have been circulating. Not flattering but not unique.

As far as the drinking culture over all, the drinking age was 18 back then. Some kids could actually legally drink by the end of senior year and liquor was easier to come by for everyone. It may still be happening, but I think it was worse then. And again not just a private school thing.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Frankly, I think Holton is going to come out looking worse.

Why?

Because they leapt forth to proclaim the accuser- their alum- as a hero, without bothering to check the facts first

I don't think they have proclaimed her a hero. They have supported her in speaking out.

My Holton girls attended a assembly about this and it was focused on standing up for yourself.

I thoroughly support Holtons response.

What if Ford is lying and made the whole thing up - or, at least greatly exaggerated the truth as she remembered it? (Likely, IMO.) Do you still support "standing up for yourself?" In other words, be an opportunist and take advantage of a chance to advance yourself, no matter to whom else you may do harm?

A lot of us knew her from when she grew up here - the odds of her being a random opportunist (for what exactly? Harassment and vitriol? ) are pretty low in most people’s opinion.

And just as many know Brett Kavanaugh and say glowing things about him.

That’s good to know. I would hope that if he was wild as a teen that he would own up to it and apologize and say that he regrets it but that he’s a different person now.

The emails shared with the Senate suggest that Kavanaugh's "wildness" continued well into his 30's.

Where does one read those?

[Anonymous]

Prep's problems are not decades old. In 2002 a student was sexually assaulted by a teacher, Fr. Orr. the school did a hatchet job on the kid and he could not bring charges against the priest.

Eventually a student from 1989 had to come forward. It's pathetic. 2002... NOT 30 years ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/former-priest-put-on-probation-for-fondling-two-georgetown-prep-students/2011/11/10/gIQAHYkz9M_story.html?utm_term=.999956ec5411

"The headmaster dismissed the allegations as untrue"....

"school officials, namely two teachers, conspired to paint his son as a rumor-spreading liar."


"They tried to get him expelled from school."

Now they are doing the EXACT.SAME.THING.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how it is today, but certainly mid-1990's was NO different than what was alleged. One star athlete had a family home on the eastern shore where the parents wouldn't come while the kid hosted 30-40 kids from the various schools...tons of booze, lots of sex, I'm sure plenty of metoo issues. Several of the boys are very well respected leaders, several of the girls are also fairly senior "names" on the scene.

I highly doubt much has changed. It is worth noting that there seem to have been only a dozen or so kids (football and soccer) involved throughout the 1980-2000 issues, so it's not like the whole school was like this. But everyone even remotely linked to any of the schools knows EXACTLY who these boys were.

[Anonymous]

Nothing has changed. The athletes are the ones who engage in the inappropriate behavior 30 years ago and today. The only difference is that the drinking age is higher and it is less prevalent...but it is still happening at some level in not just boys schools, but in ALL schools.

I have a boy at one of these all male schools, not an athlete, and just a good mild mannered and smart kid. There are lots of these types of kids too. I do have to say, however, that he did shadow at GP when applying as a freshman, and he knew immediately it wasn't the place for him because of the culture of entitlement and privilege among the athletes.

He is at Gonzaga now and although you do have that same type of crowd there, the sheer size of the student body waters it down and it becomes less accepted/prevalent. Lots of kids like my DS (smart, nerdy, maybe a bit quirky) and I am grateful he landed there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:nP. I agree that behavior was unfortunately not uncommon in the ‘80s among jerks who correctly thought they could get away with it back then. But I’ve never seen yearbook pages like that from the 80s. I thought that was appalling and indicated the school was well aware of, and at least implicitly condoned, this awful behavior.
Public, private, Catholic, secular—is never seen anything like those yearbook pages.

Catholic here. I am going to get flamed but this is a church that elevated and promoted to positions of authority men that actively covered up and enabled and in some cases participated in the sexual abuse of children. Am I surprised that given that there are Catholic schools that allowed a debauched culture and graduates to include misogynistic comments and quotes in their year books. No. No I am not. Years ago a priest my family knew well who really tried to live the life of a true Christian commented on how priests got promoted in the church and it was not through good deeds of helping the poor. It was an old boys club in the traditional sense so no one should be surprised that that culture was part of Georgetown Prep then.

I will also say that lots of men have public faces for the world. Think Rob Porter or Matt Lauer. I thought I knew my brother-in-law until I learned he was abusing my sister. He denied it and continued to deny it even after confessing on a recording. Men learned of his confession and many remained friends with him because hey, he didn't hit and rape them. He works in finance and is friends with Judges and doctors who easily look the other way. That is America. After it happened in my family I found out that it had happened to all these people I knew but they didn't like to talk about it. We joined a really crowded club we didn't want to join but at least it is full of courageous and kind survivors. Staistically it is likely that at least one if not more of the members on the Senate Judiciary Committee have sexually harassed or abused a woman in their lifetime. Teddy Kennedy was on the Committee and we all know he was guilty of it at one point in his life. Orrin Hatch was his good buddy and clearly looked the other way for him. Birds of a feather flock together and men who treat and view women as less stick together.

If Kavenaugh really wants to set an example for his daughters and the girls he coaches? He should say I have nothing to hide. I'll talk to the FBI and she can talk to the FBI and then we can have a vote. That's not what he's doing and little girls across America are learning not to come forward and tell your story because people will turn themselves inside out with worry and compassion for the accused and none for the victim. I guess it is a good lesson for them to learn b/c it is a sure bet that they will at least be sexually harassed in their lifetime, 1 in 4 will be a victim of domestic abuse, and 1 in 5 will be raped. They should know that when that happens the odds are there will be men like Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch, Bob Corker, etc. and women like Susan Collins who joined the men's club who will bully them into staying silent or telling their story in a way that protects the feelings of the man involved.

Fellow Catholic here - well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I laugh when I see the national media refer to Prep as an "elite private school." If they're referring to academics, it's far from elite. Even calling it second-tier is something that you'd only hear from boosters.

Have you heard the term...perception is reality?

Whether the "elite" narrative is deserved or not, interest in the school from prospective applicants is very high.

There will still be 4 applications for every 1 slot.

Sure - but that doesn't make them elite. Elite is when nobody bother to apply without standardized test percentile scores in the 80s-90s. The fact that a lot of mediocre students with money want to opt out of their local public doesn't make you "elite" academically.

The kids I know who have attended Prep are the ones who are debating whether to go there versus Bullis or Good Counsel, not SFS, STA or GDS.

[Anonymous]

Oh pp I don't this is true. I have a son at STA. He is too young to have applied to Prep but Prep does in fact have an excellent academic reputation and is certainly in the same league and SFS, STA, and GDS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh pp I don't this is true. I have a son at STA. He is too young to have applied to Prep but Prep does in fact have an excellent academic reputation and is certainly in the same league and SFS, STA, and GDS.

It's in the same league in terms of facilities, wealth and sports (actually, a higher league in the latter). It's not anywhere close in terms of college placement, test scores, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Live in Bethesda with neighbor whose kid went to Holton Arms. Two years ago she told me that she tried to prevent her daughter from socializing with boys from Georgetown Prep and Landon. Said she was worried about parties and drinking culture at the schools.

Only thing else I know about Georgetown Prep is that I had a neighbor who from moved from Virginia to a couple blocks away to send his two boys there for high school and then sold their house and moved back to Virginia when their younger boy went to college. They were the only people in our area with Romney 2012 signs and they were bigger than the normal yard signs.

It's annectdata, but putting it out there for anyone interested.

Romney, by all accounts, is a highly honorable and impeccably behaved man, so what is your point?

I grew up in a private school world similar to DC's and people harping about this school or that school are missing the point. [b]These kinds of juvenile teen male behavior fueled by alcohol happens everywhere, at every school, public or private, rich or poor. Singling out Georgetown Prep is really missing the point. The boys at Sidwell and GDS are no better behaved.

Sidwell and GDS haven't had scandals like

Landon boys setting up a "draft" for girls https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/opinion/09dowd.html

Eight Landon boys cheating on the SAT together https://www.washingtonian.com/2003/10/01/from-the-archives-our-sons-have-something-to-say/

Prep boys expelled for hazing then having the entitlement to sue the school https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1991/01/15/dismissal-upheld-in-prep-school-hazing-incident/524fa325-7171-41b4-8edc-1d5fa8706d9f/?utm_term=.08f60248349a

Sidwell and GDS didn't produce 5/46 of student-athletes on a team that was accused of raping a woman. Sidwell and GDS haven't produced an alumnus like George Huguely.

GDS had a scandal around 2000/2001 that it kept private very well. At least one student was expelled and came to my public school. It was a bullying scandal with an underground newspaper. Pretty awful. I don't think it made the papers.

I agree some schools are better than others at dealing with these types of issues, but no school is immune.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh pp I don't this is true. I have a son at STA. He is too young to have applied to Prep but Prep does in fact have an excellent academic reputation and is certainly in the same league and SFS, STA, and GDS.

It's in the same league in terms of facilities, wealth and sports (actually, a higher league in the latter). It's not anywhere close in terms of college placement, test scores, etc.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing has changed. The athletes are the ones who engage in the inappropriate behavior 30 years ago and today. The only difference is that the drinking age is higher and it is less prevalent...but it is still happening at some level in not just boys schools, but in ALL schools.

I have a boy at one of these all male schools, not an athlete, and just a good mild mannered and smart kid. There are lots of these types of kids too. I do have to say, however, that he did shadow at GP when applying as a freshman, and he knew immediately it wasn't the place for him because of the culture of entitlement and privilege among the athletes.

He is at Gonzaga now and although you do have that same type of crowd there, the sheer size of the student body waters it down and it becomes less accepted/prevalent. Lots of kids like my DS (smart, nerdy, maybe a bit quirky) and I am grateful he landed there.

Enough with your rude and obnoxious generalizations. My son is not this way.

--Proud Mom of a Prep Athlete

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how it is today, but certainly mid-1990's was NO different than what was alleged. One star athlete had a family home on the eastern shore where the parents wouldn't come while the kid hosted 30-40 kids from the various schools...tons of booze, lots of sex, I'm sure plenty of metoo issues. Several of the boys are very well respected leaders, several of the girls are also fairly senior "names" on the scene.

I highly doubt much has changed. It is worth noting that there seem to have been only a dozen or so kids (football and soccer) involved throughout the 1980-2000 issues, so it's not like the whole school was like this. But everyone even remotely linked to any of the schools knows EXACTLY who these boys were.

Really? So it was just a rape party? You really do not know what you are talking about.