What is going on at Holton?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How long at the Physics teacher been at the school? My dd graduated 10 years ago + loved her AP Physics teacher. Hope it was not him.

18 years when he was let go.

Oh man! I just googled + he was at the school when my dd was there. His Linkedin has been scrubbed + deactivated. FWIW-- I couldn't stand the HoS. Total snob + only treated the super rich well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How long at the Physics teacher been at the school? My dd graduated 10 years ago + loved her AP Physics teacher. Hope it was not him.

18 years when he was let go.

Oh man! I just googled + he was at the school when my dd was there. His Linkedin has been scrubbed + deactivated. FWIW-- I couldn't stand the HoS. Total snob + only treated the super rich well.

I can't stand her either. I didn't get the impression she treated anyone very well. She mispronounced our ethnic names for 10 years. And we are pretty rich and donated to annual fund every year. she does seem to have a special place in her heart for anything related to Sidwell Friends though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Offered spots at NCS and Holton. Very good schools either way. Holton’s campus and stellar Administration sealed the deal. HoS listens at Holton.

Don't know much about NCS, but here is some legit insight on Holton:  insane smart/gifted students, great teachers, stellar reputation, beautiful campus and location.  Bad traffic this year - it was 15 minutes to get to the campus entrance, then another 20 to drop off.  Inefficiency and incompetence in campus management.  Facilities are having problems.  They let go of some of the best people to save money.  Construction trailers all over campus but no construction going on.  School's business manager filed in court to rezone the school property for residential use and wipe out a lien that some of the contractors have on the school for unpaid work.  Didn't work.  It is a total mess. Many bad decisions make no sense, like the huge tuition increase in covid year pissing everyone off, stem from poor finances.  Open windows and asynchronous days -- anything to save a few $$.  Vaguely familiar with sexual harassment/assault claims, but not surprised about details because it's easier to ignore and deny than to deal with.  

So, in a nutshell, great at school. Bad at business. What's more important?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Offered spots at NCS and Holton. Very good schools either way. Holton’s campus and stellar Administration sealed the deal. HoS listens at Holton.

Don't know much about NCS, but here is some legit insight on Holton:  insane smart/gifted students, great teachers, stellar reputation, beautiful campus and location.  Bad traffic this year - it was 15 minutes to get to the campus entrance, then another 20 to drop off.  Inefficiency and incompetence in campus management.  Facilities are having problems.  They let go of some of the best people to save money.  Construction trailers all over campus but no construction going on.  School's business manager filed in court to rezone the school property for residential use and wipe out a lien that some of the contractors have on the school for unpaid work.  Didn't work.  It is a total mess. Many bad decisions make no sense, like the huge tuition increase in covid year pissing everyone off, stem from poor finances.  Open windows and asynchronous days -- anything to save a few $$.  Vaguely familiar with sexual harassment/assault claims, but not surprised about details because it's easier to ignore and deny than to deal with.  

So, in a nutshell, great at school. Bad at business. What's more important?

How long have you been a Holton family? Did it change over time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Offered spots at NCS and Holton. Very good schools either way. Holton’s campus and stellar Administration sealed the deal. HoS listens at Holton.

Don't know much about NCS, but here is some legit insight on Holton:  insane smart/gifted students, great teachers, stellar reputation, beautiful campus and location.  Bad traffic this year - it was 15 minutes to get to the campus entrance, then another 20 to drop off.  Inefficiency and incompetence in campus management.  Facilities are having problems.  They let go of some of the best people to save money.  Construction trailers all over campus but no construction going on.  School's business manager filed in court to rezone the school property for residential use and wipe out a lien that some of the contractors have on the school for unpaid work.  Didn't work.  It is a total mess. Many bad decisions make no sense, like the huge tuition increase in covid year pissing everyone off, stem from poor finances.  Open windows and asynchronous days -- anything to save a few $$.  Vaguely familiar with sexual harassment/assault claims, but not surprised about details because it's easier to ignore and deny than to deal with.  

So, in a nutshell, great at school. Bad at business. What's more important?

Holton parent here. nobody was let go to save money, on the contrary. Expenses went up in order to be in person this Covid year. Windows open were to have fresh air- that increased the cost of heating/AC did not save any money. Construction trailers kept some furniture stored so the students could have more space and distance between them in the classroom. Pick up is a drag, that I admit. We are pretty satisfied with the school, it is not perfect, as nothing is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Offered spots at NCS and Holton. Very good schools either way. Holton’s campus and stellar Administration sealed the deal. HoS listens at Holton.

In what way is the administration stellar? Can you be specific? And how did the HoS listen to seal the deal? I'm just trying to understand because the comments are so mixed.

[Anonymous]

Public docket shows that there is a lot of ongoing litigation. Based on all of the activity, easily over a million dollars in legal fees with big name New York firm. Does anyone have insight why this is?

[Anonymous]

Why doesn’t the board let this HoS go? Get someone new. It is a good school with a strong reputation. Need to be careful not to let reputation slip.

[Anonymous]

College admittance list is not impressive when compared to similar top schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College admittance list is not impressive when compared to similar top schools

This list begs to differ https://instagram.com/holtonarmsclassof2021?utm_medium=copy_link

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every single private school in the area that also decided to stop teaching to the APs was in the lawsuit (St. Albans, NCS, Potomac, Sidwell, etc.). It was about the schools forming a monopoly and shutting out the money-making test prep folks and guess what? The schools won, they were not doing anything wrong. The College Board is terrified of losing its revenue with colleges and universities not caring about the standardized tests any more, and they were desperate to stop it, but had no legal standing.

That’s not really what happened. DOJ investigated the schools as violating the Sherman Act. DOJ was coy about the outcome, but officially said that they used discretion not to prosecute because the schools agreed to disavow the agreement to not offer AP classes and agreed to not enter into similar agreements in the future.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-concludes-its-investigation-dc-area-private-high-schools-decision-stop

So basically the school made a unilateral decision without involving the school community to do away with AP exams. Spent hundreds of thousands to defend itself in DOJ investigation. And then agreed not to engage in antitrust activities as part of the settlement. Why didn't they just come clean and acknowledge that they made a mistake from the start?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been considering Holton for a future entry year but are concerned with the themes of two recent posts, which discuss the school making significant changes with seemingly little explanation or concern for parent views (elimination of honors math in MS and the perpetuation of asynchronous days even when school is back in session). What’s behind the recent change in the school’s attitude? I can’t find those themes from past postings about the school and am trying to figure out what’s going on.

Holton has the most diverse and intelligent group of girls in the DMV. Since you are thinking of future entry, seriously consider applying once there is a new administration. The school is under a lot of scrutiny now for poor business decisions and mismanagement. There are bunch of lawsuits and a federal investigation over the AP class issue. Legal problems, including sexual harassment, they don't share with parents or donors. Many disgruntled - not just a few.

Wait, what??? Legal problems? Federal investigation? Sexual harassment? Holton parent here. First I've heard of this. Do tuition and donation dollars pay these legal fees?

It is well known that Holton uses lawyers to deflect bad business decisions. They have multiple ongoing lawsuits which will keep lawyers busy for several more years. It's a matter of public record in the Montgomery county courts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College admittance list is not impressive when compared to similar top schools

This list begs to differ https://instagram.com/holtonarmsclassof2021?utm_medium=copy_link

I stand corrected. This is a good list. They did well despite the pandemic

[Anonymous]

Excellent matriculation list. The students are no doubt the best and the brightest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn’t the board let this HoS go? Get someone new. It is a good school with a strong reputation. Need to be careful not to let reputation slip.

Good question