Siena School

[Anonymous]

New to this thread but we were one of 3 families (that knew each other) that also left Siena due to lack of social emotional support. Suggest looking at McLean, Sandy Spring Friends or Glenwood Academy.

[Anonymous]

NP and Siena parent. We have found the socio-emotional support for DC quite good, so YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Siena was phenomenal for reading support but horrible for social emotional. we left and made amazing progress through a private tutor. We went with another private school but even combined with the cost of tutors it was cheaper than Siena. our child is thriving both academically and emotionally in a more nurturing environment.

Can you share the school where you moved and the name of the private tutor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Siena was phenomenal for reading support but horrible for social emotional. we left and made amazing progress through a private tutor. We went with another private school but even combined with the cost of tutors it was cheaper than Siena. our child is thriving both academically and emotionally in a more nurturing environment.

We are starting at Nova campus. What do you mean by social emotional support is lacking? I’m interested in knowing about upper grades.

[Anonymous]

Younger kid also well supported socially at Siena. Agree that it sounds like a situation where your mileage may vary.

[Anonymous]

In our experience, no. My DC with those diagnoses has been there since 4th grade and has not made much academic progress at all, and the middle school environment is much worse than that of our local public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our experience, no. My DC with those diagnoses has been there since 4th grade and has not made much academic progress at all, and the middle school environment is much worse than that of our local public school.

What campus are you at?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New to this thread but we were one of 3 families (that knew each other) that also left Siena due to lack of social emotional support. Suggest looking at McLean, Sandy Spring Friends or Glenwood Academy.

Chelsea isn't far either from the Maryland campus if you're looking for a school that remediates dyslexia. The middle division kids seem to get along well (I can't speak to the upper grades yet) with less bad behavior than our local public or my own junior high experience back in the day. They do have a couselor/therapist on staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our experience, no. My DC with those diagnoses has been there since 4th grade and has not made much academic progress at all, and the middle school environment is much worse than that of our local public school.

I am not trying to invalidate your experience, but I would note that, especially in grades 4-7, having scores flatline might well be progress because your student didn't fall behind. Metacognition and increasingly sophisticated questions are what this age group is all about, and many neurotypical, nondyslexic kids' grades slip and slip until they figure out what middle-school work looks like. So it may be that your student is doing better than you think. At least, I hope that for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Younger kid also well supported socially at Siena. Agree that it sounds like a situation where your mileage may vary.

Chiming in to say that my student has also been beautifully supported socially and emotionally at Siena. I felt that they were known and supported and pushed to do better. I am sorry for those who have not had this experience, but there's diversity in this regard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our experience, no. My DC with those diagnoses has been there since 4th grade and has not made much academic progress at all, and the middle school environment is much worse than that of our local public school.

I am not trying to invalidate your experience, but I would note that, especially in grades 4-7, having scores flatline might well be progress because your student didn't fall behind. Metacognition and increasingly sophisticated questions are what this age group is all about, and many neurotypical, nondyslexic kids' grades slip and slip until they figure out what middle-school work looks like. So it may be that your student is doing better than you think. At least, I hope that for you.

I think the hope in sending a child to a school like Siena is that they will go from X number of grades behind in reading to closer to grade level or on grade level. Siena doesn't admit kids who are more than 2 grade levels behind (unlike Lab and Chelsea), so one would hope they would be able to help them.

[Anonymous]

Siena went over the top with all their woke stuff even for someone who considers themselves liberal. What killed it for me was when asked if they could focus on helping the kids to navigate socially how to handle when others make a negative remark related to their dyslexia the school responded that they didn't have time that school year (because of all the anti-whiteness trainings) and that maybe the next year.

[Anonymous]

I would agree with the wokeness stuff. It was too much. Our DC was there for four years.

Also, my kid arrived at Siena about a year below grade level in reading, and left there even worse off. This was confirmed on MCAP tests and by their own admission. Paying for it now in high school. Ymmv but I know several families in the same boat with us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our experience, no. My DC with those diagnoses has been there since 4th grade and has not made much academic progress at all, and the middle school environment is much worse than that of our local public school.

I am not trying to invalidate your experience, but I would note that, especially in grades 4-7, having scores flatline might well be progress because your student didn't fall behind. Metacognition and increasingly sophisticated questions are what this age group is all about, and many neurotypical, nondyslexic kids' grades slip and slip until they figure out what middle-school work looks like. So it may be that your student is doing better than you think. At least, I hope that for you.

This quote sounds like it came directly from an administrator at Siena but I do have to say that I agree with it. Siena didn't do everything perfectly for my kid but they did it better than they would have at other schools. Whenever I've had an issue, it's been resolved to the best of everyone's ability and with the resources they have. This is the first time my child is actually ok socially and feels safe because their school counselor really took their needs seriously. This has been the consensus from other parents I interact with. Sad the counselor left but the new one is doing a just fine. We've never met a group of teachers that actually know my kid so well. I am concerned with the amount of turnover of teachers and the number of classes each teacher has to prepare for. I think some of the high school teachers teach three different courses and that's probably too much given this population. All kids are different with different needs but, as a teacher myself, we couldn't be happier. As far as the wokeness stuff goes and as a white person, the data shows that it makes a difference for everyone but data doesn't seem to matter these days. Shrug.

[Anonymous]

Just to offer a different perspective, my kid is in public school with moderate dyslexia, IEP with five hours a week of pull out, and once a week tutoring (have had difficulty finding someone with more availability), more in summer, and she continues to be about the same amount behind she has been.
Agree that metacognition and more sophisticated questions are a big challenge for my inattentive ADHD/dyslexic/slow processing kid.
I agree with previous poster, for the kind of money and expertise at Siena, you'd want your kid to make more than a year's worth of progress in a year (i.e., maybe in three to four years, catch up to grade level).
For reference, on MAP, my kid has been about 23rd percentile for years. One time hit low 40s, but then back to 23rd percentile.