Nysmith School

[Anonymous]

The school hasn't been good for students of color and kids with ADHD.

[Anonymous]

When you say "students of color" are you specifically referring only to black students (or black and Hispanic students), or do you mean all non-white students?

The population of Loudoun County is roughly 20% Asian (non-biracial) and Asians are actually underrepresented at Nysmith (roughly 10% Asian) relative to the population, even though it "felt" to me like there were a lot of Asians when I toured. Other minorities underrepresented as well, I think -- school is about 75% white according to GreatSchools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You forgot the "for the Gifted" tag. This is very important.

I hear the sarcasm but am missing the why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school hasn't been good for students of color and kids with ADHD.

Can you say more re: ADHD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you say "students of color" are you specifically referring only to black students (or black and Hispanic students), or do you mean all non-white students?

The population of Loudoun County is roughly 20% Asian (non-biracial) and Asians are actually underrepresented at Nysmith (roughly 10% Asian) relative to the population, even though it "felt" to me like there were a lot of Asians when I toured. Other minorities underrepresented as well, I think -- school is about 75% white according to GreatSchools.

Nysmith is 40% asian = 25% indian + 10%-15% east asian + middle eastern/persian. That is about the same fraction as what you see in AAP is western fairfax (perhaps a bit less asian than AAP at Carson or Rocky Run and a bit more than Longfellow but about the same as the average k-8 population across western fairfax as a whole).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I interviewed for & was offered a teaching job there, but declined (chose FCPS instead) due to extremely low teaching salaries and no benefits. They also do not require their teachers to have a teaching license. It’s crazy to me that parents pay that much money for unlicensed teachers who get paid crap. I also privately worked with a Nysmith student several years later who was definitely not ‘gifted.’

Yes maybe the county is a better employer than privates from the teacher's point of view. But parents (including us for our 2 kids) are paying for the actual outputs/delivery of the education (eg strong curriculum, actual specialiats in science and social studies teaching elementary kids, differentiated math, elementary foreign language, smaller class size, actual textbooks, more chance to do extracurriculars, well behaved students, parents who can afford tuition so who also care about education and are discerning consumers of education). And the differentiated at a private which is unusual at similar privates downtown.

Nysmith used to be better and more academic but it is still a string curriculum and has the class size to make that operational. It is much harder to do this in public nowadays with the class sizes and emph2 on no child left behind.

It doesnt affect me if their teachers have fewer benefits; most a good teachers anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You forgot the "for the Gifted" tag. This is very important.

I hear the sarcasm but am missing the why.

1) It’s a for-profit school that is not limited to gifted students (any more than FCPS AAP is a "gifted" program), just average+ kids whose parents can afford tuition
2) It’s obnoxious and kind of hilarious at academic competitions when the kids announce they’re from "Nysmith School for the Gifted" and then get smoked by (gasp) public school students from Rachel Carson
3) The teacher qualifications are less than the local public school system with no teacher cert requirement, much less gifted training/endorsement

[Anonymous]

Speaking as someone who attended schools for the gifted (I would compare more to Feynman than Nysmith, i.e. small startup schools -- though I will note that 20+ years later they have turned into high-prestige schools, not in the DC area) with similarly-accredited teachers, I note that from those teachers, I received an excellent education. They were generally creative, enthusiastic educators with undergraduate or even graduate degrees in the subject they were teaching.

[Anonymous]

I don't know why private schools bother public school parents so much. Envy is a strong emotion.

[Anonymous]

I have two children at Nysmith and couldn't be happier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why private schools bother public school parents so much. Envy is a strong emotion.

I don't think they serve society well.

Unrelatedly, I don't think they serve individuals well either. But that's something for the parents of private school kids to see for themselves. Or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school hasn't been good for students of color and kids with ADHD.

I have worried about this.

[Anonymous]

My DD has ADHD and Nysmith has worked with her. Having two teachers in every classroom has been incredible for her. She gets extra attention whenever she needs it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why private schools bother public school parents so much. Envy is a strong emotion.

It’s not envy, trust me. Aside from parochial schools, where there is a religious component that is very important to some, private schools are simply a way for insecure rich parents to be able to brag at their kids expense. Just reading the private school threads makes me want to vomit - the pressure these kids are under, particularly the 8th graders, who have been led to believe that they will be losers in life if they don’t get in. It’s really sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school hasn't been good for students of color and kids with ADHD.

The school is unbelievably diverse (from a culture perspective) ... not African American diverse but neither is that part of Fairfax county which is where the school draws from... I know many many kids with adhd at Nysmith ... many.