Friends School of Baltimore Head Resigns....

[Anonymous]

I heard the teachers at Friends are very difficult. I heard chatter about the foreign language teachers striking at the start of the year. I wonder if covid coupled with difficult, possibly entitled teachers was too much for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard the teachers at Friends are very difficult. I heard chatter about the foreign language teachers striking at the start of the year. I wonder if covid coupled with difficult, possibly entitled teachers was too much for him.

Pure conjecture. ALL teachers at every school could be labeled difficult this year.

[Anonymous]

Lets be honest: nothing is normal. Many school administrators, staff and teachers are at the end of their respective ropes. Students are down with remote learning and hybrid. Everyone is stressed and like parents working around the clock.

This has been an unprecedented, challenging year by any measure. So even if two years’ notice is standard, I’d read nothing into this. And sounds like some folks already have said that it wasn’t a forced resignation or scandal. I’m sure they’ll get a great new HOS, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lets be honest: nothing is normal. Many school administrators, staff and teachers are at the end of their respective ropes. Students are down with remote learning and hybrid. Everyone is stressed and like parents working around the clock.

This has been an unprecedented, challenging year by any measure. So even if two years’ notice is standard, I’d read nothing into this. And sounds like some folks already have said that it wasn’t a forced resignation or scandal. I’m sure they’ll get a great new HOS, too.

PP here, sorry: “students are done with”

[Anonymous]

Very late to this thread, and a Former Parent of a Kid who went to Friends. We had to pull him out of the school. He went to another school and is now at his first choice of college, so it worked out. This was a kid who had never had ANY problems before Friends, or after Friends, and it wasn't academic problems. The place was toxic beyond words. The worst decision I made as a parent, and possibly in my entire life, was enrolling my son at the Friends School of Baltimore.

Let me be very, very clear - the Friends School of Baltimore is the most toxic institution I have ever seen in my life, and this is not because I do not understand the culture. I went to a private school and attended Brown and Harvard, so I know something about the culture, or thought I did anyway.

I don't think Matt planned to leave when he did, but given the utter mess he had a hand in creating (or not stopping), he probably very much wanted to leave. Also, the Dean of Student life is also history, which is sort of a shame because he was a decent guy caught in an insane situation.

The problem that hit Matt is that he completely lost control of the culture of the school around 2017 and the place, almost overnight, became the most hardball takedown and snitch culture I have ever seen. It was like something out of Orwell's 1984. Oddly, the administration wasn't really driving how toxic Friends was; the parents of the place and their kids were.

Honestly, if whoever they get to fill Matt's position doesn't completely turn around the culture there, no one in their right mind will send their kids there, whatever the placement to Ivies or proxy Ivies like Stanford.

Anyway, I would be shocked if he planned this. He didn't. The place was (and probably still is) the school equivalent of a superfund site - completely toxic, and it will take decades to fix it, if it can be fixed.

[Anonymous]

I am a current parent at Friends School of Baltimore and from my experience, I completely disagree with the previous parent's post about Friends being" toxic." And need to present a different perspective.

My child has attended for 7 years and it has been an amazing and supportive community for them and me as a parent. While I disagree with the previous poster, I believe their review is true for them. Friends is a school for certain families. The Quaker approach is very specific and the school's agenda is not for students to attend the best of the best colleges, unless that is what is right for the student. Their goal is to attend a college that fits the child. There are plenty of other private schools within a couple-mile radius with the agenda of all their students attending the best of the best and they have a far more competitive atmosphere. The previous poster mentions understanding the culture and then lists Harvard and Brown - which to me is not the FSB culture. I attended private school locally and went to a well-regarded college, so that should not be a big difference between the poster and myself. Yes, there are issues between the faculty and administration, especially in maintaining faculty of color. And yes, there was a case sexual violence between students in the paste few years. I would be surprised if other schools don't have similar issues but keep it more under wraps. Matt probably saw that his time was ending and the Board did too. Yes, it was a quick exit but no "gossip" of why has surfaced so it likely is for the reasons already stated compounded by covid.

Anyway, I couldn't let the last post be the only critique of FSB. I do know people who have pulled their children out or have been asked to leave so I do know some families dislike the school. From what I've heard about some of these situations, the conflict has to do with not being a good fit with the Quaker aspects about which the school is strict - they are woven into curriculum and culture (which works for my family). This results in a school with a very very liberal position on social matters (again, fine with me). For example, if you don't want to support the BLM movement, don't send your kid there. If you are okay with your child telling sexist jokes, don't send your kid there.

Bottom line for me, my family has been very thankful for the FSB experience. Has it been perfect? No. But, it has not been "toxic."

[Anonymous]

I posted the last comment and should have included this about Matt's replacement:

https://www.friendsbalt.org/about/our-next-head-of-school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a current parent at Friends School of Baltimore and from my experience, I completely disagree with the previous parent's post about Friends being" toxic." And need to present a different perspective.

My child has attended for 7 years and it has been an amazing and supportive community for them and me as a parent. While I disagree with the previous poster, I believe their review is true for them. Friends is a school for certain families. The Quaker approach is very specific and the school's agenda is not for students to attend the best of the best colleges, unless that is what is right for the student. Their goal is to attend a college that fits the child. There are plenty of other private schools within a couple-mile radius with the agenda of all their students attending the best of the best and they have a far more competitive atmosphere. The previous poster mentions understanding the culture and then lists Harvard and Brown - which to me is not the FSB culture. I attended private school locally and went to a well-regarded college, so that should not be a big difference between the poster and myself. Yes, there are issues between the faculty and administration, especially in maintaining faculty of color. And yes, there was a case sexual violence between students in the paste few years. I would be surprised if other schools don't have similar issues but keep it more under wraps. Matt probably saw that his time was ending and the Board did too. Yes, it was a quick exit but no "gossip" of why has surfaced so it likely is for the reasons already stated compounded by covid.

Anyway, I couldn't let the last post be the only critique of FSB. I do know people who have pulled their children out or have been asked to leave so I do know some families dislike the school. From what I've heard about some of these situations, the conflict has to do with not being a good fit with the Quaker aspects about which the school is strict - they are woven into curriculum and culture (which works for my family). This results in a school with a very very liberal position on social matters (again, fine with me). For example, if you don't want to support the BLM movement, don't send your kid there. If you are okay with your child telling sexist jokes, don't send your kid there.

Bottom line for me, my family has been very thankful for the FSB experience. Has it been perfect? No. But, it has not been "toxic."

I'm a Friends alum from a family with several generations attending Quaker schools. I wouldn't describe the school as "Quaker" insomuch as modern progressive. Distinct difference.

We looked long and hard at Friends but decided it's not for us. We didn't find it well-rounded and it's not particularly open minded insomuch as ideologically correct. We found other schools to have a better balance, and in their own way, more tolerant than Friends. You really have to fit the Friends mold to be happy there.

[Anonymous]

Do Quaker schools' charters require that the head of school be Quaker? If not as a rule, is it a practice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do Quaker schools' charters require that the head of school be Quaker? If not as a rule, is it a practice?

No, not a rule nor very common.