Please confirm... did Sidwell's Head of School Tom Farquhar and NPS Jim Neill come from Bullis

[Anonymous]

It's not what you know, it's ...............

[Anonymous]

Just to point this out - the sidwell by laws state that the head of school MUST be a quaker. This significantly limits their applicant pool. Tom Farquar happens to be quaker. I wonder if bullis is sad to see him go.

[Anonymous]

Not particurlarly sad. Although Tom was great for raising money and keeping the board happy, he had little rapport with students and faculty. He would meet someone 10 or so times and not remember them, get very upset over small micromanaged issues....

He's good for the outward look of the school, but I would give little of the credit towards Bullis becoming a better place to Tom Farquhar. Instead, the credit is due to many of the new faculty members who came in with fresh ideas, some even too fresh for Tom's old school way of thinking.

[Anonymous]

Um, and who do you think hired those teachers? I have known Tom for a number of years, and the PP's description is way off and out of line.

Yes, the Bullis community was sad that he chose to leave, and anything beyond that is simply sour grapes.

[Anonymous]

Some in the Sidwell community are concerned that he is going to come with the idea that the school needs to ramp up discipline. Student behavior is not a problem at the school for the most part. They also worry that he won't pay attention to sports. The current interim head has been to dozens of games of all sports. He is a former athlete who understands the strengths and weaknesses of Sidwell's program. We worry that Farquhar is going to come and not realize that building a $30 million gym doesn' solve problems with particular programs. That the school needs to help the sports programs that are suffering from deep malaise.

[Anonymous]

Farquhar is an athlete, a runner, who coached track and XC at Sidwell when he was a teacher and administrator. As far as malaise on sports teams at SFS, I can only speak from my experience as the parent of a runner -- no malaise there: great teams (conference champs) with strong participation from boys and girls, kids from all classes, and a range of ability, including nationally-recognized runners and others who are steadily improving when measured against their own times. As far as what Farquhar will do for sports overall, I hear from Bullis parents that he walked the walk on the importance of kids leading balanced lives, with time for sports, the arts, community service, family, and social life, as well as academics. I hope he'll bring that balance back to SFS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some in the Sidwell community are concerned that he is going to come with the idea that the school needs to ramp up discipline. Student behavior is not a problem at the school for the most part. They also worry that he won't pay attention to sports. The current interim head has been to dozens of games of all sports. He is a former athlete who understands the strengths and weaknesses of Sidwell's program. We worry that Farquhar is going to come and not realize that building a $30 million gym doesn' solve problems with particular programs. That the school needs to help the sports programs that are suffering from deep malaise.

I think there is a lot of arrogance/entitlement in the Sidwell community on the issue of sports. Pick which you want to be--Harvard or (insert SEC school here). You have smart kids who get a great education. The school sends many athletes on to play in college. Your kids get to be on teams, often with not an overabundance of talent. I will hear Sidwell parents complain, and then see the kid in question-- very mediocre talent so that kid could not play at a powerhouse high school program. Moreover, on the numbers alone Sidwell has a structural disadvantage against the single-sex private schools--they have fewer kids so using the Bell curve they will have fewer exceptional athletes. Lastly, why do they think they are entitled to win in every sport? Taking the boys' program, Sidwell won in the fall in x-country and soccer, but people whined because football didn't. In the winter they won banners in wrestling and basketball. Again, why do you think you are entitled to win in every sport? I've seen the Sidwell student population and they don't look like Amazons/Hercules who have such great talent being squandered. If your child is on a team, and makes friends, and gets exercise, and learns about trying hard, and doesn't have abusive coaches, in my book that's a good athletic experience.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure about Mr. Farquhar's other history, but he was head of Westtown School in Westtown, PA throughout the 90's, possibly into the early 2000s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, and who do you think hired those teachers? I have known Tom for a number of years, and the PP's description is way off and out of line.

Yes, the Bullis community was sad that he chose to leave, and anything beyond that is simply sour grapes.

I used to teach at Bullis (was hired by Dick Jung and not by Tom) and I agree with the PP.

Tom was wonderful to work for and he brought so much good to the community. I hold him in the highest regard. I know for a fact that many families current are sad to see him leave. His wife is also a very lovely, talented, kind person.

[Anonymous]

I have heard several horror stories about Farquhar and the principal at Bullis (Delinsky) regarding treatment of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard several horror stories about Farquhar and the principal at Bullis (Delinsky) regarding treatment of students.

Why dredge this up? Bullis has a different Head who is in his third year. (And the word on the Upper School principal is very positive.)

Did you go to your toolshed and find a rusty axe you had an urge to grind?