Petty incident or detail that turned you off a school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two schools, two pretty "petty" things, probably, with two highly regarded schools--thus amplifying the likelihood that these were petty details for us to look at:

1. At one school, they had the 1st grade kids in circle time for about 15 minutes learning the word "otoscope." They referred back to this particular circle time throughout the tour as an example of how the kids are learning such amazing things. I thought to myself, "why in the world do first graders need to know what an otoscope is? Why is this the big bragging point"

2. At another school, the whole lower school was just dark. Rainy day? Dark. Sunny day? Dark. Hallways? Dark. Classrooms? Dark. It seemed drab and somber, and despite the fancy name, we just couldn't see sending our kid to a school where the light just didn't manage to get in anywhere.

#2 sounds like Beauvoir

Are you blind? All of the Beauvoir classrooms have windows and tons of light. The Pre-K hall can get dark sometimes but the classrooms have tons of light. The hallway around the rest of the school borders the garden in the center — tons of light

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The person who was checking people in at admissions for a tour acknowledged all the white families with kids named things like Clay. We had arrived before many of those other families and it wasn't crowded before the other families arrived.

The other admissions people was wonderful though or else we would have not applied.

As a parent who volunteers at these events, your comment makes me want to shrivel up and die of secondhand shame. We have a rule at our school that every single visitor gets acknowledged even if we’re not sure who they are. Inevitably that means that an 8th grade parent volunteer introduces themselves to a first year parent of a preschooler who is volunteering for the first time, but it’s better than ignoring people.

[Anonymous]

I have a new petty incident from an open house last week: at progressive school for gifted children that is in very high demand in my area, an administrator described students as “kiddos” for 2 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a new petty incident from an open house last week: at progressive school for gifted children that is in very high demand in my area, an administrator described students as “kiddos” for 2 hours.

Annoying!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a new petty incident from an open house last week: at progressive school for gifted children that is in very high demand in my area, an administrator described students as “kiddos” for 2 hours.

How old were they? This doesn't sound so bad if they were pk-2nd/3rd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was asked to wait in a vestibule while my children were walked by a student to their shadow classrooms.

The secretary and vice principal clearly thought the glass door between them and the vestibule was soundproof. They began to discuss whether I looked familiar and their initial (though admittedly positive) first impressions of my children. While nothing unkind was said, I found it off-putting that they were openly sizing us up--it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

This was our parish school. We chose not to proceed further with the application process.

Yes - this is unprofessional

[Anonymous]

(1) catholic school; clumps of HS girls wearing too much make up projecting mean girl vibes; my kid was turned off by the blue windows

(2) admissions officer at school known to accommodate ADHD kids gave too hard of a “hard sell” and the place felt like an in-patient facility

(3) tour guide at popular alternative private made a point of emphasizing there is no counseling staff for kids who need special help and that there is no cafeteria service; every student’s family takes a turn providing lunch for the 100’s of kids

Kudos to anyone who correctly names these three schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:(1) catholic school; clumps of HS girls wearing too much make up projecting mean girl vibes; my kid was turned off by the blue windows

(2) admissions officer at school known to accommodate ADHD kids gave too hard of a “hard sell” and the place felt like an in-patient facility

(3) tour guide at popular alternative private made a point of emphasizing there is no counseling staff for kids who need special help and that there is no cafeteria service; every student’s family takes a turn providing lunch for the 100’s of kids

Kudos to anyone who correctly names these three schools.

1. Visi
2. McLean
3. Field

[Anonymous]

Is it true that families provide lunch for students at field? Would love more info

[Anonymous]

A very well know lower elementary school had a representative from their PTA tell us that the parent community is very engaged and that most parents participate in committees. The most popular committee she said now required experience on at least 2 other committees prior to be “accepted” to serve in this most popular committee, because I guess how else can you screen people out and keep up with demand.

That most popular committee they were so proudly gatekeeping is the book fair committee. I was speechless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it true that families provide lunch for students at field? Would love more info

That used to be true, but I don't think it is true anymore. https://www.fieldschool.org/student-life/lunch-transportation-and-technology

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The person who was checking people in at admissions for a tour acknowledged all the white families with kids named things like Clay. We had arrived before many of those other families and it wasn't crowded before the other families arrived.

The other admissions people was wonderful though or else we would have not applied.

Are you trying to say that you felt like white families were welcomed and black families were treated as invisible?
I don't follow what you mean by the name Clay; it is not a particularly common name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it true that families provide lunch for students at field? Would love more info

Omg! I live OOS and a friend who worked at Field 15 years ago was telling me about this and I thought he was making it up. He has a weird sense of humor so I figured it was part of some kind of setup for a joke. It’s insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a new petty incident from an open house last week: at progressive school for gifted children that is in very high demand in my area, an administrator described students as “kiddos” for 2 hours.

How old were they? This doesn't sound so bad if they were pk-2nd/3rd.

My tour group was 4th and 5th grade families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a new petty incident from an open house last week: at progressive school for gifted children that is in very high demand in my area, an administrator described students as “kiddos” for 2 hours.

My skin crawls when parents refer to children as kiddos. I just hate it so much. It isn’t cute, clever, friendly, homey or whatever else people think it is. Ditto “the littles.” Ugh