SSFS HOS leaving

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s interesting that literally no one is saying they are sorry to see him go but up until last week it felt like complaining about Rodney was the kind of thing that could get your kid counseled out. Not saying that’s actually the case but it felt like this whole cult of personality and it was only possible to let on you hadn’t drunk the cool aid to people you knew felt likewise.

Agree. I knew enough teachers and families were unhappy. But I felt the same. If staying with the school I need to keep quiet or RG would make my kids life impossible. If I couldn’t do that I’d leave. I chose to leave.

[Anonymous]

Praise for the middle school is interesting. Some of the best teachers departing were from this division. The MS environment for the students is toxic with rampant bullying and a negative hyper-focus on race.

Inspired leadership is needed in all divisions as well as at the top and the board needs to do better to ensure this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Praise for the middle school is interesting. Some of the best teachers departing were from this division. The MS environment for the students is toxic with rampant bullying and a negative hyper-focus on race.

Inspired leadership is needed in all divisions as well as at the top and the board needs to do better to ensure this.

This isn't true on any level in any way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Praise for the middle school is interesting. Some of the best teachers departing were from this division. The MS environment for the students is toxic with rampant bullying and a negative hyper-focus on race.

Inspired leadership is needed in all divisions as well as at the top and the board needs to do better to ensure this.

This isn't true on any level in any way.

It isn't not true. It is the experience. Perhaps your experience is different than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New family here feeling some serious whiplash. Please tell me it’s going to be ok?

If you’re a new high schooler I would seriously consider other options. US was already a mess and this isn’t going to make it any better. Even if you lose some money for your kids sake, a different school would be better. It’s going to take a few years to fix all the issues. Come back later when things are better.

US is amazing. It's the other divisions that need work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Praise for the middle school is interesting. Some of the best teachers departing were from this division. The MS environment for the students is toxic with rampant bullying and a negative hyper-focus on race.

Inspired leadership is needed in all divisions as well as at the top and the board needs to do better to ensure this.

My child was bullied, and the main bully/ring leader left the following year, so maybe they’re doing more than you think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Praise for the middle school is interesting. Some of the best teachers departing were from this division. The MS environment for the students is toxic with rampant bullying and a negative hyper-focus on race.

Inspired leadership is needed in all divisions as well as at the top and the board needs to do better to ensure this.

This is true. I know 2 MS teachers leaving that are the BEST. Good teachers are leaving across all 3 divisions. My kids had a good experience in MS. But I can believe that has changed in the last couple years. Hyper focus on race and sexual orientation is also across the divisions, curriculum, SEL, reading selections, special assemblies all have changed in the last couple of years to focus on these things. These shifts related to RGs DEI messaging.

Bullying has gotten worse. And admin has changed how they handle (or rather fail to) this. This experience will obviously vary kid to kid. Some kids don’t face this and have a wonderful experience. I’m sure that’s true. Other kids fall victim. Social media use in the classroom is rampant. Cyber bullying is rampant. Both MS and US are unwilling to do anything to address nothing of these problems. But again if your kid isn’t vulnerable you won’t see it. If your kid is though, the administration won’t do anything about it and your kid will struggle alot. I know kids who have suffered this way. So both are true.

Overall though MS was the best run of 3 divisions at least 2 years ago. But then again full RG onslaught also started 2 years ago and everything has gotten worse since then. Focus on academics (the usual kind) has decreased.

When people say their kid is happy im sure that’s true. The ppl who say it’s been terrible - that’s happened too. It’s inconsistent. Overall though there is a downward trend in quality due to RGs tenure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Praise for the middle school is interesting. Some of the best teachers departing were from this division. The MS environment for the students is toxic with rampant bullying and a negative hyper-focus on race.

Inspired leadership is needed in all divisions as well as at the top and the board needs to do better to ensure this.

This is true. I know 2 MS teachers leaving that are the BEST. Good teachers are leaving across all 3 divisions. My kids had a good experience in MS. But I can believe that has changed in the last couple years. Hyper focus on race and sexual orientation is also across the divisions, curriculum, SEL, reading selections, special assemblies all have changed in the last couple of years to focus on these things. These shifts related to RGs DEI messaging.

Bullying has gotten worse. And admin has changed how they handle (or rather fail to) this. This experience will obviously vary kid to kid. Some kids don’t face this and have a wonderful experience. I’m sure that’s true. Other kids fall victim. Social media use in the classroom is rampant. Cyber bullying is rampant. Both MS and US are unwilling to do anything to address nothing of these problems. But again if your kid isn’t vulnerable you won’t see it. If your kid is though, the administration won’t do anything about it and your kid will struggle alot. I know kids who have suffered this way. So both are true.

Overall though MS was the best run of 3 divisions at least 2 years ago. But then again full RG onslaught also started 2 years ago and everything has gotten worse since then. Focus on academics (the usual kind) has decreased.

When people say their kid is happy im sure that’s true. The ppl who say it’s been terrible - that’s happened too. It’s inconsistent. Overall though there is a downward trend in quality due to RGs tenure. [/quote
When you say hyper focus on race and sexual orientation what does that mean ?

[Anonymous]

Just because the MS head has remained while the other divisions have experienced turnover in leadership does not mean that the MS is fine. MS leadership is stale and as others have said, the climate for the students is one of bullying and identity targeting. Going forward, the board must seek administrators in all divisions who stay current in the field of educational leadership, climates for teaching and learning, and innovative hands-on (not just tech-based) pedagogy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Praise for the middle school is interesting. Some of the best teachers departing were from this division. The MS environment for the students is toxic with rampant bullying and a negative hyper-focus on race.

Inspired leadership is needed in all divisions as well as at the top and the board needs to do better to ensure this.

This is true. I know 2 MS teachers leaving that are the BEST. Good teachers are leaving across all 3 divisions. My kids had a good experience in MS. But I can believe that has changed in the last couple years. Hyper focus on race and sexual orientation is also across the divisions, curriculum, SEL, reading selections, special assemblies all have changed in the last couple of years to focus on these things. These shifts related to RGs DEI messaging.

Bullying has gotten worse. And admin has changed how they handle (or rather fail to) this. This experience will obviously vary kid to kid. Some kids don’t face this and have a wonderful experience. I’m sure that’s true. Other kids fall victim. Social media use in the classroom is rampant. Cyber bullying is rampant. Both MS and US are unwilling to do anything to address nothing of these problems. But again if your kid isn’t vulnerable you won’t see it. If your kid is though, the administration won’t do anything about it and your kid will struggle alot. I know kids who have suffered this way. So both are true.

Overall though MS was the best run of 3 divisions at least 2 years ago. But then again full RG onslaught also started 2 years ago and everything has gotten worse since then. Focus on academics (the usual kind) has decreased.

When people say their kid is happy im sure that’s true. The ppl who say it’s been terrible - that’s happened too. It’s inconsistent. Overall though there is a downward trend in quality due to RGs tenure. [/quote
When you say hyper focus on race and sexual orientation what does that mean ?

New poster here. Can you explain the hyper focus on race and sexual orientation? Was it more focus on admitting minorities and LGBT? Or more focus on studying about the different groups? Also worrying to hear about social media use and bullying in school, are personal electronics allowed in class?

I hope everything works out at the school. We’ve always heard mostly positive feedback on the culture at the school

[Anonymous]

Ha! No bullying in MS? You are so wrong. I’m glad your child didn’t experience that but mine did. MS admin did nothing for MONTHS. My son had a horrible experience and we repeatedly reached out to admin, the counselor, advisor and nothing. Run people, run!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ha! No bullying in MS? You are so wrong. I’m glad your child didn’t experience that but mine did. MS admin did nothing for MONTHS. My son had a horrible experience and we repeatedly reached out to admin, the counselor, advisor and nothing. Run people, run!

We had the same experience in US. Notified the admin who said they couldnt tell us what they were able to do. Nothing changed so we assume they were not "able" to do anything. We had to withdraw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Praise for the middle school is interesting. Some of the best teachers departing were from this division. The MS environment for the students is toxic with rampant bullying and a negative hyper-focus on race.

Inspired leadership is needed in all divisions as well as at the top and the board needs to do better to ensure this.

This is true. I know 2 MS teachers leaving that are the BEST. Good teachers are leaving across all 3 divisions. My kids had a good experience in MS. But I can believe that has changed in the last couple years. Hyper focus on race and sexual orientation is also across the divisions, curriculum, SEL, reading selections, special assemblies all have changed in the last couple of years to focus on these things. These shifts related to RGs DEI messaging.

Bullying has gotten worse. And admin has changed how they handle (or rather fail to) this. This experience will obviously vary kid to kid. Some kids don’t face this and have a wonderful experience. I’m sure that’s true. Other kids fall victim. Social media use in the classroom is rampant. Cyber bullying is rampant. Both MS and US are unwilling to do anything to address nothing of these problems. But again if your kid isn’t vulnerable you won’t see it. If your kid is though, the administration won’t do anything about it and your kid will struggle alot. I know kids who have suffered this way. So both are true.

Overall though MS was the best run of 3 divisions at least 2 years ago. But then again full RG onslaught also started 2 years ago and everything has gotten worse since then. Focus on academics (the usual kind) has decreased.

When people say their kid is happy im sure that’s true. The ppl who say it’s been terrible - that’s happened too. It’s inconsistent. Overall though there is a downward trend in quality due to RGs tenure. [/quote
When you say hyper focus on race and sexual orientation what does that mean ?

New poster here. Can you explain the hyper focus on race and sexual orientation? Was it more focus on admitting minorities and LGBT? Or more focus on studying about the different groups? Also worrying to hear about social media use and bullying in school, are personal electronics allowed in class?

I hope everything works out at the school. We’ve always heard mostly positive feedback on the culture at the school

I think the issue is that the messaging of the school was 24x7 the same agendas - you had to frame everything around a certain race and gender identities. There was no room for any other kind of identities. Kids were made to feel isolated if they didnt fit in with those identities. If you ever hear RG speak it's always the same story over and over again. So that's all that carries over into the daily school activities and discussions. Nothing else gets celebrated. The school was always a diverse and inclusive place with all kinds of admitted students that's what first drew us. But then it became only what Rodney was interested in. It just felt like nothing else was valued.

[Anonymous]

I was a faculty brat at SSFS for all of the 70s. I don't keep in touch with the current players (though I went to summer camp with Tom), but I have a lot of experience with small schools, with teaching in small schools, and I venture that firing a HOS in July (which is structural insanity) means the board wanted to do so much earlier and couldn't do so until now.

There's the scent of something legal, who knows what, but a head doesn't go with less than two months before school opening unless it took that long to remove anything litigious.

Even founding head, Thorny Brown--who ended up having his own problems with the board--was allowed a year-long exit ramp, which is supposed to happen anyway, given the need for proper search committees and the general languid pace of all things academic.

I'm on the mailing list and while I know nothing about the departing HOS, I was startled by the immaturity of his resignation letter--the "wind" made his career choices for him, a pop star is the person to quote in your finale?

Good grief, it was the SSFS 70s all over again, and look where that got us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a faculty brat at SSFS for all of the 70s. I don't keep in touch with the current players (though I went to summer camp with Tom), but I have a lot of experience with small schools, with teaching in small schools, and I venture that firing a HOS in July (which is structural insanity) means the board wanted to do so much earlier and couldn't do so until now.

There's the scent of something legal, who knows what, but a head doesn't go with less than two months before school opening unless it took that long to remove anything litigious.

Even founding head, Thorny Brown--who ended up having his own problems with the board--was allowed a year-long exit ramp, which is supposed to happen anyway, given the need for proper search committees and the general languid pace of all things academic.

I'm on the mailing list and while I know nothing about the departing HOS, I was startled by the immaturity of his resignation letter--the "wind" made his career choices for him, a pop star is the person to quote in your finale?

Good grief, it was the SSFS 70s all over again, and look where that got us.

Well if you know RG at all, Beyonce is the only thing he ever quotes.