Bishop Ireton - Alexandria

[Anonymous]

Ohio friend- read the previous messages in this post. I don’t know the guy but read plenty.

Anyone have any insight on admissions person at Ireton? She’s been abrupt and rude. I feel like so should apologize for having questions. Is everyone there like this?

[Anonymous]

Wow I’ve had the exact opposite experience. We had a lovely tour recently and she was very helpful in answering our questions. We are excited to send our student to BI next year. The new space is great.

[Anonymous]

We had a great experience as well. We needed to change DD's shadow date and also wanted to coordinate with another family at the last minute. The Admissions Office was accommodating, responded quickly, and was very nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Previous guy left under a cloud, inappropriate behavior hushed up. Bill Simmons stepping up in interim. Several new coaches, too. New leadership desperately needed there.

For five years, I worked with Catholic schools as a consultant! I was amazed at how many Catholic school teachers and heads, were fired for incompetence in nearby public schools. There is a saying "If you can't make in public schools, a Catholic window is open."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where do these kids go to college?

Hi - I had an employee a few years ago who had attended BI. He was terrific - bright, polite, VA Tech grad. He left for grad school.

[Anonymous]

Basketball coach (men’s) was relieved of duty this week. New coach is new AD. Anyone have any thoughts about that?!

[Anonymous]

The team record this season was 15-18, last year it was 14-17 and the year before that 11-20. Some of those losses were by large margins. So, I suspect the AD realized the program needed to go in a new direction and now's the time to make that change since students are making enrollment decisions in during the next two weeks. They missed the 2024 recruiting window, but can start working for 2025.

[Anonymous]

I went to admitted students events this week, best interaction was an admin who talked to us and focused on my DD and how to help her navigate coming from a school on her own. Seems like many of the kids are already connected. The parents also seemed cliquey, but nice enough. I’m not an Alexandria socialite, will I make it?

I don’t really care about Boys b-ball, the above records aren’t good or bad, do we expect more emphasis on this moving forward?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to admitted students events this week, best interaction was an admin who talked to us and focused on my DD and how to help her navigate coming from a school on her own. Seems like many of the kids are already connected. The parents also seemed cliquey, but nice enough. I’m not an Alexandria socialite, will I make it?

I don’t really care about Boys b-ball, the above records aren’t good or bad, do we expect more emphasis on this moving forward?

Current parent here: I have found the parents and students to be very welcoming and kind. There are a couple of feeder schools to BI, but those students don’t stay in their bubbles once at BI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to admitted students events this week, best interaction was an admin who talked to us and focused on my DD and how to help her navigate coming from a school on her own. Seems like many of the kids are already connected. The parents also seemed cliquey, but nice enough. I’m not an Alexandria socialite, will I make it?

I don’t really care about Boys b-ball, the above records aren’t good or bad, do we expect more emphasis on this moving forward?

I agree with PP that the community is wonderful.

I am interested in more info about new direction for athletics. I have NOT heard good things and even found some info buried deep in the Georgetown Prep boards here about Dwaine Bryant. Any idea what focus is for athletics, and specifically boys athletics moving forward? We have a senior, this year much like his sophomore year in sports has been smooth- good communication, transportation etc. his junior year was rough. We have a 7th grade student as well. Glad we will have time to see what is coming down the pike, but interested in more info if others have it.

[Anonymous]

Super impressed with communication and efforts of BI Administrators. Optimistic that this e-learning will go smoothly and grateful of efforts of trying to get resources to students!

[Anonymous]

The new AD told the current basketball coach over the phone that he was being replaced. So he’s leaving the school. Lots of staff leaving this year. They are starting a new special education department next year, but don’t have enough staff for it and seem to think the special ed kids will just be included in general education classes with a peer buddy. The classroom teachers do not have special ed licenses and don’t know how this is going to work. They are not talking about a team teaching model.

The renovation resulted in very small classrooms with no room for teacher filing cabinets and other lab materials in many rooms. It’s going to take a while to adjust.

It’s very hard to hire good teachers with such a low starting salary.

The kids are nice and generally good kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new AD told the current basketball coach over the phone that he was being replaced. So he’s leaving the school. Lots of staff leaving this year. They are starting a new special education department next year, but don’t have enough staff for it and seem to think the special ed kids will just be included in general education classes with a peer buddy. The classroom teachers do not have special ed licenses and don’t know how this is going to work. They are not talking about a team teaching model.

The renovation resulted in very small classrooms with no room for teacher filing cabinets and other lab materials in many rooms. It’s going to take a while to adjust.

It’s very hard to hire good teachers with such a low starting salary.

The kids are nice and generally good kids.

Trainwreck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new AD told the current basketball coach over the phone that he was being replaced. So he’s leaving the school. Lots of staff leaving this year. They are starting a new special education department next year, but don’t have enough staff for it and seem to think the special ed kids will just be included in general education classes with a peer buddy. The classroom teachers do not have special ed licenses and don’t know how this is going to work. They are not talking about a team teaching model.

The renovation resulted in very small classrooms with no room for teacher filing cabinets and other lab materials in many rooms. It’s going to take a while to adjust.

It’s very hard to hire good teachers with such a low starting salary.

The kids are nice and generally good kids.

Are you a teacher at the school? Parent? Student? You have strange quibbles...no place for a file cabinet? Everything is in the cloud now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new AD told the current basketball coach over the phone that he was being replaced. So he’s leaving the school. Lots of staff leaving this year. They are starting a new special education department next year, but don’t have enough staff for it and seem to think the special ed kids will just be included in general education classes with a peer buddy. The classroom teachers do not have special ed licenses and don’t know how this is going to work. They are not talking about a team teaching model.

The renovation resulted in very small classrooms with no room for teacher filing cabinets and other lab materials in many rooms. It’s going to take a while to adjust.

It’s very hard to hire good teachers with such a low starting salary.

The kids are nice and generally good kids.

Are you a teacher at the school? Parent? Student? You have strange quibbles...no place for a file cabinet? Everything is in the cloud now.

You'd be surprised in teaching. You have to keep a lot of student materials like tests for up to years. I'd imagine teachers need filing cabinets. Also I am wondering about the new SPED department. I think there was parental and Diocesan pressure to create a program people with ID.