Counseled Out Of Sidwell

[Anonymous]

Has anyone experienced this?? If so, what were the reasons?

[Anonymous]

If you were, consider yourself lucky.

[Anonymous]

I've heard this happens a lot.

[Anonymous]

+1 Is it all students or mostly boys

[Anonymous]

It happens some --not that frequently--before or after middle school if they feel strongly that the child will be overmatched academically at the next level up. Both boys and girls (although girls seem to have better study habits and work harder to keep up, so I think more boys then girls). There have been some past threads on this. I think it is very upsetting in the short term, but long term if there is a child with major learning issues or who just struggles across the board, it's not doing the child a favor to keep them at a school where they feel like "the slow one.". And the Upper School is rigorous--teachers will give failing grades and the work load is significant. With that said, there is till a considerable range of ability in the Upper School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It happens some --not that frequently--before or after middle school if they feel strongly that the child will be overmatched academically at the next level up. Both boys and girls (although girls seem to have better study habits and work harder to keep up, so I think more boys then girls). There have been some past threads on this. I think it is very upsetting in the short term, but long term if there is a child with major learning issues or who just struggles across the board, it's not doing the child a favor to keep them at a school where they feel like "the slow one.". And the Upper School is rigorous--teachers will give failing grades and the work load is significant. With that said, there is till a considerable range of ability in the Upper School.

Are you a Sidwell parent? Or just repeating what you've heard from other people?

[Anonymous]

Doesn't every school do this?

[Anonymous]

NYT article: Private Schools ‘Counsel Out’ the Unsuccessful

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/nyregion/06private.html?pagewanted=all

"Not discussed on schools’ tours or in their glossy pamphlets, counseling out is nonetheless a matter of practice at many private schools. Unlike the public school system, private schools are not obligated, and often not set up, to handle children having trouble keeping up." "Schools do not publicize how many students they remove this way, but the number is generally a small portion of the enrollment. But some Web sites for parents have offered the suspicion that schools remove lagging students to protect another statistic that schools do publicize: their students’ admissions rates to top colleges"

[Anonymous]

Are FA families at greater risk for "Councel Out" from top privates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are FA families at greater risk for "Councel Out" from top privates?

FA families don't need to be counseled out, the school just has to offer no aid the following year so the student will leave.

[Anonymous]

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20061423,00.html

Didn't Al Gore III transfer to Sidwell after he was suspended from St. Albans, for smoking marijuana at a school dance? I guess Sidwell only 'Counsel Out' the less previleged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20061423,00.html

Didn't Al Gore III transfer to Sidwell after he was suspended from St. Albans, for smoking marijuana at a school dance? I guess Sidwell only 'Counsel Out' the less previleged.

Maybe AG III thought "Eluceat omnibus lux" referred to the tip of a blunt.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this is a real thread or a flame thrower but this is my experience.

My son was "counseled out" of a private (not Sidwell).

So we were like I guess we will go public and we were "counseled out" of there too. It was clear that he needed a small class size with a different learning structure but without a lawyer the public would do nothing for him.

Talking to parents that are in the same situation as our family they have also been counseled out - they experience it with both public and private. More public school kids would be counseled out if the administration thought they would or could afford private.

[Anonymous]

how do you get counseled out of public school? this seems impossible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:how do you get counseled out of public school? this seems impossible.

I was thinking the same thing... if the child has serious behavioral or learning difficulties I know MoCo has programs for these kids.