SSFS HOS leaving

[Anonymous]

Former teacher here who left primarily because of Rodney’s narcissism and his general disinterest in academics and the business of running a school. Administrators were left completely unsupervised by the HOS who was running weekend DEI clinics every other week. A shocking lack of systems and accountability. Clear conflict of interest with the Glasgow Group. Almost all of our PDs and anti-bias trainings were conducted by members of his consultancy. Apparently, the school paid a small fortune for these rudimentary DEI 101 sessions. His selfish, unethical conduct just didn’t square with Quakerism. Bouncy castles, petting zoos, and cotton candy for the HOS’s birthday at a Friends school! Rodney centered himself in every speech and conversation. The students and teachers were always an after-thought.

Parents should demand an outside audit! The school is in a financial tailspin. Millions in loans. 80 students out the door in one year. Do the math! No investment in aging buildings. Pitiful learning support. Chronically short staffed. We knew Rodney’s ideology was bankrupt when all the black female senior admins resigned one by one, including three of his own handpicked DEI directors in three years. Teachers and families won’t return until the leadership and finances stabilize and all of Rodney’s entourage has cleared out! I’ll be rooting for all my friends at SSFS, but it’s a long road ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why the assumption that the board forced RG to resign? I believe he resigned on his own because there was now crisis that he either directly caused or negligently ignored. The effort to address these challenges was/is going to require more than RG was willing to put forth particularly if it meant taking a critical look at himself and some of the decisions he made as HOS.

However, all these speculations (including my own) are exactly why the board needs to quickly offer explanations and a space for families to ask questions and engage in conversation. I understand the temporary catharsis of this message board but these communications really need to be happening in collaboration with the school. It is the school's responsibility to make that happen and SOON.

There is a woeful like of transparency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former teacher here who left primarily because of Rodney’s narcissism and his general disinterest in academics and the business of running a school. Administrators were left completely unsupervised by the HOS who was running weekend DEI clinics every other week. A shocking lack of systems and accountability. Clear conflict of interest with the Glasgow Group. Almost all of our PDs and anti-bias trainings were conducted by members of his consultancy. Apparently, the school paid a small fortune for these rudimentary DEI 101 sessions. His selfish, unethical conduct just didn’t square with Quakerism. Bouncy castles, petting zoos, and cotton candy for the HOS’s birthday at a Friends school! Rodney centered himself in every speech and conversation. The students and teachers were always an after-thought.

Parents should demand an outside audit! The school is in a financial tailspin. Millions in loans. 80 students out the door in one year. Do the math! No investment in aging buildings. Pitiful learning support. Chronically short staffed. We knew Rodney’s ideology was bankrupt when all the black female senior admins resigned one by one, including three of his own handpicked DEI directors in three years. Teachers and families won’t return until the leadership and finances stabilize and all of Rodney’s entourage has cleared out! I’ll be rooting for all my friends at SSFS, but it’s a long road ahead.

I am sorry to hear this. I knew all of this to be true but never felt like I could speak out without retaliation. That’s why I decided to leave too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former teacher here who left primarily because of Rodney’s narcissism and his general disinterest in academics and the business of running a school. Administrators were left completely unsupervised by the HOS who was running weekend DEI clinics every other week. A shocking lack of systems and accountability. Clear conflict of interest with the Glasgow Group. Almost all of our PDs and anti-bias trainings were conducted by members of his consultancy. Apparently, the school paid a small fortune for these rudimentary DEI 101 sessions. His selfish, unethical conduct just didn’t square with Quakerism. Bouncy castles, petting zoos, and cotton candy for the HOS’s birthday at a Friends school! Rodney centered himself in every speech and conversation. The students and teachers were always an after-thought.

Parents should demand an outside audit! The school is in a financial tailspin. Millions in loans. 80 students out the door in one year. Do the math! No investment in aging buildings. Pitiful learning support. Chronically short staffed. We knew Rodney’s ideology was bankrupt when all the black female senior admins resigned one by one, including three of his own handpicked DEI directors in three years. Teachers and families won’t return until the leadership and finances stabilize and all of Rodney’s entourage has cleared out! I’ll be rooting for all my friends at SSFS, but it’s a long road ahead.

I am sorry to hear this. I knew all of this to be true but never felt like I could speak out without retaliation. That’s why I decided to leave too.

Gosh, how awful. I'm a teacher but not with SSFS and I feel for the teachers and students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former teacher here who left primarily because of Rodney’s narcissism and his general disinterest in academics and the business of running a school. Administrators were left completely unsupervised by the HOS who was running weekend DEI clinics every other week. A shocking lack of systems and accountability. Clear conflict of interest with the Glasgow Group. Almost all of our PDs and anti-bias trainings were conducted by members of his consultancy. Apparently, the school paid a small fortune for these rudimentary DEI 101 sessions. His selfish, unethical conduct just didn’t square with Quakerism. Bouncy castles, petting zoos, and cotton candy for the HOS’s birthday at a Friends school! Rodney centered himself in every speech and conversation. The students and teachers were always an after-thought.

Parents should demand an outside audit! The school is in a financial tailspin. Millions in loans. 80 students out the door in one year. Do the math! No investment in aging buildings. Pitiful learning support. Chronically short staffed. We knew Rodney’s ideology was bankrupt when all the black female senior admins resigned one by one, including three of his own handpicked DEI directors in three years. Teachers and families won’t return until the leadership and finances stabilize and all of Rodney’s entourage has cleared out! I’ll be rooting for all my friends at SSFS, but it’s a long road ahead.

Thank you for posting. I could guess that teachers were having a very tough time of it but I didn’t know about the trainings being through his consultancy. That seems like such an obvious problem. Best of luck to you at your new school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former teacher here who left primarily because of Rodney’s narcissism and his general disinterest in academics and the business of running a school. Administrators were left completely unsupervised by the HOS who was running weekend DEI clinics every other week. A shocking lack of systems and accountability. Clear conflict of interest with the Glasgow Group. Almost all of our PDs and anti-bias trainings were conducted by members of his consultancy. Apparently, the school paid a small fortune for these rudimentary DEI 101 sessions. His selfish, unethical conduct just didn’t square with Quakerism. Bouncy castles, petting zoos, and cotton candy for the HOS’s birthday at a Friends school! Rodney centered himself in every speech and conversation. The students and teachers were always an after-thought.

Parents should demand an outside audit! The school is in a financial tailspin. Millions in loans. 80 students out the door in one year. Do the math! No investment in aging buildings. Pitiful learning support. Chronically short staffed. We knew Rodney’s ideology was bankrupt when all the black female senior admins resigned one by one, including three of his own handpicked DEI directors in three years. Teachers and families won’t return until the leadership and finances stabilize and all of Rodney’s entourage has cleared out! I’ll be rooting for all my friends at SSFS, but it’s a long road ahead.

And if you ever questioned ANYTHING you were called to the carpet, lost favor, or your job was threatened. This isn't heresy. This is fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former teacher here who left primarily because of Rodney’s narcissism and his general disinterest in academics and the business of running a school. Administrators were left completely unsupervised by the HOS who was running weekend DEI clinics every other week. A shocking lack of systems and accountability. Clear conflict of interest with the Glasgow Group. Almost all of our PDs and anti-bias trainings were conducted by members of his consultancy. Apparently, the school paid a small fortune for these rudimentary DEI 101 sessions. His selfish, unethical conduct just didn’t square with Quakerism. Bouncy castles, petting zoos, and cotton candy for the HOS’s birthday at a Friends school! Rodney centered himself in every speech and conversation. The students and teachers were always an after-thought.

Parents should demand an outside audit! The school is in a financial tailspin. Millions in loans. 80 students out the door in one year. Do the math! No investment in aging buildings. Pitiful learning support. Chronically short staffed. We knew Rodney’s ideology was bankrupt when all the black female senior admins resigned one by one, including three of his own handpicked DEI directors in three years. Teachers and families won’t return until the leadership and finances stabilize and all of Rodney’s entourage has cleared out! I’ll be rooting for all my friends at SSFS, but it’s a long road ahead.

I have always been uneasy with RG side business. This is such a conflict of interest and should have never been allowed.

[Anonymous]

I am not a fan of RG. I think the board did the right thing by letting him go. I feel there is a lot more to the story that will in time come out. The communication from RG has not been truthful. There is always some sort of spin in it.

My family is not coming back next year. The last straw for me was the random haphazard tuition increases. This has been going on for the last 3 years and there is no way to forecast where it was heading. I understand that tuition will go up due to inflation, but to me, the changes were reactionary to unforeseen financial shortfalls. The first year it happened, I heard that this was a one-time adjustment to address costs associated to the pandemic. But the large increases kept occurring and I did not see any value added for what I was getting for my kids.
The last tuition increase, there was a coffee and conversation right afterwards. One question asked about the random tuition jumps and where the school saw the tuition going in the next 3 to 5 years. RG deflected the question and never really answered it.

RG said that SSFS was raising the tuition because other independent schools were doing the same. This is not an answer. SSFS doesn’t need to make a profit so if the previous tuition was good enough there is no need to raise it by so much.

In the same response, RG implied if the school had more donations, the tuition cost would be lower. He presented some slides that said the faculty gave 100%. I found this unethical to even present as the teachers are employees and why should be obligated to contribute out of their own salary to the school. Then he had to gall to say that not enough parents and especially grandparents donate to the school. I am sure that there are a lot of families that get financial aid and how can they be expected to contribute donations. And why should grandparents even be expected to donate their money?

After that meeting, I concluded that there were serious financial issues with the school that has not been disclosed. I decided to not re-enroll my family and looked elsewhere for their education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former teacher here who left primarily because of Rodney’s narcissism and his general disinterest in academics and the business of running a school. Administrators were left completely unsupervised by the HOS who was running weekend DEI clinics every other week. A shocking lack of systems and accountability. Clear conflict of interest with the Glasgow Group. Almost all of our PDs and anti-bias trainings were conducted by members of his consultancy. Apparently, the school paid a small fortune for these rudimentary DEI 101 sessions. His selfish, unethical conduct just didn’t square with Quakerism. Bouncy castles, petting zoos, and cotton candy for the HOS’s birthday at a Friends school! Rodney centered himself in every speech and conversation. The students and teachers were always an after-thought.

Parents should demand an outside audit! The school is in a financial tailspin. Millions in loans. 80 students out the door in one year. Do the math! No investment in aging buildings. Pitiful learning support. Chronically short staffed. We knew Rodney’s ideology was bankrupt when all the black female senior admins resigned one by one, including three of his own handpicked DEI directors in three years. Teachers and families won’t return until the leadership and finances stabilize and all of Rodney’s entourage has cleared out! I’ll be rooting for all my friends at SSFS, but it’s a long road ahead.

I have always been uneasy with RG side business. This is such a conflict of interest and should have never been allowed.

Who paid for his birthday carnivals? Who paid for his travel for his side business gigs? Who paid when he took personal vacation right after intercession without returning from intercession first?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m assuming that the board asked him to resign. Will families find out if he is being paid beyond his resignation date?

I think the board told him they would not renew his contract next year and they would start the search for new HOS this academic year. He countered that he prefers to leave immediately and resigned with immediate effect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former teacher here who left primarily because of Rodney’s narcissism and his general disinterest in academics and the business of running a school. Administrators were left completely unsupervised by the HOS who was running weekend DEI clinics every other week. A shocking lack of systems and accountability. Clear conflict of interest with the Glasgow Group. Almost all of our PDs and anti-bias trainings were conducted by members of his consultancy. Apparently, the school paid a small fortune for these rudimentary DEI 101 sessions. His selfish, unethical conduct just didn’t square with Quakerism. Bouncy castles, petting zoos, and cotton candy for the HOS’s birthday at a Friends school! Rodney centered himself in every speech and conversation. The students and teachers were always an after-thought.

Parents should demand an outside audit! The school is in a financial tailspin. Millions in loans. 80 students out the door in one year. Do the math! No investment in aging buildings. Pitiful learning support. Chronically short staffed. We knew Rodney’s ideology was bankrupt when all the black female senior admins resigned one by one, including three of his own handpicked DEI directors in three years. Teachers and families won’t return until the leadership and finances stabilize and all of Rodney’s entourage has cleared out! I’ll be rooting for all my friends at SSFS, but it’s a long road ahead.

I have always been uneasy with RG side business. This is such a conflict of interest and should have never been allowed.

Who paid for his birthday carnivals? Who paid for his travel for his side business gigs? Who paid when he took personal vacation right after intercession without returning from intercession first?

Actually I think he paid for his birthday carnival. That’s my one positive comment about him though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m assuming that the board asked him to resign. Will families find out if he is being paid beyond his resignation date?

I think the board told him they would not renew his contract next year and they would start the search for new HOS this academic year. He countered that he prefers to leave immediately and resigned with immediate effect.

I agree this is most likely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former teacher here who left primarily because of Rodney’s narcissism and his general disinterest in academics and the business of running a school. Administrators were left completely unsupervised by the HOS who was running weekend DEI clinics every other week. A shocking lack of systems and accountability. Clear conflict of interest with the Glasgow Group. Almost all of our PDs and anti-bias trainings were conducted by members of his consultancy. Apparently, the school paid a small fortune for these rudimentary DEI 101 sessions. His selfish, unethical conduct just didn’t square with Quakerism. Bouncy castles, petting zoos, and cotton candy for the HOS’s birthday at a Friends school! Rodney centered himself in every speech and conversation. The students and teachers were always an after-thought.

Parents should demand an outside audit! The school is in a financial tailspin. Millions in loans. 80 students out the door in one year. Do the math! No investment in aging buildings. Pitiful learning support. Chronically short staffed. We knew Rodney’s ideology was bankrupt when all the black female senior admins resigned one by one, including three of his own handpicked DEI directors in three years. Teachers and families won’t return until the leadership and finances stabilize and all of Rodney’s entourage has cleared out! I’ll be rooting for all my friends at SSFS, but it’s a long road ahead.

I have always been uneasy with RG side business. This is such a conflict of interest and should have never been allowed.

Who paid for his birthday carnivals? Who paid for his travel for his side business gigs? Who paid when he took personal vacation right after intercession without returning from intercession first?

Actually I think he paid for his birthday carnival. That’s my one positive comment about him though!

I only heard him say that. But is that proven? I always wondered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former teacher here who left primarily because of Rodney’s narcissism and his general disinterest in academics and the business of running a school. Administrators were left completely unsupervised by the HOS who was running weekend DEI clinics every other week. A shocking lack of systems and accountability. Clear conflict of interest with the Glasgow Group. Almost all of our PDs and anti-bias trainings were conducted by members of his consultancy. Apparently, the school paid a small fortune for these rudimentary DEI 101 sessions. His selfish, unethical conduct just didn’t square with Quakerism. Bouncy castles, petting zoos, and cotton candy for the HOS’s birthday at a Friends school! Rodney centered himself in every speech and conversation. The students and teachers were always an after-thought.

Parents should demand an outside audit! The school is in a financial tailspin. Millions in loans. 80 students out the door in one year. Do the math! No investment in aging buildings. Pitiful learning support. Chronically short staffed. We knew Rodney’s ideology was bankrupt when all the black female senior admins resigned one by one, including three of his own handpicked DEI directors in three years. Teachers and families won’t return until the leadership and finances stabilize and all of Rodney’s entourage has cleared out! I’ll be rooting for all my friends at SSFS, but it’s a long road ahead.

And if you ever questioned ANYTHING you were called to the carpet, lost favor, or your job was threatened. This isn't heresy. This is fact.

I do know each year an audit is conducted by an outside accounting firm. I bet CG has had his hands full managing a very tough financial situation (definitely made much more difficult with the collapse of the boarding program due to Covid) without the help/guidance of a financially competent HOS. TG may not have had a background in education, but he knew money.

[Anonymous]

I am not at all defending RG. He was ineffective for the most part and likely even negligent. However the BOT should also be held accountable. It is their responsibility to ensure the best interest of the school and that includes upholding Quaker values and protecting the school financially.