Was Stone Ridge everything you hoped it would be for your high school daughter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had our girls start in 9th grade. One graduate so far who got into her top choice, highly competitive college. She fared much better than the girls she went to parochial grade school with who went to other Catholic high schools in the area. By far she and the others who went to SR from her grade school had the best college placement. The staff is incredible. Teachers want to be there and are passionate about what they do. The school leans liberal and I would say is Catholic "lite." But academics is strong and the community is fantastic. None of my girls play the "in" sports (think lacrosse), and one of them is not into athletics at all but has found her niche in the arts. Last year was not typical and wasn't our best experience there. But this year is much better and the school is aware of the social and academic challenges brought upon by the pandemic and are working hard to address these challenges. Have your daughter shadow and get a feel as to whether she feels at home there. It has been the right fit for our family and I highly recommend.

This is helpful thank you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Interesting how different our perceptions can be … I think the HOS is amazing and impressive. She is nice to everyone. She is very hands on, she led the fund raising for the many campus improvements needed, oversaw a very intelligent renovation of campus that makes excellent use of the space, and has spiritual depth. No one is perfect but she clearly cares deeply about the school and the girls.

1. She isn't nice to everyone. That's simply not true.

2. How do you know she has "spiritual depth"? That's a meaningless judgement that you cannot possibly know.

3. She cares deeply about the bottom line, and that informs everything she does.

[Anonymous]

Would love to hear more about the cliques compared to other all girls Catholic schools - how does it compare to Visitation, Holy Cross, and Holy Child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our daughter had an ok experience, but would not call it great. The marketing, the campus facilities, the image they create is amazing, but the reality isn't as bright. Yes, the academics were strong though not as challenging as the school our son went to. College Counseling and placement is very strong, one of Stone Ridge's top points.

The challenges are that some strong cliques / dynamics / personalities shape the culture . Yes, our daughter was able to find her small supportive group - but still you deal with the whole grade. HOS consistently unimpressive as a leader - which usually doesn't matter that much to a student's day to day experience, but SR handled Covid worse than most schools and with many big things, HOS is just slightly off. Re the comments on CRT, yes CRT was over the top. The irony is SR doesn't see how the diversity push is in contrast to how things actually run - / clique wise / administration wise / alumni - country club parents who drive a lot. As my daughter said, they push "diversity", yet they want everyone to be similar and think the same.

Same with our daughter. I’ve had kids in several schools in area , lived all over the country and abroad, not sure I’ve ever encountered such a cliquey crowd. It’s actually kind of bizarre.

Same here. The cliqueyness and mean girl behavior was off the charts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Interesting how different our perceptions can be … I think the HOS is amazing and impressive. She is nice to everyone. She is very hands on, she led the fund raising for the many campus improvements needed, oversaw a very intelligent renovation of campus that makes excellent use of the space, and has spiritual depth. No one is perfect but she clearly cares deeply about the school and the girls.

1. She isn't nice to everyone. That's simply not true.

2. How do you know she has "spiritual depth"? That's a meaningless judgement that you cannot possibly know.

3. She cares deeply about the bottom line, and that informs everything she does.

1. Ok whenever I have attended school forums: events, she has been nice to everyone. She is always nice to me and I am not important at all.

2. Spiritual depth - I like the way she communicates religious messages and themes related to school events. For example, when new school community/ arts building was being built and it was very messy, she gave some wonderful talks to the girls drawing metaphors to their own development, trying new things A d vision for future community where all the girls could gather for lunch, theater and visual plus performing arts. I like the new spiritual discipline of Espacia she has introduced to encourage daily introspection for a short time.

3. She is a grown up and is responsible for keeping school in the black. Running a high quality school is not cheap. She has to make sure the bills are paid, financial aid allows many girls who otherwise could not afford a SR education to benefit from it.
I could never do her job and admire the way she does it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

1. Ok whenever I have attended school forums: events, she has been nice to everyone. She is always nice to me and I am not important at all.

2. Spiritual depth - I like the way she communicates religious messages and themes related to school events. For example, when new school community/ arts building was being built and it was very messy, she gave some wonderful talks to the girls drawing metaphors to their own development, trying new things A d vision for future community where all the girls could gather for lunch, theater and visual plus performing arts. I like the new spiritual discipline of Espacia she has introduced to encourage daily introspection for a short time.

3. She is a grown up and is responsible for keeping school in the black. Running a high quality school is not cheap. She has to make sure the bills are paid, financial aid allows many girls who otherwise could not afford a SR education to benefit from it.
I could never do her job and admire the way she does it.

Her being nice to your face means nothing. If you have ever heard her speaking about people behind their backs (as I have), you'll know she's a phony.

Espacio isn't new. It's been part of Sacred Heart education for years, they've just created specific times for it during the day. Over the years she's tried to get the school to pray more, but got push back from teachers who didn't want prayer in the classroom, so this is what they ended up with.

Unfortunately, she's a weak leader, and she listens to those with the loudest voices. Her insights into education are mediocre at best. Talent doesn't stay at SR. There's a reason for that.

[Anonymous]

It's a great place if your child is a bully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

1. Ok whenever I have attended school forums: events, she has been nice to everyone. She is always nice to me and I am not important at all.

2. Spiritual depth - I like the way she communicates religious messages and themes related to school events. For example, when new school community/ arts building was being built and it was very messy, she gave some wonderful talks to the girls drawing metaphors to their own development, trying new things A d vision for future community where all the girls could gather for lunch, theater and visual plus performing arts. I like the new spiritual discipline of Espacia she has introduced to encourage daily introspection for a short time.

3. She is a grown up and is responsible for keeping school in the black. Running a high quality school is not cheap. She has to make sure the bills are paid, financial aid allows many girls who otherwise could not afford a SR education to benefit from it.
I could never do her job and admire the way she does it.

Her being nice to your face means nothing. If you have ever heard her speaking about people behind their backs (as I have), you'll know she's a phony.

Espacio isn't new. It's been part of Sacred Heart education for years, they've just created specific times for it during the day. Over the years she's tried to get the school to pray more, but got push back from teachers who didn't want prayer in the classroom, so this is what they ended up with.

Unfortunately, she's a weak leader, and she listens to those with the loudest voices. Her insights into education are mediocre at best. Talent doesn't stay at SR. There's a reason for that.

I am sorry you feel that way. I am glad HOS has good social skills when interacting with community members in RL. In this kind of position you should not say bluntly whatever you think - thank heavens she has a filter. People in this area are very demanding (including me) and school leaders need to be diplomatic. That does not mean they are a phonies.

Regarding espacia being an old Sacred Heart Tradition - yes no need to reinvent the wheel and I am glad she found a compromise / sign of strong leadership.

We are very happy with nearly all DD’s teachers. They are all talented and caring. The performing arts and visual arts teachers are amazing. The one teacher we are not thrilled with is not too bad/ not a disaster. Our DC have been at a number of public and private schools. SR teachers are among the best we have encountered and they try hard to partner with home to help the students.

To the other PP’s bully comment - I am sorry for any student who is bullied as it can be devastating for students. However, there is bullying everywhere. The SR counselors, nurses and teachers try hard to counter bullying at school. Our DD did experience some horrible bullying but she and the school have stopped that and she feels safe/ respected now.

It is not perfect because Utopia does not exist. But it is an excellent school.
We respect and appreciate the HOS and teachers .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

1. Ok whenever I have attended school forums: events, she has been nice to everyone. She is always nice to me and I am not important at all.

2. Spiritual depth - I like the way she communicates religious messages and themes related to school events. For example, when new school community/ arts building was being built and it was very messy, she gave some wonderful talks to the girls drawing metaphors to their own development, trying new things A d vision for future community where all the girls could gather for lunch, theater and visual plus performing arts. I like the new spiritual discipline of Espacia she has introduced to encourage daily introspection for a short time.

3. She is a grown up and is responsible for keeping school in the black. Running a high quality school is not cheap. She has to make sure the bills are paid, financial aid allows many girls who otherwise could not afford a SR education to benefit from it.
I could never do her job and admire the way she does it.

Her being nice to your face means nothing. If you have ever heard her speaking about people behind their backs (as I have), you'll know she's a phony.

Espacio isn't new. It's been part of Sacred Heart education for years, they've just created specific times for it during the day. Over the years she's tried to get the school to pray more, but got push back from teachers who didn't want prayer in the classroom, so this is what they ended up with.

Unfortunately, she's a weak leader, and she listens to those with the loudest voices. Her insights into education are mediocre at best. Talent doesn't stay at SR. There's a reason for that.

I am sorry you feel that way. I am glad HOS has good social skills when interacting with community members in RL. In this kind of position you should not say bluntly whatever you think - thank heavens she has a filter. People in this area are very demanding (including me) and school leaders need to be diplomatic. That does not mean they are a phonies.

Regarding espacia being an old Sacred Heart Tradition - yes no need to reinvent the wheel and I am glad she found a compromise / sign of strong leadership.

We are very happy with nearly all DD’s teachers. They are all talented and caring. The performing arts and visual arts teachers are amazing. The one teacher we are not thrilled with is not too bad/ not a disaster. Our DC have been at a number of public and private schools. SR teachers are among the best we have encountered and they try hard to partner with home to help the students.

To the other PP’s bully comment - I am sorry for any student who is bullied as it can be devastating for students. However, there is bullying everywhere. The SR counselors, nurses and teachers try hard to counter bullying at school. Our DD did experience some horrible bullying but she and the school have stopped that and she feels safe/ respected now.

It is not perfect because Utopia does not exist. But it is an excellent school.
We respect and appreciate the HOS and teachers .

Maybe this is not true, but not how I experienced it. My daughter had no bullying issues whatsoever before she went to Stone Ridge nor after she left. But the bullying was widespread at SR, not just towards her, but many other girls. It was fairly shocking.

[Anonymous]

It's a nasty place. And I mean that with all sincerity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a nasty place. And I mean that with all sincerity.

I am sorry you and your DD had a bad experience. We find the school to be generally excellent, caring and responsive. We don’t belong to country clubs, are not wealthy and not status minded. We hope for our DD to become a responsible, independent, confident, and hard-working adult and SR seems to be cultivating those goals on multiple fronts.

That said, bullying is plain wrong. I am sorry to hear bullying has reportedly been widespread at SR. We have had different DC in 3 public schools and 4 private schools for pre school, ES, MS and HS. There has been bullying at every single school. SR deals with it in constructive ways in our experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Oh puhleeze - they never taught CRT at SR. They did have a few awkward student-led race sensitivity workshops. They were trying to respond to the BLM around the country in constructive student led ways but they were a bit patronizing. Storm in a tea cup to get worked up about that.

It is a sad joke that Va went for the guy fear mongering about something that is not even taught in Va curriculums.

Not really a storm in a tea cup. More an example of SR following the woke crowd down whatever is the issue du jour. Stone Ridge definitely follows trends. It doesn't set them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh puhleeze - they never taught CRT at SR. They did have a few awkward student-led race sensitivity workshops. They were trying to respond to the BLM around the country in constructive student led ways but they were a bit patronizing. Storm in a tea cup to get worked up about that.

It is a sad joke that Va went for the guy fear mongering about something that is not even taught in Va curriculums.

Not really a storm in a tea cup. More an example of SR following the woke crowd down whatever is the issue du jour. Stone Ridge definitely follows trends. It doesn't set them.

Who is the mythological “woke crowd” exactly? Perhaps some of the girls themselves on their voyages to adulthood sporting ideals as all smart creative young minds should (see famous Winston Churchill quote about that) - but what Uber liberal parents are going to send their daughters to a Catholic all girls school with uniforms?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh puhleeze - they never taught CRT at SR. They did have a few awkward student-led race sensitivity workshops. They were trying to respond to the BLM around the country in constructive student led ways but they were a bit patronizing. Storm in a tea cup to get worked up about that.

It is a sad joke that Va went for the guy fear mongering about something that is not even taught in Va curriculums.

Not really a storm in a tea cup. More an example of SR following the woke crowd down whatever is the issue du jour. Stone Ridge definitely follows trends. It doesn't set them.

Who is the mythological “woke crowd” exactly? Perhaps some of the girls themselves on their voyages to adulthood sporting ideals as all smart creative young minds should (see famous Winston Churchill quote about that) - but what Uber liberal parents are going to send their daughters to a Catholic all girls school with uniforms?

Your comments indicate you know nothing about this place.

[Anonymous]

OP, someone on this board clearly has an axe to grind with SR. I would encourage you to get a feel for the school through your daughter shadowing or speaking with other current or past parents (not on an anonymous board). I will be the first to tell you that no school is perfect. But we have found SR to be a loving, caring environment. NOT perfect and our girls have had to navigate the occasional girl drama issues that arise. But they are confident, informed and become great writers at this school. We feel that it is an education worth paying for.