Capitol Hill Day School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes Beauvoir (sorry to CHDS...you would think that you could have your own damn thread without Beauvoir entering AGAIN!).

Anyway, maybe that is DC independent school wide, but last year's girl class was like a giant bow parade. (seriously, not normal size bows, giant bows).

Good lord, enough with the sarcasm and stereotyping. DD does not attend Beauvoir as it happens, but she loves giant hair bows, and so what? She is a GIRL and she likes hair bows--preferably large, pink and sparkly. AAMOF, I think she looks adorable in them. It is not a sign that we are WASPy, materialistic, conformist, wealthy, or any other of the things that apparently give readers here heebie-jeebies. I realize that PP was trying to be ironic, but it just came across as mean-spirited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes Beauvoir (sorry to CHDS...you would think that you could have your own damn thread without Beauvoir entering AGAIN!).

Anyway, maybe that is DC independent school wide, but last year's girl class was like a giant bow parade. (seriously, not normal size bows, giant bows).

Good lord, enough with the sarcasm and stereotyping. DD does not attend Beauvoir as it happens, but she loves giant hair bows, and so what? She is a GIRL and she likes hair bows--preferably large, pink and sparkly. AAMOF, I think she looks adorable in them. It is not a sign that we are WASPy, materialistic, conformist, wealthy, or any other of the things that apparently give readers here heebie-jeebies. I realize that PP was trying to be ironic, but it just came across as mean-spirited.

Self conscious much If you're this sensitive about hair bows, I imagine you'd commit suicide if someone called you fat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll just add that for a small school, CHDS seems to be hiring an awful lot of new teachers this year. I wonder what's behind the teacher turnover... Could just be coincidence, but maybe not. I don't know.

How have all the new teachers worked out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes Beauvoir (sorry to CHDS...you would think that you could have your own damn thread without Beauvoir entering AGAIN!).

Anyway, maybe that is DC independent school wide, but last year's girl class was like a giant bow parade. (seriously, not normal size bows, giant bows).

Good lord, enough with the sarcasm and stereotyping. DD does not attend Beauvoir as it happens, but she loves giant hair bows, and so what? She is a GIRL and she likes hair bows--preferably large, pink and sparkly. AAMOF, I think she looks adorable in them. It is not a sign that we are WASPy, materialistic, conformist, wealthy, or any other of the things that apparently give readers here heebie-jeebies. I realize that PP was trying to be ironic, but it just came across as mean-spirited.

Self conscious much If you're this sensitive about hair bows, I imagine you'd commit suicide if someone called you fat.

Huh??

[Anonymous]

to 19:43 - I have a middle schooler and we didn't have any new teachers in the middle school this year. There were 2 last year and they were great. In fact the history teacher replaced a much beloved history teacher and she has turned out to be even better than the prior teacher - she is now my DCs favorite teacher. There may have been a couple of new teachers in other grades but I don't think it was anything unusual.

[Anonymous]

What about the new head of school and assistant head. How are they doing?

[Anonymous]

CHDS currently has an interim head and the assistant head has been there for 13 years. A new head will be starting in July '10

[Anonymous]

CHDS had the warmest, most grounded administration and families we came across during our tour of all of the area private schools. We said no to their very kind offer of admission, alas, which has more to do with DH's insistence on prestige more than anything else, like the overall quality of his DC's education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CHDS currently has an interim head and the assistant head has been there for 13 years. A new head will be starting in July '10

What can current parents tell us about the new head of school? I understand that before his recently announced promotion, he had been an assistant head for a number of years now. We met him during our tour and he seemed terrific.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:there are many, many differences among the schools you list. here are some of the differences... some factual, some based purely on my personal perceptions

maret is college prep and goes through 12 (all on the same campus); sheridan is considered more progressive, as is burgundy. burgundy goes through 8th, sheridan i believe through 6th. cap hill day is more traditional, though they do make use of what is avail in the city to supplement what they learn in the classroom. it also goes through 8th.

cap hill facilities are very small - basically it is one big red brick building, though i do know they were trying to get a little more space. in my opinion, the school seems run down. it doesn't seem much better inside than some of the nicer NW public schools. there is a big public playground across the street, but it is right below a highway. maret has a nice campus based around a big white mansion. for the kiddies they have a cozy little cottage. sheridan also looked to me like a public school building and didn't really seem all that nice. just as one example, the lunch room was dark and unwelcoming. burgundy has a beautiful campus. although not far from the highway, it is set back in the woods and consists of many buildings (some used to be part of an actual farm, hence the school's name). they have this awesome campus in WVA where they go each year on a camping trip/learning expedition. parents join along.

as far as the administrations are concerned, the admissions folks from Cap Hill were grating. again, just our perception, but there were some things they didn't seem all that knowledgeable about. the folks at maret and burgundy were gems. at the sheridan open house i swear all the principal did was to talk about how great HE was. there were times during the presentation that we almost laughed out loud because of it.

i've heard issues of bullying at CHDS and Sheridan (though of course it must happen at every school to a degree). maret kids seem very well-rounded and have many extracurricular activities avail to them; burgundy kids seem really down to earth and bright.

chds, burgundy, maret and sheridan all strive for diversity and make it a point to try to make everyone comfortable. burgundy was the first desegregated school in VA.

aside from what i mentioned in the beginning (e.g., progressive vs traditional), CHDS de-emphasizes computers, Maret has lots of classes to choose from, Burgundy being the most progressive of those you list focuses just as much on children experimenting to find the answer as well as on the answer itself. sheridan prides itself on things such as students coming up with their own rules.

Certainly not everything under the sun, but hope this is a start to the types of things you were looking for. Again, please understand that much of this is based on our perception and some shared perceptions with friends of ours. Also, I do not know much at all about NPS so I am refraining from comment on them.

OMG!

Write a dissertation already!

[Anonymous]

The points made in the quoted item above are not at all consistent with our experience at CHDS. CHDS is a most definitely a progressive school from an educational perspective. Meaning it emphasizes links in the curriculum, experiential learning, and the other characteristics of a progressive educational approach. It takes this quite seriously and there is a full time curriculum coordinator as well as a full time field education director. Perhaps the person quoted was using a different meaning of progressive? Computers are used quite extensively - for writing, research, presentations, etc. The kids can log in to the CHDS network from outside school and continue the work they are doing.

[Anonymous]

I have friends' kids in many grades at CHDS and there really isn't bullying there. It just isn't tolerated at all. Perhaps because it is such a small school. The teachers and the admin know every single kid. Nothing is a secret there so all behavior is addressed.

It most definitely is a progressive school in every sense of the word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes Beauvoir (sorry to CHDS...you would think that you could have your own damn thread without Beauvoir entering AGAIN!).

Anyway, maybe that is DC independent school wide, but last year's girl class was like a giant bow parade. (seriously, not normal size bows, giant bows).

Good lord, enough with the sarcasm and stereotyping. DD does not attend Beauvoir as it happens, but she loves giant hair bows, and so what? She is a GIRL and she likes hair bows--preferably large, pink and sparkly. AAMOF, I think she looks adorable in them. It is not a sign that we are WASPy, materialistic, conformist, wealthy, or any other of the things that apparently give readers here heebie-jeebies. I realize that PP was trying to be ironic, but it just came across as mean-spirited.

My DD and your DD should be friends! I could have written your post!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CHDS currently has an interim head and the assistant head has been there for 13 years. A new head will be starting in July '10

What's everyone saying about the new head of school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CHDS currently has an interim head and the assistant head has been there for 13 years. A new head will be starting in July '10

What's everyone saying about the new head of school?

The new head is fantastic-- he'd been the asst. head for many years now. He's a young guy with children at the school. He has a lot of energy and enthusiasm for the program, and is well respected by the parents and as far as I can tell, the staff too. Personally I was thrilled when he got the job.