What’s the latest on Maret?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is true that people are concerned with the new head of school due to affiliation with Whittle. Otherwise, the stuff on this thread is not reflective of most Maret families' views. Maret's athletic programs are not weak other than basketball. There are plenty of strong athletes. In fact, 20 seniors (of 85) are continuing their sport in college. I think football is the most represented sport. Teaching has been strong overall and the work is rigorous. I feel my kids will be incredibly well prepared for college in both humanities and STEM classes. The teachers get to know kids well, and the kids are incredibly well spoken and poised as a whole. College admissions this past year were excellent with about 25% attending Ivies, UChicago, NW, CalTech, etc.

The one complaint about Maret that I think is legit, but haven't heard it so far, is that the school is very small and can feel stifling for some kids. It can be hard to break into groups who have been together since Kindergarten.

Overall, however , it's an amazing school. Ignore all the haters, OP.

That's the death knell for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Admission was 12.5% last year with a 75% yield. They're hanging in there.

What is your source for this information?

My neighbor's kid is joining next year and Maret was 1 of 2 schools their kid got into- the rest were rejected. That is what I believe is happening.

Well good for the kid. 9th grade had over 350 apply for 30ish spot.

Amazing. I feel very fortunate that our kid got in. Current families we talked to when making the decision were so happy with Maret. We feel very good about the decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This seems to be the same troll as before. Sad I thought you would have moved on by now.

My suggestion would be for you to picket the school. You can make a nasty sign about the new of school and on the back a nasty sign about the old one.

Nope. Troll just joining now. Shocked you all are still being sheep to Dennis’ Big Bad Wolf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at Maret and one at a different independent school. Here are some objective points to consider:
1. The school is on a block system in MS/US, with classes about 70 minutes per class. I know other schools do this as well. This type of block does not leave a lot of free time in the schedule (I think my kid has two study halls and a full day from 8:00-3:20ish). My other kid is at a school with 50 minute blocks. The long blocks didn’t work for him. 50 minutes is good.
2. Because of only having classes 3x/week, it’s really hard when you miss even one day of school, let alone two, if you are sick.
3. We have found the quality of the teaching to be wildly inconsistent (but I don’t think this issue is unique to Maret).
4. From what we can tell, there are more options for honors classes in STEM than in humanities. It looks like there is only one option for a history honors class. No options for English. This makes it harder for a kid to shine and show that he has taken harder classes if he isn’t a stem kid.
5. The sports are pretty terrible except basketball. This can be a positive in that it gives my kid an opportunity to play and have fun without pressure to win. My kid loves his sports and he tries really hard but sports aren’t his thing and he’s just happy to be on the field.
6. The school is progressive as long as you buy into their formula of progressive. If you don’t, don’t speak up.
7. I personally think Maret is more work than my other kid’s school. My kid has a lot more homework or at least takes a lot longer to do it than his older sibling.
8. The school did a large tuition hike last year. Don’t know what that means for the future.

My kid likes it there. As parents, we struggle with it.

I've seen this mentioned before. We are considering Maret for our middle schooler who loves writing. The bolded does give me pause. Does Maret give a reason why it doesn't offer Honors English classes? Seems like an easy thing to implement if there's demand for it. Does the school know there's a demand for this?

I don't think any of the Big 3 schools have honors English.

My old Alma Mater did not offer honors English. Every English class was considered honors English. Every student took both AP English exams and the average score was around a 4.7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at Maret and one at a different independent school. Here are some objective points to consider:
1. The school is on a block system in MS/US, with classes about 70 minutes per class. I know other schools do this as well. This type of block does not leave a lot of free time in the schedule (I think my kid has two study halls and a full day from 8:00-3:20ish). My other kid is at a school with 50 minute blocks. The long blocks didn’t work for him. 50 minutes is good.
2. Because of only having classes 3x/week, it’s really hard when you miss even one day of school, let alone two, if you are sick.
3. We have found the quality of the teaching to be wildly inconsistent (but I don’t think this issue is unique to Maret).
4. From what we can tell, there are more options for honors classes in STEM than in humanities. It looks like there is only one option for a history honors class. No options for English. This makes it harder for a kid to shine and show that he has taken harder classes if he isn’t a stem kid.
5. The sports are pretty terrible except basketball. This can be a positive in that it gives my kid an opportunity to play and have fun without pressure to win. My kid loves his sports and he tries really hard but sports aren’t his thing and he’s just happy to be on the field.
6. The school is progressive as long as you buy into their formula of progressive. If you don’t, don’t speak up.
7. I personally think Maret is more work than my other kid’s school. My kid has a lot more homework or at least takes a lot longer to do it than his older sibling.
8. The school did a large tuition hike last year. Don’t know what that means for the future.

My kid likes it there. As parents, we struggle with it.

What is their formula of progressive?

[Anonymous]

How large are the classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How large are the classes?

I believe LS is 12 or 13.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are not 100% happy and understand why others are not. But we are staying. If we were to do it again, we would not choose but we are not about to jump ship-too hard to get into other privates these days.

FWIW we feel the same about Sidwell (HS) - I wonder if there is anyone who leaves these high schools happy enough that they'd do it again? That said - DCs say they would choose again - even with Sidwell warts, mostly because they don't "see themselves" identifying with the other local schools (where they have friends).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at Maret and one at a different independent school. Here are some objective points to consider:
1. The school is on a block system in MS/US, with classes about 70 minutes per class. I know other schools do this as well. This type of block does not leave a lot of free time in the schedule (I think my kid has two study halls and a full day from 8:00-3:20ish). My other kid is at a school with 50 minute blocks. The long blocks didn’t work for him. 50 minutes is good.
2. Because of only having classes 3x/week, it’s really hard when you miss even one day of school, let alone two, if you are sick.
3. We have found the quality of the teaching to be wildly inconsistent (but I don’t think this issue is unique to Maret).
4. From what we can tell, there are more options for honors classes in STEM than in humanities. It looks like there is only one option for a history honors class. No options for English. This makes it harder for a kid to shine and show that he has taken harder classes if he isn’t a stem kid.
5. The sports are pretty terrible except basketball. This can be a positive in that it gives my kid an opportunity to play and have fun without pressure to win. My kid loves his sports and he tries really hard but sports aren’t his thing and he’s just happy to be on the field.
6. The school is progressive as long as you buy into their formula of progressive. If you don’t, don’t speak up.
7. I personally think Maret is more work than my other kid’s school. My kid has a lot more homework or at least takes a lot longer to do it than his older sibling.
8. The school did a large tuition hike last year. Don’t know what that means for the future.

My kid likes it there. As parents, we struggle with it.

This is pretty common in top DMV schools. Sidwell has no honors for English or History. I think GDS, Potomac are the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Admission was 12.5% last year with a 75% yield. They're hanging in there.

What is your source for this information?

My neighbor's kid is joining next year and Maret was 1 of 2 schools their kid got into- the rest were rejected. That is what I believe is happening.

My neighbor's kid got into every top school including Sidwell and a Cathedral school (don't want to reveal gender) except for one and chose Maret.

[Anonymous]

The school should have gone after a local HOS that’s currently the head of a preschool in Georgetown. People don’t realize how much the tone at the top matters. Good teachers aren’t good if they leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school should have gone after a local HOS that’s currently the head of a preschool in Georgetown. People don’t realize how much the tone at the top matters. Good teachers aren’t good if they leave.

James Gilroy? He’s the best!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are not 100% happy and understand why others are not. But we are staying. If we were to do it again, we would not choose but we are not about to jump ship-too hard to get into other privates these days.

FWIW we feel the same about Sidwell (HS) - I wonder if there is anyone who leaves these high schools happy enough that they'd do it again? That said - DCs say they would choose again - even with Sidwell warts, mostly because they don't "see themselves" identifying with the other local schools (where they have friends).

We have two recent sidwell graduates and would do it again, warts and all. No school is perfect, but you take it all in sum and total for what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school should have gone after a local HOS that’s currently the head of a preschool in Georgetown. People don’t realize how much the tone at the top matters. Good teachers aren’t good if they leave.

That or the part time worker at Starbucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school should have gone after a local HOS that’s currently the head of a preschool in Georgetown. People don’t realize how much the tone at the top matters. Good teachers aren’t good if they leave.

That or the part time worker at Starbucks.

😂

It’s truly beyond comprehension that they would choose him of all people.