Maret's dismal Performing Arts Department Leadership

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a Maret parent and the band teacher left for personal reasons, certainly not due to any lack of support. She wrote an incredible email to her current students and parents earlier today. A larger mass email to the rest of the school community went out later in the day. She will be truly missed.

By lack of support do you mean that she was one person teaching that many kids while the former department chair never got a second band person to take done of her teaching load? She was amazing. She did after school clubs twice a week, the band sounded fantastic, never better. Support would have been more people in the band department, especially if she had health issues.

You seem to be upset - not sure if you have some personal issue with all of this. Are you at Maret? They brought a fabulous man in last year who was beginning to take on some of her duties this year, including some of the Middle School band classes (and Upper School). I think you are out of line and misguided.

Definitely not a Maret teacher, but I am a musical director at a neighboring school. I value myself too much to overwork myself at Maret. Those faculty are given a bar that is too high, and too few resources to achieve what's expected of them. That's why 25% of the faculty left post pandemic. So no, I'm not a Maret teacher and happy to say so.

lol sure. You just go out of your way to post negative things about a school you know nothing about?

Reputation is all a place has these days and this is a small town and a small industry. Tell me I'm wrong. I stand firm, I've heard enough not to work there. This whole thing proves it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school is turning into a sports factory.

also, covid did a number on a lot of kids where activities in general, including performing arts, is concerned.

This. They seem to be focusing on sports for better or worse

My kid's school the band plays at homecoming. Do they do that at Maret?

Maret doesn’t do things like have the band play at homecoming. They truly are focused on the wrong thing. Right now it’s a fake commitment to ‘pluralism’ since their Jewish parents are so upset with the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school is turning into a sports factory.

also, covid did a number on a lot of kids where activities in general, including performing arts, is concerned.

This. They seem to be focusing on sports for better or worse

My kid's school the band plays at homecoming. Do they do that at Maret?

Maret doesn’t do things like have the band play at homecoming. They truly are focused on the wrong thing. Right now it’s a fake commitment to ‘pluralism’ since their Jewish parents are so upset with the school.

They've played at the homecoming pep rally for many, many years.

[Anonymous]

When we started at Maret, there was a pretty even split between chorus and band for middle school and it was mandatory that the kids did one or the other. With the terrible chorus teacher that has had leadership of the program for the past many years, that balance totally changed to now barely any kids taking chorus and band being heavily subscribed, but with only one full time teacher (who just resigned). The Maret admin could have seen this coming for years - not this September resignation, but that one teacher couldn’t be responsible for the band program for both middle school and upper school when so many kids take it. Poorly managed IMO.

[Anonymous]

As a former Maret teacher, the workload of most teachers is nearly untenable. I know the (now former) band teacher well. She is an incredible educator who was dealt a shit hand. She quite literally, was worked into the ground. All I can say is, my new school is NOTHING like Maret. I feel safe, supported, and cared for. I commend my former colleague for doing what is best for HER!

[Anonymous]

It seems this is the disgruntled former employee troll again. It is very clear the disgruntled employee has little knowledge of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems this is the disgruntled former employee troll again. It is very clear the disgruntled employee has little knowledge of the school.

+1

OP said the same nonsense months ago here: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1173571.page

[Anonymous]

DP

Reviving this post in the hopes that the school will take note of the shockingly disappointing instruction that the students are receiving in performing arts as evidenced by last night’s performance. Please know that as a parent of a student who used to love band, what we saw was frankly just very sad- I was so sad for my child and their peers. We know that the school is undertaking a top to bottom change of the department and we hope that it goes back to what it was in both band and chorus.

Before anyone jumps in to tell us to talk to the school, we have. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP

Reviving this post in the hopes that the school will take note of the shockingly disappointing instruction that the students are receiving in performing arts as evidenced by last night’s performance. Please know that as a parent of a student who used to love band, what we saw was frankly just very sad- I was so sad for my child and their peers. We know that the school is undertaking a top to bottom change of the department and we hope that it goes back to what it was in both band and chorus.

Before anyone jumps in to tell us to talk to the school, we have. Thank you.

This is sad to see. Our family/child had been interested in Maret. We have heard great things about the former HS band teacher and we saw the outcome via great performances. In the end, our DC was not accepted to Maret and I'm grateful at least to have dodged this....but I'm so sad for the students that are affected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP

Reviving this post in the hopes that the school will take note of the shockingly disappointing instruction that the students are receiving in performing arts as evidenced by last night’s performance. Please know that as a parent of a student who used to love band, what we saw was frankly just very sad- I was so sad for my child and their peers. We know that the school is undertaking a top to bottom change of the department and we hope that it goes back to what it was in both band and chorus.

Before anyone jumps in to tell us to talk to the school, we have. Thank you.

If you are a Maret parent why don’t you meet with the school administrators? We all know the music teacher had to step down this year do to health issues. I guess as a parent you did not know this?.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP

Reviving this post in the hopes that the school will take note of the shockingly disappointing instruction that the students are receiving in performing arts as evidenced by last night’s performance. Please know that as a parent of a student who used to love band, what we saw was frankly just very sad- I was so sad for my child and their peers. We know that the school is undertaking a top to bottom change of the department and we hope that it goes back to what it was in both band and chorus.

Before anyone jumps in to tell us to talk to the school, we have. Thank you.

If you are a Maret parent why don’t you meet with the school administrators? We all know the music teacher had to step down this year do to health issues. I guess as a parent you did not know this?.

You are replying to a parent who literally said they have talked to the school.

[Anonymous]

As a family that had one kid in a private independent and one kid in a large public, the arts were far better in public, and I'd say this is mostly because of the numbers interested in participating and demographics of the school population (some cultures clearly value the arts more than sports.) Mastering an instrument takes more than a few hours at school - there must be outside time devoted to it as well. Because there were more kids and greater interest the quality of the public program and instruction was just hands down better (and let's face it, it would be much more fun for an instructor to have a full orchestra with competitive placement). My daughter was an accomplished cellist, and she was only one of many in her orchestra. My son's music program at a private was pretty sad honestly. And I attribute this not to the instructors, but the small numbers of kids interested in participating, especially at a higher level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school is turning into a sports factory.

also, covid did a number on a lot of kids where activities in general, including performing arts, is concerned.

They seem to be doing a crap job of it.

Sidwell seems to have cornered basketball...GDS girl's volleyball...Maret at least needs to hone in one sport and recruit like nuts.

What's odd is Maret used to be very strong in basketball and then lost it. They had kids that went to Villanova and a kid playing now in the NBA that didn't graduate that long ago. I feel like they used to be the best and now they dropped off the map.

[Anonymous]

Love how a thread explicitly about the arts is being turned into another sports thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a former Maret teacher, the workload of most teachers is nearly untenable. I know the (now former) band teacher well. She is an incredible educator who was dealt a shit hand. She quite literally, was worked into the ground. All I can say is, my new school is NOTHING like Maret. I feel safe, supported, and cared for. I commend my former colleague for doing what is best for HER!

Can you say more about the workload? I figured it was a cushy job