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Upheaval at Holton
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Anonymous
Hard to move quickly when you have to replace every divisional head and many teachers. Nothing to see here folks… |
Anonymous
| What do you mean nothing to see? You don’t think current and prospective families will want to see what’s in place before committing? |
Anonymous
My guess is that statement was meant ironically. It’s a shame that Penny has pushed out so many. |
Anonymous
Obviously that poster was mocking the school leaders with that line. Think a little more critically. |
Anonymous
Holton family here. Just going to be direct, the vague critiques on the new HOS are fatigued, can someone please weigh in with specifics? It's significant to us that the three heads of school have left, but I would appreciate more specifics to draw a correlation. We've had new two new teachers in our daughter's current grade and they've been excellent. I'm just not seeing this grave change yet and would appreciate any specifics. |
Anonymous
There are very specific criticisms in prior threads, which is why many of us aren’t repeating them (again). Someone linked some earlier items. A quick search will reveal them to you. |
Anonymous
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Holton family here. This is my advice for a prospective family.
Find a Holton family that shares your values, someone you think your daughter would likely be friends with, and then ask them what they think of the new HOS and the changes she is making. If they say things are great, you are also likely to think they are great because you are likely value aligned with Penny and the board. If you cannot find a family that is value aligned, ask the admissions office to connect you with a family. Give them some parameters. Like, “we’d like to talk to a family who came from public school,” or “we want to talk to parents of a girl athlete.” Fill in the blank for your family. If you cannot find a family that is value aligned then that should be very telling for you, because there is a good chunk of families who are staying away from admissions events and are refusing to boost for the school. So far, Holton hasn’t seemed to mind our lack of participation because they are managing to attract the kinds of families they want to, which is wealthier, white, suburban with girls who are more interested in sports than rigorous academics. Some current families are unbothered because the impacts won’t be felt until 4-5 years when Holton girls graduate with less academic awards and end up going to less prestigious schools. |
Anonymous
| We are currently applying to Holton and a values-aligned current family shared with us that many long-standing teachers and families that loved Holton are leaving the school, and that the approach of the new HOS has been alienating to many. The themes were similar to those on the prior threads posted here. We are still applying and remain interested, but intend to keep our eyes and ears open. |
Anonymous
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all the woke teachers who were aligned with the previous headmasters are in up-roar and are being counseled out.
Holton over the past decade, has gone extremely woke. Lots of alums with big pockets refuse to send their daughters there and choose Visi or SR. As a previous poster pointed out, fundraising has stalled. New HOS is doing what she was tasked to do. Bring the school back to the center. |
Anonymous
And the school is becoming whiter and less diverse as a result. They’ll retain a few token minorities, just like they did in the 80s. It’s a 1988 strategy in a 2024 world. |
Anonymous
| wOkE wOkE wOkE wOkE wOkE |
Anonymous
| This whole thread is so strange to me- again no real examples of things HOS has done that people dislike. Staff turnover with a new administration isn’t so usual. I don’t know about lower or upper school head but middle school head left to go back to NCS - where she had been for decades in a lower position and where her daughter still was enrolled. she left NCS to take a position that was a career bump at Holton then went back to NCS when she could get that bump there. As an aside, she was not super popular with the girls and the new middle school head is very well liked by the girls. As for students, no girls failed to return to my daughter’s grade this year and I am unaware of any mass or even minor exodus of students. Whoever these disgruntled families are they aren’t disgruntled enough to pull their kids. |
Anonymous
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I don't see the school expanding by 100 students. As another poster mentioned, the current permit has a hard limit due to the egress options in an emergency. Buying the houses on the adjacent road, then making that a new entrance is not an automatic solution. First, the well-heeled neighbors on that road (Burdette) will surely protest to any expansion. Second, Holton would need approval for adding an entrance, and increasing occupancy limits. I just don't see that easily happening.
And let's say this all does become possible -- that project will take 10 years, so your DD will lkely already be done and graudated from Holton by the time it's ready. |
Anonymous
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It's a big school - some happy folks in some grades, some unhappy at some grades. You can not judge a school by one opinion.
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Anonymous
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Holton is a great school, but it is of course not perfect. In my opinion, Susanna Jones was an exceptional head of school—I know some others disagree for reasons that are valid—but enough parents saw it that way that she was always going to be a tough act to follow. In addition, the approach to DEI issues taken there in the past few years was perceived by some as heavy-handed and cringe, but by others as not going nearly far enough, similar divisions that exist in society more generally. I think this difference of opinion got kind of played out in the HOS selection process—you see it in this thread from posters who believe that the selection of the new head represented some kind of retrenchment on that issue, which I personally think is a bit overstated. I don’t think Penny Evans is on a mission to “Make Holton White Again.”
As for substantive issues with the new HOS, I think she got a little jammed up on the Gaza issue, where the communications she sent out were perceived a sensitive |