Can anyone shed light on what is likely to change at Norwood with new leadership?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:K-8/pre-k-6th or 8th include Norwood, St. Patricks, NPS, Langley, Sheriden, Woods, WES, and that's only what I can come up with in 1 second. The model is not dying. People like this model some don't. There is no worry about getting your kid in HS. I have done it two times now without stress and with great results, all at their first choice. One more to go and still love the model.

If I knew Norwood's numbers I would give them, but I don't. And to put he Bullis thing to rest, there is no regret at all. I have worked at Norwood for a long time and NEVER heard a single soul utter a regret. You may be referring to a parent you spoke to but there isn't an employee or administrator who feels regret. I was even there when the topic came up and there wasn't even much to think about when they said no, pretty quickly.

Bullis said no to Norwood, not the other way around. Norwood was dying for the merger, but was rebuffed.

[Anonymous]

How do you know that? What role did you play in the process?

[Anonymous]

K-8/pre-k-6th or 8th include Norwood, St. Patricks, NPS, Langley, Sheriden, Woods, WES, and that's only what I can come up with in 1 second. The model is not dying. People like this model some don't. There is no worry about getting your kid in HS. I have done it two times now without stress and with great results, all at their first choice. One more to go and still love the model.

If I knew Norwood's numbers I would give them, but I don't. And to put he Bullis thing to rest, there is no regret at all. I have worked at Norwood for a long time and NEVER heard a single soul utter a regret. You may be referring to a parent you spoke to but there isn't an employee or administrator who feels regret. I was even there when the topic came up and there wasn't even much to think about when they said no, pretty quickly.

Harpings:

1. Do you recall the merger of a K-5 school in Potomac with Saint Andrews School about 4 to 5 years ago? Do you know why this happened? Do you recall what the attrition rate was from Grade K through Grade 5?

2. Since you have worked at Norwood for a long time but acknowledge you "do not know the Norwood numbers":

i. How many student graduated in each graduating class from 2008 through 2013? Is that number declining, rising or staying the same?
ii. Do you have any 5-yr trend data about the size of each graduating class?
iii. Do you have any 5-yr trend data about the student attrition rates in the higher elementary and middle school years?

Convince us you indeed have worked at Norwood for a longtime and are knowledgeable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you know that? What role did you play in the process?

It is common knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

K-8/pre-k-6th or 8th include Norwood, St. Patricks, NPS, Langley, Sheriden, Woods, WES, and that's only what I can come up with in 1 second. The model is not dying. People like this model some don't. There is no worry about getting your kid in HS. I have done it two times now without stress and with great results, all at their first choice. One more to go and still love the model.

If I knew Norwood's numbers I would give them, but I don't. And to put he Bullis thing to rest, there is no regret at all. I have worked at Norwood for a long time and NEVER heard a single soul utter a regret. You may be referring to a parent you spoke to but there isn't an employee or administrator who feels regret. I was even there when the topic came up and there wasn't even much to think about when they said no, pretty quickly.

Harpings:

1. Do you recall the merger of a K-5 school in Potomac with Saint Andrews School about 4 to 5 years ago? Do you know why this happened? Do you recall what the attrition rate was from Grade K through Grade 5?

2. Since you have worked at Norwood for a long time but acknowledge you "do not know the Norwood numbers":

i. How many student graduated in each graduating class from 2008 through 2013? Is that number declining, rising or staying the same?
ii. Do you have any 5-yr trend data about the size of each graduating class?
iii. Do you have any 5-yr trend data about the student attrition rates in the higher elementary and middle school years?

Convince us you indeed have worked at Norwood for a longtime and are knowledgeable.

Enough with the Tom Sawyer psychology. Why would anyone give out confidential Board-type data on an anonymous website?

[Anonymous]

Enough with the Tom Sawyer psychology. Why would anyone give out confidential Board-type data on an anonymous website?

You are certainly no Board member. Your longstanding relationship with Norwood must be with the janitorial services since the information the poster requests is not high level, NSA, or sercret but information any intelligent parent would like to help inform decisions about private schools for their children.

We are new to the area. Five or so years ago, we almost committed to sending our 2 children to St Francis (Potomac). We liked the leadership and their block education curriculum (particularly for math) so children were appropriately placed in math classes based on ability, accomplishments, and performance) and not age and grade. On revisits we discovered that while PK, K, and grade 1 were loaded there were less than 8 students in the graduating 5th grade classroom. There appeared to be important student attrition in the higher elementary grades. We instead opted for our local public school (later HGC and middle school magnet programs). Six to 9 months later we read in the Gazette about the merger of St Francis with St Andrews (Potomac area). In retrospect, we are happy we did not plunk down $50K for the 2 kids and went with our gut regarding the viability of the school.

Any private school in this market unwilling to share (transparent) the numbers of students in their grades and graduating classes raises a huge red flag and should not deservice any attention in the education marketplace.

Are you then surprised there have been discussions about a merger in the past ... and most surely in future?

signed Huck Fin

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wrong. The K-8 model is dying and people aren't opting for it (primarily because of the hassle of trying to find a HS for their kid).

The only people are Norwood are those who got rejected at schools like Sidwell, Cathedral schools, etc.

You are also incorrect about the Bullis merger. They really regret it now because it would have provided stability and a future. Norwood's existence is now tenuous.

We are at Norwood and didn't apply to Sidwell or Cathedral Schools - but we may apply to those schools later for HS. We like the K-8 model. When applying at 1st, we felt it was better to match a school for our child's elementary needs in the short term and learn more about what our child might need in the long term. Who knows what our children will need when it comes to high school? We feel like our children will have a better match for high school when that time comes and if we felt we needed to change course earlier, we could have applied out for middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wrong. The K-8 model is dying and people aren't opting for it (primarily because of the hassle of trying to find a HS for their kid).

The only people are Norwood are those who got rejected at schools like Sidwell, Cathedral schools, etc.

You are also incorrect about the Bullis merger. They really regret it now because it would have provided stability and a future. Norwood's existence is now tenuous.

Spoken by someone who knows nothing about the subject.. .you lost credibility with your first sentence.

[Anonymous]

The K-8 model is absolutely not dying. When we were looking at schools, we only considered K-6/K-8. I do not believe you know what kind of person/student your 5 year old will be by the time they are high school aged. To choose a K based on where you want your kid to go to high school is highly misguided.

On a similar note, I transferred to a K-12 for 9th grade. The overwhelming majority of "lifers" at my high school ended up being totally odd ducks. The rest of us talk about how grateful we weren't lifers.

[Anonymous]

The ultimate issue here is viability (e.g., financial) of the K-6/8 in the competitive school marketplace where the competitive high schools cleverly have feeding K-6/8 upstream educational models -- in house.

In the real world of DC area private school education survival of any "model" is highly dependent or robust tuition revenue streams, strong, reliable, and predictable fund raising streams, as well as a healthy endowment and endowment/student ratio. "Great", "best" and "optimal"models die on the vine without this sustenance.

What are the trends here re: Norwood and her competitors (which include K-6/8 embedded within K-12)?

[Anonymous]

I am sure the facts, the data, and the trends are all out there.

[Anonymous]

The K-8 model is absolutely not dying. When we were looking at schools, we only considered K-6/K-8. I do not believe you know what kind of person/student your 5 year old will be by the time they are high school aged. To choose a K based on where you want your kid to go to high school is highly misguided.

On a similar note, I transferred to a K-12 for 9th grade. The overwhelming majority of "lifers" at my high school ended up being totally odd ducks. The rest of us talk about how grateful we weren't lifers.

No, but common...do you really think there is a substantial difference between K at Norwood, Beauvoir, St. Pats, WES, Maret, and the like? For the average resilient 5-yr-old with sound body and mind (tissues, organs and cells intact) I doubt there is any difference here save various and sundry preferences related to friends, residence etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wrong. The K-8 model is dying and people aren't opting for it (primarily because of the hassle of trying to find a HS for their kid).

The only people are Norwood are those who got rejected at schools like Sidwell, Cathedral schools, etc.

You are also incorrect about the Bullis merger. They really regret it now because it would have provided stability and a future. Norwood's existence is now tenuous.

Hi there sour grapes!

[Anonymous]

No, but common...do you really think there is a substantial difference between K at Norwood, Beauvoir, St. Pats, WES, Maret, and the like? (+ Sidwell) For the average resilient 5-yr-old with sound body and mind (tissues, organs and cells intact) I doubt there is any difference here save various and sundry preferences related to friends, residence etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Enough with the Tom Sawyer psychology. Why would anyone give out confidential Board-type data on an anonymous website?

You are certainly no Board member. Your longstanding relationship with Norwood must be with the janitorial services since the information the poster requests is not high level, NSA, or sercret but information any intelligent parent would like to help inform decisions about private schools for their children.

We are new to the area. Five or so years ago, we almost committed to sending our 2 children to St Francis (Potomac). We liked the leadership and their block education curriculum (particularly for math) so children were appropriately placed in math classes based on ability, accomplishments, and performance) and not age and grade. On revisits we discovered that while PK, K, and grade 1 were loaded there were less than 8 students in the graduating 5th grade classroom. There appeared to be important student attrition in the higher elementary grades. We instead opted for our local public school (later HGC and middle school magnet programs). Six to 9 months later we read in the Gazette about the merger of St Francis with St Andrews (Potomac area). In retrospect, we are happy we did not plunk down $50K for the 2 kids and went with our gut regarding the viability of the school.

Any private school in this market unwilling to share (transparent) the numbers of students in their grades and graduating classes raises a huge red flag and should not deservice any attention in the education marketplace.

Are you then surprised there have been discussions about a merger in the past ... and most surely in future?

signed Huck Fin

Of course schools publicize graduating class sizes. But you or whomever was trying to bait the Norwood poster ("prove you work there by posting info") were asking for analysis on attrition over a multi-year period. That's not the type of information schools make public. All of your name-calling (really? The poster is a janitor?) or even for "transparency" doesn't change that reality.