What schools were not what you expected when you visited them in person?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Montessori - forget which one but one on Old Georgetown Road. They told us to sit in a chair and observe and not interact with the kids. Teachers were cold, uncaring and not attentive to the kids. They walked around the classroom strangely and some of the kids were walking around wild, not engaged.

St Jane (or what ever it is called) - very formal and cold. None fo the kids seemed happy. The woman we met with was cold, not friendly and got angry when I asked the demographics of the kids.

Avalon School - only a few kids in the grade, very disorganized, waiting for a tour and the front desk woman handed out ibprohpen to several kids like it was candy, kids seemed academically behind (very nice kids), headmaster was very much into his views and only his views and was clear it he'd take any child but would make the child justify their views and turn everything into a debate (i.e. bullying child into his views).

Holy Cross (K-8) - Surprised how much we liked it but after the other experiences very turned off by a religious school. Staff were very warm and welcoming, had no issue with different viewpoints, kids friendly and seemed happy.

(I'm surprised at the posts on the facilities being old. These schools have been around for years so its not surprising but for the price they charge they should be well maintained).

Spot on for St Jane. And I’m general you’re never allowed to ask questions at that place.

[Anonymous]

This is like TripAdvisor for schools ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maret. For a school that has that much money, the place looks like they don't care about how it looks. Even their theater, which most schools keep looking nice, was a pit. There was a blind on the wall that was ripped and there were bins of cables and other mess just sitting around the place. There were bookcases in the hallway with no shelves on them in the Upper School. Not even sure why they were there.

All of their publications make the place look so nice. It really isn't that way at all.

Agree!!!

A couple years ago I visited the LS campus at GDS and was not impressed with that either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret. For a school that has that much money, the place looks like they don't care about how it looks. Even their theater, which most schools keep looking nice, was a pit. There was a blind on the wall that was ripped and there were bins of cables and other mess just sitting around the place. There were bookcases in the hallway with no shelves on them in the Upper School. Not even sure why they were there.

All of their publications make the place look so nice. It really isn't that way at all.

Agree!!!

A couple years ago I visited the LS campus at GDS and was not impressed with that either.

The GDS lower school building will be gone in 13 months. Seems that GDS stopped investing in it a few years ago, knowing that ther new building is coming online next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret. For a school that has that much money, the place looks like they don't care about how it looks. Even their theater, which most schools keep looking nice, was a pit. There was a blind on the wall that was ripped and there were bins of cables and other mess just sitting around the place. There were bookcases in the hallway with no shelves on them in the Upper School. Not even sure why they were there.

All of their publications make the place look so nice. It really isn't that way at all.

Agree!!!

A couple years ago I visited the LS campus at GDS and was not impressed with that either.

The GDS lower school building will be gone in 13 months. Seems that GDS stopped investing in it a few years ago, knowing that ther new building is coming online next year.

But no excuse for Maret letting things go. It's not the way it used to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret. For a school that has that much money, the place looks like they don't care about how it looks. Even their theater, which most schools keep looking nice, was a pit. There was a blind on the wall that was ripped and there were bins of cables and other mess just sitting around the place. There were bookcases in the hallway with no shelves on them in the Upper School. Not even sure why they were there.

All of their publications make the place look so nice. It really isn't that way at all.

Agree!!!

A couple years ago I visited the LS campus at GDS and was not impressed with that either.

The GDS lower school building will be gone in 13 months. Seems that GDS stopped investing in it a few years ago, knowing that ther new building is coming online next year.

But no excuse for Maret letting things go. It's not the way it used to be.

What was it exactly about the Maret building that you found problematic? I didn't see that at all...

[Anonymous]

And this, my friends, is why tuition is circling $50k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St. Andrews was not what we expected. Great vibe and gorgeous facilities.

Huuuge, really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS. I was sure I’d love it. We wanted a progressive education for our son but what I observed in the middle school didn’t appear progressive. When I talked to parents of current HS schools they talked up the rigor and made it sound stressful. It just wasn’t what we were looking for.

Progressive alone doesn’t get you to Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell. Culture was completely not what I expected. Declined admission.

+1! I totally agree

Would love to hear elaboration on this.

Why does Sidwell seem like it’s on a downhill trajectory? Concerning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell. Culture was completely not what I expected. Declined admission.

+1! I totally agree

Would love to hear elaboration on this.

Why does Sidwell seem like it’s on a downhill trajectory? Concerning.

They definitely lost track.

-signed a parent whose child chose Potomac over Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And this, my friends, is why tuition is circling $50k.

It doesn’t add up. Why are many schools able to maintain a lovely physical plant, and have great factulty and all the programming, extracurriculars, etc while others are charging the SAME price for dilapidated facilities.

Hearing that Maret’s head makes $500k could be one reason why that school looks shabby. In 5 years the school could pay him half of what he makes and put a million into needed facility upgrades. I don’t want to pay that kind of tuition for that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And this, my friends, is why tuition is circling $50k.

It doesn’t add up. Why are many schools able to maintain a lovely physical plant, and have great factulty and all the programming, extracurriculars, etc while others are charging the SAME price for dilapidated facilities.

Hearing that Maret’s head makes $500k could be one reason why that school looks shabby. In 5 years the school could pay him half of what he makes and put a million into needed facility upgrades. I don’t want to pay that kind of tuition for that!

First, Maret's head is a woman. Second, its facilities are not shabby. They're not super fancy, but not shabby by any means. It renovated its athletic facilities just last year.

[Anonymous]

They are shabby. Even including the renovation, at best the school is dumpy.

[Anonymous]

They are definitely shabby!