St Marys versus St Louis

[Anonymous]

I would predict there is more from st Mary’s due to the fact that it’s easier to complain than it is to share the good. Or there is a lot of St. Louis is ok but not great but not as bad as the st Mary’s parents complaining.

As many have said st marys is undergoing a lot of change - and had issues in the middle school. The leadership change from previous principal to the current one was not smooth.

I think the next 3-6 months will be a time to see if st Mary’s rebounds or if the issues shown last year have not been addressed. I would predict if boy address more will be on this board sharing or complaining and some will look for options to leave. I’ve heard a lot are seeing if it gets better but some have left as middle school is important preparation for HS.

Previously the goodbyes to staff email talked about where people were moving onto (out of area due to military or to public school) but now it’s just a list goodbye and doesn’t share any commentary. Supposedly the well liked AP who left is at another Arlington diocese school now.

[Anonymous]

IMO there’s more from st Mary’s parents because they are all panicking and trying to switch schools. The only people who spend time in this forum are people looking to apply to private schools. It’s a dead time for most issues having to do with private school but the st Mary’s parents are hanging around because they’re freaking out. SSSAS is hard to get into now and crazy expensive. Potomac is impossible to get into. ACPS is a mess right now because of the high school project. At Mary’s parents have no options. They are venting and panicking and lurking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IMO there’s more from st Mary’s parents because they are all panicking and trying to switch schools. The only people who spend time in this forum are people looking to apply to private schools. It’s a dead time for most issues having to do with private school but the st Mary’s parents are hanging around because they’re freaking out. SSSAS is hard to get into now and crazy expensive. Potomac is impossible to get into. ACPS is a mess right now because of the high school project. At Mary’s parents have no options. They are venting and panicking and lurking.

I was only lukewarm on the school but reading this board is making me panic!

[Anonymous]

Publish the HONOR ROLL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Publish the HONOR ROLL

What the hell is this person blathering about? Who cares about the honor roll?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Publish the HONOR ROLL

What the hell is this person blathering about? Who cares about the honor roll?

It’s actually indicative of the issues at St Mary’s. Not celebrating excellence, lowering standards, less emphasis on academics, succumbing to mediocrity and wokeness, etc.

[Anonymous]

The good news is that the St. Mary's parents are very engaged. I don't think there's actually much panic, although there is clearly room for improvement.

St. Mary's is the biggest Catholic school in Virginia, and it's part of the oldest Catholic church/parish in Virginia. It's a feeder school for Bishop Ireton, Bishop O'Connell, Gonzaga, and Visitation. The tradition and momentum is good enough that some faculty and staff turnover isn't the end of the world.

But the turnover has been a problem. There's clearly been some issue at the school, and the school is deliberately not transparent about it. They've hired some young, unprepared teachers who didn't work out and then left quickly (some were pushed). They also lost a lot of good faculty and staff over the past couple years. A previous poster noted that this year they didn't say where people are going. That seems like a clue.

And if the well-respected assistant principal moved to another school in the diocese (unconfirmed), does that suggest that she had some beef with this school (principal? priest? other?). She had only been there for a couple years, they have a new principal, and they have a turnover problem. Why the heck would they move her when they need stability?

Can anyone confirm why she left and where she went? Can anyone confirm why any of the other high-quality people have left in the past few years?

It looks like they've done a good job hiring some good new faculty and staff. So that's something. But I wish I knew more about what had caused the turnover in the first place and how the school could fix it.

And I wish the school would expand the faculty a bit. They seem to run very lean, with large class sizes, and that seems to have caused various problems (teacher burnout, some teachers unable to fix badly behaving classes, teachers unable to tailor curriculum based on student ability/readiness, some undersupported new teachers failing, etc.) I think the school needs more teachers, more experienced teachers, more aides, more backups, more training, more mentoring, etc.

[Anonymous]

I don’t blame teachers for leaving if the school doesn’t even celebrate academic excellence, as indicated by its failure to publish the latest honor roll. It must be hard to try to teach students when academic performance isn’t prioritized or celebrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO there’s more from st Mary’s parents because they are all panicking and trying to switch schools. The only people who spend time in this forum are people looking to apply to private schools. It’s a dead time for most issues having to do with private school but the st Mary’s parents are hanging around because they’re freaking out. SSSAS is hard to get into now and crazy expensive. Potomac is impossible to get into. ACPS is a mess right now because of the high school project. At Mary’s parents have no options. They are venting and panicking and lurking.

I was only lukewarm on the school but reading this board is making me panic!

Makes me happy DC was waitlisted and we ended up going elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

“I think the school needs more teachers, more experienced teachers, more aides, more backups, more training, more mentoring, etc”

Don’t we all

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The good news is that the St. Mary's parents are very engaged. I don't think there's actually much panic, although there is clearly room for improvement.

St. Mary's is the biggest Catholic school in Virginia, and it's part of the oldest Catholic church/parish in Virginia. It's a feeder school for Bishop Ireton, Bishop O'Connell, Gonzaga, and Visitation. The tradition and momentum is good enough that some faculty and staff turnover isn't the end of the world.

But the turnover has been a problem. There's clearly been some issue at the school, and the school is deliberately not transparent about it. They've hired some young, unprepared teachers who didn't work out and then left quickly (some were pushed). They also lost a lot of good faculty and staff over the past couple years. A previous poster noted that this year they didn't say where people are going. That seems like a clue.

And if the well-respected assistant principal moved to another school in the diocese (unconfirmed), does that suggest that she had some beef with this school (principal? priest? other?). She had only been there for a couple years, they have a new principal, and they have a turnover problem. Why the heck would they move her when they need stability?

Can anyone confirm why she left and where she went? Can anyone confirm why any of the other high-quality people have left in the past few years?

It looks like they've done a good job hiring some good new faculty and staff. So that's something. But I wish I knew more about what had caused the turnover in the first place and how the school could fix it.

And I wish the school would expand the faculty a bit. They seem to run very lean, with large class sizes, and that seems to have caused various problems (teacher burnout, some teachers unable to fix badly behaving classes, teachers unable to tailor curriculum based on student ability/readiness, some undersupported new teachers failing, etc.) I think the school needs more teachers, more experienced teachers, more aides, more backups, more training, more mentoring, etc.

I googled the former Asst Principal and it’s appears she’s at St Thomas More per a bulletin in July in which is in Arlington and in a similar role. No idea why she left it felt sudden and rumor was at the end of the year she was without a job when she resigned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Publish the HONOR ROLL

What the hell is this person blathering about? Who cares about the honor roll?

It's actually the poster at 16:19, who got their own thread about the honor roll locked for calling kids names.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The good news is that the St. Mary's parents are very engaged. I don't think there's actually much panic, although there is clearly room for improvement.

St. Mary's is the biggest Catholic school in Virginia, and it's part of the oldest Catholic church/parish in Virginia. It's a feeder school for Bishop Ireton, Bishop O'Connell, Gonzaga, and Visitation. The tradition and momentum is good enough that some faculty and staff turnover isn't the end of the world.

But the turnover has been a problem. There's clearly been some issue at the school, and the school is deliberately not transparent about it. They've hired some young, unprepared teachers who didn't work out and then left quickly (some were pushed). They also lost a lot of good faculty and staff over the past couple years. A previous poster noted that this year they didn't say where people are going. That seems like a clue.

And if the well-respected assistant principal moved to another school in the diocese (unconfirmed), does that suggest that she had some beef with this school (principal? priest? other?). She had only been there for a couple years, they have a new principal, and they have a turnover problem. Why the heck would they move her when they need stability?

Can anyone confirm why she left and where she went? Can anyone confirm why any of the other high-quality people have left in the past few years?

It looks like they've done a good job hiring some good new faculty and staff. So that's something. But I wish I knew more about what had caused the turnover in the first place and how the school could fix it.

And I wish the school would expand the faculty a bit. They seem to run very lean, with large class sizes, and that seems to have caused various problems (teacher burnout, some teachers unable to fix badly behaving classes, teachers unable to tailor curriculum based on student ability/readiness, some undersupported new teachers failing, etc.) I think the school needs more teachers, more experienced teachers, more aides, more backups, more training, more mentoring, etc.

I googled the former Asst Principal and it’s appears she’s at St Thomas More per a bulletin in July in which is in Arlington and in a similar role. No idea why she left it felt sudden and rumor was at the end of the year she was without a job when she resigned.

Was she really that highly regarded? I don’t think I can name a single person that held her in high esteem. Good credentials to be sure.
There is a rumor that the principal left her to do the work he didn’t want to do. There may be some truth to that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The good news is that the St. Mary's parents are very engaged. I don't think there's actually much panic, although there is clearly room for improvement.

St. Mary's is the biggest Catholic school in Virginia, and it's part of the oldest Catholic church/parish in Virginia. It's a feeder school for Bishop Ireton, Bishop O'Connell, Gonzaga, and Visitation. The tradition and momentum is good enough that some faculty and staff turnover isn't the end of the world.

But the turnover has been a problem. There's clearly been some issue at the school, and the school is deliberately not transparent about it. They've hired some young, unprepared teachers who didn't work out and then left quickly (some were pushed). They also lost a lot of good faculty and staff over the past couple years. A previous poster noted that this year they didn't say where people are going. That seems like a clue.

And if the well-respected assistant principal moved to another school in the diocese (unconfirmed), does that suggest that she had some beef with this school (principal? priest? other?). She had only been there for a couple years, they have a new principal, and they have a turnover problem. Why the heck would they move her when they need stability?

Can anyone confirm why she left and where she went? Can anyone confirm why any of the other high-quality people have left in the past few years?

It looks like they've done a good job hiring some good new faculty and staff. So that's something. But I wish I knew more about what had caused the turnover in the first place and how the school could fix it.

And I wish the school would expand the faculty a bit. They seem to run very lean, with large class sizes, and that seems to have caused various problems (teacher burnout, some teachers unable to fix badly behaving classes, teachers unable to tailor curriculum based on student ability/readiness, some undersupported new teachers failing, etc.) I think the school needs more teachers, more experienced teachers, more aides, more backups, more training, more mentoring, etc.

I googled the former Asst Principal and it’s appears she’s at St Thomas More per a bulletin in July in which is in Arlington and in a similar role. No idea why she left it felt sudden and rumor was at the end of the year she was without a job when she resigned.

Was she really that highly regarded? I don’t think I can name a single person that held her in high esteem. Good credentials to be sure.
There is a rumor that the principal left her to do the work he didn’t want to do. There may be some truth to that

I wonder if she’s the one who pushed to publish honor roll. So when she left, the principal no longer felt the need to do so anymore.

[Anonymous]

No, the current one just doesn’t like you. Remember, it’s all about you.