Sidwell tuition increase

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The teachers are already paid well beneath teachers at Public schools. However, privates don't have to worry about losing them because the teachers are uncertified so the public wouldn't hire them anyways.

Their loss.

Most private school teacher, at least the ones I am familiar with, might be unlicensed, but have advanced degrees and left other professions to go into teaching - lawyers, PhD's etc.

Yes, and that makes them qualified to teach because ... why?

Well, for one, it makes them a lot smarter than the average education major...

[Anonymous]

Most private school teacher, at least the ones I am familiar with, might be unlicensed, but have advanced degrees and left other professions to go into teaching - lawyers, PhD's etc.


We left Private for this exact reason: We wanted teachers with actual education degrees who knew how to deliver education to students...we were tired of hearing how this teacher had X experience, and this one had Y experience--with most of the experiences having little to do with teaching.

A true teacher is trained to educate--student teaching, degree in education, etc. Our children are now at a school which has amazing leadership and teachers who are 'by the book' ... no BS.

We found in private school that we were financially supporting things we did not want to: Financial aid (I know a friend who owns numerous properties, takes overseas vacations---yet gets 90% FA for several children) ... ridiculously large 'grounds' to impress people, etc etc.

Choose what's important to you: The Sidwell name? (Which is excellent, and may get your child into a good school)...or finding a school where you won't be complaining about having to pay so much. Your call. Free world and all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The teachers are already paid well beneath teachers at Public schools. However, privates don't have to worry about losing them because the teachers are uncertified so the public wouldn't hire them anyways.

Their loss.

Most private school teacher, at least the ones I am familiar with, might be unlicensed, but have advanced degrees and left other professions to go into teaching - lawyers, PhD's etc.

Yes, and that makes them qualified to teach because ... why?

Well, for one, it makes them a lot smarter than the average education major...

Really. Who would you rather hire? The average leading private school teacher (or for that matter a public school Teach for America teacher) with a solid background in a substantive subject... or a Masters in Education from UDC??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Sidwell Administration is top-heavy and provide insufficient value for money.

2. Super rich parents are seeing the school is in fundraising mode and they are making their demands known, including through this board. The tragedy is when the super rich parents say “Jump”, the craven administrators say “How high?”. Seeing it happen now. Tragic.

What sort of "Jump" requests are you referring to? I don't see a lot of donor-driven demands at Sidwell, at least compared to some other organizations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a little unrelated, but since it keeps coming up, I want to weigh in on the private vs. public school teacher situation. I can only speak for myself, but I fall into a few categories. I have multiple degrees and was originally a professional in another field. I am fully licensed and began my teaching career in public school. I felt the public system was turning me into a cog in a wheel and not taking advantage of my skill set. I also wasn’t getting my needs for autonomy and creativity met, and I thought the school system could do better by students. I was lucky because I had a high-earning partner and could make the shift to private, though as it turned out it wasn’t much of a financial hit. My own kids are in both public and private schools at the moment, but none are at the school where I teach. If they were, I’d get no tuition remission because my family’s income is too high. The boost for private school teachers is that the school that employs them will leave out their teaching income when calculating financial aid. That’s how my school handles it, anyway. I think parents who say “the teachers at public are more highly qualified” are a.) incorrect and b.) not adequately factoring in the degree to which burnout and excessive paperwork can destroy some teachers’ passion for the job. So many public school teachers are delivering completely prescribed curricula that doesn’t take advantage of their creativity. Some are stuck and some can leave.

I'm currently looking at several independent schools, and the school that has impressed me most is a school where teachers have some autonomy and runway in tailoring their own curriculum, taking advantage of their own unique creativity and passion. I agree that this is hard to find in public and, frankly, even in many "selective" privates that feel pressure to conform to what people are used to seeing. It takes courage as a school to be different.

If you get that job, leap at it. It makes such a difference in career satisfaction, and you’ll pass that joy and passion on to your students. Make sure the school knows “who it is” though. A good school with a clear mission can be creative AND meet all benchmarks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Most private school teacher, at least the ones I am familiar with, might be unlicensed, but have advanced degrees and left other professions to go into teaching - lawyers, PhD's etc.

We left Private for this exact reason: We wanted teachers with actual education degrees who knew how to deliver education to students...we were tired of hearing how this teacher had X experience, and this one had Y experience--with most of the experiences having little to do with teaching.

A true teacher is trained to educate--student teaching, degree in education, etc. Our children are now at a school which has amazing leadership and teachers who are 'by the book' ... no BS.

We found in private school that we were financially supporting things we did not want to: Financial aid (I know a friend who owns numerous properties, takes overseas vacations---yet gets 90% FA for several children) ... ridiculously large 'grounds' to impress people, etc etc.

Choose what's important to you: The Sidwell name? (Which is excellent, and may get your child into a good school)...or finding a school where you won't be complaining about having to pay so much. Your call. Free world and all.

Your friend is either lying to you, or lying on their financial aid form.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell does not charge extra for it's lunch program. Even then, it is by no means the highest priced private in the area. Holding increases to 2% above inflation (and less above average wage growth in DC metro), during a building program, while maintaining one of the highest FA programs in the area, does not seem out of line. The bulk of most school budgets go to teachers salaries and benefits, no? I doubt they are overly paid and I presume their benefits costs are going up like at my organization.