Maureen Dowd column on Landon

[Anonymous]

Actually, the kids have been punished and it is now time to leave them a individuals alone. Kids do to stupid things and we were all kids once. Give them a chance to learn. They are young and they can learn. Lets pray for all of our children.

I don't think a couple of days of in-school is really punishment (more like...I have to do something to shut these parents up). The problem is that when kids continue to get away with inappropriate behavior, they continue to push the bar to see how far they can go. Hopefully, none of these kids will get to the point of murder, but if kids think that they are untouchable, they will see how far they can go before really getting in trouble. I do work with teens, and I see it a lot in affluent families who don't want to deal with their kids. They just give their kids money so they will go away. Sad...but true.

[Anonymous]

You know, I think there are just a lot of jealous zealots who want to tear Landon down for their own satisfaction. I agree there are problems with the overall character of the school that needs to be addressed, but the level of malice here is way over the top.

[Anonymous]

I am a parent of teens. I do know that many posters on all these boards seem very naive regarding high school drinking, drugs, sex. This link states the site got shut down AFTER the mother of one of the girls found the site:
http://www.dcmetromoms.com/

I've read the site was on facebook. Was it a facebook page or was a link on facebook? Was it a private event on facebook?

Maybe 1 girl in this sh1t told and showed a mom. Maybe a girl mom[or boy mom] stumbled upon it and reacted.

There are guys more decent than girls and vice versa.

Hopefully shutting it down was a chain where a girl or some guy spied on a phone or facebook and told them [in an act of decency]. The alternative scenario is the girls knew , had access to the site, and a mom spying caught it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leaving aside how atrocious the behavior was, is it really appropriate for the school to punish the students? This wasn't in connection with any school event, was it? I am a little uncomfortable with a school punishing kids for conduct that had nothign to do with the school (unless I'm wrong about that). Would a kid be suspended if he was caught shoplifting? How about driving without a license? Drunk driving (not to or from a school event)? Why is this different? Why should the school be the one to hand out punishment, not the parents?

In a weird way, I can almost see an all (expulsion) or nothing situation. If the school doesn't want to be affiliated with the kids, then expel them. But in-school (or out of school) suspensions, at least in my day, were for infractions that had something to do with school.

most schools have language in handbook to cover non-school behavior that brings discredit to school, so if they want to act they are covered

[Anonymous]

Guess what, its a boys school!! So its not surprising that a lot of the administration is male - also, dont boards usually have to have an alumni percentage? Then logically, at an all boys school - thus with all male alumni - it is going to skew the board male.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guess what, its a boys school!! So its not surprising that a lot of the administration is male - also, dont boards usually have to have an alumni percentage? Then logically, at an all boys school - thus with all male alumni - it is going to skew the board male.

By comparison STA board has more women (including incoming board chair) and many more non-alums.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of boys at the Heights, I just want to comment that having an all-male faculty and admin is not per se bad. It can be very positive, depending on who the men are. At our school the men are chosen particularly because they will be good role models for the boys as professionals, Christians, and fathers. One of the younger teachers was just telling me that teaching there after college is like going to "finishing school," because the teachers are always aware that they are modeling virtues for the students. This is not to say we don't have our problem kids, too, but just to ask people not to condemn the idea of a single sex faculty.

[Anonymous]

St. Anselm's also seems to get it right.

[Anonymous]

Landon is naive it doesn't realize that the worst is yet t come. With stories in the NYT, WASHPOST and others, you are going to have follow up coverage. and that story is going to look at something broader, encapsulating the culture of the school, turning up stuff people didn't know about and allowing angry parents to vent. If I were the school, I would act now so that the story has to include themes about how the school has decided to change for the better and reclaim its very tarnished legacy.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but they won't do anything. This not their fault and they gave the boys in school suspensions. What a sad joke.

[Anonymous]

I can't stand it that the press keeps referring to Landon as a prep school. It's not. It's is a school for perps, not preps.

[Anonymous]

Some of you have great advice. Why don't you develop a strategy and go directly (privately) to that school and put it in writing? For those with a fiduciary tie to the school, why not cut it or leave the school rather than speaking ill of your choice and that of your friends? It speaks volumes about your own character. You all know very well traditions are hard to change. Imagine the conversation with your in-laws regarding changing a Thanksgiving tradition in your own home? From what I am hearing on the street, Landon DOES get it. Please look to the Catholic Church and the Episcopalian Church as examples that change is painful, necessary and does not happen immediately. Gotta hover over my kids now in case they run into you at the pool!

[Anonymous]

Go Landon, GO BEARS!

[Anonymous]

I wonder is there any way Landon could become a religious school? That seems to me to be the way to go--all those blending of religions there means they have to serve up pablum perhaps in terms of moral instruction. Landon is the only non-religious boys' school in the area, I believe, and look what happens. (STA is Episcopal.) Boys need a spiritual dimension in their lives more than girls do perhaps--something to aspire to. We are related to some nice Landon kids but their parents are religious. Could it be that many families there have no religious formation? Could that be the problem? You'd think that kids would benefit from the religious and ethnic diversity Landon provides, but these posting indicate that doesn't seem to be the case. Perhaps boys in particular are better off in the "Catholic ghetto" so to speak.

[Anonymous]

Dear 11:00, I am 10:08. Maybe I am jumping to the wrong conclusion but, did your comment come because you are supporting Landon or because you think I am a Landon booster? If it was the former, bully for you. If it was the latter; charming but, wrong. I am researching schools b/c ds will need to move on to another school someday.