Landon Upper School - opinions?

[Anonymous]

Can someone tell me how many days their lower school is in person now? We are thinking of applying next year but need a school who is not too conservative with opening.

[Anonymous]

They are one week on, one week off right now. I think they are trying to bring 3rd grade on full time. Every kid in the school is one week remote and one week in person, outside, in tents, socially distanced, etc.

Landon has about 33-40% People of Color right now. Besides being single sex, Landon is relatively diverse. Parents might be more conservative than average school in DC. The staff is more liberal, as any educational endeavor is essentially a liberal endeavor. The kids are mixed.

Great place for boys to grow into men of character and integrity, not a place that encourages "boys to be boys" in the negative sense of that phrase.

Lower school and middle school heads are both women for what it's worth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are one week on, one week off right now. I think they are trying to bring 3rd grade on full time. Every kid in the school is one week remote and one week in person, outside, in tents, socially distanced, etc.

Landon has about 33-40% People of Color right now. Besides being single sex, Landon is relatively diverse. Parents might be more conservative than average school in DC. The staff is more liberal, as any educational endeavor is essentially a liberal endeavor. The kids are mixed.

Great place for boys to grow into men of character and integrity, not a place that encourages "boys to be boys" in the negative sense of that phrase.

Lower school and middle school heads are both women for what it's worth.

Thank you so much. We are also minorities so that does help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Classic DCUM. A thread asking about Landon devolves into bashing STA.

That's with any topic sadly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. I don't think the PP was being combative. Just pointing out a fact. The poster has no children at STA. Only toured there and got a feeling. So, what is STA leans center right? Who cares. No one bashes Sidwell, GDS or Maret for being left leaning.

First - I'm the PP and we have no children at STA because the child didn't like the environment there. No grudges or judgement, as many of his friends DID like it, applied, and go there. We are very close friends with these families and I'm sorry, but I think I can take their word when they describe their experiences. Some are conservative and some aren't - but they all describe it in the same way.

Second - people ABSOLUTELY bash Sidwell, GDS, and Maret for being left-leaning on DCUM. (especially GDS)

Translation, your son wasn't accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. I don't think the PP was being combative. Just pointing out a fact. The poster has no children at STA. Only toured there and got a feeling. So, what is STA leans center right? Who cares. No one bashes Sidwell, GDS or Maret for being left leaning.

First - I'm the PP and we have no children at STA because the child didn't like the environment there. No grudges or judgement, as many of his friends DID like it, applied, and go there. We are very close friends with these families and I'm sorry, but I think I can take their word when they describe their experiences. Some are conservative and some aren't - but they all describe it in the same way.

Second - people ABSOLUTELY bash Sidwell, GDS, and Maret for being left-leaning on DCUM. (especially GDS)

Translation, your son wasn't accepted.

Nope - never applied. Neither of us have anything against StA - he just didn't want to go to school there himself. I personally would have had him apply, but after the fact, I see that was a good decision for him. He was accepted everywhere he applied, so this had nothing to do with ability to be accepted.

Not sure why you are so spiteful about someone saying the school skews more conservative than others in the region. It's not an insult and we have nothing bad to say about StA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone tell me how many days their lower school is in person now? We are thinking of applying next year but need a school who is not too conservative with opening.

LS just announced it’s going back full-time on Monday. The 3rd gr had already been full time effective this past week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. I don't think the PP was being combative. Just pointing out a fact. The poster has no children at STA. Only toured there and got a feeling. So, what is STA leans center right? Who cares. No one bashes Sidwell, GDS or Maret for being left leaning.

First - I'm the PP and we have no children at STA because the child didn't like the environment there. No grudges or judgement, as many of his friends DID like it, applied, and go there. We are very close friends with these families and I'm sorry, but I think I can take their word when they describe their experiences. Some are conservative and some aren't - but they all describe it in the same way.

Second - people ABSOLUTELY bash Sidwell, GDS, and Maret for being left-leaning on DCUM. (especially GDS)

Translation, your son wasn't accepted.

Nope - never applied. Neither of us have anything against StA - he just didn't want to go to school there himself. I personally would have had him apply, but after the fact, I see that was a good decision for him. He was accepted everywhere he applied, so this had nothing to do with ability to be accepted.

Not sure why you are so spiteful about someone saying the school skews more conservative than others in the region. It's not an insult and we have nothing bad to say about StA.

This is a Landon thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Landon has about 33-40% People of Color right now. Besides being single sex, Landon is relatively diverse. Parents might be more conservative than average school in DC. The staff is more liberal, as any educational endeavor is essentially a liberal endeavor. The kids are mixed.
.

Our son is in the LS, and he loves it. But it’s not that diverse. Perhaps you meant in the MS or US?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son left after 2 years in the US but not because of the quality of the education. The culture of the school skews toward a White, Republican crowd, and my son who is neither White nor Republican just felt on the periphery. He had friends and was actively involved in multiple sports, but he just wasn't the quintessential Landon boy.
The quality of the education is good, however. The school educates boys -- it's not just a holding tank for jocks.

The all boys schools in this area all skew that way. They have all become mostly white and republican that includes Prep and STA which both have become more conservative and clubby in recent years. On the other hand the all girls schools are becoming more diverse and more progressive.

My son felt this way too, when touring DMV privates for HS.

yes. if anything STA and Prep are worse. We have a daughter at NCS and the only Trump supporting people we know in the DMV are at STA.

Then you don’t get out much. I know more than a few Trump supporters at all the schools, with the possible exception of GDS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Landon has about 33-40% People of Color right now. Besides being single sex, Landon is relatively diverse. Parents might be more conservative than average school in DC. The staff is more liberal, as any educational endeavor is essentially a liberal endeavor. The kids are mixed.
.

Our son is in the LS, and he loves it. But it’s not that diverse. Perhaps you meant in the MS or US?

Admissions could speak to this. It’s hard to know how diverse the student body is this year. Parents don’t spend any significant time on campus due to Covid restrictions

[Anonymous]

Regarding Diversity, Though I do not have exact numbers, I can say with absolute confidence, considering the entire student body, Landon is 1/3 people of color or more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to everyone for their input. My son has had a wonderful educational experience at Landon thus far. He has many years before he reaches the Upper School. This topic concerns me because we have very high college aspirations for him. I hope the school can help him achieve them...

If you have very high college expectations which I could argue are premature, the school to aim for is GDS. I don’t think any high school does better with college admissions than GDS in this area

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regarding Diversity, Though I do not have exact numbers, I can say with absolute confidence, considering the entire student body, Landon is 1/3 people of color or more.

Most schools have racial diversity but not socio-economic diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to everyone for their input. My son has had a wonderful educational experience at Landon thus far. He has many years before he reaches the Upper School. This topic concerns me because we have very high college aspirations for him. I hope the school can help him achieve them...

If you have very high college expectations which I could argue are premature, the school to aim for is GDS. I don’t think any high school does better with college admissions than GDS in this area

OP here - Thank you for the advice!