GDS high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does someone who's "sick of DEI" stand for affirmatively? What are their values exactly?

I didn’t write that myself but my 8th grader wants to write an essay without that focus. Or have a history lesson without that focus. He just wants a more traditional education where everything isn’t boiled down to identity or ethnicity or race. It’s tiresome to have it seep into their daily eduction.

But this is EXACTLY what the school said they do at the admissions open house. Did you not believe them? This is what you signed up for. This is what you said you wanted to buy.

Not exactly. I had no idea HOW intense and intrusive the DEI department would be. I did not anticipate how frustrated my DC would be due to the continual DEI focus during assemblies, aspects of History class in HS and much of MS, field trips, 9th grade Seminar, weird reporting practices, biased disciplinary approaches, etc.

Yes! All of this is true

Would not be the first time GDS doesnt paint full picture at Open Houses. For instance, they dont tell parents that kids are limited to applying to 10 (now 12 reluctantly after a parent revolt in 2023) colleges max. That's it.

They most certainly dont talk about that upfront.

They dont talk about how discipline process in HS works - opaque, inconsistent, and crappy dressed up in DEI / restorative justice, student-driven hoo-ha.

There are now 29 pages of comments about the poorly run administration

If many of us could do it again, we would have done a cathedral school. And our family is not religious, we are URMs, and we are liberal. the goal posts have moved.

GDS limits kids to 12 college applications? Wow.

Mine at other Big 3s applied to 15-20 each. Some kids just need to explore more options, particularly in this tough admissions environment.

What business is it of the school if kids want to spend additional time submitting applications and parents are fine with excessive applications fees?

I have kids at two different Big3 schools (not GDS) and college counseling advised STRONGLY against applying to more than a dozen schools. They pointed out that kids applying to 15-20 have no better outcomes than those applying intelligently to less. They have found that kids applying to more just get more rejections. This is data driven.
They will allow kids to apply to more but parents like you are clearly outliers and viewed as off base and frankly a PITA.

Families should decide for themselves how many schools they would like to apply to. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The health classes in high school are a hoot and a half. And way too many weeks and years.

The health class could be done in 2 weeks per year. It's staggering how much time they allocate to this

That’s true for all the schools though, not just GDS.

What other schools devote 9 weeks freshmen year plus another 9 weeks sophomore year to learn all the different types of sex and meds?

Sex positions? What do you mean? And what meds?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does someone who's "sick of DEI" stand for affirmatively? What are their values exactly?

I didn’t write that myself but my 8th grader wants to write an essay without that focus. Or have a history lesson without that focus. He just wants a more traditional education where everything isn’t boiled down to identity or ethnicity or race. It’s tiresome to have it seep into their daily eduction.

But this is EXACTLY what the school said they do at the admissions open house. Did you not believe them? This is what you signed up for. This is what you said you wanted to buy.

Not exactly. I had no idea HOW intense and intrusive the DEI department would be. I did not anticipate how frustrated my DC would be due to the continual DEI focus during assemblies, aspects of History class in HS and much of MS, field trips, 9th grade Seminar, weird reporting practices, biased disciplinary approaches, etc.

Yes! All of this is true

Would not be the first time GDS doesnt paint full picture at Open Houses. For instance, they dont tell parents that kids are limited to applying to 10 (now 12 reluctantly after a parent revolt in 2023) colleges max. That's it.

They most certainly dont talk about that upfront.

They dont talk about how discipline process in HS works - opaque, inconsistent, and crappy dressed up in DEI / restorative justice, student-driven hoo-ha.

There are now 29 pages of comments about the poorly run administration

If many of us could do it again, we would have done a cathedral school. And our family is not religious, we are URMs, and we are liberal. the goal posts have moved.

GDS limits kids to 12 college applications? Wow.

Mine at other Big 3s applied to 15-20 each. Some kids just need to explore more options, particularly in this tough admissions environment.

What business is it of the school if kids want to spend additional time submitting applications and parents are fine with excessive applications fees?

I have kids at two different Big3 schools (not GDS) and college counseling advised STRONGLY against applying to more than a dozen schools. They pointed out that kids applying to 15-20 have no better outcomes than those applying intelligently to less. They have found that kids applying to more just get more rejections. This is data driven.
They will allow kids to apply to more but parents like you are clearly outliers and viewed as off base and frankly a PITA.

Actually we weren’t outliers at all; all of DCs friends applied to 15+ schools. But the main point remains- that is a decision that should be made by the student and parents, not the CCO.

Sure my kid got more rejections but also received more acceptances. What’s that to you or to the school for that matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My suggestion: GDS should have Bari Weiss from The Free Press come to one of the Friday assemblies. GDS had a Fox News reporter come. The school more recently seems to be shifting course in a positive way to invite more viewpoints, as I think headmaster Russell Shaw is making positive initial steps to direct course to invite free speech. I hope he reads through this thread to get some helpful 360 feedback from parents. This is an amazing school and should retain amazing teachers that make the place so magical. Avoid chilling environment to free speech while maintaining the social justice mission. Let’s avoid MccArthyism at the school. Keep the magic of GDS!

So they could learn the meaning of the word "disingenuous"? She'd never agree to come because they'd rip her arguments to shreds.

[Anonymous]

She’d make too much sense for the average GDS flaming liberal to understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The health classes in high school are a hoot and a half. And way too many weeks and years.

The health class could be done in 2 weeks per year. It's staggering how much time they allocate to this

That’s true for all the schools though, not just GDS.

What other schools devote 9 weeks freshmen year plus another 9 weeks sophomore year to learn all the different types of sex and meds?

Sex positions? What do you mean? And what meds?

Hetero sex, homo sex, anal, when to take the HEP B shots, etc.

The half gay masters swim water polo team helped craft the curriculum over drinks.

WTF... this can not be a real post. Please tell me this is a troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The health classes in high school are a hoot and a half. And way too many weeks and years.

The health class could be done in 2 weeks per year. It's staggering how much time they allocate to this

That’s true for all the schools though, not just GDS.

What other schools devote 9 weeks freshmen year plus another 9 weeks sophomore year to learn all the different types of sex and meds?

Sex positions? What do you mean? And what meds?

Hetero sex, homo sex, anal, when to take the HEP B shots, etc.

The half gay masters swim water polo team helped craft the curriculum over drinks.

WTF... this can not be a real post. Please tell me this is a troll.

Of course it's a troll— a virulently homophobic one at that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does someone who's "sick of DEI" stand for affirmatively? What are their values exactly?

I didn’t write that myself but my 8th grader wants to write an essay without that focus. Or have a history lesson without that focus. He just wants a more traditional education where everything isn’t boiled down to identity or ethnicity or race. It’s tiresome to have it seep into their daily eduction.

But this is EXACTLY what the school said they do at the admissions open house. Did you not believe them? This is what you signed up for. This is what you said you wanted to buy.

Not exactly. I had no idea HOW intense and intrusive the DEI department would be. I did not anticipate how frustrated my DC would be due to the continual DEI focus during assemblies, aspects of History class in HS and much of MS, field trips, 9th grade Seminar, weird reporting practices, biased disciplinary approaches, etc.

Yes! All of this is true

Would not be the first time GDS doesnt paint full picture at Open Houses. For instance, they dont tell parents that kids are limited to applying to 10 (now 12 reluctantly after a parent revolt in 2023) colleges max. That's it.

They most certainly dont talk about that upfront.

They dont talk about how discipline process in HS works - opaque, inconsistent, and crappy dressed up in DEI / restorative justice, student-driven hoo-ha.

There are now 29 pages of comments about the poorly run administration

If many of us could do it again, we would have done a cathedral school. And our family is not religious, we are URMs, and we are liberal. the goal posts have moved.

GDS limits kids to 12 college applications? Wow.

Mine at other Big 3s applied to 15-20 each. Some kids just need to explore more options, particularly in this tough admissions environment.

What business is it of the school if kids want to spend additional time submitting applications and parents are fine with excessive applications fees?

I have kids at two different Big3 schools (not GDS) and college counseling advised STRONGLY against applying to more than a dozen schools. They pointed out that kids applying to 15-20 have no better outcomes than those applying intelligently to less. They have found that kids applying to more just get more rejections. This is data driven.
They will allow kids to apply to more but parents like you are clearly outliers and viewed as off base and frankly a PITA.

Actually we weren’t outliers at all; all of DCs friends applied to 15+ schools. But the main point remains- that is a decision that should be made by the student and parents, not the CCO.

Sure my kid got more rejections but also received more acceptances. What’s that to you or to the school for that matter?

As a GDS senior parent, I believe that there are a lot of things I believe the CCO could do better, but I am in agreement with the 12 college cap. It does not improve your odds of getting into a better college by taking a scattershot approach. Also, your kid can apply to all the UC schools (they count as 1). FWIW, DD ended up applying to only 8 and will be attending one of her "reach" colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does someone who's "sick of DEI" stand for affirmatively? What are their values exactly?

I didn’t write that myself but my 8th grader wants to write an essay without that focus. Or have a history lesson without that focus. He just wants a more traditional education where everything isn’t boiled down to identity or ethnicity or race. It’s tiresome to have it seep into their daily eduction.

But this is EXACTLY what the school said they do at the admissions open house. Did you not believe them? This is what you signed up for. This is what you said you wanted to buy.

Not exactly. I had no idea HOW intense and intrusive the DEI department would be. I did not anticipate how frustrated my DC would be due to the continual DEI focus during assemblies, aspects of History class in HS and much of MS, field trips, 9th grade Seminar, weird reporting practices, biased disciplinary approaches, etc.

Yes! All of this is true

Would not be the first time GDS doesnt paint full picture at Open Houses. For instance, they dont tell parents that kids are limited to applying to 10 (now 12 reluctantly after a parent revolt in 2023) colleges max. That's it.

They most certainly dont talk about that upfront.

They dont talk about how discipline process in HS works - opaque, inconsistent, and crappy dressed up in DEI / restorative justice, student-driven hoo-ha.

There are now 29 pages of comments about the poorly run administration

If many of us could do it again, we would have done a cathedral school. And our family is not religious, we are URMs, and we are liberal. the goal posts have moved.

GDS limits kids to 12 college applications? Wow.

Mine at other Big 3s applied to 15-20 each. Some kids just need to explore more options, particularly in this tough admissions environment.

What business is it of the school if kids want to spend additional time submitting applications and parents are fine with excessive applications fees?

I have kids at two different Big3 schools (not GDS) and college counseling advised STRONGLY against applying to more than a dozen schools. They pointed out that kids applying to 15-20 have no better outcomes than those applying intelligently to less. They have found that kids applying to more just get more rejections. This is data driven.
They will allow kids to apply to more but parents like you are clearly outliers and viewed as off base and frankly a PITA.

Actually we weren’t outliers at all; all of DCs friends applied to 15+ schools. But the main point remains- that is a decision that should be made by the student and parents, not the CCO.

Sure my kid got more rejections but also received more acceptances. What’s that to you or to the school for that matter?

As a GDS senior parent, I believe that there are a lot of things I believe the CCO could do better, but I am in agreement with the 12 college cap. It does not improve your odds of getting into a better college by taking a scattershot approach. Also, your kid can apply to all the UC schools (they count as 1). FWIW, DD ended up applying to only 8 and will be attending one of her "reach" colleges.

Congrats to your DD! I don't know much about the GDS CCO, but it sounds like the cap has its benefits, namely teaching kids how to strategically apply to colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The health classes in high school are a hoot and a half. And way too many weeks and years.

The health class could be done in 2 weeks per year. It's staggering how much time they allocate to this

That’s true for all the schools though, not just GDS.

What other schools devote 9 weeks freshmen year plus another 9 weeks sophomore year to learn all the different types of sex and meds?

Sex positions? What do you mean? And what meds?

Hetero sex, homo sex, anal, when to take the HEP B shots, etc.

The half gay masters swim water polo team helped craft the curriculum over drinks.

WTF... this can not be a real post. Please tell me this is a troll.

That teacher left a couple years ago. She’s in Maine now or something. Women’s water polo at Wilson HS (fka) never resumed after Covid shutdowns.

[Anonymous]

For those who were saying that SO many high school teachers are leaving, does the list verify this claim? It does look like a lot to me which concerns me but it isn't a complete overhaul of all the good teachers.

[Anonymous]

What advice would you give to someone looking at GDS for 9th grade for Fall 25? Are the claims here legitimate concerns or is it sour grapes?

[Anonymous]

All sour grapes.

Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does someone who's "sick of DEI" stand for affirmatively? What are their values exactly?

I didn’t write that myself but my 8th grader wants to write an essay without that focus. Or have a history lesson without that focus. He just wants a more traditional education where everything isn’t boiled down to identity or ethnicity or race. It’s tiresome to have it seep into their daily eduction.

But this is EXACTLY what the school said they do at the admissions open house. Did you not believe them? This is what you signed up for. This is what you said you wanted to buy.

Not exactly. I had no idea HOW intense and intrusive the DEI department would be. I did not anticipate how frustrated my DC would be due to the continual DEI focus during assemblies, aspects of History class in HS and much of MS, field trips, 9th grade Seminar, weird reporting practices, biased disciplinary approaches, etc.

Yes! All of this is true

Would not be the first time GDS doesnt paint full picture at Open Houses. For instance, they dont tell parents that kids are limited to applying to 10 (now 12 reluctantly after a parent revolt in 2023) colleges max. That's it.

They most certainly dont talk about that upfront.

They dont talk about how discipline process in HS works - opaque, inconsistent, and crappy dressed up in DEI / restorative justice, student-driven hoo-ha.

There are now 29 pages of comments about the poorly run administration

If many of us could do it again, we would have done a cathedral school. And our family is not religious, we are URMs, and we are liberal. the goal posts have moved.

GDS limits kids to 12 college applications? Wow.

Mine at other Big 3s applied to 15-20 each. Some kids just need to explore more options, particularly in this tough admissions environment.

What business is it of the school if kids want to spend additional time submitting applications and parents are fine with excessive applications fees?

I have kids at two different Big3 schools (not GDS) and college counseling advised STRONGLY against applying to more than a dozen schools. They pointed out that kids applying to 15-20 have no better outcomes than those applying intelligently to less. They have found that kids applying to more just get more rejections. This is data driven.
They will allow kids to apply to more but parents like you are clearly outliers and viewed as off base and frankly a PITA.

Families should decide for themselves how many schools they would like to apply to. Period.

This may be data driven but there is always the exception. My kid applied to 20 schools and got into their dream school. If they had a 12 school limit the dream school might not have been on the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does someone who's "sick of DEI" stand for affirmatively? What are their values exactly?

I didn’t write that myself but my 8th grader wants to write an essay without that focus. Or have a history lesson without that focus. He just wants a more traditional education where everything isn’t boiled down to identity or ethnicity or race. It’s tiresome to have it seep into their daily eduction.

But this is EXACTLY what the school said they do at the admissions open house. Did you not believe them? This is what you signed up for. This is what you said you wanted to buy.

Not exactly. I had no idea HOW intense and intrusive the DEI department would be. I did not anticipate how frustrated my DC would be due to the continual DEI focus during assemblies, aspects of History class in HS and much of MS, field trips, 9th grade Seminar, weird reporting practices, biased disciplinary approaches, etc.

Yes! All of this is true

Would not be the first time GDS doesnt paint full picture at Open Houses. For instance, they dont tell parents that kids are limited to applying to 10 (now 12 reluctantly after a parent revolt in 2023) colleges max. That's it.

They most certainly dont talk about that upfront.

They dont talk about how discipline process in HS works - opaque, inconsistent, and crappy dressed up in DEI / restorative justice, student-driven hoo-ha.

There are now 29 pages of comments about the poorly run administration

If many of us could do it again, we would have done a cathedral school. And our family is not religious, we are URMs, and we are liberal. the goal posts have moved.

GDS limits kids to 12 college applications? Wow.

Mine at other Big 3s applied to 15-20 each. Some kids just need to explore more options, particularly in this tough admissions environment.

What business is it of the school if kids want to spend additional time submitting applications and parents are fine with excessive applications fees?

I have kids at two different Big3 schools (not GDS) and college counseling advised STRONGLY against applying to more than a dozen schools. They pointed out that kids applying to 15-20 have no better outcomes than those applying intelligently to less. They have found that kids applying to more just get more rejections. This is data driven.
They will allow kids to apply to more but parents like you are clearly outliers and viewed as off base and frankly a PITA.

Families should decide for themselves how many schools they would like to apply to. Period.

This may be data driven but there is always the exception. My kid applied to 20 schools and got into their dream school. If they had a 12 school limit the dream school might not have been on the list.

Why only 20 schools, not 30 or 40 to maximize your chances?