NAIS schools and ideology

[Anonymous]

Both Undercover mothers and those who think DEI instructors in private schools can do no wrong are oversimplifying the issue.

Of course, there is value in DEI awareness in schools but also the potential for abuse, and it seems true that NAIS officials have has largely abandoned using independent judgment and outsourced responsibility for setting policy to a small group of a particular type of DEI consultants. There has been some interesting reporting on what appear to be at least uncomfortably close relationships between some consultants and NAIS, if not outright conflicts of interest which has gotten little attention in the privileged world of private schools where public criticism by parents is deemed impolite.

https://freebeacon.com/culture/the-lucrative-business-of-woke-education/

https://freebeacon.com/culture/why-private-schools-have-gone-woke/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Both Undercover mothers and those who think DEI instructors in private schools can do no wrong are oversimplifying the issue.

Of course, there is value in DEI awareness in schools but also the potential for abuse, and it seems true that NAIS officials have has largely abandoned using independent judgment and outsourced responsibility for setting policy to a small group of a particular type of DEI consultants. There has been some interesting reporting on what appear to be at least uncomfortably close relationships between some consultants and NAIS, if not outright conflicts of interest which has gotten little attention in the privileged world of private schools where public criticism by parents is deemed impolite.

https://freebeacon.com/culture/the-lucrative-business-of-woke-education/

https://freebeacon.com/culture/why-private-schools-have-gone-woke/

I recommend people perform a cursory search on "The Free Beacon" so they can assess themselves the impartiality of the source.

[Anonymous]

It’s not the source; it’s the information.

That’s the issue. Everything that’s been ascribed to the “Glasgow Group” is true including Rodney’s comments.

The only issue is the motivation and the impact.

Any mainstream news outlet that would attempt to address this in a measured manner would be excoriated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not the source; it’s the information.

That’s the issue. Everything that’s been ascribed to the “Glasgow Group” is true including Rodney’s comments.

The only issue is the motivation and the impact.

Any mainstream news outlet that would attempt to address this in a measured manner would be excoriated.

I agree completely with the above post. The particular writer of those stories has had other stories in the past year picked up by Smerconish on CNN and Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post, does that make them more credible? He's had stories also picked up by Fox, does that make them less credible? Whoops, sometimes the same story has been picked up by both sides. When you start thinking it's ok to dismiss news because you don't like the source or the content rather rather than judge on the quality of the reporting, you sound just like Trump touting "fake news" because you don't like it.

As for the Free beacon, the current Editor and Chief has only been in the job a few years. She came from POLITICO where she was a White House correspondent. According to her bio, she "has appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, CBS’s Face the Nation, ABC’s This Week, and the PBS News Hour. She graduated from Yale College with a degree in History."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not the source; it’s the information.

That’s the issue. Everything that’s been ascribed to the “Glasgow Group” is true including Rodney’s comments.

The only issue is the motivation and the impact.

Any mainstream news outlet that would attempt to address this in a measured manner would be excoriated.

The Free Beacon stories illustrate a complete lack of awareness about how accreditation functions in independent schools and how schools seek to improve within a small community.

I've worked in this world for more than a decade. I also have an experience that I think will provide a good parallel. My friend runs a restaurant in the DC area. In the first year of the pandemic, she hired a consultant who works with the health department to advise her on how to make her restaurant safer for customers. Now, the health department has authority over whether her restaurant is deemed clean enough to stay open; is it a conflict of interest to hire someone who also worked there to advise on COVID safety?

Accreditation is a process that's designed to help schools improve their ability to meet their mission. It's not punitive. Suggestions for improvement come from all members of the accreditation committee, which is composed of people from other schools. Fundamentally, these suggestions are designed to identify areas where the school is not living up to families' expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not the source; it’s the information.

That’s the issue. Everything that’s been ascribed to the “Glasgow Group” is true including Rodney’s comments.

The only issue is the motivation and the impact.

Any mainstream news outlet that would attempt to address this in a measured manner would be excoriated.

The Free Beacon stories illustrate a complete lack of awareness about how accreditation functions in independent schools and how schools seek to improve within a small community.

I've worked in this world for more than a decade. I also have an experience that I think will provide a good parallel. My friend runs a restaurant in the DC area. In the first year of the pandemic, she hired a consultant who works with the health department to advise her on how to make her restaurant safer for customers. Now, the health department has authority over whether her restaurant is deemed clean enough to stay open; is it a conflict of interest to hire someone who also worked there to advise on COVID safety?

Accreditation is a process that's designed to help schools improve their ability to meet their mission. It's not punitive. Suggestions for improvement come from all members of the accreditation committee, which is composed of people from other schools. Fundamentally, these suggestions are designed to identify areas where the school is not living up to families' expectations.

With all due respect, I think you are viewing this NAIS through rose colored glasses. To analogize hiring a DEI consultant to a safety/health consultant at a restaurant is to assume that what constitutes DEI improvements are objectively measured like how many food poisoning cases have there been at a restaurant. There are substantial philosophical differences as the proper role of DEI and, more importantly, what is an "improvement" and how to implement and measure it. When an accreditation body is largely captured by a small group of large DEI consulting firms, that philosophical perspective becomes institutionalized in the accreditation process and independent schools are more likely to follow a common approach. If the accreditation process is really identifying areas where the schools are not living up to family expectations and intervening to improve them, I would have expected some very critical remarks by NAIS of the DEI policies of schools like Dalton in NY(and others) before there was a parent rebellion that ousted the leadership. If such corrective measures were proscribed and ignored by leadership, that would be interesting to know but I'd be very surprised.

DEI is much more complicated than simply diversity in admissions at independent schools. Will schools teach Robin D'Angelo style anti-racism (anyone white is born racist into a racist society -- you can't help it), Ibam Kendi type anti-racism (anytime you find a policy has a disparate impact on different racial groups it is because of racism -- never clear if that's because of here and now racism or past racism (whether systemic or individual), and there are no solutions to that other than taking "equitable" steps to ensure proportional outcomes, which sure seems like quotas. Will they require students to sort themselves into affinity groups as school required exercises? Will they choose who can teach a specific course based on the person's race? I once asked a private school top administrator about how many students identified as various religions, various letters in the LGBTQ spectrum, etc. (never mind viewpoints). Answer -- we track categories required by NAIS and (at that time; I don't about today), and NAIS did not require those categories to be tracked. This is complicated stuff.

Schools view NAIS accreditation (or through local affiliates) as essential for attracting students and maintaining a floor of credibility in college placements. NAIS is also a market exchange for jobs at independent schools, a way that schools showcase their successes to colleagues and win the respect of their peers, and a training center for some basic financial management, governance and other tools (like a trade association). Living up to families' expectations? I just didn't see that in the dozen or so years my kids were in privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not the source; it’s the information.

That’s the issue. Everything that’s been ascribed to the “Glasgow Group” is true including Rodney’s comments.

The only issue is the motivation and the impact.

Any mainstream news outlet that would attempt to address this in a measured manner would be excoriated.

The Free Beacon stories illustrate a complete lack of awareness about how accreditation functions in independent schools and how schools seek to improve within a small community.

I've worked in this world for more than a decade. I also have an experience that I think will provide a good parallel. My friend runs a restaurant in the DC area. In the first year of the pandemic, she hired a consultant who works with the health department to advise her on how to make her restaurant safer for customers. Now, the health department has authority over whether her restaurant is deemed clean enough to stay open; is it a conflict of interest to hire someone who also worked there to advise on COVID safety?

Accreditation is a process that's designed to help schools improve their ability to meet their mission. It's not punitive. Suggestions for improvement come from all members of the accreditation committee, which is composed of people from other schools. Fundamentally, these suggestions are designed to identify areas where the school is not living up to families' expectations.

With all due respect, I think you are viewing this NAIS through rose colored glasses. To analogize hiring a DEI consultant to a safety/health consultant at a restaurant is to assume that what constitutes DEI improvements are objectively measured like how many food poisoning cases have there been at a restaurant. There are substantial philosophical differences as the proper role of DEI and, more importantly, what is an "improvement" and how to implement and measure it. When an accreditation body is largely captured by a small group of large DEI consulting firms, that philosophical perspective becomes institutionalized in the accreditation process and independent schools are more likely to follow a common approach. If the accreditation process is really identifying areas where the schools are not living up to family expectations and intervening to improve them, I would have expected some very critical remarks by NAIS of the DEI policies of schools like Dalton in NY(and others) before there was a parent rebellion that ousted the leadership. If such corrective measures were proscribed and ignored by leadership, that would be interesting to know but I'd be very surprised.

DEI is much more complicated than simply diversity in admissions at independent schools. Will schools teach Robin D'Angelo style anti-racism (anyone white is born racist into a racist society -- you can't help it), Ibam Kendi type anti-racism (anytime you find a policy has a disparate impact on different racial groups it is because of racism -- never clear if that's because of here and now racism or past racism (whether systemic or individual), and there are no solutions to that other than taking "equitable" steps to ensure proportional outcomes, which sure seems like quotas. Will they require students to sort themselves into affinity groups as school required exercises? Will they choose who can teach a specific course based on the person's race? I once asked a private school top administrator about how many students identified as various religions, various letters in the LGBTQ spectrum, etc. (never mind viewpoints). Answer -- we track categories required by NAIS and (at that time; I don't about today), and NAIS did not require those categories to be tracked. This is complicated stuff.

Schools view NAIS accreditation (or through local affiliates) as essential for attracting students and maintaining a floor of credibility in college placements. NAIS is also a market exchange for jobs at independent schools, a way that schools showcase their successes to colleagues and win the respect of their peers, and a training center for some basic financial management, governance and other tools (like a trade association). Living up to families' expectations? I just didn't see that in the dozen or so years my kids were in privates.

While I disagree with you on a few points, I have to commend your approach. You have displayed a level of thoughtfulness and civility that is rare in this space. It is incredibly refreshing and I very much appreciate it.

[Anonymous]

NASI ideology, what could possibly go wrong, amirite?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just can’t believe what a whack-a-MAGAMom this board has become. Just when you think you made these semi-articulate posters see some reason, another halfwit pops up with another thread.

The website OP shared is despicable, whatever your ideology. It’s also really, really dumb. [Laughs in disbelief]

FYI - deriding people as “MAGA” or “Trumpers” lost persuasive force quite a while ago. Try harder.

Well, since the author referred to Biden as "President Brandon" I think your point is a bit moot...that's where I stopped reading (or more precisely skimming)

[Anonymous]

I wonder which one of the “Big Three” will be the first to invite Dr. Glasgow to speak?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder which one of the “Big Three” will be the first to invite Dr. Glasgow to speak?

He already has.

[Anonymous]

At Which “Big Three” school did Glasgow speak?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Which “Big Three” school did Glasgow speak?

You act like this is some scandal - all I'll say is DD found his MLK Day-related speech at her Big 3 school several years ago one of the highlights of that school year. For context, Dr. Glasgow is the same person who, with the Trump family's permission, let the St. Andrews community know their son would be attending the school. He's been a well-known figure in the DMV independent school community for a while, with a great reputation, evidenced by the fact that SSFS made him head of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Which “Big Three” school did Glasgow speak?

You act like this is some scandal - all I'll say is DD found his MLK Day-related speech at her Big 3 school several years ago one of the highlights of that school year. For context, Dr. Glasgow is the same person who, with the Trump family's permission, let the St. Andrews community know their son would be attending the school. He's been a well-known figure in the DMV independent school community for a while, with a great reputation, evidenced by the fact that SSFS made him head of school.

Many parents at SSFS (all political persuasions) think he's great!

[Anonymous]

According to Rodney Glasgow Sandy Springs Friends is a plantation.