Getting the GDS mojo back

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How recently did your kid graduate? I would have agreed with you 10 years ago re GDS's relationship with/rhetoric re Sidwell, but things have changed since then.

Not the original poster, but I'm a current parent and I'd have to agree. I have never heard one word from any administrator or teacher mentioning anything having to do with Sidwell. Any PSA meeting, curriculum night or parent-teacher conference I've been to has focused only on my kid, my kid's education, or academic plans for his future. If other parents feel this competition, that's their own problem.

[Anonymous]

Sure, you wouldn't hear it in those contexts (or from teachers). Fundraising, campus consolidation, HS course offerings, discipline, extra-curriculars, and admissions are the contexts in which I've heard parents and administrators bring Sidwell up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How recently did your kid graduate? I would have agreed with you 10 years ago re GDS's relationship with/rhetoric re Sidwell, but things have changed since then.

I'm a current HS parent. I've never heard the school reference Sidwell in any way. My DC is very happy at the school and I pretty much ignore the chatter on this board as it doesn't seem representative of our family's experiences there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure, you wouldn't hear it in those contexts (or from teachers). Fundraising, campus consolidation, HS course offerings, discipline, extra-curriculars, and admissions are the contexts in which I've heard parents and administrators bring Sidwell up.

Doesn't GDS usually beat Sidwell in admissions to Harvard and the other Top Ivies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How recently did your kid graduate? I would have agreed with you 10 years ago re GDS's relationship with/rhetoric re Sidwell, but things have changed since then.

What about the refrain that the Obamas didn't really choose Sidwell over GDS? That they really wanted GDS as a first choice/Michelle loved her GDS visit/just so impressed with GDS social justice history/Eric Holder recommended GDS, etc., etc., ... but the Secret Service threw up security concerns about traffic at the Macarthur campus and so in the end the Obamas reluctantly followed the Clintons' path to Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

^Yeah, that's part of the reason I said 10 years ago. Pre-Obama visit, I never heard any of this stuff at GDS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, you wouldn't hear it in those contexts (or from teachers). Fundraising, campus consolidation, HS course offerings, discipline, extra-curriculars, and admissions are the contexts in which I've heard parents and administrators bring Sidwell up.

Doesn't GDS usually beat Sidwell in admissions to Harvard and the other Top Ivies?

I used to think so, but I think they just talk about it more. Sidwell has pretty amazing numbers into the Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How recently did your kid graduate? I would have agreed with you 10 years ago re GDS's relationship with/rhetoric re Sidwell, but things have changed since then.

What about the refrain that the Obamas didn't really choose Sidwell over GDS? That they really wanted GDS as a first choice/Michelle loved her GDS visit/just so impressed with GDS social justice history/Eric Holder recommended GDS, etc., etc., ... but the Secret Service threw up security concerns about traffic at the Macarthur campus and so in the end the Obamas reluctantly followed the Clintons' path to Sidwell.

Dude, that's a troll.

[Anonymous]

On DCUM, it's a troll. IRL, there's a relatively small but powerful/determined group that continues to obsess about that episode and whose goal seems to be to prevent it from happening again. Campus consolidation was touted as a competitive advantage vis a vis Sidwell (until Sidwell acquired the Washington Home) and the investment in having a "Wisconsin Avenue presence" is part of same mindset.

[Anonymous]

GDS hasn't lost its mojo, it's just sidetracked. The school is still a strong academic institution. From outside, it seems like there is a leadership issue. The decision to go into real estate has not been smooth so far but real estate deals and approvals never are. The racial issues, from what I hear, second hand, seem to be amplified by a couple of bad decisions that failed to put limits and guardrails around the public discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS hasn't lost its mojo, it's just sidetracked. The school is still a strong academic institution. From outside, it seems like there is a leadership issue. The decision to go into real estate has not been smooth so far but real estate deals and approvals never are. The racial issues, from what I hear, second hand, seem to be amplified by a couple of bad decisions that failed to put limits and guardrails around the public discussion.

GDS tried to go into the big real estate development business like they were Trump, and it seems they've only gotten trumped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS hasn't lost its mojo, it's just sidetracked. The school is still a strong academic institution. From outside, it seems like there is a leadership issue. The decision to go into real estate has not been smooth so far but real estate deals and approvals never are. The racial issues, from what I hear, second hand, seem to be amplified by a couple of bad decisions that failed to put limits and guardrails around the public discussion.

So it's not the crime, it the cover up?

[Anonymous]

Spin is all the GDS administration can do these days. So when they lose control of the discussion, that's a crisis from their POV. That's a depressing phenomenon in a school that prides itself on having difficult but important conversations and on teaching its students to think critically. The kids actually rose to the challenge; the adults let them down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spin is all the GDS administration can do these days. So when they lose control of the discussion, that's a crisis from their POV. That's a depressing phenomenon in a school that prides itself on having difficult but important conversations and on teaching its students to think critically. The kids actually rose to the challenge; the adults let them down.

Speaking of spin, it's pathetic to see the school spokesperson flacking for the PUD, mouthing empty slogans like "smart growth" and "urban vibrancy." It seems that the school has enough core challenges going on right now, without playing wannabe developer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that GDS has lost its way. They've lost sight of core values as they've pushed for all those Harvard acceptances. The school will recover, but they need to see the problems and not sweep them under the rug. And favoritism has to end!

It will be a challenge to focus on the school educational and management issues when the school leadership and board are all fixated on the "The Art of the Deal", trying to become big time real estate developers.

The Donald with a fig leaf of "social justice" tradition.

Beautiful.