Whittle

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[

Everything in this thread is overly exaggerated...

Lol

Agree 100% that this thread has become a hilarious joke.

Then don’t waste your time here. Do you have any stakes in reading this thread? It is true that not everything posted here is useful, but does shed light on some past events.

Holding people accountable to tell the truth and highlighting lies or unsupported allegations couched as truth will never be a waste of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love that this strand oscillates between who the villains are: Dennis, Monica, Whittle, Maret board!

Chris Whittle is the villain. Dennis and Monica are guilty by association. Maret made a bad choice. It’s a little more nuanced than how you characterize it, I would say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Insider here. It's hilarious how deluded so many of the posts in this thread are. Last generation had "The Young and the Restless", this one has DCUM...

Unfortunately the real situation is much less exciting than the fantasies of our beloved Whittle soap opera aficionados. Nobody in the admin or parent committee was skimming anything. What was there to skim exactly? The school had been dead broke since December 2021. The admin was mostly going without pay, with lower level managers receiving partial salary. The reason Dennis left was because the school was literally furloughing large amounts of staff and cutting leadership/admin salaries in half. There was no "big payout". And lastly, the wealthy parents on the funding committee are the only reason the school was able to limp across the finish line. They paid teacher salaries, security, and insurance so their kids could graduate, helping the rest of the student body finish out the year by happenstance.

One final thing about Dennis... He's not some corrupt mastermind hell bent on running schools into the ground. He's a nice enough guy, but ultimately a diversity hire nincompoop. That's why Maret hired him!

No. They misled and used the parents of “the rest of the student body” so that their kids could graduate and move on to college without a hiccup. They were supposedly seeing and reviewing the mythical documents regarding new funding, that would enable the school to continue. That was the false premise they used to mislead and plead with other parents to pay extra and hang in there while Whittle got his new deal completed.

Can you point me to your source for this? Would love to see the facts of how they managed to pull this off. Thanks!

From the June 10 WBJ article:

"Indeed, a group of parents and other shareholders cobbled together some of the $2 million needed to make payroll until mid- January, according to another letter Chris Whittle sent Dec. 28, adding that two parents and one faculty member had formed a parent capital strategy committee to discuss the school’s needs with investors. Those representatives — Michael O’Neil, Paul Baldassari and Monica Bisgaard — had signed confidentiality agreements to protect 'highly sensitive' information, he wrote. Baldassari and Bisgaard did not respond to requests for comment; O’Neil was not available in time for publication.

"Chris Whittle then asked in that letter if any families would be willing to prepay tuition for January, February and March or for the following academic year to close the payroll gap. 'There is an element of risk here, i.e. the possibility that the planned, long-term capital transaction in mid-January does not close, Whittle said in the Dec. 28 letter. 'I believe that is remote, but it is not inconceivable.'"

None of that supports your allegation that the parent committee "misled and used the parents of 'the rest of the student body' so that their kids could graduate and move on to college without a hiccup". It merely says that a committee was formed. Where's your source for any wrongdoing by the committee?

It completely undermines the point--presumably yours--that the purpose of the committee was just to get the school across the finish line for this past academic year. As this quote makes clear, the claimed purpose was actually to help bring in investment for future years. Which, as your own comments acknowledge, was a ruse.

Just because it failed its mission to bring in new investors doesn’t mean it was a ruse. It just means it failed. Again, where is your evidence of wrongdoing by this committee?

That’s why it would be interesting to know more about what the Committee knew and expected.

At the time Whittle was asking for pre-paid tuition, would a prudent parent think there was a snowball’s chance in hell of the school surviving until next year if they had more full financial information rather than just rosy exhortations?

I wonder if there were parents who actually did this. If there was a parent who enrolled their kid for the 2022-23 year and paid the fees, I wonder if they got refunded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Insider here. It's hilarious how deluded so many of the posts in this thread are. Last generation had "The Young and the Restless", this one has DCUM...

Unfortunately the real situation is much less exciting than the fantasies of our beloved Whittle soap opera aficionados. Nobody in the admin or parent committee was skimming anything. What was there to skim exactly? The school had been dead broke since December 2021. The admin was mostly going without pay, with lower level managers receiving partial salary. The reason Dennis left was because the school was literally furloughing large amounts of staff and cutting leadership/admin salaries in half. There was no "big payout". And lastly, the wealthy parents on the funding committee are the only reason the school was able to limp across the finish line. They paid teacher salaries, security, and insurance so their kids could graduate, helping the rest of the student body finish out the year by happenstance.

One final thing about Dennis... He's not some corrupt mastermind hell bent on running schools into the ground. He's a nice enough guy, but ultimately a diversity hire nincompoop. That's why Maret hired him!

No. They misled and used the parents of “the rest of the student body” so that their kids could graduate and move on to college without a hiccup. They were supposedly seeing and reviewing the mythical documents regarding new funding, that would enable the school to continue. That was the false premise they used to mislead and plead with other parents to pay extra and hang in there while Whittle got his new deal completed.

Can you point me to your source for this? Would love to see the facts of how they managed to pull this off. Thanks!

From the June 10 WBJ article:

"Indeed, a group of parents and other shareholders cobbled together some of the $2 million needed to make payroll until mid- January, according to another letter Chris Whittle sent Dec. 28, adding that two parents and one faculty member had formed a parent capital strategy committee to discuss the school’s needs with investors. Those representatives — Michael O’Neil, Paul Baldassari and Monica Bisgaard — had signed confidentiality agreements to protect 'highly sensitive' information, he wrote. Baldassari and Bisgaard did not respond to requests for comment; O’Neil was not available in time for publication.

"Chris Whittle then asked in that letter if any families would be willing to prepay tuition for January, February and March or for the following academic year to close the payroll gap. 'There is an element of risk here, i.e. the possibility that the planned, long-term capital transaction in mid-January does not close, Whittle said in the Dec. 28 letter. 'I believe that is remote, but it is not inconceivable.'"

None of that supports your allegation that the parent committee "misled and used the parents of 'the rest of the student body' so that their kids could graduate and move on to college without a hiccup". It merely says that a committee was formed. Where's your source for any wrongdoing by the committee?

It completely undermines the point--presumably yours--that the purpose of the committee was just to get the school across the finish line for this past academic year. As this quote makes clear, the claimed purpose was actually to help bring in investment for future years. Which, as your own comments acknowledge, was a ruse.

Just because it failed its mission to bring in new investors doesn’t mean it was a ruse. It just means it failed. Again, where is your evidence of wrongdoing by this committee?

That’s why it would be interesting to know more about what the Committee knew and expected.

At the time Whittle was asking for pre-paid tuition, would a prudent parent think there was a snowball’s chance in hell of the school surviving until next year if they had more full financial information rather than just rosy exhortations?

I wonder if there were parents who actually did this. If there was a parent who enrolled their kid for the 2022-23 year and paid the fees, I wonder if they got refunded.

Yeah right

[Anonymous]

I don’t know if this is actually the case, but it looks like a majority of the Maret families object to Dennis as the incoming HoS. If he is reading this thread, hopefully, he can attempt to prove his critics wrong. I don’t know what his potentials are because I did not see the best from him at Whittle. Maybe, it had to do with the gloomy outlook of the school in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Any update on whether other schools are working to help absorb the Whittle students? Or will they mostly be moving to public? I know the parents must have had their heads in the clouds, but I do feel for the high school students who have been left in a rough spot.

[Anonymous]

New article in Wash Business Journal for any who have subscriptions.

https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2022/07/29/whittle-school-close-dc-teachers-students-scramble.html

Opening sentence: It's unclear how the private school plans to pay the millions of dollars it allegedly owes teachers, its D.C. landlords, contractors and vendors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know if this is actually the case, but it looks like a majority of the Maret families object to Dennis as the incoming HoS. If he is reading this thread, hopefully, he can attempt to prove his critics wrong. I don’t know what his potentials are because I did not see the best from him at Whittle. Maybe, it had to do with the gloomy outlook of the school in the first place.

Was there some kind of vote? How does it “look like” a majority disapprove. Or is your qualifier of “I don’t know if this is actually the case” supposed to excuse the rest of your post that you pulled out of thin air?

[Anonymous]

I find it comical that anyone thinks a handful of frequently posting drama-starved queens somehow is a statistically significant sample. Of the admittedly non-scientific survey of the four Maret families in our orbit, literally no one had any major thoughts (positive or negative) on Bisgaard.

The truth is that the probability of him driving the school into the ground is roughly zero. Admissions will continue to be competitive, the school will continue to be considered excellent, kids will get a great education, go to good colleges and families will be happy.

Simmer down. If he sucks, he’ll be replaced, but the doomsday prognosticators should get back to frenetically wondering what angle they can take to help their DC get the life golden ticket they they think comes with Big 3 admission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it comical that anyone thinks a handful of frequently posting drama-starved queens somehow is a statistically significant sample. Of the admittedly non-scientific survey of the four Maret families in our orbit, literally no one had any major thoughts (positive or negative) on Bisgaard.

The truth is that the probability of him driving the school into the ground is roughly zero. Admissions will continue to be competitive, the school will continue to be considered excellent, kids will get a great education, go to good colleges and families will be happy.

Simmer down. If he sucks, he’ll be replaced, but the doomsday prognosticators should get back to frenetically wondering what angle they can take to help their DC get the life golden ticket they they think comes with Big 3 admission.

Well, Maret isn’t a part of the “Big 3” so no one needs to concern themselves with that school if that’s the goal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any update on whether other schools are working to help absorb the Whittle students? Or will they mostly be moving to public? I know the parents must have had their heads in the clouds, but I do feel for the high school students who have been left in a rough spot.

Other private schools don’t owe these kids anything. What about all the people already on their waitlists? Are they somehow less deserving because their parents weren’t daft enough to send them to Whittle? And how exactly is going to public school a “rough spot” to be in?

[Anonymous]

I’m waiting for all of this to trace back to Bowser. Schools like Burke, right across the street, have to attend neighborhood meetings and do all kinds of paperwork just to add ONE more student but Chris Whittle was allowed to do whatever he wanted. He broke all the rules from the get go. This is why I don’t respect ANYONE affiliated with that school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, Maret is significantly more diverse (50+% kids of color) than the school he was at in CT for 12 years (32% kids of color). So perhaps he isn't as skilled at building communities of color after all.

Is 50% of the US not identifying as white?

Modern Day POC means: SW Asian, SE Asian, Persian, Ethiopian, Eritrean and West African World Bank, IMF employees with their kids in tow

Plus several offspring of bi-racial couples who met at HYP

And maybe a few AA kids from DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m waiting for all of this to trace back to Bowser. Schools like Burke, right across the street, have to attend neighborhood meetings and do all kinds of paperwork just to add ONE more student but Chris Whittle was allowed to do whatever he wanted. He broke all the rules from the get go. This is why I don’t respect ANYONE affiliated with that school.

Fine you are angry with Chris Whittle, but why do you have to direct your hatred/anger at an entire community of a school that is no longer in existence? Isn’t that overdoing it too much? It’s a shame that a so-called adult is acting that way. You are so childish Where did you go for compulsory education? Public school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, Maret is significantly more diverse (50+% kids of color) than the school he was at in CT for 12 years (32% kids of color). So perhaps he isn't as skilled at building communities of color after all.

Is 50% of the US not identifying as white?

Modern Day POC means: SW Asian, SE Asian, Persian, Ethiopian, Eritrean and West African World Bank, IMF employees with their kids in tow

Plus several offspring of bi-racial couples who met at HYP

And maybe a few AA kids from DC

“Modern day” POC where? At Maret or Whittle?