Norwood

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not go to Norwood. It is a horrible school. We are there now and absolutely made the wrong decision. They are not honest in their events to recruit new students. There is a huge discipline problem. The teachers are fine but the administrators are absolutely subpar, especially the middle school head of school. A lot of parents I have spoken to regret sending their children there for one reason or another.

When did you get here because no one ever has said anything negative about Norwood on this board. It's the only school that pretty much has zero complaints. Have you read all these pro-Norwood threads for the past several months and not piped up? Or did something irritate you recently so you decided to seek this board out, or any online forum, to voice your complaint.

That’s what I’m wondering too. I’ve been on this forum for the past 7 years. I’ve never heard this sort of complaint about Norwood. Did this person just discover DCUM or something? Why have none of the Norwood parents who have been on this board say anything for years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not go to Norwood. It is a horrible school. We are there now and absolutely made the wrong decision. They are not honest in their events to recruit new students. There is a huge discipline problem. The teachers are fine but the administrators are absolutely subpar, especially the middle school head of school. A lot of parents I have spoken to regret sending their children there for one reason or another.

When did you get here because no one ever has said anything negative about Norwood on this board. It's the only school that pretty much has zero complaints. Have you read all these pro-Norwood threads for the past several months and not piped up? Or did something irritate you recently so you decided to seek this board out, or any online forum, to voice your complaint.

DP but is the upset poster really at the school? The only specific example you share is of a school assembly being anti-Semitic really sooooo hard to believe. I mean just last week Norwood had a wonderful multicultural fair with dozens of countries highlighted by current families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not go to Norwood. It is a horrible school. We are there now and absolutely made the wrong decision. They are not honest in their events to recruit new students. There is a huge discipline problem. The teachers are fine but the administrators are absolutely subpar, especially the middle school head of school. A lot of parents I have spoken to regret sending their children there for one reason or another.

When did you get here because no one ever has said anything negative about Norwood on this board. It's the only school that pretty much has zero complaints. Have you read all these pro-Norwood threads for the past several months and not piped up? Or did something irritate you recently so you decided to seek this board out, or any online forum, to voice your complaint.

DP but is the upset poster really at the school? The only specific example you share is of a school assembly being anti-Semitic really sooooo hard to believe. I mean just last week Norwood had a wonderful multicultural fair with dozens of countries highlighted by current families.

Yes that was so fun! I loved how nearly all the tables were done by families from those countries. The variety of countries represented was amazing and well beyond the ones you might expect. Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Jamaica, Iran, Ghana … it was amazing!

Oh and I guess it’s relevant to say that Israel was represented too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not go to Norwood. It is a horrible school. We are there now and absolutely made the wrong decision. They are not honest in their events to recruit new students. There is a huge discipline problem. The teachers are fine but the administrators are absolutely subpar, especially the middle school head of school. A lot of parents I have spoken to regret sending their children there for one reason or another.

This is completely at odds with our experience. We have loved it there, as has our daughter. We haven’t met any parents who are unhappy.

+100 Happy parent of two very different children who have thrived there in both lower and middle school

[Anonymous]

Out of hundreds of families, your experience seems to be a massive outlier. It's odd you'd say "assembly" when it's called "chapel." Harassment and bullying of any kind is simply not tolerated and among the hundred parents I know there has not been a single instance where when it did happen it was not dealt with substantively and immediately. It's odd that this set of complaints not mapping on to the vast majority of parents' experience is happening during admissions. I wish you peace

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Out of hundreds of families, your experience seems to be a massive outlier. It's odd you'd say "assembly" when it's called "chapel." Harassment and bullying of any kind is simply not tolerated and among the hundred parents I know there has not been a single instance where when it did happen it was not dealt with substantively and immediately. It's odd that this set of complaints not mapping on to the vast majority of parents' experience is happening during admissions. I wish you peace

Particularly weird since it was posted after the acceptance window.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When did you get here because no one ever has said anything negative about Norwood on this board. It's the only school that pretty much has zero complaints.

You must be new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out of hundreds of families, your experience seems to be a massive outlier. It's odd you'd say "assembly" when it's called "chapel." Harassment and bullying of any kind is simply not tolerated and among the hundred parents I know there has not been a single instance where when it did happen it was not dealt with substantively and immediately. It's odd that this set of complaints not mapping on to the vast majority of parents' experience is happening during admissions. I wish you peace

Particularly weird since it was posted after the acceptance window.

It’s strange how dismissive posters are of one person’s negative experience. Sure, it would be unwise to give too much credence to one post. There will always be unhappy families at every school and it doesn’t mean they are trolls. I’ve had kids there for 7 years. It’s mostly a good school. I can definitely say there was a bully in my DS’s year and issues kept coming up with this kid over the years and yet they remained. However, that is just one example and doesn’t mean it’s prevalent. I struggle to believe the bit about anti-Jewish comments. It’s entirely possible somebody said something inappropriate and the poster has particularly focused on this. Again, it’s not commonplace and the school is very focused on diversity issues. I like the academic focus and there are some very good teachers. However, I’m not going to rave about it like many other posters. There are things that I don’t like but some of those relate specifically to my own feelings and beliefs and may not be an issue for others.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your thoughts. What are some of the things you don't like

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out of hundreds of families, your experience seems to be a massive outlier. It's odd you'd say "assembly" when it's called "chapel." Harassment and bullying of any kind is simply not tolerated and among the hundred parents I know there has not been a single instance where when it did happen it was not dealt with substantively and immediately. It's odd that this set of complaints not mapping on to the vast majority of parents' experience is happening during admissions. I wish you peace

Particularly weird since it was posted after the acceptance window.

It’s strange how dismissive posters are of one person’s negative experience. Sure, it would be unwise to give too much credence to one post. There will always be unhappy families at every school and it doesn’t mean they are trolls. I’ve had kids there for 7 years. It’s mostly a good school. I can definitely say there was a bully in my DS’s year and issues kept coming up with this kid over the years and yet they remained. However, that is just one example and doesn’t mean it’s prevalent. I struggle to believe the bit about anti-Jewish comments. It’s entirely possible somebody said something inappropriate and the poster has particularly focused on this. Again, it’s not commonplace and the school is very focused on diversity issues. I like the academic focus and there are some very good teachers. However, I’m not going to rave about it like many other posters. There are things that I don’t like but some of those relate specifically to my own feelings and beliefs and may not be an issue for others.

I think it's fair to push back given the rather suspicious nature of the massively blanket statements about how horrible everything is, how terrible the admin is, how they held an anti-Jewish "assembly," etc. (which doesn't align with most everyone's experience of the school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out of hundreds of families, your experience seems to be a massive outlier. It's odd you'd say "assembly" when it's called "chapel." Harassment and bullying of any kind is simply not tolerated and among the hundred parents I know there has not been a single instance where when it did happen it was not dealt with substantively and immediately. It's odd that this set of complaints not mapping on to the vast majority of parents' experience is happening during admissions. I wish you peace

Particularly weird since it was posted after the acceptance window.

It’s strange how dismissive posters are of one person’s negative experience. Sure, it would be unwise to give too much credence to one post. There will always be unhappy families at every school and it doesn’t mean they are trolls. I’ve had kids there for 7 years. It’s mostly a good school. I can definitely say there was a bully in my DS’s year and issues kept coming up with this kid over the years and yet they remained. However, that is just one example and doesn’t mean it’s prevalent. I struggle to believe the bit about anti-Jewish comments. It’s entirely possible somebody said something inappropriate and the poster has particularly focused on this. Again, it’s not commonplace and the school is very focused on diversity issues. I like the academic focus and there are some very good teachers. However, I’m not going to rave about it like many other posters. There are things that I don’t like but some of those relate specifically to my own feelings and beliefs and may not be an issue for others.

I think it's fair to push back given the rather suspicious nature of the massively blanket statements about how horrible everything is, how terrible the admin is, how they held an anti-Jewish "assembly," etc. (which doesn't align with most everyone's experience of the school).

It doesn’t align with the views of other posters but it seems only Norwood cheerleaders post here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out of hundreds of families, your experience seems to be a massive outlier. It's odd you'd say "assembly" when it's called "chapel." Harassment and bullying of any kind is simply not tolerated and among the hundred parents I know there has not been a single instance where when it did happen it was not dealt with substantively and immediately. It's odd that this set of complaints not mapping on to the vast majority of parents' experience is happening during admissions. I wish you peace

Particularly weird since it was posted after the acceptance window.

I caught some term issues also. Chapel is one. “Middle school principal” is another. That’s a public school term. Like many private schools, Norwood uses “Head of the Middle School” or “Head of the Lower School.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out of hundreds of families, your experience seems to be a massive outlier. It's odd you'd say "assembly" when it's called "chapel." Harassment and bullying of any kind is simply not tolerated and among the hundred parents I know there has not been a single instance where when it did happen it was not dealt with substantively and immediately. It's odd that this set of complaints not mapping on to the vast majority of parents' experience is happening during admissions. I wish you peace

Particularly weird since it was posted after the acceptance window.

I caught some term issues also. Chapel is one. “Middle school principal” is another. That’s a public school term. Like many private schools, Norwood uses “Head of the Middle School” or “Head of the Lower School.”

Pedantic? Maybe they use the term Chapel so that people would understand what they were referring to. Otherwise it sounds like they have some sort of religious service every morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out of hundreds of families, your experience seems to be a massive outlier. It's odd you'd say "assembly" when it's called "chapel." Harassment and bullying of any kind is simply not tolerated and among the hundred parents I know there has not been a single instance where when it did happen it was not dealt with substantively and immediately. It's odd that this set of complaints not mapping on to the vast majority of parents' experience is happening during admissions. I wish you peace

Particularly weird since it was posted after the acceptance window.

I caught some term issues also. Chapel is one. “Middle school principal” is another. That’s a public school term. Like many private schools, Norwood uses “Head of the Middle School” or “Head of the Lower School.”

Pedantic? Maybe they use the term Chapel so that people would understand what they were referring to. Otherwise it sounds like they have some sort of religious service every morning.

Anyone who knows the school knows that isn’t the case. How do you explain the middle school principal thing?

[Anonymous]

I love Norwood, but the boosters here are not doing the school any favors by piling on.

The first poster with complaints used the term "middle school" head of twice both initially and in a follow-up post. The reference to an assembly also seemed pretty clear to me. When incidents happen that need to be addressed, it's common to hold an assembly with all MS students or students in the grades involved. This has nothing to do with chapel.

No school is perfect and to assume that students never say things that are hurtful, that bullying never happens, and that school administrators respond perfectly every time is foolish.