GDS vs Maret

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS is known nationally. Similar to Sidwell. Maret is a local school with less cache if that matters. It is not in the same category as GDS/Sidwell/Potomac. We do through this every year and every year, stats show us that this is correct. Plus...Whittle thing is just strange.

None of the DC schools are really known nationally. Only the New England boarding schools (Exeter, Andover, St. Paul's, Deerfield, etc.), Elite NY day schools (Horace Mann, Trinity, Dalton, Collegiate, etc.) and Harvard-Westlake have a real "national" profile.

Sidwell is only known because of the Obamas/Clinton

The schools this forum obsesses over are just cute local schools for children upper-middle class lawyers, consultants, and lobbyists. The true "elites" don't live in DC unless they're in the White House.

I’m not a Sidwell parent, but the Sidwell haters are real!

It doesn’t matter WHY a school is nationally known. It just matters that it’s nationally known—and Sidwell fits the bill. I heard about Sidwell, before I was married and had children, when I lived in Los Angeles. It’s been written about in newspapers from across the country and the world.

DP. Actually Episcopal and Madeira are national known. Both are boarding school that have a long history of students coming from out of state. Many families from other states have a tradition of sending kids to these schools and make plans to send their kid there. So you can talk to people in Richmond, New York, Charleston, New Orleans, etc and they will know Episcopal high school. Sidwell not so much.

Sidwell is not well known outside of the DC area. The Obama and Clinton cachet was big in the DC area but it was a long time ago and few people outside of DC remember it.

Maybe you should start a thread on this? This conversation does not belong in this thread.

Sure, Jan. 😂

Try getting outside the beltway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a long-time Maret parent, I will say that the new Head of School has been a real disappointment and his leadership is weak at best. Our youngest child is in the eleventh grade and we are just going to ride it out until graduation, but if I was a parent looking at schools during an entry year, I would probably not consider Maret.

Examples?

The handling by the Head of School around some anti-Semitism on campus has been slow and confusing. Some teacher departures were handled awkwardly. A bright and well-liked tenth grade student was counseled out in mid-September and has upset a lot of parents from that grade. Teachers at Back to School Night were complaining about the lack of transparency on a number of issues.

But, more than that, it is clear that the vibe has changed. I know that is not very specific, but I am on campus with some frequency and that's the easiest way to put it. The fact that I obscured my youngest child's gender in the previous post because of a concern about retaliation is something that I would not have done in the past.

This is not to say there is not a lot that is great about the school. There are a number of great students and wonderful teachers. My spouse and I have become close friends with some of the other parents. But there is a definite shift occurring. Naturally, a school will feel different under a different Head of School, but this difference is not for the better.

Why was the kid counseled out (no need for specifics, but can you give a general reason?)? What kinds of things were the teachers complaining about specifically?

We're also at the school but have not heard these things but I'm not saying they aren't true. Just hoping to get some more information.

Let's please not discuss a student's situation (even if general). Having a nephew who has struggled and has been well-supported I would hate to see their information on a thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS is known nationally. Similar to Sidwell. Maret is a local school with less cache if that matters. It is not in the same category as GDS/Sidwell/Potomac. We do through this every year and every year, stats show us that this is correct. Plus...Whittle thing is just strange.

None of the DC schools are really known nationally. Only the New England boarding schools (Exeter, Andover, St. Paul's, Deerfield, etc.), Elite NY day schools (Horace Mann, Trinity, Dalton, Collegiate, etc.) and Harvard-Westlake have a real "national" profile.

Sidwell is only known because of the Obamas/Clinton

The schools this forum obsesses over are just cute local schools for children upper-middle class lawyers, consultants, and lobbyists. The true "elites" don't live in DC unless they're in the White House.

I’m not a Sidwell parent, but the Sidwell haters are real!

It doesn’t matter WHY a school is nationally known. It just matters that it’s nationally known—and Sidwell fits the bill. I heard about Sidwell, before I was married and had children, when I lived in Los Angeles. It’s been written about in newspapers from across the country and the world.

DP. Actually Episcopal and Madeira are national known. Both are boarding school that have a long history of students coming from out of state. Many families from other states have a tradition of sending kids to these schools and make plans to send their kid there. So you can talk to people in Richmond, New York, Charleston, New Orleans, etc and they will know Episcopal high school. Sidwell not so much.

Sidwell is not well known outside of the DC area. The Obama and Clinton cachet was big in the DC area but it was a long time ago and few people outside of DC remember it.

Maybe you should start a thread on this? This conversation does not belong in this thread.

Sure, Jan. 😂

Try getting outside the beltway.

Why are you still talking about Sidwell on this GDS/Maret post?!?

[Anonymous]

Sidwell dominates Maret and GDS. It is what it is

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a long-time Maret parent, I will say that the new Head of School has been a real disappointment and his leadership is weak at best. Our youngest child is in the eleventh grade and we are just going to ride it out until graduation, but if I was a parent looking at schools during an entry year, I would probably not consider Maret.

Examples?

The handling by the Head of School around some anti-Semitism on campus has been slow and confusing. Some teacher departures were handled awkwardly. A bright and well-liked tenth grade student was counseled out in mid-September and has upset a lot of parents from that grade. Teachers at Back to School Night were complaining about the lack of transparency on a number of issues.

But, more than that, it is clear that the vibe has changed. I know that is not very specific, but I am on campus with some frequency and that's the easiest way to put it. The fact that I obscured my youngest child's gender in the previous post because of a concern about retaliation is something that I would not have done in the past.

This is not to say there is not a lot that is great about the school. There are a number of great students and wonderful teachers. My spouse and I have become close friends with some of the other parents. But there is a definite shift occurring. Naturally, a school will feel different under a different Head of School, but this difference is not for the better.

We are Jewish and considering Maret for 9th grade. Please can you say more about the antisemitism?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in Virginia and are looking at Maret. I was shocked that Maret’s literature states: 8% of students reside in Virginia. That has to be the lowest of the Sidwell, GDS, STA/NCS cohort? I tried to look up the others but without success.

Maret is much more a 'neighborhood' school. like lots of kids are actually walking distance to school - much more than the sidwells of the world. It is a nice, relatively low-stress option if you are local and have money. A bunch of our neighbors in upper NW chose it for this reason. For HS, lots of people come there after either Sheridan or St Pats.

Do not know about “lots of people come there after Sheridan or St Pat”. It has a 5-8% acceptance rate in 9th grade. Lower if you take out sibling preference. In a good year 1-2 kids from these schools would get in. Though those same kids get into every school they applied to because they are top students.

We went to the US open house and our last name started with “H”. DS gave name and the staffer checked off his name. This was from a clip board holding all the names. The first page was single spaced with four columns. The staffer went seven pages deep before getting to our name. It seems like you are uninformed.

Sheridan sends an average of three a year (from an average class size of about 23). They sent four two years ago. That was the year when nobody got into gds because of their zoning issue/over-enrollment. I don't know if that's a lot or not. You could say that typically more than 10 percent of Maret's incoming class comes from Sheridan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a long-time Maret parent, I will say that the new Head of School has been a real disappointment and his leadership is weak at best. Our youngest child is in the eleventh grade and we are just going to ride it out until graduation, but if I was a parent looking at schools during an entry year, I would probably not consider Maret.

Examples?

The handling by the Head of School around some anti-Semitism on campus has been slow and confusing. Some teacher departures were handled awkwardly. A bright and well-liked tenth grade student was counseled out in mid-September and has upset a lot of parents from that grade. Teachers at Back to School Night were complaining about the lack of transparency on a number of issues.

But, more than that, it is clear that the vibe has changed. I know that is not very specific, but I am on campus with some frequency and that's the easiest way to put it. The fact that I obscured my youngest child's gender in the previous post because of a concern about retaliation is something that I would not have done in the past.

This is not to say there is not a lot that is great about the school. There are a number of great students and wonderful teachers. My spouse and I have become close friends with some of the other parents. But there is a definite shift occurring. Naturally, a school will feel different under a different Head of School, but this difference is not for the better.

We are Jewish and considering Maret for 9th grade. Please can you say more about the antisemitism?

Also, is there antisemitism at GDS? Many uber liberals are antisemitic which makes me concerned about teachers at GDS. And yes, I know the history behind the start of GDS

[Anonymous]

The Obamas went with sidwell because they had experience with kids needing the secret service. That’s what the final decision was based on I have heard them say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell dominates Maret and GDS. It is what it is

Sidwell dominates so much that they have to constantly tell you and themselves that they dominate. That is how you know it's real lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a long-time Maret parent, I will say that the new Head of School has been a real disappointment and his leadership is weak at best. Our youngest child is in the eleventh grade and we are just going to ride it out until graduation, but if I was a parent looking at schools during an entry year, I would probably not consider Maret.

Examples?

The handling by the Head of School around some anti-Semitism on campus has been slow and confusing. Some teacher departures were handled awkwardly. A bright and well-liked tenth grade student was counseled out in mid-September and has upset a lot of parents from that grade. Teachers at Back to School Night were complaining about the lack of transparency on a number of issues.

But, more than that, it is clear that the vibe has changed. I know that is not very specific, but I am on campus with some frequency and that's the easiest way to put it. The fact that I obscured my youngest child's gender in the previous post because of a concern about retaliation is something that I would not have done in the past.

This is not to say there is not a lot that is great about the school. There are a number of great students and wonderful teachers. My spouse and I have become close friends with some of the other parents. But there is a definite shift occurring. Naturally, a school will feel different under a different Head of School, but this difference is not for the better.

We are Jewish and considering Maret for 9th grade. Please can you say more about the antisemitism?

Also, is there antisemitism at GDS? Many uber liberals are antisemitic which makes me concerned about teachers at GDS. And yes, I know the history behind the start of GDS

There is antisemitism everywhere, including these schools. In the same ways there is racism, sexism, and all the isms. The schools do what they can and of course are not able to eradicate any of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in Virginia and are looking at Maret. I was shocked that Maret’s literature states: 8% of students reside in Virginia. That has to be the lowest of the Sidwell, GDS, STA/NCS cohort? I tried to look up the others but without success.

Maret is much more a 'neighborhood' school. like lots of kids are actually walking distance to school - much more than the sidwells of the world. It is a nice, relatively low-stress option if you are local and have money. A bunch of our neighbors in upper NW chose it for this reason. For HS, lots of people come there after either Sheridan or St Pats.

Do not know about “lots of people come there after Sheridan or St Pat”. It has a 5-8% acceptance rate in 9th grade. Lower if you take out sibling preference. In a good year 1-2 kids from these schools would get in. Though those same kids get into every school they applied to because they are top students.

We went to the US open house and our last name started with “H”. DS gave name and the staffer checked off his name. This was from a clip board holding all the names. The first page was single spaced with four columns. The staffer went seven pages deep before getting to our name. It seems like you are uninformed.

Since they publish neither how many people apply nor how many they accept, how could you possibly know this?

Let’s just say I have seen the numbers.

Likely board member.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Obamas went with sidwell because they had experience with kids needing the secret service. That’s what the final decision was based on I have heard them say.

#1: You heard wrong.
#2: You can’t keep Sidwell’s name out of your mouth, huh?

This thread is about GDS and Maret. Stop dragging Sidwell into this discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Obamas went with sidwell because they had experience with kids needing the secret service. That’s what the final decision was based on I have heard them say.

#1: You heard wrong.
#2: You can’t keep Sidwell’s name out of your mouth, huh?

This thread is about GDS and Maret. Stop dragging Sidwell into this discussion.

NP. Actually it’s true. They chose it because the Clinton’s did. Sidwell’s campus design met secret service standards. The Clinton’s first choice was GDS. Hillary told this to my mom back in the 90s at a WH event. My mom shared it casually with me over lunch several years back. And FWIW, I have no dog in this fight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Obamas went with sidwell because they had experience with kids needing the secret service. That’s what the final decision was based on I have heard them say.

#1: You heard wrong.
#2: You can’t keep Sidwell’s name out of your mouth, huh?

This thread is about GDS and Maret. Stop dragging Sidwell into this discussion.

NP. Actually it’s true. They chose it because the Clinton’s did. Sidwell’s campus design met secret service standards. The Clinton’s first choice was GDS. Hillary told this to my mom back in the 90s at a WH event. My mom shared it casually with me over lunch several years back. And FWIW, I have no dog in this fight.

😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a long-time Maret parent, I will say that the new Head of School has been a real disappointment and his leadership is weak at best. Our youngest child is in the eleventh grade and we are just going to ride it out until graduation, but if I was a parent looking at schools during an entry year, I would probably not consider Maret.

Examples?

The handling by the Head of School around some anti-Semitism on campus has been slow and confusing. Some teacher departures were handled awkwardly. A bright and well-liked tenth grade student was counseled out in mid-September and has upset a lot of parents from that grade. Teachers at Back to School Night were complaining about the lack of transparency on a number of issues.

But, more than that, it is clear that the vibe has changed. I know that is not very specific, but I am on campus with some frequency and that's the easiest way to put it. The fact that I obscured my youngest child's gender in the previous post because of a concern about retaliation is something that I would not have done in the past.

This is not to say there is not a lot that is great about the school. There are a number of great students and wonderful teachers. My spouse and I have become close friends with some of the other parents. But there is a definite shift occurring. Naturally, a school will feel different under a different Head of School, but this difference is not for the better.

We are Jewish and considering Maret for 9th grade. Please can you say more about the antisemitism?

We are Jewish and US parents at Maret. I have literally no idea what this is referring to. That’s not to say I doubt authenticity, just that I have no idea what this is.

Our DC feels comfortable, has both Jewish and not-Jewish friends and has experienced nothing that could even arguably be deemed anti-semitism. The school forbids homework and actual classes on Jewish high holidays (they have “enrichment days”) and we have been totally welcomed by everyone.

Your mileage may vary but I don’t think it will.