Whittle

[Anonymous]

Big 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I was at Maret as parent/teacher/admin etc I would be over the top outraged by the Dennis hiring. We saw him in action at Whittle, and thought he was a complete buffoon. Talked up a bunch of platitudes while saying nothing in actuality. (Perfect for Whittle). This is really the best Maret can do? Makes you think there is also something wrong under the covers at Maret, if this is the best they could hire.

After Marjo Talbots’s innovative but steady leadership, what was the Maret board thinking?

[Anonymous]

This school seemed like a scam from day 1. Is anybody really surprised it ended this way?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I was at Maret as parent/teacher/admin etc I would be over the top outraged by the Dennis hiring. We saw him in action at Whittle, and thought he was a complete buffoon. Talked up a bunch of platitudes while saying nothing in actuality. (Perfect for Whittle). This is really the best Maret can do? Makes you think there is also something wrong under the covers at Maret, if this is the best they could hire.

This is spot on. There is definitely something wrong at Maret- some of the best, long-serving teachers leaving bc of frustration with admin, a terrible Head search, an outgoing HoS who is simultaneously useless and vindictive…signed, an insider

Sounds a lot like Field!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This school seemed like a scam from day 1. Is anybody really surprised it ended this way?

Do a search on this discussion board. You'll see many people expressed concerns before day one.

[Anonymous]

Dr Whittle is working on a plan to reopen the School and Studio, talking to investors and donors. This is likely a temporary setback. It’s possible that first the school will relocate to a new city campus. Stay tuned!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr Whittle is working on a plan to reopen the School and Studio, talking to investors and donors. This is likely a temporary setback. It’s possible that first the school will relocate to a new city campus. Stay tuned!

Anyone who gives him a dime in investment or tuition money now is a complete moron who deserves everything that will inevitably follow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr Whittle is working on a plan to reopen the School and Studio, talking to investors and donors. This is likely a temporary setback. It’s possible that first the school will relocate to a new city campus. Stay tuned!

Oh good lord

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I was at Maret as parent/teacher/admin etc I would be over the top outraged by the Dennis hiring. We saw him in action at Whittle, and thought he was a complete buffoon. Talked up a bunch of platitudes while saying nothing in actuality. (Perfect for Whittle). This is really the best Maret can do? Makes you think there is also something wrong under the covers at Maret, if this is the best they could hire.

After Marjo Talbots’s innovative but steady leadership, what was the Maret board thinking?

Lol, innovative. That place his basically a Time Capsule to 2007.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr Whittle is working on a plan to reopen the School and Studio, talking to investors and donors. This is likely a temporary setback. It’s possible that first the school will relocate to a new city campus. Stay tuned!

This is a joke, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious for those with HS students who intended on going to Whittle this Fall. Where did your DC land? Public? Private? If private, what sort? (Big 3, Big 5, Catholic, Md burbs vs VA burbs….)

We did not intend on returning, but a few students who were planning on returning are going to other private schools in the DMV. No one is going to Maret as other people on this forum are so worried about. None of the schools are the Big 3. From what I am aware, two students are going to private schools within DC and another student is going to a private school somewhere in the VA suburbs, maybe like an hour drive from DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr Whittle is working on a plan to reopen the School and Studio, talking to investors and donors. This is likely a temporary setback. It’s possible that first the school will relocate to a new city campus. Stay tuned!

Haha - well played 😂 Relax folks, this is obviously a joke. For starters, CW barely graduated college, much less has a doctorate!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What both have in common is that they enjoy having things named after them. It would be priceless if the Whittle School campus in China changed its name to disassociate itself from a failed businessman. The Shenzhen campus was no longer affiliated with the DC campus as of September 2021.

This is precisely what happened in Suzhou. The school is now called Huitong, which was the Chinese name for the Whittle Schools。The connection with Whittle is apparently completely severed, but who really knows. The Founding head of Whittle Shenzhen also left suddenly, and now the relationship between the Suzhou and Shenzhen schools seems to have deteriorated rapidly.

Apologies, I know this isn’t relevant to most here. But I am living through the start of Huitong Suzhou, and it is astonishingly bad. If the school manages to open next week it will be a minor miracle. It seems the same cronyism, grift, and greed is the motivating factor behind the Chinese partners who once worked with Whittle. Now they’re just stealing the branding materials and structure of the school and curriculum.

A “Global” school that exists only in two disassociated schools in China.

If you don’t understand why people haven’t all abandoned the school, it is a long story mostly focused on the insane bullshit of the China visa and work permit process.

As a teacher I dreamed about joining Avenues or Whittle for years because the ideals and philosophy echo what I think could be the future of education . Maybe for some, it will be… somehow, somewhere, somewhen…

For now, like everyone else associated with Whittle, we are stuck holding the bag, at the cost of our families and sanity.

I am really sorry for those families and teachers that, like me, got caught in the Whittle disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait for Chris Whittle to flee to China.

Don’t hold your breath. China’s investors and policies may be insane, but they have essentially erased the “Whittle” part of everything related to these schools. The investors might be crazy to have trusted him in the first place, but they certainty won’t be loyal to him or anyone else that isn’t a powerful Chinese entity in their own right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What both have in common is that they enjoy having things named after them. It would be priceless if the Whittle School campus in China changed its name to disassociate itself from a failed businessman. The Shenzhen campus was no longer affiliated with the DC campus as of September 2021.

This is precisely what happened in Suzhou. The school is now called Huitong, which was the Chinese name for the Whittle Schools。The connection with Whittle is apparently completely severed, but who really knows. The Founding head of Whittle Shenzhen also left suddenly, and now the relationship between the Suzhou and Shenzhen schools seems to have deteriorated rapidly.

Apologies, I know this isn’t relevant to most here. But I am living through the start of Huitong Suzhou, and it is astonishingly bad. If the school manages to open next week it will be a minor miracle. It seems the same cronyism, grift, and greed is the motivating factor behind the Chinese partners who once worked with Whittle. Now they’re just stealing the branding materials and structure of the school and curriculum.

A “Global” school that exists only in two disassociated schools in China.

If you don’t understand why people haven’t all abandoned the school, it is a long story mostly focused on the insane bullshit of the China visa and work permit process.

As a teacher I dreamed about joining Avenues or Whittle for years because the ideals and philosophy echo what I think could be the future of education . Maybe for some, it will be… somehow, somewhere, somewhen…

For now, like everyone else associated with Whittle, we are stuck holding the bag, at the cost of our families and sanity.

I am really sorry for those families and teachers that, like me, got caught in the Whittle disaster.

So interesting to hear your experience! Thank you for posting. I hope the school year goes well, despite shallow investors. Good luck!