Culture at Carson vs. Franklin

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have been unimpressed with many of the teachers at Franklin. The math teachers are not good at all (both math 7 Honors and Algebra) and neither are the history teachers. It’s actually embarassing how bad they are.

Complete opposite experience for us. DCs math 7 honors teacher has been great. She has high expectations, doesn’t coddle the kids and is exceptionally organized. Personally, that is exactly what I would expect from an honors math teacher.

[Anonymous]

October 01, 2024:
As an alumnus of Rachel Carson, I wish I could look back fondly on my time there, but unfortunately, the school's consistent failure to provide a safe environment overshadows much of my experience. While the academics were decent, the lack of attention to student safety was alarming. Incidents that should have been addressed immediately were often brushed aside, and I frequently felt the administration was more concerned with maintaining appearances than with protecting the well-being of its students. For a school that prides itself on community, it was disappointing to see how often bullying, harassment, and even physical altercations were mishandled or ignored altogether. The absence of proper response systems left many students feeling vulnerable. I sincerely hope the administration takes these concerns to heart because no student should have to prioritize their personal safety over their education. While I’m grateful for the friendships and a few dedicated teachers, I can’t in good conscience recommend this school until significant changes are made to ensure a safer, more supportive environment for all students.

[Anonymous]

The 7th grade teachers at franklin are great! But, the 8th grade ones not so much… My DD comes home to teach herself the material. Especially for geometry. The geometry teacher here is a nice guy, but gets off track too easily and ends up making the students read off homework to teach themselves. He also teaches algebra honors. (to my understanding, the other two math teachers are the same way) some kids are even reaching out to the previous teacher to tutor them. Many of the 8th grade core class teachers aren’t very understanding, and this has just been a tough year so far. (Maybe this is just my DDs experience, but her friends have felt the same way)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:October 01, 2024:
As an alumnus of Rachel Carson, I wish I could look back fondly on my time there, but unfortunately, the school's consistent failure to provide a safe environment overshadows much of my experience. While the academics were decent, the lack of attention to student safety was alarming. Incidents that should have been addressed immediately were often brushed aside, and I frequently felt the administration was more concerned with maintaining appearances than with protecting the well-being of its students. For a school that prides itself on community, it was disappointing to see how often bullying, harassment, and even physical altercations were mishandled or ignored altogether. The absence of proper response systems left many students feeling vulnerable. I sincerely hope the administration takes these concerns to heart because no student should have to prioritize their personal safety over their education. While I’m grateful for the friendships and a few dedicated teachers, I can’t in good conscience recommend this school until significant changes are made to ensure a safer, more supportive environment for all students.[/quote/]

One of the Rachel students got bullied so bad they had to come to Franklin… really sad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:October 01, 2024:
As an alumnus of Rachel Carson, I wish I could look back fondly on my time there, but unfortunately, the school's consistent failure to provide a safe environment overshadows much of my experience. While the academics were decent, the lack of attention to student safety was alarming. Incidents that should have been addressed immediately were often brushed aside, and I frequently felt the administration was more concerned with maintaining appearances than with protecting the well-being of its students. For a school that prides itself on community, it was disappointing to see how often bullying, harassment, and even physical altercations were mishandled or ignored altogether. The absence of proper response systems left many students feeling vulnerable. I sincerely hope the administration takes these concerns to heart because no student should have to prioritize their personal safety over their education. While I’m grateful for the friendships and a few dedicated teachers, I can’t in good conscience recommend this school until significant changes are made to ensure a safer, more supportive environment for all students.

I take everything I read on Great Schools with a grain of salt. This was clearly written by the parent, by the way.

[Anonymous]

DD and her friends (some are in Honors classes and some are in AAP) say it's the exact same curriculum, by the way. It will be nice when they remove the. middle school AAP Centers and this can be a smaller school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 7th grade teachers at franklin are great! But, the 8th grade ones not so much… My DD comes home to teach herself the material. Especially for geometry. The geometry teacher here is a nice guy, but gets off track too easily and ends up making the students read off homework to teach themselves. He also teaches algebra honors. (to my understanding, the other two math teachers are the same way) some kids are even reaching out to the previous teacher to tutor them. Many of the 8th grade core class teachers aren’t very understanding, and this has just been a tough year so far. (Maybe this is just my DDs experience, but her friends have felt the same way)

Sadly we feel this way about the 7th grade teachers at Franklin as well.

[Anonymous]

We have been impressed with several of the individual teachers— truly seems like the gem at Carson are the teachers and library. We have found the admin and counseling staff to be underwhelming at best. It feels like a tough choice between day to day amazing teachers, and making sure we don’t have to deal with admin. We have heard some truly horrifying things about how some of them ended up at Carson (failures at other schools, etc) and were really upset when our son and two of his friends had to scramble this year in high school to figure out how to make up a year of language for his IB diploma. Regardless, he got a good education and I guess that matters most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:October 01, 2024:
As an alumnus of Rachel Carson, I wish I could look back fondly on my time there, but unfortunately, the school's consistent failure to provide a safe environment overshadows much of my experience. While the academics were decent, the lack of attention to student safety was alarming. Incidents that should have been addressed immediately were often brushed aside, and I frequently felt the administration was more concerned with maintaining appearances than with protecting the well-being of its students. For a school that prides itself on community, it was disappointing to see how often bullying, harassment, and even physical altercations were mishandled or ignored altogether. The absence of proper response systems left many students feeling vulnerable. I sincerely hope the administration takes these concerns to heart because no student should have to prioritize their personal safety over their education. While I’m grateful for the friendships and a few dedicated teachers, I can’t in good conscience recommend this school until significant changes are made to ensure a safer, more supportive environment for all students.

I take everything I read on Great Schools with a grain of salt. This was clearly written by the parent, by the way.

It was not. We know the kid who wrote it and she was encouraged to write it from several counselors at the high school. This stuff is not a secret. It is widely known in the county and so many kids talk about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:October 01, 2024:
As an alumnus of Rachel Carson, I wish I could look back fondly on my time there, but unfortunately, the school's consistent failure to provide a safe environment overshadows much of my experience. While the academics were decent, the lack of attention to student safety was alarming. Incidents that should have been addressed immediately were often brushed aside, and I frequently felt the administration was more concerned with maintaining appearances than with protecting the well-being of its students. For a school that prides itself on community, it was disappointing to see how often bullying, harassment, and even physical altercations were mishandled or ignored altogether. The absence of proper response systems left many students feeling vulnerable. I sincerely hope the administration takes these concerns to heart because no student should have to prioritize their personal safety over their education. While I’m grateful for the friendships and a few dedicated teachers, I can’t in good conscience recommend this school until significant changes are made to ensure a safer, more supportive environment for all students.

I take everything I read on Great Schools with a grain of salt. This was clearly written by the parent, by the way.

It was not. We know the kid who wrote it and she was encouraged to write it from several counselors at the high school. This stuff is not a secret. It is widely known in the county and so many kids talk about it.

My kid is an 8th grader at Carson and he does not see bullying, harassment, or physical altercations at the school. I have heard his friends discuss a few "girl fights" and that is about it.

I am sure that there is bullying and harassment, because that happens at every school, but it is not rampant at Carson. I can see that a kid who is bullied or harassed thinks that the problem is massive. I can see that the family of the kid doesn't think it was well handled. I get that, but one persons perspective is not everyone's. We saw the same thing at our ES. Most kids had no experience with bullying or harassment, a few families discuss how awful it was. In the ES case, I can tell you that one of the families always complaining about bullying sure seemed to have the kid who was bullying others, at least that is what I saw.

On the balance, it seems to me that most of the schools do a good job dealing with bullying and harassment. I know that they don't get it right all of the time, there is no way to do that. But my kids experience at Carson, and that of his friends, have been positive. I am sorry that not every student has the same experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:October 01, 2024:
As an alumnus of Rachel Carson, I wish I could look back fondly on my time there, but unfortunately, the school's consistent failure to provide a safe environment overshadows much of my experience. While the academics were decent, the lack of attention to student safety was alarming. Incidents that should have been addressed immediately were often brushed aside, and I frequently felt the administration was more concerned with maintaining appearances than with protecting the well-being of its students. For a school that prides itself on community, it was disappointing to see how often bullying, harassment, and even physical altercations were mishandled or ignored altogether. The absence of proper response systems left many students feeling vulnerable. I sincerely hope the administration takes these concerns to heart because no student should have to prioritize their personal safety over their education. While I’m grateful for the friendships and a few dedicated teachers, I can’t in good conscience recommend this school until significant changes are made to ensure a safer, more supportive environment for all students.

I take everything I read on Great Schools with a grain of salt. This was clearly written by the parent, by the way.

It was not. We know the kid who wrote it and she was encouraged to write it from several counselors at the high school. This stuff is not a secret. It is widely known in the county and so many kids talk about it.

Seriously? Easy to say that on an anonymous forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:October 01, 2024:
As an alumnus of Rachel Carson, I wish I could look back fondly on my time there, but unfortunately, the school's consistent failure to provide a safe environment overshadows much of my experience. While the academics were decent, the lack of attention to student safety was alarming. Incidents that should have been addressed immediately were often brushed aside, and I frequently felt the administration was more concerned with maintaining appearances than with protecting the well-being of its students. For a school that prides itself on community, it was disappointing to see how often bullying, harassment, and even physical altercations were mishandled or ignored altogether. The absence of proper response systems left many students feeling vulnerable. I sincerely hope the administration takes these concerns to heart because no student should have to prioritize their personal safety over their education. While I’m grateful for the friendships and a few dedicated teachers, I can’t in good conscience recommend this school until significant changes are made to ensure a safer, more supportive environment for all students.

I take everything I read on Great Schools with a grain of salt. This was clearly written by the parent, by the way.

It was not. We know the kid who wrote it and she was encouraged to write it from several counselors at the high school. This stuff is not a secret. It is widely known in the county and so many kids talk about it.

My kid is an 8th grader at Carson and he does not see bullying, harassment, or physical altercations at the school. I have heard his friends discuss a few "girl fights" and that is about it.

I am sure that there is bullying and harassment, because that happens at every school, but it is not rampant at Carson. I can see that a kid who is bullied or harassed thinks that the problem is massive. I can see that the family of the kid doesn't think it was well handled. I get that, but one persons perspective is not everyone's. We saw the same thing at our ES. Most kids had no experience with bullying or harassment, a few families discuss how awful it was. In the ES case, I can tell you that one of the families always complaining about bullying sure seemed to have the kid who was bullying others, at least that is what I saw.

On the balance, it seems to me that most of the schools do a good job dealing with bullying and harassment. I know that they don't get it right all of the time, there is no way to do that. But my kids experience at Carson, and that of his friends, have been positive. I am sorry that not every student has the same experience.

+1

[Anonymous]

FYI, Franklin sent out yet another notice of two incidents involving racial slurs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:October 01, 2024:
As an alumnus of Rachel Carson, I wish I could look back fondly on my time there, but unfortunately, the school's consistent failure to provide a safe environment overshadows much of my experience. While the academics were decent, the lack of attention to student safety was alarming. Incidents that should have been addressed immediately were often brushed aside, and I frequently felt the administration was more concerned with maintaining appearances than with protecting the well-being of its students. For a school that prides itself on community, it was disappointing to see how often bullying, harassment, and even physical altercations were mishandled or ignored altogether. The absence of proper response systems left many students feeling vulnerable. I sincerely hope the administration takes these concerns to heart because no student should have to prioritize their personal safety over their education. While I’m grateful for the friendships and a few dedicated teachers, I can’t in good conscience recommend this school until significant changes are made to ensure a safer, more supportive environment for all students.

I take everything I read on Great Schools with a grain of salt. This was clearly written by the parent, by the way.

It was not. We know the kid who wrote it and she was encouraged to write it from several counselors at the high school. This stuff is not a secret. It is widely known in the county and so many kids talk about it.

My kid is an 8th grader at Carson and he does not see bullying, harassment, or physical altercations at the school. I have heard his friends discuss a few "girl fights" and that is about it.

I am sure that there is bullying and harassment, because that happens at every school, but it is not rampant at Carson. I can see that a kid who is bullied or harassed thinks that the problem is massive. I can see that the family of the kid doesn't think it was well handled. I get that, but one persons perspective is not everyone's. We saw the same thing at our ES. Most kids had no experience with bullying or harassment, a few families discuss how awful it was. In the ES case, I can tell you that one of the families always complaining about bullying sure seemed to have the kid who was bullying others, at least that is what I saw.

On the balance, it seems to me that most of the schools do a good job dealing with bullying and harassment. I know that they don't get it right all of the time, there is no way to do that. But my kids experience at Carson, and that of his friends, have been positive. I am sorry that not every student has the same experience.

Your kid is a boy. Duh. It is not the boys experiencing the toxic culture at Carson. It is the girls. Same goes for many schools. It almost feels generationally they have taken a step back. Girls at my daughter’s high schools now record this incidents because it’s the only way admin takes notice. So in that sense I do agree this isn’t Carson specific.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FYI, Franklin sent out yet another notice of two incidents involving racial slurs.

This is helpful as a future Franklin or Carson parent (we are undecided and not even sure if this will be a choice when centers are dismantled). I have found that when these letters are sent out, they show a responsive principal or VP. It’s when I hear reports from students and then don’t see the letters acknowledging reality and a commitment to working on community that I begin to worry.