How Strong is Burgundy Farm Country Day Academically?
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Anonymous
| What court? I must be out of touch because I was unaware of this kind of conflict. |
Anonymous
| Me too. We are a longtime Burgundy family and I have never heard of lawsuits. You'd think that the rumor mill would have churned something out about that. |
Anonymous
| In the last 2-3 years at least 2 Board of Trustee members have transferred their children to other private schools. That speaks volumes. |
Anonymous
| 20:51 here. I all fairness, I don't recall if they were current or past board members at the time. Although, I am not sure that matters. |
Anonymous
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This is getting ridiculous ... I am unaware of any ongoing lawsuits and I am rather certain that Burgundy gossip on the blacktop would discuss them at length. I am also not aware of Trustees pulling their kids, although I also don't think it is impossible to imagine someone might choose a different school for their child regardless of their status on the Board.
I think the source of nastiness at the school might be sourced to the person(s) commenting on this thread. As for the middle school kids leaving before their 8th grade year ... It does raise an eyebrow but I don't think anything useful as to why they left has been revealed here. Moreover, given the small number of identifiable kids we are referencing, I am hoping that comments regarding their families' decisions are not gossiped about here. |
Anonymous
| Honestly, for such a small school that's a very impressive college list. To the people who complained that the college list excludes a few kids doing gap years.... Um, so what? A) it's a list of where kids go to college. If they aren't in college, well, duh, they're not on the list. And B) what on earth makes you think a gap year is something anyone would be ashamed of? My oldest daughter just finished a gap year... and she'll be starting at Harvard in the fall. Harvard, along with many other elite schools, strongly encourages gap years. |
Anonymous
Apologies; just saw this very good open question. I went on the site. Please check General District cases in Fairfax County (Nos. GV 03032971, GV 03007833, GV 11001378, GV10015946, and GV 08006553). These are up on the site, so it appears that they're public record. Burgundy is the plaintiff in each. Absolutely no idea what the subject matter is and which ones are still continuing, but all are pretty recent. It looks like there are others in Arlington; likewise not sure of the status of those.
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Anonymous
I would guess they are contracted related as in families who faulted on the tuition contracts or vendors who defaulted on contracts. |
Anonymous
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Yes, these cases are all warrant in debt cases and appear to be related to vendors rather than school families. Moreover, the ones that have been resolved have been found in favor of BFCDS. They in no way attest to a "nasty" atmosphere at Burgundy but are merely part of running a business of any kind. So thanks for the red herring ...
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Anonymous
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Nope. At least two are tuition payment suits.
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Anonymous
Um, so what? I'd bet next year's tuition that every private school in metro DC has some similar suits. We all know how sticky these schools can be about people who try to get out of their contracts. Not saying schools shouldn't strive to be more flexible, but I don't see how this tells us anything whatsoever ever about Burgundy (except that their general counsel is reasonably on the ball). |
Anonymous
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Well I'm sure the last few pages of comments are confusing to anyone interested in the quality of academics at Burgundy, so perhaps we can tie up all the loose ends ... Some of the 7th grade kids were worn out from putting together the trial paperwork needed to help defend their school in court and so opted for different schools for next year. Indeed, past graduates have been so worn out by their caseloads that opted to take a gap year before heading off to college. Okay ... are we all clear now? /sarc |
Anonymous
You don't understand... It's the pre-law curriculum in action.... |
Anonymous
| Burgundy parent here. While I would not dismiss the significance of kids leaving after 6th or 7th grade, missing out the last year or two in a JK-8 school, I think you have to know the circumstances to know the reasons. The rising 7th grade lost one student, who joined a sibling in public school. The rising 8th grade lost four, which IS a lot in a class of 32, but not devastating. One left because of unhappiness with the school -- OK, it happens. Among the other kids, at least one applied to a major DC private school for 8th grade to have an extra chance of getting in an "off year" for admissions -- ie, not 9th grade! Another one may have simply tapped out on the math curriculum -- this was a brilliant kid who probably needed to be in a 7-12 environment to continue flying through math. You CAN accelerate in math at Burgundy, but there is acceleration and then there is acceleration. I don't think this reflects poorly on Burgundy -- with 32 kids per grade, there is a limit as to what they are going to offer in terms of extremely advanced work. We are not talking about a normally gifted kid - there are loads of those at Burgundy. This kid was a real rarity academically. Not sure about the 4th kid -- I was surprised because she came from a longtime Burgundy family, but people have their reasons, not all of which are a knock on the school. |
Anonymous
| PP here -- Oh, by the way, I can think of two trustees whose children left before 8th but who still remained on the board of trustees. Neither was a critic of the school. |