Episcopal High School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yikes, this school sounds like a very toxic environment!

Episcopal has gone downhill since Rob Hershey left as Head of School. As other senior administrators and teachers have left, the environment has turned from a welcoming, southern charm/polite, and academically-rigorous boarding school into a mess of scandals and young and inexperienced teachers. The new head, Charlie Stillwell, cannot take a firm stance on any issue unlike Hershey and thus the campus has gotten a little out of control. The "Health Center" and "Board" practically own him which leads to his immoral and arbitrary decision-making.

what kind of examples of this do you have?

First, the "Politics Scandal," where a student posted a controversial opinion on her Instagram Story and received hateful comments, one even from a teacher. The school decided to punish the student in an attempt to please the liberal students and "blackatehs" account, but her parents involved a lawyer as she violated no school rules. Despite this, Stillwell continued on to punish the girl. The story made NATIONAL NEWS and several smaller outlets because Stillwell couldn't properly manage the situation. Conservative Alumni/Donors and the Board saw the news and were mad at him, so he retracted any sort of "expulsion" which was previously implied for the girl.

Second, the "Chikfila scandal," where the LGBTQ Club wanted to ban Chikfila from being bought on school dime for events. After meeting with the club, Stillwell agreed to this and a lot of students got mad. So a few days later, during an all-school Chapel, he retracted the Chikfila ban.

Next, Stilwell practically left the COVID situation all in the hands of Dr. Bravo. Her precautions and etc. were more strict than other boarding schools and made students/alum/parents mad but Stillwell didn't intervene as he'd given Bravo the rains for a while. At the end of the year, people were so mad that the board said either Bravo or Stillwell had to go. He should've intervened, but he didn't, much to the detriment of students' mental health.

I could keep going on about Stillwell...teachers who've been at the school for 10-50 years have been leaving in herds.

Anecdotally, I've had several children attend EHS between the Hershey and Stillwell era and the environment is drastically different. The student body is less courteous and much more "fast." Students respected Hershey and mimicked his "southern charm" and followed the rules more as he made sound decisions that couldn't be affected by the board and etc..his words reflected his actions. Stillwell has little respect from students which completely changed the campus feel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yikes, this school sounds like a very toxic environment!

Episcopal has gone downhill since Rob Hershey left as Head of School. As other senior administrators and teachers have left, the environment has turned from a welcoming, southern charm/polite, and academically-rigorous boarding school into a mess of scandals and young and inexperienced teachers. The new head, Charlie Stillwell, cannot take a firm stance on any issue unlike Hershey and thus the campus has gotten a little out of control. The "Health Center" and "Board" practically own him which leads to his immoral and arbitrary decision-making.

what kind of examples of this do you have?

First, the "Politics Scandal," where a student posted a controversial opinion on her Instagram Story and received hateful comments, one even from a teacher. The school decided to punish the student in an attempt to please the liberal students and "blackatehs" account, but her parents involved a lawyer as she violated no school rules. Despite this, Stillwell continued on to punish the girl. The story made NATIONAL NEWS and several smaller outlets because Stillwell couldn't properly manage the situation. Conservative Alumni/Donors and the Board saw the news and were mad at him, so he retracted any sort of "expulsion" which was previously implied for the girl.

Second, the "Chikfila scandal," where the LGBTQ Club wanted to ban Chikfila from being bought on school dime for events. After meeting with the club, Stillwell agreed to this and a lot of students got mad. So a few days later, during an all-school Chapel, he retracted the Chikfila ban.

Next, Stilwell practically left the COVID situation all in the hands of Dr. Bravo. Her precautions and etc. were more strict than other boarding schools and made students/alum/parents mad but Stillwell didn't intervene as he'd given Bravo the rains for a while. At the end of the year, people were so mad that the board said either Bravo or Stillwell had to go. He should've intervened, but he didn't, much to the detriment of students' mental health.

I could keep going on about Stillwell...teachers who've been at the school for 10-50 years have been leaving in herds.

Anecdotally, I've had several children attend EHS between the Hershey and Stillwell era and the environment is drastically different. The student body is less courteous and much more "fast." Students respected Hershey and mimicked his "southern charm" and followed the rules more as he made sound decisions that couldn't be affected by the board and etc..his words reflected his actions. Stillwell has little respect from students which completely changed the campus feel.

^this!!!! EHS wasn't all over the news for negative reasons until Stilwell took office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yikes, this school sounds like a very toxic environment!

Episcopal has gone downhill since Rob Hershey left as Head of School. As other senior administrators and teachers have left, the environment has turned from a welcoming, southern charm/polite, and academically-rigorous boarding school into a mess of scandals and young and inexperienced teachers. The new head, Charlie Stillwell, cannot take a firm stance on any issue unlike Hershey and thus the campus has gotten a little out of control. The "Health Center" and "Board" practically own him which leads to his immoral and arbitrary decision-making.

what kind of examples of this do you have?

First, the "Politics Scandal," where a student posted a controversial opinion on her Instagram Story and received hateful comments, one even from a teacher. The school decided to punish the student in an attempt to please the liberal students and "blackatehs" account, but her parents involved a lawyer as she violated no school rules. Despite this, Stillwell continued on to punish the girl. The story made NATIONAL NEWS and several smaller outlets because Stillwell couldn't properly manage the situation. Conservative Alumni/Donors and the Board saw the news and were mad at him, so he retracted any sort of "expulsion" which was previously implied for the girl.

Second, the "Chikfila scandal," where the LGBTQ Club wanted to ban Chikfila from being bought on school dime for events. After meeting with the club, Stillwell agreed to this and a lot of students got mad. So a few days later, during an all-school Chapel, he retracted the Chikfila ban.

Next, Stilwell practically left the COVID situation all in the hands of Dr. Bravo. Her precautions and etc. were more strict than other boarding schools and made students/alum/parents mad but Stillwell didn't intervene as he'd given Bravo the rains for a while. At the end of the year, people were so mad that the board said either Bravo or Stillwell had to go. He should've intervened, but he didn't, much to the detriment of students' mental health.

I could keep going on about Stillwell...teachers who've been at the school for 10-50 years have been leaving in herds.

Anecdotally, I've had several children attend EHS between the Hershey and Stillwell era and the environment is drastically different. The student body is less courteous and much more "fast." Students respected Hershey and mimicked his "southern charm" and followed the rules more as he made sound decisions that couldn't be affected by the board and etc..his words reflected his actions. Stillwell has little respect from students which completely changed the campus feel.

^this!!!! EHS wasn't all over the news for negative reasons until Stilwell took office.

Is Episcopal having political issues, racial issues, LGBT rights issues, or all of the above?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yikes, this school sounds like a very toxic environment!

Episcopal has gone downhill since Rob Hershey left as Head of School. As other senior administrators and teachers have left, the environment has turned from a welcoming, southern charm/polite, and academically-rigorous boarding school into a mess of scandals and young and inexperienced teachers. The new head, Charlie Stillwell, cannot take a firm stance on any issue unlike Hershey and thus the campus has gotten a little out of control. The "Health Center" and "Board" practically own him which leads to his immoral and arbitrary decision-making.

what kind of examples of this do you have?

First, the "Politics Scandal," where a student posted a controversial opinion on her Instagram Story and received hateful comments, one even from a teacher. The school decided to punish the student in an attempt to please the liberal students and "blackatehs" account, but her parents involved a lawyer as she violated no school rules. Despite this, Stillwell continued on to punish the girl. The story made NATIONAL NEWS and several smaller outlets because Stillwell couldn't properly manage the situation. Conservative Alumni/Donors and the Board saw the news and were mad at him, so he retracted any sort of "expulsion" which was previously implied for the girl.

Second, the "Chikfila scandal," where the LGBTQ Club wanted to ban Chikfila from being bought on school dime for events. After meeting with the club, Stillwell agreed to this and a lot of students got mad. So a few days later, during an all-school Chapel, he retracted the Chikfila ban.

Next, Stilwell practically left the COVID situation all in the hands of Dr. Bravo. Her precautions and etc. were more strict than other boarding schools and made students/alum/parents mad but Stillwell didn't intervene as he'd given Bravo the rains for a while. At the end of the year, people were so mad that the board said either Bravo or Stillwell had to go. He should've intervened, but he didn't, much to the detriment of students' mental health.

I could keep going on about Stillwell...teachers who've been at the school for 10-50 years have been leaving in herds.

Anecdotally, I've had several children attend EHS between the Hershey and Stillwell era and the environment is drastically different. The student body is less courteous and much more "fast." Students respected Hershey and mimicked his "southern charm" and followed the rules more as he made sound decisions that couldn't be affected by the board and etc..his words reflected his actions. Stillwell has little respect from students which completely changed the campus feel.

^this!!!! EHS wasn't all over the news for negative reasons until Stilwell took office.

Is Episcopal having political issues, racial issues, LGBT rights issues, or all of the above?

The leadership preaches arbitrary rules that create political issues. For example, all students are banned from wearing or displaying political merchandise except for a poster which can be placed on your room wall as long as no one can see it from the door. That's actually another example of Stillwell's tepid and ineffective leadership -- if students were taught to engage in respectful discourse then this rule wouldn't be "needed"...period. Censorship isn't the answer and it really reflects Stillwell's leadership style.

Regarding LGBTQ issues, it's the same as other schools. In my four years at Episcopal, only one student called a gay peer the "f" word. He was immediately suspended....that was a pretty isolated incident.

For race, almost every private made a "black @" insta account with the purpose of exposing and creating a forum for racist incidents. It seems that most private schools still experience racism, but none less than Episcopal...occasionally some white freshman will drop the "n" word while rapping, which is horrible, but unfortunately that happens now and then at most privates.

EHS isn't a bad school. In fact, it's ranked number one in Virginia and in the top thirty of all boarding schools in the US. The academics are solid, the prettiest campus in the DMV, and most extracurricular or internship opportunities. The new leadership isn't ideal, but manageable. There are still a bunch of good faculty members (high degrees, really care about students and their subjects, etc.). And it's high school, so obviously some students will be rude or insecure...but the boarding aspect really does bring most together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s an Alexandria mother living through her daughter who posts non-stop photos of children at the school. You won’t have to ask around much to figure out who she is and you’ll be able to see everything you need to see there.

+1 This mom's most recent FB post literally has 60+ pics of her DD!!

This is sort of mean isn’t it? Wasn’t she posting about prom or another special event?

[Anonymous]

I heard that during the pandemic several students to Episcopal from DMV independent day schools, including Sidwell, because the boarding environment allowed students to attend classes in person and participate in extracurricular and social activities in a more normal way. In effect, the boarding environment created a pod because students stayed on campus. Can anyone comment on that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard that during the pandemic several students to Episcopal from DMV independent day schools, including Sidwell, because the boarding environment allowed students to attend classes in person and participate in extracurricular and social activities in a more normal way. In effect, the boarding environment created a pod because students stayed on campus. Can anyone comment on that?

This is true. After quarantine, in the fall of 2020, students returned to campus. Students and (for the most part) teachers couldn't leave campus and were regularly COVID tested. In-person classes, sports practices, and the arts continued in a manner similar to that of pre-2020 (with the exception of masks, of course). With practically no COVID cases on campus, it was a sort of bubble.

That being said, the food was pretty bad that year and teachers were either checked out or on a power trip.

But everywhere has become more normal now, so it's an issue of the past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yikes, this school sounds like a very toxic environment!

Episcopal has gone downhill since Rob Hershey left as Head of School. As other senior administrators and teachers have left, the environment has turned from a welcoming, southern charm/polite, and academically-rigorous boarding school into a mess of scandals and young and inexperienced teachers. The new head, Charlie Stillwell, cannot take a firm stance on any issue unlike Hershey and thus the campus has gotten a little out of control. The "Health Center" and "Board" practically own him which leads to his immoral and arbitrary decision-making.

what kind of examples of this do you have?

First, the "Politics Scandal," where a student posted a controversial opinion on her Instagram Story and received hateful comments, one even from a teacher. The school decided to punish the student in an attempt to please the liberal students and "blackatehs" account, but her parents involved a lawyer as she violated no school rules. Despite this, Stillwell continued on to punish the girl. The story made NATIONAL NEWS and several smaller outlets because Stillwell couldn't properly manage the situation. Conservative Alumni/Donors and the Board saw the news and were mad at him, so he retracted any sort of "expulsion" which was previously implied for the girl.

Second, the "Chikfila scandal," where the LGBTQ Club wanted to ban Chikfila from being bought on school dime for events. After meeting with the club, Stillwell agreed to this and a lot of students got mad. So a few days later, during an all-school Chapel, he retracted the Chikfila ban.

Next, Stilwell practically left the COVID situation all in the hands of Dr. Bravo. Her precautions and etc. were more strict than other boarding schools and made students/alum/parents mad but Stillwell didn't intervene as he'd given Bravo the rains for a while. At the end of the year, people were so mad that the board said either Bravo or Stillwell had to go. He should've intervened, but he didn't, much to the detriment of students' mental health.

I could keep going on about Stillwell...teachers who've been at the school for 10-50 years have been leaving in herds.

Anecdotally, I've had several children attend EHS between the Hershey and Stillwell era and the environment is drastically different. The student body is less courteous and much more "fast." Students respected Hershey and mimicked his "southern charm" and followed the rules more as he made sound decisions that couldn't be affected by the board and etc..his words reflected his actions. Stillwell has little respect from students which completely changed the campus feel.

^this!!!! EHS wasn't all over the news for negative reasons until Stilwell took office.

Don't forget the illegal drugs by mail scandal last fall where one student was bringing drugs in for obvious distribution. Everyone received an email asking them not to contact the media and they told the kids to turn in any drugs they had without punishment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yikes, this school sounds like a very toxic environment!

Episcopal has gone downhill since Rob Hershey left as Head of School. As other senior administrators and teachers have left, the environment has turned from a welcoming, southern charm/polite, and academically-rigorous boarding school into a mess of scandals and young and inexperienced teachers. The new head, Charlie Stillwell, cannot take a firm stance on any issue unlike Hershey and thus the campus has gotten a little out of control. The "Health Center" and "Board" practically own him which leads to his immoral and arbitrary decision-making.

what kind of examples of this do you have?

First, the "Politics Scandal," where a student posted a controversial opinion on her Instagram Story and received hateful comments, one even from a teacher. The school decided to punish the student in an attempt to please the liberal students and "blackatehs" account, but her parents involved a lawyer as she violated no school rules. Despite this, Stillwell continued on to punish the girl. The story made NATIONAL NEWS and several smaller outlets because Stillwell couldn't properly manage the situation. Conservative Alumni/Donors and the Board saw the news and were mad at him, so he retracted any sort of "expulsion" which was previously implied for the girl.

Second, the "Chikfila scandal," where the LGBTQ Club wanted to ban Chikfila from being bought on school dime for events. After meeting with the club, Stillwell agreed to this and a lot of students got mad. So a few days later, during an all-school Chapel, he retracted the Chikfila ban.

Next, Stilwell practically left the COVID situation all in the hands of Dr. Bravo. Her precautions and etc. were more strict than other boarding schools and made students/alum/parents mad but Stillwell didn't intervene as he'd given Bravo the rains for a while. At the end of the year, people were so mad that the board said either Bravo or Stillwell had to go. He should've intervened, but he didn't, much to the detriment of students' mental health.

I could keep going on about Stillwell...teachers who've been at the school for 10-50 years have been leaving in herds.

Anecdotally, I've had several children attend EHS between the Hershey and Stillwell era and the environment is drastically different. The student body is less courteous and much more "fast." Students respected Hershey and mimicked his "southern charm" and followed the rules more as he made sound decisions that couldn't be affected by the board and etc..his words reflected his actions. Stillwell has little respect from students which completely changed the campus feel.

^this!!!! EHS wasn't all over the news for negative reasons until Stilwell took office.

Don't forget the illegal drugs by mail scandal last fall where one student was bringing drugs in for obvious distribution. Everyone received an email asking them not to contact the media and they told the kids to turn in any drugs they had without punishment.

Yep! The drug/mail scandal was handled horribly. At any private in the area, if students were stuck on campus 24/7, there would be drug purchases...but intimidating students to not tell anyone and doing another "drug amnesty" was not the solution.

Anecdotally, every time EHS has done a "drug amnesty" it ended horribly. Like not actually horribly, just laughably bad.

But genuinely, other than Stillwell, the school is great. Every place has its hiccups.

[Anonymous]

How serious or prevalent is sexual activity, and does it vary by grade level? Is it permitted in the dorms, or does it just happen while our and about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Episcopal kids and TC kids sometimes hang out together - there was some dating between the two schools in pre-Covid times.

Quelle horreur!

this made me laugh

[Anonymous]

Woodberry Forest is a much better environment for high school boys at this point

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Woodberry Forest is a much better environment for high school boys at this point

How so, PP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How serious or prevalent is sexual activity, and does it vary by grade level? Is it permitted in the dorms, or does it just happen while our and about?

Several years ago, Episcopal required the entire student body to submit a survey regarding sexual activity. The High School ranked nearly the highest for frequency and prevalence of sex in the student body...including freshmen.

Students are allowed to kiss but sexual activity of any kind is forbidden, which results in hookups occurring in classrooms, bushes, busses, you name it. Every night, the school sends two teachers out to search for hookups -- if caught, the students involved not only face the embarrassment of being caught in a compromising position by faculty, but are given detention and required to explain what happened to their parents on the phone. With a male dean in the room.

Dorm hookups are rare due to the combination of thin walls and residential parents.