SSFS HOS leaving

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t me who told anyone not to bother looking. But I would think the answer to “ Why tell them not to even bother looking?” is that it was that person’s “opinion” that right now ssfs isn’t worth considering if you have other choices.

"And anyone on this thread can express an opinion on both sides of that debate." Right. And on the other side of that debate, it is my opinion that discouraging people from even looking at SSFS is counterproductive.

and you should absolutely share why you think this year is a good year to consider enrolling. just like the other person shared why they thought it wasnt (high staff turnover, CFO departure etc).

There is no perfect school. The quest I imagine we all are on is to find a school that is the best fit for our child. I would never tell a parent to stay away and not look at SSFS as part of their quest to find the best fit.

Yes, I am a current SSFS parent and a 30+ year educator (not at SSFS) and one of the many reasons I would encourage families to look at SSFS is teacher credibility and the teacher-student relationship. In a groundbreaking study, John Hattie ranked 138 variables that influence learning. His study did a meta-analysis of more than 108,000 studies involving over 300 million students around the world. Teacher credibility and a trusting student-teacher relationship have one of the largest effect sizes on learning. This was of utmost importance to our family.

Also of importance to our family was safety, a sense of belonging, and self-esteem, which are basic needs (Maslow) that must be met in order to be motivated to learn.
The teachers at SSFS not only understand the importance of these needs along with the importance of credibility and trusting relationships, they also know how to make this happen. The teachers and support staff at SSFS take real time to learn about students including their lived experiences and funds of knowledge. The teachers at SSFS are strength spotters. They are coaches of social-emotional competencies. They invite students to share their preferences, hopes, and struggles. SSFS teachers know how to disengage stress and unite the community.
Any private school can claim to be rigorous and college preparatory, but if they aren’t establishing trusting relationships with students and maintaining a safe and inclusive climate, not a lot of substantive or authentic learning is occurring.

For my kids, SSFS is a joyful experience in learning that fortunately is not changing despite the challenges and drama. And in fact, I believe things will only improve.

[Anonymous]

Pp - your post resonates so much with our experience here. You (eloquently) got to the heart of what’s great about this school experience. Is it perfect? No, nothing with humans is. Working in the independent school space, I know of various challenges schools that various schools in this area are navigating (from attrition, to culture issues, to ineffective governance and boards). You have the find the place that works for your DC.

[Anonymous]

I think that’s what it comes to. People who say to stay away did not have this magical experience of “belonging” and “inclusiveness”. It’s not even about it not being perfect. It was a flat out horrible experience for some kids. Bullying, a non stimulating academic experience. This happens here for some also.

[Anonymous]

I don't think anyone here has described SSFS as magical. And I believe there is much empathy in this forum for anyone whose child did not have a good experience at SSFS particularly for a reason as detrimental as bullying. That's just terrible and I'm so sorry to hear this.

Posts from the last few days however were only communicating concerns about instability in leadership changes, teacher turnover, finances, etc and not bullying or lack of inclusivity. Instability alone is a valid concern but for many wouldn't lead to telling people to not even bother looking at SSFS.

The bottom line is that SSFS like all independent schools needs a continual flow of new families in order to thrive. If the school has been a good fit for you and you are staying albeit with concerns about stability, why discourage others from having a look? They will ultimately decide for themselves if it is a good fit for them and if they do decide to enroll that helps our school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:65 pages in and this thread has officially lost the plot! As one of the 25+ employees who left last year, I’m curious: how does CL seem to be handling this tumultuous transition period? I was not at all surprised to hear that CG was let go. Lots of messy financial decisions under him and RG. One of Head’s primary roles was to raise the reputation and financial standing/endowment of the school. Objectively, we can agree that RG’s tenure was a failure in that regard…with support of a BoT that was seemingly asleep at the wheels. It is no surprise that the community is still worked up and hurt by his tenure. RG preached inclusivity while acting in a deeply divisive and selfish manner that was completely at odds with Quaker practice. The school lost a number of great faculty and families but I would encourage those remaining to remain positive and constructive. SSFS will always be a special place!

+1 to every word

I was honestly surprised to see CG at all this year. CL is navigating things as well as I could expect. I will say, it's nice to not be flat-out lied to my face. I've found three things to be true so far this year- I've never worked harder, I haven't felt this empowered at SSFS in years, I'm genuinely happy there for the first time in a while. All those things make me a better teacher than I was last year.

[Anonymous]

We love SSFS teachers! So happy to hear you feel empowered!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:65 pages in and this thread has officially lost the plot! As one of the 25+ employees who left last year, I’m curious: how does CL seem to be handling this tumultuous transition period? I was not at all surprised to hear that CG was let go. Lots of messy financial decisions under him and RG. One of Head’s primary roles was to raise the reputation and financial standing/endowment of the school. Objectively, we can agree that RG’s tenure was a failure in that regard…with support of a BoT that was seemingly asleep at the wheels. It is no surprise that the community is still worked up and hurt by his tenure. RG preached inclusivity while acting in a deeply divisive and selfish manner that was completely at odds with Quaker practice. The school lost a number of great faculty and families but I would encourage those remaining to remain positive and constructive. SSFS will always be a special place!

+1 to every word

I was honestly surprised to see CG at all this year. CL is navigating things as well as I could expect. I will say, it's nice to not be flat-out lied to my face. I've found three things to be true so far this year- I've never worked harder, I haven't felt this empowered at SSFS in years, I'm genuinely happy there for the first time in a while. All those things make me a better teacher than I was last year.

It’s sad that it was that way. I don’t understand why no one helped the teachers under RG. Was there no one to advocate for the teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We love SSFS teachers! So happy to hear you feel empowered!

So happy to hear this! We are new at the school and my kids are so happy. Their teachers seem so amazing that I want to go back in time and be taught by them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:65 pages in and this thread has officially lost the plot! As one of the 25+ employees who left last year, I’m curious: how does CL seem to be handling this tumultuous transition period? I was not at all surprised to hear that CG was let go. Lots of messy financial decisions under him and RG. One of Head’s primary roles was to raise the reputation and financial standing/endowment of the school. Objectively, we can agree that RG’s tenure was a failure in that regard…with support of a BoT that was seemingly asleep at the wheels. It is no surprise that the community is still worked up and hurt by his tenure. RG preached inclusivity while acting in a deeply divisive and selfish manner that was completely at odds with Quaker practice. The school lost a number of great faculty and families but I would encourage those remaining to remain positive and constructive. SSFS will always be a special place!

+1 to every word

I was honestly surprised to see CG at all this year. CL is navigating things as well as I could expect. I will say, it's nice to not be flat-out lied to my face. I've found three things to be true so far this year- I've never worked harder, I haven't felt this empowered at SSFS in years, I'm genuinely happy there for the first time in a while. All those things make me a better teacher than I was last year.

It’s sad that it was that way. I don’t understand why no one helped the teachers under RG. Was there no one to advocate for the teachers?

I also don't understand why nobody stepped up to support the teachers. Either RG was more powerful than he should have been or the division heads were spineless because it's the division heads that should always be advocating for their teachers and especially in such a toxic environment that RG created.

[Anonymous]

Six highly competent division heads were run out town by RG’s special mix of micromanagement in the US and complete disinterest in the LS. They fought for teachers as best they could but his ego and financial self-interest always won out.

[Anonymous]

RG was more powerful than he should have been.

And division heads are also just perks trying to pay for groceries, mortgages, and college tuition. I don't envy it blame them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Six highly competent division heads were run out town by RG’s special mix of micromanagement in the US and complete disinterest in the LS. They fought for teachers as best they could but his ego and financial self-interest always won out.

Why was RG trying to ruin the US? That’s what we felt when we were there, but we couldn’t understand who was doing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Six highly competent division heads were run out town by RG’s special mix of micromanagement in the US and complete disinterest in the LS. They fought for teachers as best they could but his ego and financial self-interest always won out.

Allllllll of this.

[Anonymous]

Current parent here. So I really wasn't worried about how things were going at the school until I showed up today to our annual Friends Day. This has always been a really fun event with a carnival atmosphere and the entire community. While it's true that it was forecasted to rain, this is the lamest event I have ever been to at any school. There are probably a total of about 100 people here scattered across the campus. No spirit wear and recycled T-shirts from last year (I was literally told that I could use a Sharpie to update it to say 2024). What the heck is going on? This of all years would have been the year to inspire more confidence and community building. What a missed opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Six highly competent division heads were run out town by RG’s special mix of micromanagement in the US and complete disinterest in the LS. They fought for teachers as best they could but his ego and financial self-interest always won out.

What's clear is that of the HOS is bad, the board needs to step in. Teachers will suffer in fear and silence and administers will suffer too or leave. A board's inability to act or to fall for the head's lies and drama are real problems. I hope other schools learn the lesson from SSFS before it's too late.