Landon article from 7/1/10 Washington Post
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| This sums it all up nicely. |
Anonymous
| That article could have been far worse. It was fairly objective. |
Anonymous
| I don't have a kid at Landon, but this story doesn't seem to have any new "meat" -- so it seems more like a high school article than a story for the WP |
Anonymous
|
I do agree, the article could have been worst but Valerie Strauss' article lacks some credibility. All of her sources wish to remain anonymous "citing fear of retaliation", I'm not sure how much I buy that. Its clear there are some problems at Landon which must be addressed.
As for the article being objective, I disagree. As a former Landon parent, the post brings up the notorious SAT scandal from the early 2000's. The Post cited a "2002 SAT cheating episode in which eight members of the lacrosse team were suspended while two non-athletes were forced to leave the school." This couldn't be more far from the truth, 4 members of the lacrosse team were involved with the scandal. The two kids forced to leave the school, did in-fact play sports but rather never came forward in a timely manner. As for the anonymous letter which was sent to the administration and sent to the Wash Post, the letter was written by several whiny mothers who were extremely upset their sons lost playing time to underclassmen. While some of the allegations were true, some were completly blown out of proportion in attempt to ruin a man's career. Landons baseball team had a phenomenal season this past Spring, the administration fired one of the baseball coaches for his antics (PS he was the former head baseball coach at Prep for 10 years before he came to Landon)I don't recall hearing any complaints from baseball parents this year. Again, Landon certainly has some issues to address this summer, but I question the purpose of this article. Is all of this truly newsworthy material? By now most parents who spent hours playing on this website know Landon has had some problems, is the Washington Post that desperate to "sell" newspapers again 
|
Anonymous
|
PP, I do understand why people would be concerned about retaliation if they have sons attending Landon. That's because the administration does nothing about behavioral problems.
I understand what you are saying, but you might consider the current atmosphere at the school. Things might have changed since your ds attended Landon. And not for the better. |
Anonymous
| As a parent considering applying to Landon, the article provided no new information to me other than that the head of the upper school is resigning ... and apparently he is the designated spokesperson on the record for the school as he is leaving anyway? There were no real answers to anything they are doing to address anything, other than to suggest that people are thinking about things. Total waste of print space as far as providing any real information about either existing programs ... or what they plan for the future. The outgoing head's speech was interesting ... did he basically say that same sex education for boys was inevitably incomplete? (Specifically, that boys miss an "invaluable" experience by going to all boys' school?) And that is just left unaddressed? How is the school planning to round out the experience? And the vignette about the family who has gone there since the founding -- what was the point of that? The summary wasn't followed up with anything but is the implication supposed to be that the school is basically "owned" by a few people now? Other than the baseball coach, it didn't say anything about other sports (lacrosse being of recent interest), but does the school have a stated philosophy of coaching? Is it thinking of getting one? It said nothing about middle school although that head of school has been roundly and repeatedly disparaged on this forum. Wasn't he in charge of some of the troubled children? And what is up with having dual or triple roles for people in key positions? Teacher, admin, coach, etc.? At some point doesn't the school have to get more FOCUS? |
Anonymous
``Several whiny mothers????''!!!! You proved once again what horrible environment Landon is. |
Anonymous
| Exactly, PP. |
Anonymous
| Read the posts -- Landon boosters regularly speak of retaliation. They are a scary crowd. |
Anonymous
| I'm not a booster for Landon -- I just think the article was really lame. The head of the upper school is Jamaican American...the article failed to tie that in with the story of the AA boy being falsely accused of cheating by 4 white students. I was wondering if the upper school hear was leaving because maybe he felt AA students weren't being treated fairly or don't have a place at Landon...now that would be interesting to explore and the WP article doesn't seem to even know the head is Jamaican American. |
SAM2
Member Offline
Member Offline
All the press I've seen consistently says eight were involved, not four. http://fwd4.me/VGZ ("... said the eight students admitted to cheating on the SAT exam") http://fwd4.me/VGa ("One week later, the eight male students came forward and admitted cheating.") http://fwd4.me/VGc ("8 Students Suspended For SAT Cheating") http://fwd4.me/VGd ("In mid-November, eight boys ... came forward and confessed, the suit says.") |
Anonymous
| The US head is a nice person and I'm not sure why he is leaving. He likely has been offered a better opportunity. Yes, the MS head is neglectful and is very fortunate that the article didn't mention him. |
Anonymous
| I know the US head is a very nice person and he comes from a super nice family. The article mentioned he was going to "pursue" opportunities in non-profit type work..it didn't say he landed anything...so I hope he's not fed up with the school. |
Anonymous
|
He likely is tired of the situation and wants to move on.
What a mess he inherited when he accepted the Landon post a couple of years ago. |