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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I also want to say that St Ann's is not a cutthroat private school. No grades, no note taking, heavy interest in the arts. Puppetry and poetry are really big. A lot of self directed learning. I know parents who have been frustrated with the lack of rigor (ie they can spend an entire 11th grade semester on one novel .. which , okay, but kids go to college really not used to demands).

Admissions favors the rich and famous, by a lot, which helps with college admissions (full pay plus famous name). But also lots of room for grads to move on to places like SCAD and Culinary Institute or Parsons or Stella Adler or undefined gap years.

Which is all to say, I don't think it's unusual for a kid to be evaluated in early years as potentially an issue and then parents thought the ship was righted. And a kid whose future looked more like artist-baker than IB grinder would NOT be out of the norm. Because they all have granddad's money.

And I do understand the anger that comes from  "We Celebrate the Individual Child .. except you, son"

I really understand counseling out a behavior case from St Ann's or an academic case from most other privates. But this case from St Ann's seems unnecessary.[/quote]

10 bucks says the St Ann's administrators really wanted that seat and they already had a famous-wealthy family in mind to take it. They had to jettison this kid for a new entrant to 9th grade.

How many kids enter St Ann's in 9th grade? I'm sure current families can pretty easily figure out who it was that took the kid's seat. Bigger fish in a small pond. [/quote]

If they really want an applicant, any private school will find the room. They don't have to "jettison" a kid to do it.[/quote]

+1
The school had been trying to gently “jettison” this poor child for years and the parents had their heads in the sand. [/quote]

But that's not how it works. Private schools tell parents at the beginning of the school year that a new contract will not be offered in the spring for the following year. It is explicit, there is no wishy-washy language, and it is typically in writing.

The article does not mention this, only the subtle hints 4-5 years earlier and then the lack of contract in February.

Here's how I'm thinking this played out: [b]admin wanted the kid gone, but teachers + parent did not agree. [/b]Kid kept getting decent progress reports from the teachers (helped along by his supports) and no disciplinary issues, therefore the parents were expecting to continue. The admin didn't put anything in writing, so as to not upset the rich grandfather. Once the elder brother was far enough into HS, the school admins knew they could dump the young brother without the older brother withdrawing since he was too far along in HS tenure to withdraw from the school + his friends in the aftermath of the pandemic.

It's a very shady situation. There's probably more to the story than what's in the article, but I also wouldn't pull my kid out of the school given its focus on the arts and individualized education. The kid didn't need special ed.[/quote]

As a long time private school employee, I can't envision a scenario where this would happen. Why would the admin want to counsel a kid out if the teachers wanted him to stay and felt they could support his needs? It's usually the other way around-- teachers want the school to counsel kids out because they feel they can't meet their needs, but admin is hesitant to do so. Much more likely that the teachers have been saying this year after year, and admin dragged their feet before finally pulling the trigger.[/quote]

Explain this:

[quote][i]In the two years since Ellis’s death, his parents have turned the circumstances over in their heads again and again. Ellis had never been asked to repeat a class or been disciplined for behavioral issues. There was no grading structure in which he had failed. [b]His midyear reports from eighth grade note his problems with writing and organization, but also his progress, and they praise him for his creative thinking and contributions to his classes.[/b][/i][/quote]

I know we are only getting half the story here with this article, but a mid-year report in 8th grade is the perfect CYA opportunity for the school if they were going planning to withdraw his offer for the fall. That mid-year report should be brutal and it's not, per the author.

St. Ann's graduates around 80 kids per year: https://saintannsny.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/SchoolProfile22-23-final.pdf[/quote]

The article doesn't explain the balance of the report. It is quite possible that the concerns with his writing level and lack of progress were 80% of the report while acknowledging strengths in the other 20%.  There was no need for the school to ignore the child's creative thinking while also raising concern about being able to keep up with the classwork.[/quote]

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