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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]2026 holton grad here just to share some thoughts.

first, the entire class agreed in a grade-wide session that the school is going downhill, it's not what it used to be, and we're all glad to be leaving before it gets worse.

not sure if all the changes/departures are from HOS, but she is definitely a part of it. students make bingo cards for all her events/speeches because of how predictable, long, and vapid they are. just this year, she has butchered students' names at the closing ceremony, grabbed a student by the arm, all the while promoting "leading with love." teachers, especially the ones who have been here for longer, are just as dissatisfied with the new leadership based on conversations in the classroom.

regarding the admin as a whole, it seems that their focus has shifted to fundraising and student retention big-time.   at school wide events and even upper school-only ceremonies, there always has to be some acknowledgement of donors or thanking parents for "choosing holton." the new fundraising director held a session with all student club leaders this year, regulating student bake sales and saying they would take away from donations to the holton fund/endowment. this not only left a bad taste in students’ mouths but also left club leaders scrambling to arrange new plans for fundraising halfway through the year.   during the spring, it’s also been a tradition for each US grade to compete to have the highest class participation in donations (seniors always reach 100% and have a pizza party), but it was quietly changed to parent participation this year. not sure if the reasoning was based on $$ (students each donate just $1 to reach the % participation goal) or because they know many senior class members would be reluctant to support the school now :/

in any case, that definitely didn’t foster a sense of school spirit. these instances are just a few examples of the change at holton (also now senior exit interviews have been removed, senior projects cut in half, upper school end of year MELO projects being canceled, etc). from the student perspective, they mark a steep departure from the sincere gratitude and sense of belonging SAJ instilled in us.

as a holton lifer, my friends and i all recall enthusiastically recommending the school to all our friends’ families and being *excited* to volunteer for admissions events like our annual open house. as an admissions tour guide in US these past few years though, i have often felt that i can no longer keep up the act and recommend the school in good faith - it simply isn’t the same anymore.

yes, i do agree with above posters that change isn’t necessarily a bad thing. but at some point, replacing beloved traditions will weaken our community, dampen student morale, and cause us to lose valuable institutional knowledge. as seniors, my classmates and i have even reconsidered how we plan to engage as alumni - if holton isn’t the holton we loved anymore, what makes the new holton worth investing in? the faculty feel the same, as expressed in the letter shared on this forum a few months ago (letter written by faculty to alumni).

in case you still don’t believe me, here are some sentiments shared in senior grade wide session:
- “we’ve been looking forward to these traditions for 10 years, now it just feels like they’re being taken away with no reason or explanation”
- "I used to be proud to say that I'm a holton girl. That's not the case anymore"
- “i feel conflicted because this is a time when i’m supposed to be enjoying the last few months of school, but we are just facing hurdle after hurdle on our way out”

maybe this is just a new era for holton, and that’s completely fine. but prospective families deserve to know that the holton they’re signing up for is not the same holton they have heard about in years past. as an alum now, i’m not sure how i can make an impact, but i believe that transparency is the first step.

****
also note to all the parents arguing about college matriculations and the school leadership changes:   who says these are correlated? college counseling staff hasn’t changed all that much, and much of students’ applications are based on extracurriculars, personal essays, rec letters. under larger institutional changes, students can do their ECs outside of school, work with private counselors to write essays, pay for test prep courses, etc. private school parents would never let kids fall simply because their school is failing. the only in-school change i’ve noticed is that some classmates had to find new rec letter writers due to faculty turnover.   as someone who has been through the application process in the past year, yearly matriculations say essentially nothing about the current state of the school but much more about the members of the class and general admissions trends. yes, school reputation, curriculum changes, and educational philosophy can play a big role in student outcomes and college admissions, but the impacts of those changes will only be seen years down the road - certainly not in the class of 2026 where students spent 7/10 years attending SAJ’s holton.[/quote]

Good to know. Should I be concerned as a parent of a rising 9th grader ? [/quote]

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