Reply to So, what is wrong with Hardy?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a current Stoddert parent who toured Hardy, and I was literally running for the exit. [/quote]

I recently visited St Anselm's with high expectations (MS has been ranked "best MS in DC for 3 years in a row by a well-respected source), and I was literally running for the exit.

[/quote]

What didn't you like about it?[/quote]

PP here:  It seemed chaotic and loud in the halls.  I wasn't impressed with the teachers, and the students could not have looked any more unenthused or detached from the classroom.  After touring I understand why my two sons don't want to go to Hardy (based on their observations when they are in the building every Friday for Filmore.)[/quote]

I visited the school several times (first time during the feeder school open house, and then for private meetings with the Principal and then during the school Science Fair) and had the opposite impression on each of the points you mentioned.

On the open house day, we witnessed students moving between classes at the end of each period (we saw two periods).  Most of us were positively impressed by how quick this transition was. Yes, it was noisy since you have (at each floor) more than 100 students simultaneously moving to different classes, and going different directions ... It lasted just about 4 minutes and then all was silent again. Visiting parents asked the Assistant Principal (a guy who was at Wilson until last year) how come it was so quick and smooth? He explained that students have 4 mins to move between classes after the bell ring. If they take longer, they are marked as "tardy" (and large number of tardies will prompt the school to call for a meeting with the families; OB students with a large numbers of tardies in the first morning class, I think he said 30, may not be invited back to the school on the following year).

Inside the class, students looked very engaged and well-behaved. Class size was small to very small (15-20 kids). On the day of my visit, we checked on the 6th grade art class on the first floor, where the atmosphere looked "magical" (kids drawing and talking with soft voice, charismatic teacher), and then we went to a STEM 6th grade class on the second or third floor, where kids (about 15) looked very engaged and interacted with us in a polite way after the teacher had explained what they were doing on that day and during the year . The teacher herself impressed most of the parents.

On one of the follow-up visits, we arrived around lunch time , and as we were early for our meeting with Principal Pride, we sneaked in to take a look at the cafeteria in action. First we noticed a "self-serve" salad bar at the center of the cafeteria, where kids could pick fresh vegetables of their choice. Though several kids looked uninterested in raw carrots , cucumbers and coleslaw, I know that our DC will. That was a nice unexpected surprise. The cafeteria was loud-loud but the atmosphere was nice and disciplined. I noticed at least 2 adults supervising the cafeteria.

We went back to Hardy this time with our DC, together with another Stoddert 5th grade family,  during the school  "Science Fair" (about 1 month ago) in the gym. THE KIDS LOVED IT!! And that's when we made our final decision in favor of Hardy. The Fair was very well organized in the school gym (which is huge), projects were on average of high quality, presented through posters as well as in power point (!). We got to talk to the 6th grade science teacher (the kids seemed to adore him), with the STEM teacher we had met during the first open house, as well as with the 8th grade science teacher. Students body seemed racially very well integrated, with most teams made up of multi-racial members. The 6th grade science teacher explained to us that the teams has formed spontaneously. Principal Pride was there too, we told her that we had made up our mind and will join the school for next year....She looked sincerely thrilled, welcomed us an gave the girls a hug!!

So, what can I say, maybe you visited the school in a bad mood or with a negative attitude.. I would suggest that you take a second look, maybe during one of the baskeball games, which your boys might find more interesting than the Fillmore art program...[/quote]

Thanks for the long reply, I was actually asking about the impression given about St. Anselm's.  My family and I love the Abbey community and program, and I'm curious if it was a bad tour or shadow visit.[/quote]

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