Reply to So, what is wrong with Hardy?

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[quote=Anonymous][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]

Not the PP, but I also left the St Anselm's tour with a very negative feeling about the idea of my kid in that school.

Every thing about the school (from the pictures on the wall, talks with current parents, and the administrators and teachers we met during the visit) is about nurturing and preparing great leaders, not good citizens. However, as it often happens, many individuals just do not have the talent to be leaders (in business, politics, academia) or fail to build the necessary skills. In these cases you can just end up with individuals who are schooled to elitism, who lack a sense and interest in social cohesion, or won't be able to figure out their place in society..Have you ever met this type of persons (who show a disconnection between their projection of themselves, and how the most of society sees them?) . Well we think this type of school just nourishes this type of personality.

We visited several other private schools (in addition to Hardy). In schools like GDS, Holy Trinity (with a religious "accent" if you wish) the drive for academic excellence is conceived and passed to the students as an instrument to become successful contributors inside the society. Not to rule or dominate the society.

Bottom line, our choice for next year will be between GDS, Holy Trinity and Hardy. We might end up at Hardy (very impressed especially with the science and math depts.) , as our DC is very advanced and would most likely end up in the honors/accelerated tracks. We value diversity in general, and for his growth, and we do not see how it would "damage" our kid, especially in the presence of diversified tracks for math & English (not worried about standard classes for science and social studies). We might reconsider private schools for HS.

We still have one year to decide, but we definitely crossed out St Anselm's.[/quote]

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