sorry, PP 18:41 here: i mean DD as in daughter, not husband! i am still getting used to all the jargon used on this board.

maybe it is a Freudian slip somehow.

PP 18:06 My neighbor sends her DH to the school and is looking for another place, even though like for you (and our family too) it pretty close. She is also depressed because she applied for her DH to go elsewhere this coming school year and was not accepted anywhere (waitlisted, though). They are going to try again next year, but she is unhappy enough with the school that it is scaring us away from thinking of it for our DH (who is only 3). Mainly it is what others have hinted, there seems to be a lot of change coming and not necessarily for the better. She also has issues with the board and administration.

We were waitlisted by CHDS. I've been crying every day since. Of all the private schools in the area, it was the warmest and most genuine place we found. The administrators are so down to earth, and no one, no one in that school has any airs about them. The place is small, but very cozy. Exmissions, a word used by so many of you, isn't so bad, and actually quite impressive if you would bother to pay attention. By the way, we made it off the wait list at one of those upper NW schools, but I know in my heart of hearts it won't be the same good fit as CHDS would have been.

I just know that I wasn't all that impressed and I really wanted to be because we don't live far. I left the school visit feeling pretty depressed instead.

I'll just add that for a small school, CHDS seems to be hiring an awful lot of new teachers this year. I wonder what's behind the teacher turnover... Could just be coincidence, but maybe not. I don't know.

One of the problems with CHDS is that they are at a crossroads. They are torn between remaining a cozy,neighborhood school, and taking it to the next level and competing with the Big Boys in Upper Northwest (Maret, Beauvoir, etc.). To do the latter would require them to more aggressively recruit families from outside the Hill, raising tuition to ridiculous levels, and shedding a bit of their counter-culture, outsider status that so many of the families there seem to relish. Working to become more "elite" is not hard for them -- they have affluent, powerful, and well-connected families, and well credentialed and well respected teachers, staff, and leadership -- but there seems to be something distasteful to most about doing so. To some, it would mean becoming less diverse in every sense of the term. To others, it would mean revealing one of the best kept secrets in the private school world - a place where one may obtain a well-rounded education in a nurturing and caring environment -- and somehow CHDS would be less special if this were the case.

Hope this helps. I no longer have a student there but am active in the school community, so I will leave it to others with current experience about academics, etc. to help with the completion of the "homework assignment."

Yes, that was a provocative post. Please share your thoughts or knowledge. Look, we all know that people have different experiences at these schools and some people love them while others are less than enchanted... but in the end we like to process all the info we can get (referring to the PP's pretty accurate description of us being neurotic parents) and then make a determination on whether to apply based on that. Not a perfect process by any means, but .... yes, please help us with our "homework."

Anonymous wrote:You really need to do your homework before you consider this school. good luck.

"Homework" is why all of we neurotic parents are glued to this site! Please, 20:33 or anyone else, help with our homework!

Anonymous wrote:You really need to do your homework before you consider this school. good luck.

Why what have you heard????

You really need to do your homework before you consider this school. good luck.

I have a good friend who teaches at CHDS. She's great. Great education background, she's an artist, worked in policy for awhile too. If she is any indication of the quality of their teaching staff, it's a great school.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how difficult it is to get into CHDS? Is the Hill Preschool a feeder?

CHDS is a lovely, lovely school. It is not easy to get into and getting increasingly difficult. Every year at this time I do my best to console a long line of moms (and dads) who, like me, live on the Hill, whose lovely exceptional children did not get in. I thank god we got in before this gem was discovered.

Does anyone know how difficult it is to get into CHDS? Is the Hill Preschool a feeder?

there are many, many differences among the schools you list. here are some of the differences... some factual, some based purely on my personal perceptions

maret is college prep and goes through 12 (all on the same campus); sheridan is considered more progressive, as is burgundy. burgundy goes through 8th, sheridan i believe through 6th. cap hill day is more traditional, though they do make use of what is avail in the city to supplement what they learn in the classroom. it also goes through 8th.

cap hill facilities are very small - basically it is one big red brick building, though i do know they were trying to get a little more space. in my opinion, the school seems run down. it doesn't seem much better inside than some of the nicer NW public schools. there is a big public playground across the street, but it is right below a highway. maret has a nice campus based around a big white mansion. for the kiddies they have a cozy little cottage. sheridan also looked to me like a public school building and didn't really seem all that nice. just as one example, the lunch room was dark and unwelcoming. burgundy has a beautiful campus. although not far from the highway, it is set back in the woods and consists of many buildings (some used to be part of an actual farm, hence the school's name). they have this awesome campus in WVA where they go each year on a camping trip/learning expedition. parents join along.

as far as the administrations are concerned, the admissions folks from Cap Hill were grating. again, just our perception, but there were some things they didn't seem all that knowledgeable about. the folks at maret and burgundy were gems. at the sheridan open house i swear all the principal did was to talk about how great HE was. there were times during the presentation that we almost laughed out loud because of it.

i've heard issues of bullying at CHDS and Sheridan (though of course it must happen at every school to a degree). maret kids seem very well-rounded and have many extracurricular activities avail to them; burgundy kids seem really down to earth and bright.

chds, burgundy, maret and sheridan all strive for diversity and make it a point to try to make everyone comfortable. burgundy was the first desegregated school in VA.

aside from what i mentioned in the beginning (e.g., progressive vs traditional), CHDS de-emphasizes computers, Maret has lots of classes to choose from, Burgundy being the most progressive of those you list focuses just as much on children experimenting to find the answer as well as on the answer itself. sheridan prides itself on things such as students coming up with their own rules.

Certainly not everything under the sun, but hope this is a start to the types of things you were looking for. Again, please understand that much of this is based on our perception and some shared perceptions with friends of ours. Also, I do not know much at all about NPS so I am refraining from comment on them.

Does anyone have views on Capitol Hill Day School? CHDS v. Burgundy? v. Maret? v. Sheridan? v. NPS? Re atmosphere, academics, whatever.