Anonymous wrote:The senior class poem and the "disruption" of the last meeting before break are both traditions at sidwell. At the last meeting before break one senior leaves the room. Another senior stands up and starts telling a story. The story ends with the student saying something about keys, at which point the senior class starts jingling their keys and singing jingle bells. The student who left at the beginning of meeting returns dressed as Santa and starts throwing candy at everyone. The rest of the seniors join in. This happens at the last meeting before break every year. As for the senior poem, it is usually read during the holiday concert and can be a bit mean. No hard copy is distributed. The administration always okays the poem before it is read. This year they canceled the poem reading so it was distributed as a hard copy instead of being read at the concerrt.

Anonymous wrote:These are traditions that started out as fun and clever, but have gotten out of hand. That can happen with teenagers. The administrators are clearly trying to deal with this -- they did, after all, tell the students who wrote the poem that they couldn't read it. The kids defied them, and my guess is that there will be consequences for doing so. The US has gone through a stretch without strong leadership from administrators, particularly last year when there was an interim Head of School and an interim US principal. Now, with a new team in place -- i.e., new Head of School, new US Principal, new US Dean of Students -- the disciplinary approach is changing. As a parent, I hope that other Sidwell parents will support their efforts to find a balance between nurturing an atmosphere where kids are encouraged to have fun and speak out, but also where everyone is expected to treat others with respect. I hope parents of kids at other schools will have the sense not to judge all Sidwell students based on the actions of a few kids.

Anonymous wrote:The senior class poem and the "disruption" of the last meeting before break are both traditions at sidwell. At the last meeting before break one senior leaves the room. Another senior stands up and starts telling a story. The story ends with the student saying something about keys, at which point the senior class starts jingling their keys and singing jingle bells. The student who left at the beginning of meeting returns dressed as Santa and starts throwing candy at everyone. The rest of the seniors join in. This happens at the last meeting before break every year. As for the senior poem, it is usually read during the holiday concert and can be a bit mean. No hard copy is distributed. The administration always okays the poem before it is read. This year they canceled the poem reading so it was distributed as a hard copy instead of being read at the concerrt.

Anonymous wrote:NP here. An "ugly, misogynistic, cruel" class poem, as OP said, or at least one that "can be a bit mean" is a tradition? That seems like an odd tradition for a Quaker school.

Anonymous wrote:The senior class poem and the "disruption" of the last meeting before break are both traditions at sidwell. At the last meeting before break one senior leaves the room. Another senior stands up and starts telling a story. The story ends with the student saying something about keys, at which point the senior class starts jingling their keys and singing jingle bells. The student who left at the beginning of meeting returns dressed as Santa and starts throwing candy at everyone. The rest of the seniors join in. This happens at the last meeting before break every year. As for the senior poem, it is usually read during the holiday concert and can be a bit mean. No hard copy is distributed. The administration always okays the poem before it is read. This year they canceled the poem reading so it was distributed as a hard copy instead of being read at the concerrt.

Anonymous wrote:Why do you care?