In the chapel I attended at the start of the school year, he was in choir dress and black tippet, which is appropriate only for clergy. Impersonating clergy is a very serious issue, and I am appalled that the school is allowing it. Either they don't know any better or they don't care.

Seriously^^, that is inappropriate. What color of tippet? Is he wearing it over choir dress? Is he also wearing the collar? He can't wear the collar if he is not ordained.

Someone needs to explain to the new chaplain that he since he is not a priest or deacon, he is NOT allowed to wear a tippet or stole. That is completely misleading. The fact that the school is permitting him to wear them tells me that the leadership is not aware of Episcopal tradition or doesn't care.

How does WES structure chapel?

Our experience differs from the previous few posters. The teachers we encountered so far has been great.

I do not find generalized statements such as "school X is better than school Y" informative. As they say to each his own. We will not consider another area school for our little one.

OP, We left WES (along with many others), and I think the religious component will be the least of your worries if you should chose WES -- There will be much larger problems that you and your child will encounter. That is my honest opinion, based on experience!

Anonymous wrote:In my experience at WES, the "defender" parents also befriend the troublesome teachers (ones that should clearly be fired - period). It felt very toxic there. We hate driving by the school, and DC has bad memories.

YES! And those parents and faculty and admin. talk and gossip! It's a cabal! Kids still have nightmares of the mean teachers. Those "defender" parents are the same ones that claim there is only one poster here with an agenda. Right-o. I could rattle off some 50 to 100 names of disaffected families who left. There is a very large unhappy ex-WES diaspora in the area.

Anonymous wrote:To get back to OPs question, St Andrews is clearly a better school. As are the other Episcopal schools in the area.
If an ordained chaplain and a clear Episcopal doctrine is important to you, leave WES off your list of schools.

Not OP - but thank you for steering the conversation back to the original question.

To get back to OPs question, St Andrews is clearly a better school. As are the other Episcopal schools in the area.
If an ordained chaplain and a clear Episcopal doctrine is important to you, leave WES off your list of schools.

In my experience at WES, the "defender" parents also befriend the troublesome teachers (ones that should clearly be fired - period). It felt very toxic there. We hate driving by the school, and DC has bad memories.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This WES thread was nearly dead at one point - four days had gone by without a single additional post, and it had dropped off the first page of threads, on its ways to oblivion. Then someone posted a defense of WES, which moved the thread back to the top and has sparked additional debate. It seems to me, that the best thing that WES supporters can do, is stop responding, and stop drawing attention to it!!!!

Take your own advice. You just bumped it to the top again.

Suit yourself. I dont have a child at WES, so I am not affected either way. As an outsider, I find that WES defenders appear to be causing more harm than they may intend, but if you choose to keep having a "family" fight in public, I say go for it.

Not to worry. Jeff will eventually lock this thread just like the other out of control WES thread.

do us all a favor Jeff - lock.

Anonymous wrote:This WES thread was nearly dead at one point - four days had gone by without a single additional post, and it had dropped off the first page of threads, on its ways to oblivion. Then someone posted a defense of WES, which moved the thread back to the top and has sparked additional debate. It seems to me, that the best thing that WES supporters can do, is stop responding, and stop drawing attention to it!!!!

Take your own advice. You just bumped it to the top again.

This WES thread was nearly dead at one point - four days had gone by without a single additional post, and it had dropped off the first page of threads, on its ways to oblivion. Then someone posted a defense of WES, which moved the thread back to the top and has sparked additional debate. It seems to me, that the best thing that WES supporters can do, is stop responding, and stop drawing attention to it!!!!

Anonymous wrote:WES does have some parents who are drinking the Kool Aid and writing generous checks. They love being a big fish in a tiny pond! Sorry, but it's time to get some decent teachers!

Did you not read that the gift was made anonymously?