Anonymous wrote:Personally, the new new head of school and new attitude at Potomac to be more competitive in sports, as well as new facilities all while maintaining a hard core academic curriculum all factored heavily into our kid going there next year. We had lots of choices, live in NWDC, have another kid at a "big 3" school but just thought Potomac looked great for our uber athletic, really smart and driven kid. We were surprised that we were all so impressed and are excited about Potomac. Our older kid was not at all impressed when we looked at it a few years ago so we didn't even bother applying. Seems to me it is headed in a much stronger direction. At least I certainly hope since we "bought the farm" as they say.
I hope you haven't "bought the farm" -- that has always been military slang for someone killed in combat.
But it sounds like you bought their pitch. I'm sure you'll like it -- it is an excellent school with high family satisfaction.
The Potomac Board made their vision for the school clear when they hired someone whose professional background included years of coaching football at a jocky independent school and whose big advanced degree is business school (Dartmouth MBA). They are looking for the marketing and the sports, and probably feel comfortable they can get the academic leadership from elsewhere in the leadership team. This is a different strategy from, say, Andover hiring a Harvard professor, but it represents a clear strategic choice and the steps taken since that hiring (forcing out personnel, bringing in more varsity coaches as FTEs, big money athletic facility) are all in line with that strategic choice.