Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We do know that the school sent the decline to enroll in February, which is too late to transfer elsewhere

I am in full agreement that they should have let the family know of the decline earlier, so that they could apply to privates specializing in kids with disabilities, if private is what they wanted. However, it is not accurate to say it was "too late to transfer elsewhere." Public school, which the vast majority of children in the US attend, and is legally required to provide accommodations, is always an option.

I live in NY. February is far too late for applying to publics (which is what we do here). That window closes before Christmas. The city would have placed him at one of our 400 high schools with seats open - so not a great one. By February, families would have missed out doing all the crazy things we do here: rank schools maybe write an essay maybe take a test maybe audition and def tour the schools. The process is especially important for a family who will be ranking schools with a lot of support.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also want to say that St Ann's is not a cutthroat private school. No grades, no note taking, heavy interest in the arts. Puppetry and poetry are really big. A lot of self directed learning. I know parents who have been frustrated with the lack of rigor (ie they can spend an entire 11th grade semester on one novel .. which , okay, but kids go to college really not used to demands).

Admissions favors the rich and famous, by a lot, which helps with college admissions (full pay plus famous name). But also lots of room for grads to move on to places like SCAD and Culinary Institute or Parsons or Stella Adler or undefined gap years.

Which is all to say, I don't think it's unusual for a kid to be evaluated in early years as potentially an issue and then parents thought the ship was righted. And a kid whose future looked more like artist-baker than IB grinder would NOT be out of the norm. Because they all have granddad's money.

And I do understand the anger that comes from "We Celebrate the Individual Child .. except you, son"

I really understand counseling out a behavior case from St Ann's or an academic case from most other privates. But this case from St Ann's seems unnecessary.

10 bucks says the St Ann's administrators really wanted that seat and they already had a famous-wealthy family in mind to take it. They had to jettison this kid for a new entrant to 9th grade.

How many kids enter St Ann's in 9th grade? I'm sure current families can pretty easily figure out who it was that took the kid's seat. Bigger fish in a small pond.

Anonymous wrote:I also want to say that St Ann's is not a cutthroat private school. No grades, no note taking, heavy interest in the arts. Puppetry and poetry are really big. A lot of self directed learning. I know parents who have been frustrated with the lack of rigor (ie they can spend an entire 11th grade semester on one novel .. which , okay, but kids go to college really not used to demands).

Admissions favors the rich and famous, by a lot, which helps with college admissions (full pay plus famous name). But also lots of room for grads to move on to places like SCAD and Culinary Institute or Parsons or Stella Adler or undefined gap years.

Which is all to say, I don't think it's unusual for a kid to be evaluated in early years as potentially an issue and then parents thought the ship was righted. And a kid whose future looked more like artist-baker than IB grinder would NOT be out of the norm. Because they all have granddad's money.

And I do understand the anger that comes from "We Celebrate the Individual Child .. except you, son"

I really understand counseling out a behavior case from St Ann's or an academic case from most other privates. But this case from St Ann's seems unnecessary.

I am in full agreement that they should have let the family know of the decline earlier, so that they could apply to privates specializing in kids with disabilities, if private is what they wanted. However, it is not accurate to say it was "too late to transfer elsewhere." Public school, which the vast majority of children in the US attend, and is legally required to provide accommodations, is always an option.


I live in NY. February is far too late for applying to publics (which is what we do here). That window closes before Christmas. The city would have placed him at one of our 400 high schools with seats open - so not a great one. By February, families would have missed out doing all the crazy things we do here: rank schools maybe write an essay maybe take a test maybe audition and def tour the schools. The process is especially important for a family who will be ranking schools with a lot of support.

Anonymous wrote:

We do know that the school sent the decline to enroll in February, which is too late to transfer elsewhere

I am in full agreement that they should have let the family know of the decline earlier, so that they could apply to privates specializing in kids with disabilities, if private is what they wanted. However, it is not accurate to say it was "too late to transfer elsewhere." Public school, which the vast majority of children in the US attend, and is legally required to provide accommodations, is always an option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally would not keep my child at a school that told me it cannot meet his needs.

It’s not at all clear the school said anything so direct to the family.

It was very clear in the article.

No, it wasn’t. And in any event, the school kept renewing enrollment. That’s as big an endorsement of “you belong here” that you can get.

places for horrible, cut-throat administrators who are happy to accept collateral damage to kids as long as they can rake in the bucks and cultivate their elite image.

Anonymous wrote:Reading the NYT article about the suicide at St. Ann’s in NYC after a talented but dyslexic boy was “counseled out” just reaffirmed to me that private schools are places for horrible, cut-throat administrators who are happy to accept collateral damage to kids as long as they can rake in the bucks and cultivate their elite image.

I truly hope this boy’s parents who are suing bankrupt that school - and that parents who participate in this vicious game appreciate that this type of tragedy could one day befall them as well.

Anonymous wrote:Kids get counseled out of schools all the time. All the time. And they don't go on to commit suicide. I don't hold St. A's liable at all.

Anonymous wrote:Kids get counseled out of schools all the time. All the time. And they don't go on to commit suicide. I don't hold St. A's liable at all.