Anonymous wrote:I'm the parent of a senior and reading this thread has been incredibly validating and depressing. There are themes here that repeat over and over.
1. Teachers are generally great
2. Administration sucks- specifically, it's unorganized and controlled by the DEI agenda that squashes sophisticated and nuanced discussion.
3. Kids generally are happy but if you make any mistake- especially something DEI related you will be cancelled
4. Russell is overpaid
5. The senior class this year is doing well vis a vis college admissions but that has to do with the specifics of the kids not the college office. And the jury is still out. Not all acceptances are back.

Thank you - I'm the OP and you have hit the nail on the head. The thread meandered a bit but you have captured my feeling as a very long time parent of multiple lifer GDS kids with one more in HS now.

Anonymous wrote:I'm the parent of a senior and reading this thread has been incredibly validating and depressing. There are themes here that repeat over and over.
1. Teachers are generally great
2. Administration sucks- specifically, it's unorganized and controlled by the DEI agenda that squashes sophisticated and nuanced discussion.
3. Kids generally are happy but if you make any mistake- especially something DEI related you will be cancelled
4. Russell is overpaid
5. The senior class this year is doing well vis a vis college admissions but that has to do with the specifics of the kids not the college office. And the jury is still out. Not all acceptances are back.

6. Lower grades are a bit of a s—-show.A. They don’t teach kids school skills and expect them to just intuit things b. “Freedom” means lots of bullying
7

I'm the parent of a senior and reading this thread has been incredibly validating and depressing. There are themes here that repeat over and over.
1. Teachers are generally great
2. Administration sucks- specifically, it's unorganized and controlled by the DEI agenda that squashes sophisticated and nuanced discussion.
3. Kids generally are happy but if you make any mistake- especially something DEI related you will be cancelled
4. Russell is overpaid
5. The senior class this year is doing well vis a vis college admissions but that has to do with the specifics of the kids not the college office. And the jury is still out. Not all acceptances are back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only some MS parents dislike the report cards. Many, including me, are totally fine with them and actually find the content useful to guide our kids towards how to excel in HS. Simplistic letter grades would not do that in my opinion.

Do you speak with other MS parents? I'm not sure what "content" you find useful because there is very little of it. Saying that "only some MS parents dislike the report cards" is not accurate. I haven't met a single MS parent who thinks that it's effective or clear and it comes up a lot at school related social events.

https://theaugurbit.com/2024/01/29/middle-school-grading-system-fails-to-prepare-students-for-high-school/

Passing off an op-ed as fact seems disingenuous.

We have spoken to other MS parents and there's definitely a vocal contingent that doesn't like the report cards. And there are lots who are perfectly fine with them.

Anonymous wrote:These are all right-wing trolls. They have been coming after GDS Justice Brown was confirmed. They accused GDS of teaching Critical Race Theory.

Nobody attending GDS cares about this.

That would make you a left wing troll, correct?

Anonymous wrote:Only some MS parents dislike the report cards. Many, including me, are totally fine with them and actually find the content useful to guide our kids towards how to excel in HS. Simplistic letter grades would not do that in my opinion.

Do you speak with other MS parents? I'm not sure what "content" you find useful because there is very little of it. Saying that "only some MS parents dislike the report cards" is not accurate. I haven't met a single MS parent who thinks that it's effective or clear and it comes up a lot at school related social events.

https://theaugurbit.com/2024/01/29/middle-school-grading-system-fails-to-prepare-students-for-high-school/

Anonymous wrote:These are all right-wing trolls. They have been coming after GDS Justice Brown was confirmed. They accused GDS of teaching Critical Race Theory.

Nobody attending GDS cares about this.

If you are calling most of the PPs on this thread right-wing trolls then you have a lot of learning and listening to do. The PPs here sound like informed parents and the topics they are discussing are of concern to many.

Anonymous wrote:Only some MS parents dislike the report cards. Many, including me, are totally fine with them and actually find the content useful to guide our kids towards how to excel in HS. Simplistic letter grades would not do that in my opinion.

I know that at Saint Ann’s in NYC, which is famous for not giving formal grades, teachers write long evaluations that one can decipher what the approximate grade would be. Would you say that’s true for GDS MS?

Only some MS parents dislike the report cards. Many, including me, are totally fine with them and actually find the content useful to guide our kids towards how to excel in HS. Simplistic letter grades would not do that in my opinion.

The gds admin is top notch. Ignore the trolls.

Anonymous wrote:As someone with a child applying for Middle School, I'm curious if/how/when people think change at the HS level is likely to happen?

It's anyone's guess. At this point, there's no visibility to parents if HS principal replacement is being sought or if HOS / board even realizes there is a problem.

My guess after many years as a parent: optics of a departure in the next year would be bad given turnover in LS and MS heads last couple of years. I'm guessing we are more than 1 year away. But let's see

The teaching remains excellent -- though admittedly GDS MS is the weak part of the school - don't even get me started on how the report cards are graded - no grades, just GDS code words that teachers hate and HS teachers realize leave kids unprepared for the cold water plunge of HS and HS grades in 9th grade

As someone with a child applying for Middle School, I'm curious if/how/when people think change at the HS level is likely to happen?

Anonymous wrote:the weird thing about all of this is that GDS is a place that I would fully expect to be seeking out books with the intention of presenting ideas and initiating discussion that is challenging

How does having teachers avoid saying a particular word make any of this impossible?

Anonymous wrote:These are all right-wing trolls. They have been coming after GDS Justice Brown was confirmed. They accused GDS of teaching Critical Race Theory.

Nobody attending GDS cares about this.

I've posted on this thread, sent 3 kids to GDS (including one now) and been a 15 year member of the community. I'm no right wing troll.

I'm just telling you - back to the early pages of this thread - that the current GDS admin is low caliber, in over the heads, opaque in big and small decisions, and beholden to the DEI initiatives.

I love lots of what the school stands for and it saddens me to see how the HS is being run these days. That's all. No troll, no right winger. And I know KBJ and deeply respect her and I think that Ted Cruz is a horse's a**

Anonymous wrote:In summary, GDS and other schools should avoid teaching Toni Morrison. Stick to safe books and safe conversations

As a total bystander (well - one who's applying - so not total), the weird thing about all of this is that GDS is a place that I would fully expect to be seeking out books with the intention of presenting ideas and initiating discussion that is challenging. I would have thought that they'd only have faculty who are very well versed in how to lead and manage such conversations with and among students. Their open houses years back were overloaded with "we do social justice in every subject/manner possible" - so I find it strange that they can't handle this in practice.