I am a current parent who became a part of the community last year. Your child’s academic experience is greatly dependent on the quality of the teacher. All teachers are not quality there. I experienced that first hand. The administration knows it and they cover for their teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm glad a number of "new" families are having a wonderful experience. I mourn the loss of what the community was pre-covid, pre-this HoS.

What’s wrong with HOS? He seems like a great guy. Great vision for the school. I wonder how many people are just bothered that he’s just not a traditional type.

You mean a HOS who's actually working for the school full time? You're right. He's not traditional.

Anonymous wrote:
I'm glad a number of "new" families are having a wonderful experience. I mourn the loss of what the community was pre-covid, pre-this HoS.

What’s wrong with HOS? He seems like a great guy. Great vision for the school. I wonder how many people are just bothered that he’s just not a traditional type.

I'm glad a number of "new" families are having a wonderful experience. I mourn the loss of what the community was pre-covid, pre-this HoS.

+1000 ^

Those of us who’ve known the school for a while know that TM and LM were the glue. There departures are telling

Anonymous wrote:If you think there aren’t multiple unhappy community members on this thread, well, then I can’t help you. This whole forum is basically anonymous.

The discipline is inconsistent especially when micromanaging happens. I’ll point you to a previous post, "I'll also add that when there are cohorts with discipline problems that have gone unaddressed for multiple years, it often means that there has been and is still a cascading failure of leadership that makes teachers too afraid to escalate to superiors or families being gaslit by said superiors who either have no idea what they’re doing or won’t get rid of kids for political or optical reasons."

It's a good bet that some issues were already in play before the new HoS came aboard. Leadership changes tend to unveil things that were hidden away, and it takes awhile to clean it up (definitely more when you add in COVID).

I know not everyone is thrilled all the time - hey, that's life, right? But it's not fair to act as if a few unhappy voices weigh more than the good experiences others have shared. On forums like this, it’s way too easy to sling opinions as if they're hard facts (especially as it's all anonymous).

We've all heard the complaints - they're noted. But now, it feels like we're just hearing the same things over and over, which frankly sounds more like grumbling and a "burn it all down" mentality. Yes, the board reached out with an email. It it reads in support of the steps being taken toward change.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound like a disgruntled parent. If you are so unhappy about the administration, then leave. I think it’s a wonderful community and love the school.

+1 - Our DC is a 9th grader and it has been an incredible community as well as dedicated and engaged teachers. Very special place.

I’m a DP but I always think it’s strange when people in a school community insist it’s wonderful (or even “magical”) because their child is having a good experience.

I’m very glad your child is having a good time! It doesn’t invalidate other people’s experience, though. People have kids with different classes/learning styles/ personalities not to mention grade mates and mix of teachers. To suggest people who have concerns must be disgruntled is not a good look.

My DC is also having a wonderful experience also in 9th grade. So glad we chose SSFS. It is such an amazing place. Honestly, I understand PP because when your child is having such a great time and you love the faculty and community, it is hard to imagine anything but love for this school. Not trying to invalidate other people’s feelings, ut at least in the upper school, I don’t see any problems. And normally, it’s the disgruntled parent or two who drive threads like this and who are persistent in everybody feeling negative about the place as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound like a disgruntled parent. If you are so unhappy about the administration, then leave. I think it’s a wonderful community and love the school.

+1 - Our DC is a 9th grader and it has been an incredible community as well as dedicated and engaged teachers. Very special place.

I’m a DP but I always think it’s strange when people in a school community insist it’s wonderful (or even “magical”) because their child is having a good experience.

I’m very glad your child is having a good time! It doesn’t invalidate other people’s experience, though. People have kids with different classes/learning styles/ personalities not to mention grade mates and mix of teachers. To suggest people who have concerns must be disgruntled is not a good look.

The Board sent an e-mail?! That's shocking. They never get involved in administrative matters like that.

Agree it is not surprising that they are advertising openings. LS has been a hot mess for years.

The MS is the strongest division. Has been since DB's arrival.

Apparently the board had to send an email acknowledging all the lower school parent concerns earlier this week. Not surprising that they are advertising openings K-8…

Anonymous wrote:You sound like a disgruntled parent. If you are so unhappy about the administration, then leave. I think it’s a wonderful community and love the school.

+1 - Our DC is a 9th grader and it has been an incredible community as well as dedicated and engaged teachers. Very special place.

Current HoS started in July 2020. Covid years were during his "honeymoon" period.

I still didn't understand when people refer to this as a "new" administration. Hasn't the HoS been there since 2019-20?

If you think there aren’t multiple unhappy community members on this thread, well, then I can’t help you. This whole forum is basically anonymous.

The discipline is inconsistent especially when micromanaging happens. I’ll point you to a previous post, "I'll also add that when there are cohorts with discipline problems that have gone unaddressed for multiple years, it often means that there has been and is still a cascading failure of leadership that makes teachers too afraid to escalate to superiors or families being gaslit by said superiors who either have no idea what they’re doing or won’t get rid of kids for political or optical reasons."