Anonymous wrote:As a student, we have waged war with the administration. Mutiny is imminent. We know not the outcome, but at least we fought. At least we tried.

-Anon

Go For IT ! All of NWDC is "holding you in the light "

why are soon to be HS Graduates letting others dictate where their Prom will be in the first place

They should raise their own money and rent their own venue

Done.

And stop whining

Both sides here are a bunch of whiners.

People are quick to call us Sidwell parents who pay tuition entitled, what they fail to understand is that by paying $50,000 a year in tuition we are entitled to have an opinion on how that money is spent. This is because we support the school financially and therefore have a right to be a part of (at the very least minor) school decisions (such as where a prom takes place), albeit not necessarily larger decisions such as buying a building despite remaining unable to sell the lower school building for financial reasons. For those struggling to understand this concept, think of it in the same way as to how shareholders have a say in companies they own stocks in. Personally, I have no issue with the prom being held at the gym, growing up in a developing country I was lucky to be able to attend a school at all in a place where the concept of "school dances" was as foreign as I was to this country before immigrating. Additionally, my son has had an amazing time at all the dances held at school and has no issue with the prom being held at the gym. Where I begin to take issue is when the school administration and even children attending the school, according to my son, (children who most certainly are not paying their own tuition I might add) not only disregard my fellow Sidwell parents' opinions but are also rather quick to resort to immaturely (at least to me) calling us Sidwell parents who have worked very hard in our respective fields to afford sending our children to this school names such as "spoiled" or "greedy" for wanting to have a say in our own children's education and lives. Additionally, while I personally have no need to worry about my very responsible son driving drunk or allowing a drunk student to drive him to an after-party, I understand some parents of less responsible children's concern with having prom at school where the kids cannot have an after-party directly upstairs in a hotel but rather have to drive to get to it (as I am sure they will have afterparties after the afterparty held at school), potentially doing so drunk. Is the Sidwell administration's decision to essentially (at least to the best of my understanding) detain students at school for the duration of prom and an additional afterparty an attempt to sober them up before they leave to other "after-afterparties"? Just kidding! But I do find it a little strange that holding prom at the four seasons is suddenly considered ostentatious despite such being the norm and custom for many years. I would hope this decision is not due to recent publications referencing the school as this would, at least in my opinion, demonstrate how the school may care more about how it is perceived by others than listening to the Sidwell parents who pay tuition to support the school. Ultimately, I would personally prefer if the prom was held at the gym with tuition-paying parents being reimbursed for whatever difference in cost results. Unfortunately, we all know this is next to impossible seeing as we tuition-paying Sidwell parents were forced to pay not just full tuition but increased tuition despite our children not receiving lunches or even attending the school at all during virtual and hybrid learning without reimbursement. I believe a large portion of our tuition was likely used to purchase an enormous amount of plexiglass which has since been discarded according to my son due to its tendency to worsen the spread of coronavirus as well as an HVAC ventilation system which does not allow for our children to eat indoors anymore. I was recently informed by my son that children who have cars (we personally do not believe in buying him a car as it is not the same as an education and he is therefore responsible for saving for it), are not even allowed to eat in their own cars alone for some reason and that a senior girl was administered points for doing so, despite (at least in my opinion) eating alone in one's own car not posing a threat in terms of spreading coronavirus. I find this last part especially funny given that I, as a licensed doctor myself, expect many kids to catch colds out in these conditions and therefore be forced to stay home out of fear that their symptoms are the same as those of the coronavirus. Who knows? Perhaps this is an elaborate administration plan to limit the number of kids coming to school to prevent further spread of the virus. Just kidding!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Senior class group texts suggest otherwise.

Probably the entitled party crowd

Are you guys seriously upset that teens are understandably disappointed in their prom being moved from a fancy hotel to the gym after 2 disappointing years? Do you remember being 18 at all?

I guess my kid isn't part of the "cool kids" who have nothing else to be worried about to be upset about this.

Where did I say anything about the “cool kids”?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Senior class group texts suggest otherwise.

Probably the entitled party crowd

Are you guys seriously upset that teens are understandably disappointed in their prom being moved from a fancy hotel to the gym after 2 disappointing years? Do you remember being 18 at all?

I guess my kid isn't part of the "cool kids" who have nothing else to be worried about to be upset about this.

Respectfully your kid probably ain't cool

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Senior class group texts suggest otherwise.

Probably the entitled party crowd

Are you guys seriously upset that teens are understandably disappointed in their prom being moved from a fancy hotel to the gym after 2 disappointing years? Do you remember being 18 at all?

I guess my kid isn't part of the "cool kids" who have nothing else to be worried about to be upset about this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once again, Sidwell squashes student joy. Is it aware that students call it "Sadwell"? What is wrong with this administration?

For those who don't know yet, SFS decided to move prom from a hotel to on campus. Yaay Sidwell.

It's sad because there are some great things about the school, but it can't get out of its own way in letting kids have fun.

They did this last year and the kids had a great time. Can't win. People complain about the school being ostentatious, but when it does this, people complain it is being cheap.

Who complains about it being ostentatious? It's for the kids.
As for the parents, we could use a nicer back to school night, if we ever go back to having them.
Want to charge over 40k and then nickel and dime in these situations?
Don't get me started on Bryan Garman hobnobbing in MV for "fundraising".

tons of people complain! every other post about Sidwell on dcum is some version of how it fails to live up to the quaker value of simplicity. Sidwell really can't win. That's partly because their oscillation between austerity and lavishness can seem arbitrary, but mostly it's because people love to hate.

It is a fine school but it would make sense to eliminate the Quaker component

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Senior class group texts suggest otherwise.

Probably the entitled party crowd

Are you guys seriously upset that teens are understandably disappointed in their prom being moved from a fancy hotel to the gym after 2 disappointing years? Do you remember being 18 at all?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP’s point is it’s not necessary to travel to MV for purported fundraising, it’s a cover. Sidwell admin is terrible and fundraising historically has been poor. Check out how much debt they have.

The debt is because 1) the local ANC forced them to build a two story garage 2) they bought the washington home 3) they bought the fannie mae building next door to their campus. All were prudent moves. Once they are able to sell the lower schools, the finances will be fine.

They need to buy out the post office so they can go somewhere else.

Why do you want the post office gone?

If everyone would just say half of this stuff at meeting for worship… I might actually stay awake!

Anonymous wrote:As a student, we have waged war with the administration. Mutiny is imminent. We know not the outcome, but at least we fought. At least we tried.

-Anon

I love these kids. They are the best!

- Sidwell parent

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Senior class group texts suggest otherwise.

Probably the entitled party crowd

Stop you an adult clowning teenagers spitefully or you a student clowning your classmates for nothing. L

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell parent here, totally fine with the Prom being at gym. My DC is too. Given COVID, they feel lucky to even have the event.

I understand that other kids may be more disappointed and have grand expectations. This is age appropriate.

But to the other parents who are complaining here...not age appropriate at all! Isn't this the time for you to be the parent and talk this through with them? Acknowledge that life has disappointments (and many these days) but also think about what is important in life, and what isn't? These kids have so many things via school (as have others in DMV privates) that others kids have not had over the past two years. Be thankful kids (and parents). Read the room parents.

"GiVeN cOvId" that shit hasn't been real since 2020

As a student, we have waged war with the administration. Mutiny is imminent. We know not the outcome, but at least we fought. At least we tried.

-Anon