SR Upper School can offer a great academic experience -- for girls who are academically gifted and seek out challenge, for girls who are on-level but benefit from being pushed in some areas, and for girls who struggle in some academic areas.

And there are plenty of great girls in the upper school. The chat blowing up was out of frustration that a small number of people not adhering to the community guidelines was impacting those who are with no apology from those who caused it to those who also bore some of the consequences. While forgiveness is a Catholic value, so is responsibility for actions.

The school administration needs some work. Parents and students of parents in the communities mentioned above -- significant donor class, trustees, medical advisory board -- get preferential treatment and are not necessarily welcoming to parents or kids not within their network.

And the DEI is overweighted. Parents would prefer to see great academics and people treated fairly instead of lots of DEI training, but no visible consequences for kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD had SR and Holton on her list for next year. These threads are very concerning.

She will receive a great education at Stone Ridge. That is not in question.

It is, however, up to you if you decide to drink the Kool-aid or not. A lot of it strikes me as rather silly, but at least the pandemic has lessened the expectations on the parents.

They have, unfortunately, jumped firmly on the DEI bandwagon (along with most of the other private schools in the area), so I fully expect to see that becoming more and more of a feature.

Thank you for this information. I see the strife it is causing at Holton (also on the list) plus the other problems mentioned on here are concerning. Boarding school may be in the future.

Uh boarding school is not the easy answer - you'll be trading these issues for exponentially worse ones.

Anti-racial orthodoxy is going to cause significant issues for these institutions down the road.

The recent exponential growth in this thinking has proved extremely difficult for elite institutions to resist. Stone Ridge is no exception. The primary quality they are seeking in the new Head of Middle School is that the person be "anti-racist".

The key rhetorical premise of all this is designed as a trap: if you are not an "anti-racist," then you are by definition a "racist" — and must be held to account.

There will come a time when people will realize that this is nothing more than a deliberately unwinnable game designed to demonize an entire race for perceived thought crimes that are supposedly encoded in their DNA and which they cannot do anything about.

We are no longer allowed to believe that "America is the land of opportunity", and that "you can do anything if you work hard enough", or even "that the most qualified person should get the job." In the anti-racist world, all these comments are indicative of institutional racism. If you are white and you disagree, your view is tagged as "individual racism" and you are accused of microaggression.

Unless you're a masochist, there will come a time when people won't put up with this any longer. When that happens it won't be pretty.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD had SR and Holton on her list for next year. These threads are very concerning.

She will receive a great education at Stone Ridge. That is not in question.

It is, however, up to you if you decide to drink the Kool-aid or not. A lot of it strikes me as rather silly, but at least the pandemic has lessened the expectations on the parents.

They have, unfortunately, jumped firmly on the DEI bandwagon (along with most of the other private schools in the area), so I fully expect to see that becoming more and more of a feature.

Thank you for this information. I see the strife it is causing at Holton (also on the list) plus the other problems mentioned on here are concerning. Boarding school may be in the future.

Anonymous wrote:DD had SR and Holton on her list for next year. These threads are very concerning.

She will receive a great education at Stone Ridge. That is not in question.

It is, however, up to you if you decide to drink the Kool-aid or not. A lot of it strikes me as rather silly, but at least the pandemic has lessened the expectations on the parents.

They have, unfortunately, jumped firmly on the DEI bandwagon (along with most of the other private schools in the area), so I fully expect to see that becoming more and more of a feature.

DD had SR and Holton on her list for next year. These threads are very concerning.

The analysis by PP is spot-on. Challenging issues are ignored or belittled, or those who report them are gaslighted. There are several instances of which I am aware where the nettle needed to be grasped and it wasn't. The faculty are what make this school.

Anonymous wrote:Was it better back in the day when nuns were running the place?

Yes. The administration has lost the essence of the school. They lack the ability to navigate challenging issues, but instead excel on marketing development, the trends of the moment and the social community of the school.

Agree with a pp - there are some fantastic faculty, a strong curriculum and a potential to be a great school. It’s a shame.

Why suffer? There are better schools out there.

Anonymous wrote:To clarify, by “the administration” I mean the “C Suite” team for the whole school, not the administrative heads for each of the upper, middle, and lower schools.

There is definitely a difference between the two.

To clarify, by “the administration” I mean the “C Suite” team for the whole school, not the administrative heads for each of the upper, middle, and lower schools.

Anonymous wrote:

We all know nothing will change. The administration doesn't care. The only decision is do you stay and suck it up or leave.

You stay and suck it up and accept that the administration will continue to be tone deaf and you don't expect anything else.

Was it better back in the day when nuns were running the place?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At this point in the school year most upper school girls (and their parents) know which girls and families are regularly disregarding the community covenant. Shutting the upper school down for 2 weeks was like the nail in the coffin for the families who have been adhering to the guidelines all along. Since many of the offenders are children of trustees, medical board, alumni, big donors, etc., there is a clear sense of favoritism going on from the admin in terms of there being consequences to violating behavior. The admin's focus on finishing out a major capital project (the new student center) in the midst of all of this is likely contributing to the lack of enforcement. To most, it seems there are certain families the admin has made clear they want to keep happy. it's a shame it's that way. The upper school curriculum is rigorous and the faculty is terrific. These girls get a great education, but the "clubby" vibe that comes from the admin really takes away from so much that is promising about the school.

The vast majority of students HAVE been adhering to the community guidelines, and that's why this is so infuriating. I agree with what you say about the faculty and the education. I have always felt that this happens IN SPITE of the administration, certainly not because of it.

We all know nothing will change. The administration doesn't care. The only decision is do you stay and suck it up or leave.

Anonymous wrote:At this point in the school year most upper school girls (and their parents) know which girls and families are regularly disregarding the community covenant. Shutting the upper school down for 2 weeks was like the nail in the coffin for the families who have been adhering to the guidelines all along. Since many of the offenders are children of trustees, medical board, alumni, big donors, etc., there is a clear sense of favoritism going on from the admin in terms of there being consequences to violating behavior. The admin's focus on finishing out a major capital project (the new student center) in the midst of all of this is likely contributing to the lack of enforcement. To most, it seems there are certain families the admin has made clear they want to keep happy. it's a shame it's that way. The upper school curriculum is rigorous and the faculty is terrific. These girls get a great education, but the "clubby" vibe that comes from the admin really takes away from so much that is promising about the school.

The vast majority of students HAVE been adhering to the community guidelines, and that's why this is so infuriating. I agree with what you say about the faculty and the education. I have always felt that this happens IN SPITE of the administration, certainly not because of it.