<p>Posted without comment for those interested. This just broke.</p>
<p>Suit</a> details girl's torment at exclusive school - Boston.com</p>
<p>A different report, with a few additional details, from the Hartford Courant: Miss</a> Porter's School Sued Over Expulsion.</p>
<p>Goodness, the girl was a senior! Depressing.</p>
<p>This is awful. I want to hear the school's side of the story, particularly the response to the alleged bulling. Miss Porter's is high on my daughter's list. This girl's fall seems to have happened so quickly it is really scary.</p>
<p>emdee -- sorry to tell you I've heard another recent story of bullying there. The D of a business associate of my H started there as a freshman last fall (2007). Her upper class student advisor bullied her and made unwanted "advances." Parents complained, and asked for a change in advisors, which happened -- but apparently changing is just not cool among the students, so the girl was harassed endlessly by a number of students. She left school at the end of the first semester. Clearly I don't know the school's version of this.</p>
<p>My daughter is a senior at Porter's and I do not believe there is any evidence to support these stories of systematic bullying. The school will not respond because they are now embroiled in a lawsuit.
CBBBlinker, I have never heard of an upper class student advisor. There are JA's (junior advisors) who are are like RA's. If you asked for a change, you would be asking to move out of a dorm.</p>
<p>"A degree from Miss Porter's is considered a ticket into the Ivy League and a future potentially filled with wealth and privilege." Boston Globe</p>
<p>please spare me... not even close to best private school in CT.</p>
<p>So is everyone who works at college admissions checking their files to see if they have this girl as an applicant? Will they defer her till they sees how it plays out in court?</p>
<p>I agree, Miss Porters is a prestigious school but not any more a "ticket to the Ivy League" than going to Farmington High School.</p>
<p>The only side to talk to the press has been the parents, filing suit. It seems to me to be an attempt to bully the school into reinstating a student in academic trouble. </p>
<p>
[quote]
The family is seeking a judgment voiding the expulsion as improper, along with Bass' reinstatement at Miss Porter's as a student in good standing and a temporary injunction preventing the school from reporting the expulsion to colleges where Bass has applications pending.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm at a loss to explain why filing suit in federal court, with the attendant newspaper reports, will improve the student's college chances. College admissions folks can Google.</p>
<p>I'm also nonplussed by the thought that the school should not have reported the suspension for cheating to Vanderbilt University. To not report the suspension would be unfair to other students applying to college, and could ruin the school's reputation with the college admissions community.</p>
<p>Obviously, as with any charges, there are two sides. We are only hearing one. As is often the case in litigation, the defendants refuse to comment.</p>
<p>This news is spreading, however. It was on one of the news radios stations in the NYC area this morning, and is also on the front page of their web site.</p>
<p>Can't say that I know much about Miss Porter's. I'm sure there is a lot more to it all. Each allegation will involve intensive investigation which will be an awful lot of she said, she said. What a mess! Snow balled and got out of control. There has got to be a lot more here. As for a lawsuit, frustratingly typical for American society but no so for a boarding school and unfortunate. Don't ever think admissions people don't give parents a one, two look over. It's only December. As for the school inflicting long-term damage on the girls academic career, I can just imagine the lawsuit repercussions. This will be interesting to follow, once it starts in about a year.</p>
<p>Shelley-Can you shed any light on what is going on in this case? How are the students reacting to the lawsuit, expulsion, all the allegations in the lawsuit? As a parent, are you satisfied with the steps taken by the administration to ensure there is not a "mean girl" culture at the school? Would love some additional insight, since the newspaper article only conveys the info. contained in the lawsuit. Initially, my D was really opposed to all girls schools, because she said, “I had no idea how mean girls are” (she didn't go to high school with me). But we liked Miss Porter's from the moment we stepped on campus. I am most concerned about the existence of the Russian style mob group (can't remember the name or how to spell it) Does it really exist, and if so why would the administration permit this?</p>
<p>The story is all over the internet now. Just signed on and it was on the AOL homepage.</p>
<p>The students are terribly upset that their school has been so poorly portrayed in the media. The senior class has shown a lot of comraderie in the face of this challenge. Today it was announced that for the first time ever, every single member of the class of '09 has pledged to the Annual Fund.
The "Russian style mob group" is fiction intertwined with some fact. There is an official group of seniors officially called The Keepers but who in the 50's or 60's were nicknamed the Oprichniki after the name of some czarist secret police. The name goes back and forth but they are officially the keepers of the school traditions i.e. only seniors can sit at senior tables or walk on senior grass. Seniors at sit down dinners do not wait on tables but underclassmen do. Things like that. At the beginning of the year they all dress in black and read out the senior traditions. It is really all in good fun. They are not there to foster a culture of bullying. I think that the truth is that the girl who has sued the school was on the outs with a number of the girls who ended up as keepers - not just this year but for a few years. You know how it is, some girls you're friends with, some you're not. It all got messy this year over this change in how the school wants to do the prom. I think there were many bad feelings all around. Juniors and seniors voted on it. The story I heard is that there were more juniors and they voted for the change and the seniors who didn't want their prom to change had a lot of things to say. Silly stuff, but we're talking about teenage girls!
Now does that lead a girl to cheat - I think that may be a little far fetched. And, this all happened as girls were submitting their early decisions applications.
The whole thing makes me terribly sad for everyone involved. My daughter has been very happy at Porter's and I feel terribly that the senior class, including the girl who is suing, has had to go through this.
My personal opinion is she was having a very bad year, under lots of stress and could not deal with the ignominy of the suspension for cheating and coming back to school. The whole thing seems to have cascaded.</p>
<p>When neither side is commenting the press will write their own story. Or one side leaking to the press to get a public opinion advantage that doesn't always ring true as we have all witnessed with the Duke real life nightmare. This will have to run it's legal course now that it has taken that god awful approach in which nobody wins and I really question the value of its merits, at least in this instance. I'll admit I'm somewhat disturbed by the whole debacle and I'm unsure what part of it all bugs me the most. Probably the legal because that's just not my way and that I know it will upset so many for so little.
Sorry Shelley14, I'm not good at this but just try to roll with it and keep on going and give the support D needs.</p>
<p>Shelley-Thanks for providing some context.</p>
<p>Shelley, dare I say you're biased? I mean your D goes there, surely you will not look negatively upon the school you're currently spending over $40,000 on.</p>
<p>The whole truth is never as bad as on side implies, but there is always truth in it - regardless of magnitude.. And frankly, that's what scares me about an all-girls school! Too much estrogen! Too much PMS! You gotta have the testosterone to simplify and breaks things up, lol.</p>
<p>Gee mmoynan that's harsh. I beleive Shelly DID tell what at least one truth is in it when she posted. The fact that the girl in question WAS on the "outs" with other girls. Obviously we are not hearing both sides completely since the school is not going to officially comment until the lawsuit is over, if then.<br>
Caddy girls stuff goes on EVERYWHERE - having boys at the school doesn't change that. In fact, I would even say it probably happens LESS at an all-girls school because they are on the lookout for it and do their best to "nip it in the bud." I don't think that happens at co-ed schools as much.</p>
<p>so these oprichniki simply engage in good ol fashion "fun" and maintain school traditions?</p>
<p>umm...</p>
<p>okay.</p>
<p>the timing of the news releases must be a PR nightmare for Porter's.</p>