<p>prepparent, the incident I was refering to happened in 1997. Time flies as we get older. It was from a wall street journnal article on ivy matriculations form boarding schools. Just goes to show you how schools can recover.</p>
<p>ditto................</p>
<p>catg, I bacame aware of the incident only last week after reading the chosen. It was only last week and I've already forgot what decade it was in. Apparently he was so distraught he drowned himself.</p>
<p>It is so sad when you see someone that loves a place as much as he did go over the edge. It just goes to show you everything must be kept iin perspective.</p>
<p>Some folks felt that the increase in college admission stakes played a part in his feeling he had to fabricate the stats.</p>
<p>What scandal happened in Milton? Frankly, I kinda concerned about these situations, or is the media simply overblowing the stories out of proportions??</p>
<p>Google: Milton Academy Scandal.....read away.</p>
<p>oh, I see...</p>
<p>yes, he apparently was teaching at harvard and Mx at the time. He must of felt the need to cook book the stats. He felt so much shame and felt he had hurt Mx so much, he took his life.</p>
<p>Then be sure to Google each university that you are considering......then ask your question about the media.</p>
<p>dxu33, these are not media overblowing stories......... The Milton incident is serious stuff.</p>
<p>Then I am REALLY concerned now...</p>
<p>We have been receiving complementary issues of "St. Paul's Today," a monthly newsletter. In the last issue, the current Rector does mention the incident of faculty overstepping boundaries between faculty and students, though he does not specify what actually occurred nor how many students were involved. He does mention that the incidents occurred during the 70's, and he does make an appeal to alumni who may have been involved to come forward and tell their story. At the time I was reading it, the Rector's statements struck me as a genuine attempt to face wrongs which might have occurred in the past and deal with them now. I'm now wondering, however, if it is merely an attempt at damage control in light of the Vanity Fair article. </p>
<p>If the school is sincere about addressing this wrong and making amends, I guess I would be comfortable in still considering that school for my D. Current students do seem to really love the school, and, after all is said and done, it will still probably remain an excellent school. I just hope the school sees the importance of dealing with issues as they occur, not as they are reported in the press.</p>
<p>There is going to be doubts cast about SPS and Milton, et al. regarding the various scandals that have taken place.</p>
<p>So how do you know if they have truly addressed the cause of the problem?</p>
<p>You ask questions, hard questions of the admissions folks and any faculty you come across while visiting the campus.</p>
<p>What failures of the school led to x event?
What policies/procedures have been changed to prevent recurrence of such an event?
How do you see those changes in effect today?</p>
<p>If you cannot get satisfactory answers, don't send your kid there. You won't sleep well at night.</p>
<p>Different subject...</p>
<p>I alluded to a campus visit my D and my DW made Monday. It was at Gilmour Academy in Cleveland. </p>
<p>Not a true BS in the New England sense - mainly day students with only 50 boarders. But they do keep close tabs on the location of all of them 24/7. Perhaps easier to do with small numbers. The house mother (as my DW referred to her) greets everyone who enters the dormitory and seemed to be everywhere. Good old-fashioned MBWA. Plus everyone writes where they are going and when they are expected back on a board even when they go to meals. 100% accountability for your time. Parents limit where and with whom they can leave campus.</p>
<p>It seems to have impressed my DW.</p>
<p>Different subject...</p>
<p>Hazmat, go easy on meateater. Meateater is young and living through the experience. I expect that kind of reaction from Meateater. Sounds rather defensive as I would expect students to be. Maybe a bit agressive, but the raw emotion needs to come out. These are kids, still.</p>
<p>You have a strong, steady demeanor, Hazmat. Not everyone has your ability to look in from the outside and present a calm analysis of the situation. </p>
<p>I do like your matter of fact approach to the whole scandal topic, though. It does help to keep the rational part of us parents looking at the rational decision we will have to make.</p>
<p>Points well taken.....I am sure it isn't a great feeling to be heading home and having Vanity Fair on the coffee table........lots of folks knowing where you are at school. The problem is that the investigation and probably criminal charges for the financial scandal are yet to really ripen.</p>
<p>Thanks for the props.......teenagers, impulsivity, risk taking......all of the normal teen development issues are present at BS just as they are at home. In the main, kids at BS probably get into less trouble. Any trouble is bad but it comes with the turf of the product. A school that doesn't blue sky the problems is a troubled school. Immediate communication to parents and the student body is imperative.</p>
<p>These types of scandals or horrible situations are present in all aspects of our society today. I am not defending any of them, however, reality is they exist in public school, public office (President) so why would we expect them not to permeate into independent school life. The more interesting issue is how the school attempts to deal with the issue. It isn't all that long ago, that there were big investigations to an alleged male rape at Hotchkiss, and the schools response was supposedly to attempt a cover up and avoid the bad press. The conclusions reached varied depending on your original point of view. It is sad to see this general decay in moral fiber as we see house and senate members including leaders indicted, our key cabinet members indicted, activities of presidents and vp's being investigated etc. etc. The list can go on and on... however horrible, the cleansing that comes from recognition, and dealing with the problem head on is worth the cost of the process. </p>
<p>I can not see any of this as a reason to not apply to prep school. My dw never agreed with me on the Hotchkiss thing and is aghast that my bus. partner's d is applying there. I have seen countless similar issues in public schools within 10 minutes of our home and within adjoining towns to many of these fine academic institutions. We as a society have to choose better role models than lying athletes, lying politicians and similar actors and actresses. It is up to each of us as parents to talk about these kinds of issues with our kids, teach them to protect themselves and to be honorable people. That is our jobs as parents!</p>
<p>I guess the downside of top-ranked schools is that these schools are better at covering up major issues of indiscretion rather than dealing with them upfront. It seems they are so concerned with upholding their esteemed reputations that coverups become more important that what's in the best interst of the students. Too bad it has to take negative press reports for these schools to take major action steps toward addressing and resolving problems.</p>
<p>Yeah, I read the SPS newsletter too and did sound kinda of geniune, but who knows?</p>
<p>Oh, and I would like to encourage anyone to discuss these scandals to go to the post "prep school scandals"...</p>
<p>I agree wholeheartedly that this kind of immature ranting and "joking" does not do SPS service. In fact, I'd say it does just the opposite - it makes one wonder about what kind of students go there, and if the "joker" is a senior, why the school hasn't done more to teach/encourage thoughtful, mature and more sensitive attitudes - towards hazing, other students, etc. I am no prude, but using that kind of language to describe hazing seems to possibly reflect a deep-seated, covert approval of that kind of conduct. It may seem funny to some, but to many parents, I think it would give some second thoughts. Just my opinion...</p>