The ones I know are staying home. This was a really rough year to be introduced to boarding school life, and I think a lot of students didn’t fall in love because of it.
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Here is our concern & experience with this year’s Block System. Our student stopped having in-person Math last March - and because of Block System did not have it again until almost one year later. The courses that seemed to be impacted the most were Science, Math & Foreign Language.
Is anyone else seeing a lot of turnover in administration at their school? So far this year we we’ve lost the dean of students, the dean of faculty (effective at the end of this school year), and announced today, the Dean of Diversity and Inclusion (effective immediately). While the communication to parents implies these Deans chose to leave, I’m not totally convinced. Though I will say it for the millionth time this year: I certainly would not have wanted to be a school administrator this year.
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Besides the Dean of Diversity and Inclusion, they (and Dean of Faculty) had all been in their positions for 6-8 years—I think they were ready to go back to teaching full-time (which all of them will continue to do for the foreseeable future).
I really feel for the bs freshmen. They didn’t get all of the experiences that serve to bind a class together and build the cohesiveness with the school overall. Traditions, routine, sports, all that togetherness, it just wasn’t there like it should be. Without that sense of belonging, I think the kids were more agitated and felt less supported. It feels like there was more provoking behaviors and acting out. That’s gotta be in part because the kids feel disconnected and on edge and stressed.
There will be a lot of work to do next year to build the community up again - not just with the new freshmen but with the sophomores, too. And even rising juniors, who only really got the first half of the bs experience their freshman year. And they have to get back to normal academically on top of it. I just hope the school next year can manage getting everything back to normal. I don’t envy the administration right now. Oh, and there is an increase turnover in faculty and a little bit of admin. Not surprising.
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Unfortunately the administrators are staying and the teachers are leaving. Wish it were the opposite!
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The basically brand new head of my younger kids’ Pk-8 school who’d only been on the job for 6 months pre-Covid, left on medical leave this spring and now isn’t returning. Total mess.
Yes - we know several teachers who are either leaving or retiring. No admin people that we know of. I went on some school websites and also Glassdoor to see who is hiring. Lot’s of positions open!
I wouldn’t mind it…anyone need a golf coach? 
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That’s what I’ve heard people say… That was not my personal experience.
I had no problem retaining what I learned in math during high school, even though I learned it in modules. When I went to college, I was more than adequately prepared for engineering math courses.
While few took calculus, among those in my calculus class, 2 went on to get math PhDs (one pure, one applied), 2 went on to become lawyers (one specializing in construction and engineering law), 2 went to MIT (stem majors)… and the kid that washed out is now a financial administrator at a certain Ivy.
Ditto for foreign language. Those double blocks for 2 modules (~2 months) seemed to place me at no academic disadvantage when I went to college.
My experience was that it was more of a disadvantage for history and literature (books). In particular, the “Great Books” classes usually became “Great Book”. Little time was spent on the works of Shakespeare, even in the class called AP English.
Even in a 36 week course, AP Lit typically does not cover the works - plural - of Shakespeare. Usually they cover one play, with Hamlet or Lear being the usual choices, and maybe some sonnets. Some schools are lucky enough to offer a stand-alone course in Shakespeare.
From experience, the best part about schools that don’t offer AP, but offer a Shakespeare class, is that there is almost no year where a Shakespearean play cannot be used to effectively answer Q3 on the AP exam
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I was at lps this year but there has been a ton of turnover. The superintendent from the past 16 years resigned and moved districts a few months ago, and the principals at the high school, elementary school, and middle school (three separate people) have all left the district as well. There’ve been other more minor administrative changes over the past year as well. Even with teachers, I had three of seven of mine either retire or leave the school mid-year.
It sounds like teachers and administrators have hit the wall too. Tough year all around.
at my lps, we haven’t had too many resignations and people fired. If anything, we’ve had more people wanting to work at our district. I used to think my lps was the worst place in the world. Now seeing how beautifully they have handled COVID, I know why so many teachers love this school. We were one of the only public high schools on Long Island to be in school everyday since september, going back to school the day after breaks too. I still do not at all regret my decision of attending BS, but now I see that lps isn’t the worst place to be for some of us. We have been remote entirely as a school for maybe 3 days, for contact tracing. No spikes of COVID. We have had a normal year apart from the smaller classes(which i liked), masks, and our free periods must be spent in an assigned spot.
I don’t think anyone is upset with how our school handled COVID. We are definitely one of the “dying districts,” where everyone has been moving due to bad admin, poor academics compared to other nearby high schools, and poor athletics. This has given my parents more hope for my two younger sisters. Overall it has given everyone hope in my district.
To everyone struggling to find happiness with their school in covid, it gets better. 
Just wanted to show a positive situation.
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My very quick drive-by to say congratulations to the graduates and I hope everyone is having a good year-end. I’m under water a bit with trying to get college stuff figured out for my oldest. Hugs to you all! and I’m sure I’ll circle back and catch up on posts, etc…soon!!
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Hugs to all. I have had several conversations recently about how in spite of coming out of covid, folks are feeling down. The isolation has been real. Students have struggled to learn virtually or in different ways while simultaneously losing many of the activities that gave them joy, relieved stress, and made school fun. Teachers who had their classes figured out so that they had room to nurture students other ways, tend to their own families, and have balance in their lives were essentially first year teachers all over again, with all the work and stress that involves. Administrators have added a second full time job of planning for every possible outcome they might encounter and dealing with unhappy constituents from every corner. Parents are unhappy with what they are paying for relative to what they are getting and with many of the choices the school has made. And throughout all of this, there has been fear and uncertainty-- now lifting – but having left some pretty profound marks on lots of folks.
In a nutshell, everyone has worked harder for a worse outcome. It’s exhausting. And everyone knows that at the schools, there is going to be lots of extra work in getting everything humming again, from building community, healing day boarder rifts, getting international students back, addressing learning gaps,etc.
Hugs to everyone. I know it’ll all work out but it makes me tired to think of how. Summer vacation has never sounded so good!
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Truer words have never been spoken @gardenstategal !
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Huge Memorial Day THANK YOU to those of you who serve or who have children or other family servicemembers. 
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OK, CC parents hit me - any gift ideas for an 8th grade graduation gift for DS who is off to boarding school? I’m stumped and he’s not giving me any ideas. Thanks!
Was on BSR and coincidentally came across this:
This is surely regional but we live in a warm climate. For various holidays we have been giving him cold weather essentials that he can barely wrap his brain around. Bean boots were the big hit.
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