<p>If you are considering prep school for your son or daughter...
Please ask these questions (especially if you are considering Westminster / Kent or other New England school:</p>
<ul>
<li>How will I communicate with my child's teacher / advisor?</li>
</ul>
<p>Suggestion:
Teachers should have a deadline date to post updates ONLINE, password protected- regarding student progress each session (trimester, etc...) Maybe 6-8 weeks after school starts</p>
<ul>
<li>How / when will I see grades and progress?</li>
<li>Can we bring a refrigerator?</li>
<li>Current events: How will my student know of current events going on in the world- newspaper, CNN and other world news.
-School newspaper?</li>
<li>How often do students leave campus?</li>
<li>Cost of transportation to public transportation home (airport, train station, etc..)</li>
</ul>
<p>I would definitely make a different decision if I asked these questions!!</p>
<p>This is our first year of being boarding school parents too. We haven’t had too many surprises though. Our daughter’s school is pretty good with communication. </p>
<p>We got midterm grades in the mail. Her advisor reached out to us once before midterm grades were mailed out so that there weren’t any surprises. When we’ve had concerns, she responds within 24 hours, often sooner. A fridge was on the list of what NOT to bring to school. I have no idea about how or even if our daughter is keeping up with world events. They do have a school newspaper but she doesn’t subscribe, so I don’t know if she reads it or not. At her school, students are free to leave campus via foot, but need permission to venture off in any vehicle unless it is school provided transportation. They are so busy that they don’t venture off campus very often as near as we can tell. And all the transportation options for breaks are posted on the parent/student portal. </p>
<p>Are those issues really significant enough that you’re questioning your decision to send her to that school? Or have they really dropped the ball? It’s hard to tell from your post what the real issue is.</p>
<p>Very little communication. Westminster prefers that you not contact teachers directly (email or otherwise). Instead they want you to address all inquiries to the student’s advisor. This barrier eliminates free flowing conversation.</p>
<p>Additionally, parents weekend was cancelled a day prior to the event, so that elminated the opportunity to even meet the teacher. </p>
<p>A bit frustrating when you are far from the student and in the dark on progress. Every parent I have spoken with expresses the same concern. Midterm grades by mail really don’t tell you much…</p>
<p>Appreciate your response…maybe this process is standard for some prep schools.
Although a friend forwarded the Deerfield and Hotchkiss parent communications, which was awesome…</p>
<p>Our previous (local public system) high school sent daily updates (including photos and details) with student information and I expected something similar since the school is small.</p>
<p>Questioning the decision is a result of frustration. Our student truly likes Westy, so I can’t absolutely say that I wouldn’t do it again. But the delayed response on emails and
lack of info regarding academic progress makes me fear the worst…and I may find out too late.</p>
<p>A parent of a senior shared that exact scenario.</p>
<p>My d is a day student at a prep school. I can call her advisor anytime and she is awesome. same thing with my first D who has graduated. we ge letters on progress then the quarter grades come home and are mailed as well.</p>
<p>I can answer for Choate. In the kid’s first year, no matter what year they are in, you get a call from the dorm advisor after the first two weeks to talk about their adjustment. At the six week mark, you get a call from the form dean with their first midterm grades. After that, you can see grades and comments online every six weeks, and the advisor calls once a trimester with an update. Parent conferences were scheduled over parents’ weekend, and lasted about eight minutes each. No refrigerators unless you are a prefect. News is delivered via CNN on flat screen TVs in the student center and copies of the NYTimes spread around the dining hall. The school newspaper is distributed for free once a week. Students are free to walk into the town of Wallingford, and frequently do. To go anywhere else on a weekend depends on what level of permission you have given at the beginning of the year. Transportation to airports etc. is described in the parent newsletter which is emailed every couple of weeks. There is a “parent coordinator” who handles any problems or questions you might have. We’ve been really happy with the level of communication.</p>
<p>I can certainly understand your fear considering what happened to that fellow student. We haven’t dealt with the teachers directly so I don’t know how our BS would react to that. I don’t think it would be a problem, but they do encourage us to start with her advisor, who also serves as her dorm counselor. We question our daughter frequently about how it’s going. If she were to sound as if she were not keeping up, we’d be emailing her advisor immediately. The fact that they don’t get back to you in a timely manner would be a little disconcerting.</p>
<p>hattrkmom.
I share your frustration but there is hope. Our experience has been more like yours – little contact with teachers or advisors, but some emails about campus activities in general. I’ve had to be proactive with the advisors, dorm counselor, and teachers and that seems to be working. We’ve made it clear we need to get feedback. I’ve got their cell numbers when emails don’t get back to me quickly (although they are responding more quickly now that I’ve asked them too). You’ll have to make it your job to provoke and seek information at school if they don’t have the systems like those described at some other schools. Some schools apparently don’t need parental pushes–it seems to be better institutionalized in more “national schools” like Choate or HK or Andover, versus more “area” schools like Westy. Those schools seem to have more regular SOPs to get information to parents, who live far away and can’t drop by to talk to teachers or coaches. In the end, while feedback and our comfort as parents do matter, the experience of our kids probably matters more. Keep at it and I think they will respond better!!</p>
<p>That’s too bad. My son’s school encourages parents to email or call teachers at home with any questions or concerns. Everyone has been very approachable (and this is our seventh year of experience with this school).</p>
<p>hattrkmom, don’t regret that you didn’t ask these questions earlier. In case you haven’t noticed, people don’t really talk about negatives about their own schools much on this forum. It seems only those who are having positive experience tend to share. You didn’t miss much… that said, you CAN ask questions as for what to do when you are in a certain situation either realistically or hypothetically. You will get great advice as you are now.</p>
<p>Erlanger makes a really good point. The bigger schools have always had lots of students from very far away so have systems already in place. I would let an administrator at the school know your frustration. In these tough times, they should want to keep the “customer” happy.</p>
<p>Bay State Resident/ regarding Chote:
WOW!!! That is fabulous regarding communication…parents and current events.
Thanks for your response. Particularly the form dean and dorm advisor follow up. Hope we get the online access soon.</p>
<p>Please note that parents weekend at Westminster was cancelled due to the significant influenza virus on campus. The school did a great job of handling the crisis there.</p>
<p>Good insight…it really is the student’s experience and communication with me is secondary…but have hope for more communication under the new administration</p>
<p>I would voice your concerns as sometimes that is all it takes to open dialogue. I think most schools encourage you to speak first with your advisor as the teachers are very busy not just teaching but all their additional responsabilities. When I email our son’s advisor I hear from him within the day. We received a report on parent’s weekend saying marks to date and a long paragraph as to how our son was doing in each class and we had a meeting with his advisor. Since then we have received his first report card by mail, although you can go online as well to see both grades and comments (something new for St-Marks) Weekly update comes from the Dean of Students, letting us know what has gone one during the week and what is coming next. You can also see some games online and call in for scores of games. Website is updated daily with pics etc. So far, we are very happy.</p>
<p>St. Paul’s has a parents fan page on Facebook that has regular updates of sports, speakers, club activities and lots of pictures. Sometimes they even post announcements or requests made by teachers for kids to get involved in a club or other activities and they encourage parents to ask their student about the opportunity. You can also listen to some chapel talks on line and they post chapel announcements on line every day. The adviser is the first point of contact for any issue, but during parents weekend several of her teachers said we could contact them directly if we had questions or concerns. So far I have been impressed with the constant communications from the school.</p>