News from Miss Hall’s…
1 Like
Hello all,
Sorry if this is a repost (after a brief search I didn’t see anything). I just stumbled across this article from July/2021 about Cate:
https://www.montecitojournal.net/2021/07/29/the-culture-of-cate-how-multiple-investigations-into-school-are-revealing-decades-of-potential-abuses/
Looks like this abuse is still happening. Can anyone shed light on this? TIA
There are earlier posts about this…also read about a change in leadership there….perhaps our Cate families can give us an update?
1 Like
The cost to attend Regis is “free”…
Amazing opportunity for students comfortable with attending a school with a religious affiliation. They accept students of all backgrounds and faiths.
Admission to Regis is limited to baptized Roman Catholic students as per their site, " To be eligible an applicant must be a baptized Roman Catholic boy with excellent grades and standardized testing (above 90% in CTBS/CAP/ERB or equivalent testing)." Regis High School: Admissions
4 Likes
Apologies you are correct I was conflating with Delbarton (which is not free).
1 Like
I feel like all the HM moms are clutching their pearls at the Riverdale placement. 
my kids are now beyond that.
1 Like
I want to acknowledge the post - I don’t want to give the impression that I am ducking away from the conversation. The school hasn’t; they have been very forthright about all that has gone on, within the community and parents. I encourage anyone with concerns about what is out on the internet (and who wouldn’t?) to reach out to the school. They have information on their website.
That article goes into a lot of detail, so much so it is difficult to address it all here. Ask @DrPrimo - I dm’d her a very lengthy detailed assessment about it and my experience/views about how the school responded. If anyone else wants my detailed assessment, dm me. I will be honest.
Aside from the complexity of the situation (as with anything, there’s way more too it than what the article covers), a problem with commenting in a public forum is that this subject gets into the private lives of real people and young students, who can be easily identified. Cate is a very small school. Privacy is essential.
What I will say here is that I know a lot. I am a parent, after all, and share the natural concerns. I pay close attention and read everything. And talked to teachers and admin and students. I can only speak for myself, but I am very satisfied with how Cate responded to the reports, and continues to respond. They have not been secretive or dismissive. They have acknowledged mistakes, have invited and listened to the criticism, and are sincere in their efforts to be better. They are far from perfect, but they are doing a good job of reckoning with the past, present and future.
As has been pointed out here many, many times, the history of sexual assault at boarding schools is a shared one. No boarding school (heck, no high school) is immune. If I had to do it again, I would still choose Cate for my son. 100% it was the best high school for him.
If I were a prospective parent checking out all schools, priority #1 would be campus safety across many planes, but especially mental health. And not just do they say all the right catch words, but how is it reflected in the soul and bones of the school. My impression is that some schools are more on top of it than others.
Again, speaking just for myself, Cate has learned a lot in the past few years, but it has always had good bones and soul. The culture has always been pretty unique, and not for everyone. They are a work in progress in incorporating the lessons learned. But in my view they are going about it the right way.
That’s pretty much all I have to say here, if people want specifics, go to the school website or dm me.
8 Likes
“Why do so many (elite private university) students come from elite private high schools?”
Hmm…I wonder…
I always crack up when people who hate on “feeder schools” for being pay-to-win/elitist/whatever turn around and start gushing about elite colleges. They’re the same thing, just with a different coat of paint.
10 Likes
Considering that elite private high schools seem to prefer accepting students who exceed grade level proficiency with strong extra curriculars, this is an apples to oranges analysis.
(I checked my kid’s old public middle school’s stats a few weeks ago - less than 20% reading at or above grade level.)
Additionally, the author equates admission to attending. Those attending are a subset of those admitted, and there are a variety of reasons why someone admitted to an Ivy might not attend. And yes, cost can be a reason.
Could Dartmouth do better? Probably. But this article is poorly reasoned.
3 Likes
I went to a rich, well-connected public high school……
I also had some culture shock at the level of wealth back in high school. With time however I’ve realized you can’t make the rich people disappear—instead, learn to work with them just like everyone else.
1 Like
But we’re not arguing about the admissibility of evidence in trial or administrative proceedings. People get caught saying **** all the time thinking that they are speaking in private or off-the-record. If you catch someone showing you who they really are, then there you have it, regardless of whether they intended for it to be shared or not. I don’t see that as a compelling concern. Let’s stipulate that the person misrepresenting themselves is a sleaze ball. Ok, we’re still left with her and her words. They didn’t go anywhere.
To the merits of it, I don’t think you can have school admins or teachers saying things like this. I don’t intend to get into a big “reverse racism” argument, but saying the things she said about any group of students, regardless of the identifying criteria, is simply inappropriate and her head should roll (and it appears it has rolled). I have no issue with that take. That she’s using race and gender as the primary criteria for generalizations is particularly appalling and I’m shocked that everybody isn’t shocked. For historically significant reasons, sure, using minority racial or ethnic criteria, particularly that of AAs, adds an extra layer of concern. But we really ought to be moving away from this line of discourse entirely. It’s simply not helping us move forward as a society.
5 Likes
Agreed. But the large contingent should be recognized for who they are: badly behaved individuals. She didn’t need to group them as she did, and all debating aside, I think we all know why she did it. If I had a boy, he’d have been white, and if he’d been grouped into this, I’d have said, “first, fire this woman, now. second, where’s my boy? I want to know if he’s contributing to this problem, and if so, let’s straighten him out.” Just as you said. But I’d have no problem covering both bases with the same amount of energy.
This is pretty straight-forward to me.
1 Like
Unfortunately….here we go, again.
It is unclear to me that this selectively edited video was showing who she really was or how she really treated the kids. It looks to me like she was naively being led-on by a sleazeball, who selectively edited the video to make her look bad.
Surely showing the whole video would give a better idea of who she really was. That it wasn’t shown suggests that there is more to it than has been portrayed.
3 Likes
Years ago, a company filmed 60 Minutes, which I think of as reputable, filming their company and employees about a controversial topic. I saw what was aired and the original footage, and what was aired, lacking the context, was quite different – to the point of leading viewets to a different conclusion. Imho, the editing was the story!
I think context here could definitely help to understand.
3 Likes
Agreed. It’s a hatchet job, but the things she said in isolation are damning, unless, of course, she’s quoting other people and they’re leaving that out. It didn’t seem like it.
At the risk of being too blunt, that’s her problem. In the world in which we now live, if you maintain a deep-seated problem with an entire demographic that includes as a defining characteristic a particular race, ethnicity or gender, you had better make sure you’re talking to good and permanent friends when venting about said group.
So, unless the video leaves out key content to make clear that the vitriol she expressed doesn’t represent her own views, or is not actually vitriolic toward any group, and that seems unlikely, then she’s just not a very smart person for putting herself on blast with (presumably) a stranger.
Perhaps. But, again, I’m struggling to imagine what kind of missing context would render her comments innocuous.
Put it this way: if my white son were at that school, I’d want her gone based on what I saw.
Because if I had a son, he’d be white and he’d be viewed as being a member of a privileged class from an economic standpoint. I’m sure you can understand why that would concern me. We’re Cuban, but for some reason we’ve been DQ’d from POC membership in America, and we present as Caucasian.
Just can’t have school officials saying **** like that. It’s inappropriate.
4 Likes
Moving onto the travel section of Prep Schools In the News & Media - here is news that will make many happy!
3 Likes