St. Paul's School Concord NH

Thanks for the answers.

@sunnyschool - NH Attorney General’s Office. They are conducting a criminal probe of the institution itself, which clearly has unnerved the Trustees. They have actually hired the former NH Attorney General to defend SPS and its administration

Oops. Sorry. The above post was mistakenly uploaded. Honestly I am worried, concerned and perplexed at what is happening at the school. I sincerely wish copperboom’s family best.

Anyone having second thoughts about applying?

I can share our famiky experiences with the school. Although it has been only a few months, our experiences with the school have been very postice so far. Our kids has adjusted very well both socially and academically. Our interaction with the school staffs and advisors have all been positive as well.

I’m sure many people have positive experiences. The key, really, is how they handle bad situations. Blaming the victims is bad. I’m sure no one would want their child in the situation where they are being blamed. That is very, very stressful for a child (and parents). It’s also unfair that the victims are pushed to drop out of school, and very disruptive to their high school experience. From what I’ve heard, there were quite a few dropouts at SPS this year, for various reasons.

@sunnyschool, I am an SPS parent, and try to stay well informed. I wonder what makes you think that the school is blaming the victim(s) or pushing the victim(s) to drop out. Feel free to PM me. Maybe you know more than I do.

For what its worth I think these schools are ill-equipped to handle the new world order of sexual politics. If you take frank sexual assault/rape (by anyone a teacher or fellow student) out of the equation most of the modern cases are he said/she said incidents between kids. Jane Roe/John Doe at PEA; Michaella Henry and Chudi Ipeazu at PEA, Owen Labrie. If it weren’t for woefully outdated internet laws they would have had Labrie on nothing and shouldn’t have been able to parse the laws to do so. Same goes for texting/sexting. Girls send pix and boys get in trouble for having the pix or sharing them. The boys by and large get in trouble and the girls do not. Several cases where schools have black eyes are the result of school admins trying to make peace between two teens post a sexual encounter or flimsy relationship that soured. The schools are now so freaked out that everything is reported to the police regardless of the lack of merit for doing so. If the schools don’t report, they can get in trouble -if they do and it isn’t merited, that can cause a host of other troubles. I am not defending St Pauls just pointing out that the schools have all the accountability and no authority to keep things private AS long as they aren’t a serious allegation or crime. I have no knowledge of the posters child’s circumstances but I feel for them.

I don’t think the school is pushing the students out. At least they weren’t in our situation. They wanted her to stay. Rather I think there is an administrative culture of “playing ignorant” and “health leave”. Health leaves are fairly common. I think it’s just easier for the school (legally/logistically) to get them off campus- problem is that these are teenagers. They aren’t aways going to be happy. The school needs to be able to support them, especially those going through lifestyle changes or any huge cultural shocks. They DEFINITELY need to support the student if SPS is the root cause of the problem - which it was in our case

Are midterm grades displayed on transcripts? How do grades get reported? Are all term grades shown or just final grades? Thanks!

Inside grades are not reported on transcripts. They are intended to provide feedback to students midway through term.

Calling all SPS parents ! We have a DD accepted and considering other acceptances. We thought all the issues were behind SPS , but reading recent posts ihave been troubling. Have any parents not withdrawn child but wish they had opted for a different school?

@Sunnysky7 - if you feel ok to do so, you may want to ask parents about specific concerns. There have been some helpful posts from the past year on specific topics - some that are found by searching on more general threads. A couple of the parents have mentioned the school’s living in community program. Thanks for sharing concerns and, also, thanks to parents - several very active CC parents- out there for your replies on CC!

Our specific concerns are those raised on the SPS thread. Specifically :
1.how safe girls are at the school
2. Is admin still a problem for parents when a issue is raised
3. Are parents still coping with teacher’s behaviours eg poster mentioned a coach on this thread.
4. Locks on dorm doors for prevention of theft?

And finally ,
Our question was really a bottom line and very specific question to SPS parents: “ Would you, looking back, opted for a school other than SPS?

I am a parent of a sophomore girl. Below are brief answers to your questions form our own experience.

As safe as in any other boarding school.

We personally have never had an issue with the administration, and we are a high-maintenance family because my daughter plays a club sport outside of school. We have had to ask for a permission to leave early, come early, miss school, receive extra services, etc. and the deans have always been supportive and flexible.

We’ve never had an issue with a teacher or a coach. I don’t know what the post you’re referring to was about.

Theft is rare. Still, the school is in the process of installing electronic locks on all dorm rooms.

Nope. DD is happy where she is.

I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me of you want.

Reports in the media notwithstanding, SPS is a wonderful place with kind, dedicated teachers and coaches. Almost all of the boarding schools mentioned on this board have had issues with sexual harassment, problems with the administration, etc. Google any school name and “sexual harassment” to see.

In addition to the Living in Community program, which meets weekly and also has special days where students focus on a specific issues, there are regular dorm meetings also discuss sexual harassment, personal boundaries, respect, drugs, etc.

NH law considers kids 16 the minimum age to give consent to sexual activity (not limited to intercourse). Given the current social environment, schools must now report any infractions to the police regardless of the circumstances. This sometimes puts them at odds with parents.

I don’t know the reasoning behind installing the locks at SPS but Hotchkiss and many of the other schools have long had locks on their doors.

My other kids have attended other boarding schools - they all have their faults and SPS is no exception. However, looking back, SPS is by far the best choice for my son. He is thriving, doing well academically, having fun and staying healthy. We have no regrets.

Hi Everyone! I was admitted to St. Paul’s and I’ll be enrolled there as an incoming 4th former. I had a few questions about the culture there. I know it’s farther from the city part of Concord unlike Andover/Exeter, does that affect the vibe on campus? Also, there are no real rivalries, right? And I was also wondering how strict the dress code was lol

Goat mama , thank you for your thoughtful reply. It really helps . It’s such a major decision for us and knowing you are having a positive experience with regard to the specific concerns we had as a result of postings and headlines really means a lot Our child has Exeter, Middlesex and SPS on her top choice list. They are all so very different and trying to sort the best fit isn’t always that easy without feedback from other parents.

Locks on the doors is a good thing. Kinda like the “Good fences make good neighbors” saying. If they use ID’s to get in the room, the staff probably can still get in, FYI. I’m sure they have some way of that, in case they need to check on a kid (or search a room).

@wootkoor The SPS setup of being an enclosed campus within a decent-size town is what my daughter liked. She didn’t relate well to the open, college-type campuses, nor to the well-defined but remote school campuses. Concord Main Street is a few minutes’ Uber/cab ride away. You can easily go out to eat, buy supplies, etc. whenever you want without having to depend on a scheduled school shuttle. You check out through an SPS app every time you leave campus, and check in again when you return (unless you want to end up in a major trouble).

No one specific rival, but there is a lot of school spirit and well-attended, passionate games.

@Sunnysky7 You’re right that Exeter, MX, and SPS are quite different. Your child will get an excellent education at either, so you may want to focus on where she would feel more “at home” for the next four years. For my kid, one school felt too big, another too small; one felt too open, another too closed up; one offered no structure, another was too structured; one was great for her sport but not academically, another one was the other way around. Just go in with an open mind, observe, and let your kid picture herself living there year-round, day in day out, including in the dead of winter.

Some things that were important to us were whether the entire school gets together as a community frequently enough. At SPS, that happens four days a week. The 100% boarding was another advantage over other schools, at least for us. We also preferred the vertical housing - having kids of all grades in a dorm rather than grade-specific dorms. Someone else may have just the opposite preferences, though, so you just need to see what works for you and your child. SPS is best suited for the independent kid who functions well without a formal study hall hours or lights out time. Its smaller size necessitates that students get involved in multiple activities and sports, so it’s a good environment for well-rounded people and those willing to try new things.

Finally, I cannot say good enough about the Living in Community (LINC) curriculum. It’s a weekly class in which students discuss all the important issues that usually don’t get addressed at school or in a way that’s relevant to them - freedom, choice, compassion, responsibility, sexuality, drugs, relationships, stigma, mental health, discrimination, inequality. The school has also made a concerted effort to involve parents and keep them informed through monthly parent webinars addressing specific topics. Overall, in our experience it’s a good, wholesome place with some truly exceptional teachers and caring staff. I’m sure not everything is perfect, but we haven’t had any issues so far. In fact, I’ve been surprised at how far people will go to accommodate our needs.