@cinnamon1212 , how much smaller would the student body be if they only had single rooms? I have heard this proposed at other schools and colleges and I am struggling to wrap my head around what it would actually look like based on “normal” dorm density.
Heck, at tons of colleges, they fit students in by making the largest doubles into triples. Can they actually do this?
Hotchkiss has mostly singles and a pretty low population of day students. Day students are assigned a dorm room even in normal times, although the day student room is usually a double shared with a boarding student.
Deerfield recently announced their plans for the coming year. Fairly drastic housing changes–all incoming freshmen will be housed in singles rather than having roommates, and the break after fall term will last from Thanksgiving to January. Only two classes per term, and sports/cocurriculars are up in the air.
I thought Deerfield’s protocol was always to put freshmen in singles? Perhaps that changed over the past few years.
So it sounds like a block plan for next year?
Oh, if ONLY that had been the case @doschicos .Traditionally, Freshman at DA were in doubles, then singles Sophomore thru Senior year. NOW, the Freshman get their single…due to COVID safety measures.
The DA plan came out tonight and the community members I spoke with are not happy about it. We already know 3 athletes who are either not coming or who are leaving for day-schools closer to home so they can train with their club/travel teams in the Fall. You may hear about this with students at other schools, as well. We know a couple of kids choosing to sit out the year.
I can only imagine that more schools will be announcing plans as July approaches. Please share with this group of supportive parents. For many of us, these changes and this situation will bring a difficult decision. I think this is the time to be supportive and not critical of each other, our difficult decisions, and of our individual school plans. I know that these guidelines presented by DA, as well as other schools. have been created after much thought and hard work…yet, it’s so disappointing for our students.
The restrictions for DA may be those necessary and within guidelines for MA. So, you may see some differences between schools in different states as these plans get published over the next few weeks…just in time for the invoices.
What are parents saying tonight? Here is a sample of what I have listened to this evening: Gee…let’s see…2 classes per semester comes out to about $10K per class? What if you have your AP course in the Fall semester, but the AP test is in May? If you can’t enjoy the traditions, athletics, EC’s and community life of BS Is it worth it? Especially, when there are so many restrictions and big possibility of no athletics in the Fall (or maybe beyond)?
Here are the FAQs…press “helpful” and cheer me up, please!
Lots of questions/concerns for sure. As far as standardized tests go, though, do consider removing those tests - and concerns about them from your mind. So many colleges are going test optional, at least temporarily due to the pandemic and challenges presented. Even Harvard announced so today. Although much to the whole situation will suck, I think this is a refreshing and welcome change.
Thanks for posting, @Golfgr8 . I think that for most people, just knowing what the plan is - even if it has to be changed to accommodate covid developments - is helpful. There may be things that come out of this that work really well and are adopted into the post pandemic DA. Other things, not so much.
Some kids will do better with the intensive model. It is especially effective for kids who tend to have organizational challenges. Some very selective colleges use this model (3 classes per term). A chance to test drive a learning option. But yeah, not what you signed up for.
Hang in there. They were good to share the details before the tuition is due. I am sure that for some families, this will not be the option they choose. Strength!
It’s funny that everyone is talking about going back…we are still trying to move out. DS just had a Zoom yesterday where we had to helplessly watch a faculty member pack up his room. Because of medical appointments (which had been twice postponed), we will be in Boston this weekend. We are hoping the school will allow us to pick up his stuff Sunday and move it to storage, so he can bring back clothes, etc. The kid has been living with 8 days of clothes since March. I’m hoping we only need storage for a couple of months!
@Golfgr8 - I can feel your stress through my screen. I am virtually hugging you right now. ((((hug))))
This is all overwhelming. There are no good choices. Just ones that aren’t as bad. And one family’s “not as bad” is another’s’ “worst”. Every family has some tough decisions ahead, with their own unique issues…
I don’t have a high end athlete’s issues to worry about, which is a whole ‘nuther level of loss and complications. This whole situation is terrible.
But I do know this: you are a thoughtful, compassionate person who has a phenomenal track record of making excellent decisions with your family. If I were a betting person, my money is on your family making the right choice for it, and getting through all of this mess with poise and a positive attitude.
Thanks for sharing @Golfgr8 , I know that news is not easy to take in. I read through the FAQs that you linked and I believe that many schools will be rolling out similar plans. When Mercerburg had their Zoom session a couple weeks ago, some of the ideas they were discussing were items that are listed on the Deerfield link you provided. Although I don’t see how Mercersburg could arrange for singles for all students. As far as I know, singles are rare on campus, and there would not be enough dorm rooms to go around. We should have word on final plans for fall in early July.
I am also going to add that we are having a much different experience (communication wise) from the school that my rising 9th grader will attend in the fall. He refused to consider boarding, so we were left with only limited private day school options, or our 3000+ public high school. He has chosen to attend a boarding school local to us, as a day student. The school is rarely, if ever, mentioned on these boards, and I am not going to name it here due to my concerns.
We had a couple zoom sessions that welcomed us as new parents and for fall advising, but the school admins essentially dodged all questions about plans for fall. I know other local parents whose kids have attended for the past couple of years, and they are also hearing nothing about fall. It is unsettling. The school itself faces many challenges - a tiny endowment of $20 million, an international population that makes up 40% of the overall student population (mostly from mainland China, to boot), and a 50 / 50 split of day students to boarders, meaning that the domestic population of boarders is quite small. I think that all international students will have a hard time getting to the US in time for fall, as the government wants to extend the travel bans from China and the EU for months. If the school loses a significant number of international students who won’t pay $65K for zoom sessions, then there will be serious financial damage. While I think the school will still carry on in the fall, I am deeply concerned that the school will have a hard time recovering from the fallout in the long term. Right now I do consider them to be a school that could be in danger of closing in the future, due to the ongoing pandemic.
How do students graduate on time if there are only two classes per term??
Quoting myself…the DA FAQ answered this question for me…and to save anyone else the click, its a full year’s worth of learning for one class in that term. So you still end up with 18 credits.
Thanks for posting that, @Golfgr8.
I guess I shouldn’t be, but I’m a little surprised at the fact that receiving a flu shot will be mandatory!
Block schedule is common for large public schools and some people really like it. The main issue I hear about is the knowledge loss for ongoing classes. With classes like foreign language and math that continue, you always have to spend a month reviewing since the kids forgot a ton since they had the class the year before.
I would think the sports issue in particular may be a dealbreaker for quite a few Deerfield families we know. Also, is there anything about leaving campus during the term, for sports recruiting events or prospect days, or anything else of importance to the family.
Thank you @Golfgr8 for posting. Sending you and your DD hugs from afar. You have been such a support to many of us newbie families here, and you were a huge help during the application cycle this year for us. Anyway: thank you and my sincerest hugs to you all. (and btw – I think we will all be giving each other virtual hugs as our various schools roll out their plans and we see in writing exactly how much the BS experience will have to change.).
Perhaps a dumb question: wouldn’t day schools (theoretically) have their sports cancelled too, if all the BS cancel sports? I realized that different schools might have different plans, but in general, is there a reason to believe that day schools might be more lenient?
My guess is that Deerfield might be going away from the AP class model next year. They’ve dropped the ‘AP’ name from many classes that cover the content typically taught in the standard AP class.
Plus, there’s a possibility that the College Board might suspend AP testing next year or have a massive upheaval because of the de-standardization of schools from COVID-19.
I know of a handful of kids who are considering with their families to not return to DA this fall. I would also assume with sports likely canceled, fall sport PGs or even incoming juniors relying on this season to be recruited might drop from the school.
Thanks to my CC friends (above @Calliemomofgirls @gardenstategal @Happytimes2001 @dramakid2 @CateCAParent @cj9623 and anyone else (sorry if I forgot to list you) for your kind words of support over this news. It’s very upsetting and a real struggle for many of us to see the value now in sending our kids to boarding school when so much of the experience will be limited, or even gone. Especially true when you send your kid across country or half-way across country and your asked to list where you intend to quarantine your kid, without any resources. The reality is what it is. It just is a bit strange when a school is so tone deaf to have also raised tuition for next year.
RE: Question about Day Schools and sports. Our understanding from a couple of boys we know is that they are moving back to day school or local school because their travel/club teams are planning on having practice - as they have already started this summer. So, while the school team may not be playing games/practicing, at least there is travel practice & scrimmage to keep their skills up.
My sense is that several of these NE schools all talk with each other and the others in their league or association will follow suit with similar plans. More info to come tonight after webinar.
Raised the tuition? Really? OMG. That is not cool in this environment. At all.
So… It’s kind of like the module system on steriods.
(I went to CSW back under the old module system. I can’t speak to the current one, but we had 3 academic blocks per module, and there were 9 modules in an academic year. Some classes were double blocks. Super hard to explain when applying to college.)
More news this week to make one wonder…big issues to face.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/style/blm-accounts-social-media-high-school.html