St Davids, St Timothys

[Ellen Pitts]

St David's just announced that the upper school principal won't be back next year (he's a really great guy and a good principal) and he's the third principal in 6 years. The Assistant Head of Academics quit this year. Last year they lost the director of Christian life and also Director of Student life. I'm not sure why they can't keep administrators but it certainly has an impact on the stability of the school.

[PegMeg]

Just responding to the post by pegotty about administrators leaving...
We have a middle and an upper school student, and I feel like we've been kept in the loop on this as parents -- and we don't interpret having administrators moving on in the same way as you do.

For example -- the Director of Christian Life didn't just up and leave like there was a problem or anything. He had been there for years, and as he had always eventually planned to do, he took a position as a pastor in a local church. He has stayed in touch, has come back to campus to speak in chapel, attend events, and from what I hear, has spent time passing the baton to the new Dir. of Christian Life, who, incidentally, we love (he has really invested his life in our son as well as many other kids).

Another example -- The Dean of Student Life left on good terms to step up to a principal position in a school somewhere where his new wife was from, I forget where, but it was all on the up-and-up. We knew him fairly well and felt like we as parents were not left in the lurch like some bad thing was going on. It was all friendly and everyone was wishing him well as he headed off to his new position and newly married life.

I don't know all the details, of course (for instance, we thought the US Principal was great, too and don't know why he is leaving) but the point I'm making is that I have always felt St. David's was a healthy, solid place, and I wouldn't characterize any personnel loss as something we have felt concerned about. Whatever we've known about seemed to be totally normal and amicable, and planned in enough time to find good, if not better, additions.

[PegMeg]

Hi Dprice -- We had similar experiences choosing schools. We have two kids at St. David's, (including one in 6th grade like you do) and I have to tell you, it never even crossed our minds when we were looking for schools that Cary Academy might be a better school than St. David's. They both have very similar statistics (like college matriculation, scores, scholarship money awarded to graduates, etc), but we felt the intangibles, including the reputation, were better at St. David's. We are spreadsheet-pro-con types of people, and St. David's had a lot more in the pro column for us than both Cary Academy and Ravenscroft. I'm not saying it's necessarily the best one for you, but our whole family loves our school, and we don't mind saying that we believe it's the best one in the area.