Breck or Blake school? (Minnetonka, Wayzata: salary, living, to move)

[Camden Northsider]

Serious question: why don't you ever hear about Providence Academy in these discussions? It has a stunning campus and building(s), which I only know because I happened upon it a few years back-- but I've since been confounded by how such a well-funded institution flies so far under the radar that I had literally never heard of it....

[Freezemont]

Originally Posted by iameexc

How do you know "very few Blake students got into their top college choices this year"? We know many happy Blake parents indeed.

I spoke with one of their college counselors and several parents. I know that they had a couple of good placements, both of whom were legacy students who wouldn't have been admitted otherwise.

[Freezemont]

Responses inline.

Originally Posted by iameexc

This rely does not seem to have much logic. It sounds like it was posted by someone who works directly or indirectly for Breck [clearly you haven't follow much of this thread - countless similar experiences]. How can a regular parent or grandparent know "numerous people" related to both Blake and Breck? I am not sure it is good idea for a school to monitor online forums and spread rumors of competitor schools [Why is it so challenging for you to understand? Being well connected is a simple concept].

We know several Blake parents who think very highly of the teachers at Blake [I'm sure that there are several]. It seems that Blake's curriculum is less rigid and the school makes more effort to accommodate various children's needs [Perhaps. Breck is a tough school, and not great for students who don't work hard]. We also found that one of our kids have fallen behind a bit after attending Breck [don't match even one story told on this thread over a decade]. We recently started to supplement them with more study materials at home [Your child must be very smart. It you send them to Blake you will need to up the supplementation]. For those nonreligious families, the religion exposure at Breck is not just "a tiny bit". Kids at Breck spend about the same amount of time on religion studies as kids in other religious schools [false]. It really does not require that much effort for a kid to understand religion and people with different religion backgrounds[lol. false]. Self-guided reading in spare time is sufficient [it's all relative, but I wish you luck with tat strategy]. And yes, Blake's peer pressure in academics can be bigger and maybe that's why some relatively weak kids moved from Blake to Breck [Incorrect. It's just more toxic and Blake. The fact that you would make this comment cements the fact that you don't know the differences between the schools. Blake students are behind in almost every case when they transfer to Breck] We do have a few friends who eventually chose to send their kids to Breck after comparing these two schools, because they worried about the peer pressure at Blake [very common, and this is very negative]. On the other hand, Breck handled the COVID situation really well, and Breck's performing arts and world language education are really good [yes. amazing]. We are grateful for that.

[Freezemont]

Originally Posted by UMN2BE

At the high school level, is there really any benefit to paying over $30k/year to attend Breck, Blake, SPA vs much cheaper private alternatives like Mounds Park Academy, Totino Grace, DeLaSalle, Cretin Derham, Benilde St Margarets etc.??

It's a very fair question. If you have a very driven student, he or she will do well anywhere. Breck focuses heavily helping students to build solid values, and that is a definite positive. As an example, uniforms are required through middle school to discourage the small time oneupmanship that you see at schools like Blake. No brands allowed, phones have to be checked at the beginning of the day so that students aren't brainlessly controlled by them, and students learn about practices that will minimize the chances that they get stuck in the world of oneupmanship. Yes, the teaching is excellent at Breck (and I have heard great things about SPA as well), but I think that my kids would do well at any school that had a strong approach to minimizing toxic behavior.

[UMN2BE]

Originally Posted by Freezemont

It's a very fair question. If you have a very driven student, he or she will do well anywhere. Breck focuses heavily helping students to build solid values, and that is a definite positive. As an example, uniforms are required through middle school to discourage the small time oneupmanship that you see at schools like Blake. No brands allowed, phones have to be checked at the beginning of the day so that students aren't brainlessly controlled by them, and students learn about practices that will minimize the chances that they get stuck in the world of oneupmanship. Yes, the teaching is excellent at Breck (and I have heard great things about SPA as well), but I think that my kids would do well at any school that had a strong approach to minimizing toxic behavior.

The reason I asked is that we toured a few of the "cheaper" schools like Totino Grace - all of them require uniforms and behavior is under control. The course offerings were very solid with lots of honors classes (these are going away in many public schools) and a very good selection of AP classes. They do have a theological component to them which I guess might turn some people off, but starting junior year the religion courses were mostly stuff like ethics, world religions, religion throughout history vs just Christianity/Bible focuses classes. "Good moral character" as part of education was present in all of these schools.

I think spending $14k/yr on a school like Cretin Derham could offer massive benefits to a student who is in the St Paul Public School District, but I'm not sure if paying another $17k on top of that to go from Cretin Derham -> SPA is worth it. Thanks for your feedback

[Freezemont]

Originally Posted by UMN2BE

The reason I asked is that we toured a few of the "cheaper" schools like Totino Grace - all of them require uniforms and behavior is under control. The course offerings were very solid with lots of honors classes (these are going away in many public schools) and a very good selection of AP classes. They do have a theological component to them which I guess might turn some people off, but starting junior year the religion courses were mostly stuff like ethics, world religions, religion throughout history vs just Christianity/Bible focuses classes. "Good moral character" as part of education was present in all of these schools.

I think spending $14k/yr on a school like Cretin Derham could offer massive benefits to a student who is in the St Paul Public School District, but I'm not sure if paying another $17k on top of that to go from Cretin Derham -> SPA is worth it. Thanks for your feedback

Makes good sense! Seems like a nice blend.

[iameexc]

Update:

We are even less happy with Breck. We got the weakest teachers this year as well. The first year we got superb teachers, the second year teachers were less experienced but still good, the third year some are very bad, then this year more teachers who we did not like at all. We have very bad feelings about the school. We feel that they take advantage of the fact that students do not want to leave a school and take frequent transitions, they focus more on recruiting instead of retention. This is terrible. It is worse than going to a public school like Wayzata public schools.

Their new lower school director never replies to emails. Peg Bailey was very good, but she retired.

[UMN2BE]

Originally Posted by iameexc

Update:

We are even less happy with Breck. We got the weakest teachers this year as well. The first year we got superb teachers, the second year teachers were less experienced but still good, the third year some are very bad, then this year more teachers who we did not like at all. We have very bad feelings about the school. We feel that they take advantage of the fact that students do not want to leave a school and take frequent transitions, they focus more on recruiting instead of retention. This is terrible. It is worse than going to a public school like Wayzata public schools.

Their new lower school director never replies to emails. Peg Bailey was very good, but she retired.

How is this possible? Compared to public schools or "normal" private schools, Breck is taking in something like 2x per student after financial aid, probably closer to 3x when comparing them to charter schools. Not only that, but I imagine they are not required to have certain services publics schools do, like a fully-fledged special education department, ESL support, etc. What the hell are they doing with all that cash?

[iameexc]

No idea what Breck has been doing with its money. Last year our kids take their bus home and arrive around 4pm. This year the bus ride became 1 hour long, and they get home slightly after 4:30, which is intolerable.

[iameexc]

On the other hand, the school management team IS working hard. For example, they hired a new computer science teacher and some other teachers to address concerns raised by parents last year. It feels that they need to be pushed (maybe more than once) in order to make things work in the same way as in other private schools. It feels a bit unpleasant for parents.

I just talked with some teachers from nearby public schools. I feel I can connect with their souls in a much better way. The only downside is the student-teacher ratio in these schools, but if students are in the gifted programs, it does not matter that much.