What the heck is going on at St Mary's Hall? (Houston: lawyers, house)

[MenardMQ]

Rumors, innuendo, speculation welcome.

What is going on at this top private school institution here? I'm pretty plugged into the private school scene here in San Antonio, but even I am surprised at what has transpired over the past few years at this school.

Two suicides in last year's senior class. Jonathan Eades, the long time head of school, departed for the head of school position at Kinkade in Houston this year, which is easily considered one of the top private schools in the country. Now Jonathan Eades and the school are subject to a lawsuit from two students regarding bullying and sexual harassment.

https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...s-15479957.php

https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...t-15517722.php

Then you've got 100's of accusations of a bully, racist, and rapey culture at the school on newly created instagram accounts created this summer that a TON of former and current students have posted experiences on.

https://www.instagram.com/womenatsmh/

https://www.instagram.com/blackatsmh/

What on earth is going on over there? This school is in a crisis.

[ashbeeigh]

This is institutional and systemic, much like the thread about Alamo Heights. Up here, a similar Instagram was created for Westlake high school. It made it to the local nbc affiliate and is a thing.

People are comfortable now telling about these things. If you did not think this school was like this at all you’re very naive. Even in high school in 2003, I knew a few (like 4-5) kids who bounced between private and public and I heard these stories then.

[supfromthesite]

The only thing to worry about is the suicides. That goes on all the time. We need to ask ourselves why are people committing suicide at such high rates? It happens more in America than in third world countries.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

The only thing to worry about is the suicides. That goes on all the time. We need to ask ourselves why are people committing suicide at such high rates? It happens more in America than in third world countries.

Also, it’s none of our business.

[supfromthesite]

You say that until it's somebody in your family.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

You say that until it's somebody in your family.

At which point, it is my business.

[flashfearless]

Originally Posted by ashbeeigh

At which point, it is my business.

And too late. Mental health is tough for these kids. It took a couple rounds of treatment, good lawyers, and a lucky draw on a judge or my son would be serving 5 years in a KY pen right now with a lifetime mark on his record and or death.

He’s had a hell of a journey and lucky for him he’s gonna be ok in about a year when he’s done with probation.

It’s a thin line though for some of these kids. And genetics plays a role too. Some families are prone to it. Like my wife’s family.

[Well done]

We've that in common. The Wife's side has some who are victims of disorganized thinking. I recognized this immediately upon meeting them, they were somehow, not normal. So. One son was diagnosed with several mental disabilities eventually including Pchizzo -affective disorder, bipolar disorder and others in his teen years.
I had sent him to a boxing gym for two six month periods right before he became ill as he had an interest in it during high school. Then one day, he suddenly asked me to take him to see a Psychiatrist and then he became, very,very ill.
Soon afterwards he was sending haymakers towards anyone who made him angry, including me.
In high school he was already ambidextrous,he wrote with his left hand and pitched a baseball with his right, good, and luckily police were only called one time for these anger outbursts.
It was I who wanted to press charges because some hapless high school kid had struck first and in the temple no less. The cop had taken a picture of my son's opponent, showed it to me and his entire face was severely swollen and he was on his way to a hospital. The mother of the injured kid was so loud that the cop nearly took her to jail if she could not shut up. Eventually. Three teachers and a coach came to the High School office after I was called in and commented to me on how the other kid was at fault and deserved it because he was always bullying other kids and starting trouble. THAT commentary was of course against school rules and thus they all asked for any comments to be "Off the record". Sure, I replied. The Coach was my eldest sons wrestling team coach and he was the last to come in and visit me and said, " I never saw anything like this, the other kid was defenseless!" Then, next.
It literally broke my heart to send him out into a group home with a bunch of ex-cons and criminals for house mates at seventeen, but I finally, had to .
It was true, but there was nothing to do and nowhere to turn, I could do nothing with him as he would absolutely not, listen to reason. Surely , I tried. And tried. His brother and I took to sleeping with ball bats underneath our beds. The entire family became dysfunctional. Until this time I would not listen to school district counselors or the State Student Advocate (an absolute Godsend she was) about sending him out to a group home, flash fearless.
He was hospitalized for two nearly consecutive, ten day periods before I made the decision to move him to adult foster care after his last stay.
After sending a half-dozen residents out to the hospital emergency room all the other residents in the Adult Foster Care Home decided it was best to just, leave him alone.
Now, ten years later and luckily because of some very good group home operators and some understanding police officers his police record is clear and he is home with me again. He has a very good Doctor now and takes on many meds., but is stable, very stable and looks back with very strong distaste at that long ago period when he was violent . He has apologized to us all.
That was easily the most difficult time in my life. Confusing because there was not a thing that could be done, except for the Doctors to look for the right med. combinations. This was, is, learned experimentation until results are forthcoming.
I, we, were very lucky. I call him my bodyguard now.

Originally Posted by flashfearless

And too late. Mental health is tough for these kids. It took a couple rounds of treatment, good lawyers, and a lucky draw on a judge or my son would be serving 5 years in a KY pen right now with a lifetime mark on his record and or death.

He’s had a hell of a journey and lucky for him he’s gonna be ok in about a year when he’s done with probation.

It’s a thin line though for some of these kids. And genetics plays a role too. Some families are prone to it. Like my wife’s family.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by flashfearless

And too late. Mental health is tough for these kids. It took a couple rounds of treatment, good lawyers, and a lucky draw on a judge or my son would be serving 5 years in a KY pen right now with a lifetime mark on his record and or death.

He’s had a hell of a journey and lucky for him he’s gonna be ok in about a year when he’s done with probation.

It’s a thin line though for some of these kids. And genetics plays a role too. Some families are prone to it. Like my wife’s family.

You're preaching to the choir here. I'm a social worker who works with kids in schools and in an inpatient psychiatric facility. I also have a schizophrenic uncle and a mother who has debilitating depression and anxiety with possible addictive tendencies. Oh and they're both children of alcoholics. So I get it.

My issue is, and speaking from experience of working on a campus after suicides, there is a protocol and privacy laws. Especially when you're just a regular person who happens to "be in the know" about the campus, it is not necessary to know the background of why a CHILD killed themselves. If a family wants to share their experiences and are willing, that's fine. But I have seen many instances where stories get twisted and turned and it ends up hurting those that are closest to the person who passed away.

I would be saying these things no matter which campus someone was posting about. There was a post earlier about a student death at Reagan and I quickly stepped in and reported the threa before it ended up being a gossip session about the child and the family.

[rynetwo]

https://www.childtrends.org/indicators/suicidal-teens

Less teens are attempting or thinking about suicide, but and I'm only guessing they are more successful now with the internet and 4chan telling them how to accomplish it.

FYI I did not go to a private school nor a "wealthy" school and you could say everything about my school as they are saying here.

Newsflash, kids are damn a&*holes. A high school kid saying a racist remark or bullying someone was an everyday occurrence and this happened in my majority minority district and my majority white district. Why it confuses people as a new phenomenon baffles me.

Is it right? Nope. Can it be fixed? That is above my pay grade in this area.