The Heights School

My son entered The Heights at Eighth Grade. We had just returned from a posting overseas, so he was excited about attending and meeting more boys his age. We were excited too. But any positive feelings about The Heights evaporated when he matriculated to the upper school. He was bullied physically and verbally by the other boys. Teachers berated him all in the name of "toughening up." When I approached the administration, the reaction was "well, boys will be boys."

My son continues to attend therapy and blames me for keeping him under those conditions. Placing my son at The Heights destroyed the critical parent/child trust. Placing my son at the Heights robbed him of his self image.

I have three sons who have attended The Heights School in Potomac, Maryland for grades 3-12. It is run by Opus Dei, but half the families are not part of Opus Dei. This is a smallish, Catholic, college preparatory school with a very high quality faculty. All of my boys have gotten excellent, classical educations here - even my middle son, who is mentally disabled. From the Headmaster, Alvaro DiVicente, to each faculty member and the grounds crew (who are known as "the brotherhood') each person strives for excellence in all they do -- especially caring for the boys in their charge. They nurture the boys and allow them to act like normal boys. They must be gentlemanly, scholarly but they also allow them to rough-house and act like men. The younger grades attend class in cabins on the campus that sits in a pretty little valley in the woods. Younger boys have 15 minutes of exercise between every other class. It is up to the individual teacher for each cabin to decide if their class needs more time outdoors. This is perfect for boys! They encourage them to regard their talents, fears, skills, dreams, hopes, etc., in light of their whole person made in the image of God. They are excellent at accepting people for who they are and want to help them become who they are meant to be. One of their mottos is, everyone will fall down, what matters is that you pick yourself up again. No school is perfect, but the Heights is a refuge for boys where there is a heart that values them.