Summerville #HEIDVA
Summerville, SC 29483

This school is extremely nasty. There are roaches everywhere. The custodians and janitors don’t even do a good job at cleaning the bathrooms. The staff locks most of the bathrooms which means you’ll have to go to another bathroom in a whole different hall. They stopped giving paper towels and brought in hand dryers that nobody asked for and it’s dirtier than using paper towels but they bought a brand new sink nobody asked for. The lunches are not even good and they made the cafeteria the only place where they have different menu items than the lines around the school. In the cafeteria they made it only one line which you’d have to wait in and it has so many students. I don’t see the point in having one line for the whole cafeteria where people cut you. You have to send a smartpass (electronic pass) to be able to go to the bathroom which is stupid because the district pays for that when they could spend zero dollars just having students make a paper pass. The teachers aren’t even looking at their computers half of the time so you’re going to have to ask them anyways. Also for the smartpass one student is allowed out at a time which is also stupid. This school also constantly stinks and it’s way too overcrowded.

I normally wouldn’t leave a review for a school, but this experience has been extremely disappointing and matches what I had heard beforehand. Communication is very poor. Emails to the principal, assistant principal, counselors, and teachers often go unanswered, and phone calls are not returned.There are also ongoing issues with grading. Assignments are not consistently entered, and grades are sometimes posted and later removed without explanation, which makes it difficult to track progress and support my child.Academically, my son’s MAP scores have declined since enrolling here, whereas they steadily improved at his previous school in Summerville. There are also frequent fights and behavioral issues, which do not create a positive learning environment.

I was hesitant about ABES at first because of the number of people who have written bad reviews about it. Our experience at ABES, however, has been fantastic. My student is in first grade; both his kindergarten and first grade teacher have been phenomenal and very communicative. I truly feel like my student feels supported while he is at school and I have witnessed first-hand how much he has learned. I think children get out of school what they (and their families) put into it. ABES offers all of the necessary opportunities to be successful!