1402 Matt Pass
Cottage Grove, WI 53527

I love my daughter's school. She is an advanced student, and has been given so much extra attention to help her grow and succeed. By November of her 1st grade year, she was reading at a 6th grade level! She has been exposed to music, organized sports (girls' baskeball - my favorite), and a loving community of teachers and parents. She has made lasting friends, and I'm so happy to have found such a wonderful environment for her to get her educational foundation.

There are some good teachers at this school which is its saving grace. The school is very secretive, sends out parent survey's but doesn't publish results or respond to requests for them. During COVID-19, they forced all student to a virtual environment and refused to offer any in-person instruction until the governor forced them to come up with a plan. This school is more focused on be "woke" by cancelling anything that might upset anyone (e.g., Halloween, valentine's day, etc.,) instead of teaching people acceptance of others. Overall it's been a pretty disappointing experience.

I am a white male that graduated in 1962 so my recollections are really hazy. I do remember that they were very supportive of a young boy that excelled at math. They sent me to University of Wisconsin summer class in digital logic. The end result of this was that I got a job as a service rep with a company (Kearney &Trecker) that made big industrial computer controlled matching centers.The end result is that I traveled installing and servicing these machines all over the US, Switzerland, Israel, South Africa, Europe and probably some I've forgotten.

My kiddo went to GDS. She had an overall terrible experience. Based on her sharing day to day and my observations there are a couple of excellent teachers but many fall very short. They did not hold kids accountable in the school at all. So many stories of fights in the hallways, kids stealing things, etc. There were many instances of safety issues, threats, etc. yet they went years without every practicing safety drills, even when their own policy said they should. The principal and staff are not cut out for the job. They prioritize the wrong things. Kill all fun activities and make the school sterile. This is a systemic problem in the MG school district. Yet they produce some of the worst educational results of any school in the Madison area. Do not send your kids here if you value them or their future.