1438 E Thornton Ave
Gilbert, AZ 85297

We were part of this school community for three and a half years, beginning in kindergarten, and made the difficult decision to withdraw before the end of the school year. That alone should signal how meaningful this choice was for our family.There are several genuinely wonderful teachers here, as well as kind, engaged families who care deeply about their children and the school. For a long time, those strengths carried the experience.However, under newer leadership, the culture has shifted in ways that were concerning for us. While the school outwardly emphasizes values like critical thinking, individuality, and character, our experience did not consistently reflect those ideals in practice.In both social and academic settings, we observed that groupthink and conformity were often reinforced, while independent thought and nuanced perspectives were not always supported. Over time, it became clear that the students who most closely aligned with dominant group dynamics tended to be elevated, even when those dynamics did not reflect the values the school claims to prioritize.Academically, the experience can be inconsistent and highly dependent on teacher assignment. Some educators deliver strong, engaging instruction, while others fall short of the rigor and differentiation one would expect from a program of this type. This variability makes outcomes less predictable than they should be.Between both our children, we have longstanding experience with both schools in the district that offer this program, which gives us a broader point of comparison. That perspective made the cultural and academic inconsistencies here more apparent over time.We are grateful for the relationships we built during our time there and for the educators who truly do exceptional work. At the same time, we ultimately felt that a different environment was necessary to better support our child’s growth, well-being, and ability to remain confident in their own voice.

My kid is in the CATS gifted program. He loves the teachers and curriculum!

It is a school of rich white people