5331 SE 21 AVENUE, Ocala, FL 34480

Shady Hill is a good school, but it is not for everyone. We chose to enroll through school choice because of the school’s strong reputation, positive reviews, recommendations from friends, and long-standing record of academic success.However, we quickly learned that communication with parents is not one of the school’s strengths, especially when it comes to children who may be struggling. As active and involved parents, we repeatedly expressed that we wanted to work as a team because the ultimate goal is for our child to succeed. Despite this, social workers became involved and our child was sent to speak with a psychologist without our prior knowledge or communication.We were often told that someone would call us back, yet follow-up rarely happened, even when we attempted to contact the school ourselves through phone calls or ClassDojo messages.Additionally, throughout third grade, teachers rarely contacted us regarding behavioral concerns or struggles our child may have been having. Instead, comments were allegedly made to our child such as, “I hope the kids at the other school actually like you.” When our child attempted to apologize and take accountability for behavior, those apologies were reportedly dismissed with statements that staff were “too busy” to listen.Another disappointing experience involved Field Day. We were never informed that parents were allowed to attend and cheer on their children. As a result, our child came home upset that we were not there while many other students’ parents attended. Had we been informed, we absolutely would have participated.In our opinion, Shady Hill can feel like an exclusive-type school at times. When a child is facing challenges, transparent communication and genuine partnership with parents are essential, and unfortunately that was not our experience.