8508 SPLIT RAIL LANE
Hudson, FL 34667

I had a wonderful experience at this school, and I want to highlight the outstanding office staff. They are incredibly kind and professional, unlike any other school I've encountered. My child always talks about Mrs. Merrell, and having met her in person, I can attest that she is a genuinely sweet, compassionate, and caring person. It's evident that she deeply cares for both the kids and the parents she works with. Overall, I rate my experience a perfect 10/10. :)

Before starting the school I looked at the reviews here and on greatschools.org. all the reviews are in the garbage, safety is a 1, communication is a 1. Every review about the ese program basically says run. It's all true.My 3 year old developmentally delayed, SEVERE separation anxiety child and i were told he HAD to go here cause of zoning. I expressed my hesitation to the school and asked for a tour an was originally told no. I called up to the school saying I wasn't comfortable with him attending if I couldn't even go on a tour.So they let me go on a tour.On the tour, district made a random visit. On this tour, I asked about a preferred item that I knew would help them with my son, i told them if they didn't, I would provide it. Day 2 we found that they never had the item, despite saying yes.Day 3 we hardly make it past the doorway. My 3year old son is screaming, crying, hyperventilating, so I asked for his teacher to come meet him an say hi, hoping a familiar face will help him go. Instead she drags him by his wrist away from me an into the building. I asked once to stop, then I yelled to stop, then I just started yelling to give me my child. I called district an the police an the police tried saying the schools can discipline your kids in this manor as 'it won't cause permanent damage' even though there are medical studies done that say dragging children by their wrist CAN cause permanent damage. They agreed that this would be a traumatizing experience especially with someone with severe separation anxiety and that it was in fact handled incorrectly, but it doesn't technically qualify as abuse because she didn't rip his arm out of the socket. But now there is a paper trail godforbid it does happen. The principle wrote me off as a problem parent due to my concerns waking into the school her exact words were "you were never going to be happy here and you made that clear walking in". My son is the size of a 2 year old, 28 lbs, SUPER FAST, and has severe separation anxiety, which will also trigger him to elope, hurt himself or other people. Of course I was gonna be nervous. If your child has been deemed developmentally delayed and you are zoned for this school, RUN to the unique abilities scholarship or the hardship scholarship and RUN to a different school. Every other school i've spoken to in regard to the situation says that it should have never been handled that way, and it was handled completely improperly. I can't stress this enough. RUN

I believe there needs to be less violence and stronger consequences I hear and see a lot that should not be going on . I believe all schools should have a dress code for uniforms. There is a large problem of kids going to McDonald's parking lot for there disagreements fights . The school would have a higher rating if some of these issues were addressed.