Mackey
Nicholasville, KY 40356

As the parent of a child with special needs, finding the right school environment was incredibly important to me. I have been so grateful for the experience here. My child’s teachers built a genuine, trusting relationship with him, taking the time to understand his unique learning and social needs. That connection made all the difference.What stood out just as much was the kindness of his peers. He was accepted, included, and encouraged. Despite facing both learning and social challenges, he truly flourished in his own way. I have seen tremendous growth in his confidence and independence.This school has created an inclusive, supportive environment, and we couldn’t be more thankful.

I'm a Junior at this school, and while I think it's somewhat decent, there's still a lot to be desired, and I'm going to explain what.- Some classes (this year I have only two that are an issue, but this still needs to be brought up) are overly chatty, which proves to be a problem to me as I actually go in wanting to learn the material, but this, combined with other things the kids might do, drains the "want" out of me. This issue is never adequately addressed by the teachers and school staff, who simply try to give suggestions for things I could maybe do to make things easier for me, like maybe listen to music or move to another seat in the room... One problem with this: These are solutions to problems that shouldn't even exist to begin with.- Standardized test scores: I'm not going to college, so frankly my, below-benchmark, CERT/ACT scores won't matter too much to me. Here's what irritates me, though - the blame is almost always put on the students for their bad CERT test scores, when A. most of the material they're presented with is likely stuff THEY HAVE NOT EVEN LEARNED AT ALL YET, and B. shoving kids into a big building for 7 hours a day and expecting all their brains to be in 100% tip-top shape in order to tackle complicated subjects such as math is as unrealistic as one can get. I wish teachers and staff would understand that.- Bureaucracy: Some of the policies here are terrible, with the attendance policy being one of the absolute worst offenders - miss too many days, you're going to court! If you get sick a lot this year, THAT'S TOUGH! Gotta show up and spread those germs if you're out of absences (ABSENCES STICK WITH YOU ALL YEAR, BY THE WAY)! This was only designed with the "bad kids" in mind. That's how a lot of policies here are designed. - Behavior of underclassmen degrading each year: When I was a freshman, my fellow freshmen were chill for the most part. Flash forward to 10th grade, I start seeing freshmen acting the way I remember my fellow sophomores acting in 8th grade. Now, in 11th grade, I see freshmen who behave like they should still be in 7th or 6th grade, maybe even Elementary. I don't fully understand the reason why this is happening, but it worries me.I'd list some more issues, but I've only got so many characters to work with on this site. Overall, not the best, but still better than the middle school.

My son is currently attending the Learning Village. He loves it. His teacher, Emily Smith is very involved, very knowledgeable and engaging. During the pandemic, she was online and used puppets, dressed as a clown and introduced her pet dog. She personally calls on the children, recognizing each child. She comes up with creative ways of teaching the students. Her assistant, Mrs. Burton is very skilled in educating the children. She helps the in reading and getting the children to pick up on learning words and pronunciation. My son has grown a lot in Kindergarten.