Hillcrest

Amazing school, top to bottom. They have completely turned around their Junior High program and I would argue it is now one of the best in the city. Fabulous Junior High teachers and the only school that offers student choice for specialties at the middle school level. They also have a new STEM Lab and renewed focus on incorporating STEM in the primary classrooms. Plus, post-pandemic they have a whole program focusing on social-emotional development and catching up students where they might have lost socially with peer-to-peer relationship skills during virtual learning. I am not a Holy Souls grad or even an Arkansas native, but we have been welcomed and included at every turn, so not really sure what happened to the reviewer who claims nepotism. We are SO happy our kids go to school here, would not trade our experience for anything.

As a Black mom, I’m very thoughtful about where I place my child. I want an environment where he’s supported, where teachers communicate openly with parents, and where young children are given patience while they learn. Unfortunately, that was not our experience here.For months, we were not told that our son wasn’t speaking much in the classroom. The first time it was brought to our attention was only after biting incidents began happening. What was especially concerning to us was that our son had previously been bitten himself, and the biting behavior only started after that. Earlier communication would have allowed us to partner with the school and address things sooner.The school later suggested an evaluation. The results were eye-opening for us. On the paper-based assessment, our son performed ahead developmentally. However, the observation portion raised concerns about how he was interacting in the classroom environment. It appeared that he had largely shut down at school.Based on what we later learned and observed, it often felt like our son was spoken to and corrected much more sternly than other children his age. While I cannot speak to anyone’s intentions, the experience left us feeling that he was being treated unfairly and that the classroom approach was not supportive for him.Ultimately, we made the decision to remove him from the program. When we arrived the next day to pick him up, his belongings were already packed. We did not receive a follow-up conversation, note, or any expression of care about his departure, which was difficult after trusting the school with our child.I’m sharing this so other parents — especially Black mothers — feel empowered to ask early questions about how concerns are communicated, how toddler behavior is handled, and how schools partner with families when challenges arise. Our children deserve patience, transparency, and care while they are still so little.