North Mountain

Abraham Lincoln Traditional School is a fantastic school with a strong emphasis on both academics and parent involvement. One of the things that truly sets it apart is the collaboration between the school and families. For example, the dress code was thoughtfully created with parent input to ensure that clothing does not distract from what matters most, learning.The school also implemented PBIS, which focuses on teaching appropriate behavior through positive reinforcement rather than punishment. This creates a supportive and encouraging environment for students.The teachers and staff go above and beyond every day to provide the best possible education and experience for the kids. There are also many events funded by the GUILD, which help build a strong sense of community and consistently encourage parent engagement.This is not your typical school. Students are challenged academically with nightly homework, memorization of poems, and quarterly book reports. The grading scale is also more rigorous than in many other schools, pushing students to work harder and reach their full potential.Overall, Abraham Lincoln Traditional School offers a structured, engaging, and highly supportive environment that helps students thrive both academically and personally

Desert View Elementary is an excellent choice for families seeking a school that values community involvement as much as academic excellence. It is a place where students are encouraged to be active participants in their neighborhood and where the staff genuinely invests in the long-term success of every child.

Kindergarten through fifth grade was pretty good. Not going to count it against the school for Covid procedures, even though that was extremely miserable. However, sixth grade is an absolute nightmare! This is the year where they try to get the students prepared for middle school. What does that mean? That means that the kids are responsible for carrying around all their schoolwork and their backpack all day every day in folders in our responsible for keeping everything organized and turned in on time. I definitely support this! However, the lack of transparency to the students and to the parents for knowing what assignments are being given out, and when they are due is non existent. My son has been struggling all year to keep his grades above an F, which is never like him throughout all the years he’s been attending the school. To get me wrong, I have held my son accountable for his lack of accountability, talking to friends, simply not staying on task, but when I’m trying to work very closely with the teachers, it’s like pulling teeth to get answers from them. It is literally becoming a second full-time job trying to stay on top of everything school related on top of my regular 9 to 5. My son is confused, frustrated, to the point where he is in tears almost every night, and I can’t get a straight answer from any of the sixth grade teachers to figure out what we need to do.

The GLC program was supposed to be an amazing place for our gifted kids. The only gifted magnet school in Phoenix, and their promises were many. Unfortunately, they are not as equipped for 2e students as they profess to be. My 99.9% but also autistic son had a real struggle here, culminating in teacher bullying and intimidation after only 2 years. Our daughter is gifted w/ ADHD, and had an easier time socially, but as another 99.9% she was not appropriately challenged by the program either. Principal completely ignored bullying from both students and teachers until I made a huge Karen-level deal about it, and continued to back the teachers even with provided evidence. Lots of gaslighting and 'I never said that' even though I have a recording of the meeting type of stuff. We should have stuck with homeschool, they just couldn't handle our profoundly gifted kids.