Arbutus

Current parent with a student at the school. The school culture is great and they have great teachers and a partnership with the Y of Central Maryland.

All three of my children attended AES and absolutely loved it! The teachers and staff are so dedicated and genuinely care about the students even after graduation! My only complaint is the drop and pick up congestion. I wish the parents cared more about following the rules and not parking in front of the no parking zones in front of the library. It inhibits cars from pulling into the car rider pick up line and buses pulling in. Also parents park, then walk their child across the street making it dangerous to pull out. Why not just use the car rider loop?

Principal and Vice Principal are incompetent. School events are poorly planned and executed. This school needs new leadership.

It was a pleasure to have my daughter at this school! The diversity, inclusion of children with different learning needs, and overall school culture was phenomenal. I appreciate the entire staff for the heart they put into Relay on a daily basis. My son will be there in two years and I’m excited to have him go through Relay.

I cannot say enough good things about this center! When someone first told me about it 4 years ago, they said it was like an extended family. Now, almost four years later, I can say this is so true! I have had three kids enrolled over the past few years and my oldest stayed to join in the kindergarten program. He has thrived in that program and was reading just a few months into the school year! They have a great curriculum and structure in the classroom. We have had a kid enrolled in every one of the classrooms at this point and all of my kids love it and each of the teachers in the classrooms from the infant room to the kindergarten room are amazing! We have been so happy with the care. It is their home away from home!

While the school community is welcoming, the academics fall far below the expectations of the local public school district. Both administrators are former middle school teachers and are ill informed about early childhood and elementary education and cannot provide the level of professional development that the elementary teachers desperately need. Parents have raised concerns over the lack of academic rigor and small group instruction for years only to be told "it's coming." If you hold administration accountable, they will call in one of their superiors and quickly suggest that you find another school. If you value your child's academic experience and want a collaborative partnership with a school for which you pay tuition, I strongly suggest you look elsewhere. St Augustine has a lot of potential, but there are no mechanisms in place to bring the academic rigor beyond mediocre and the administration seems completely clueless as to how to effectuate positive change to improve student outcomes.