Thurman

As the 2014 school year comes to a close, we are just as pleased with Brinson as we were when my oldest started there 6 years ago. We are a military family. We had a child or children (depending on the year) at Brinson, left for a year, and then returned to New Bern. My older two kids missed Brinson terribly the year they were gone. They were happier and overall got a better education than at their other school. Our youngest and middle child are currently there and continue to thrive. The teachers are very engaged. Sure, some are better than others, but I haven't had a bad teacher experience so far. The school does very well on standardized tests without obsessing over and stressing the kids about the tests (as compared with another high achieving local school where my friend's child developed test anxiety and spent most of third grade stressed out to the point of not wanting to go to school - and she was a good student). Brinson finds an excellent balance of urging the children to excel while not smothering them. My ONLY gripe is that I wish the curriculum spent more time on grammar. If you are moving to the area, rest assured that Brinson is a positive, safe place.

We chose this school, excited to come into an environment that we were told was welcoming and focused on student achievement. But this is the opposite of what those reviews stated . This school is ran on ideas from 10+ years ago. The staff is uninterested in new ideas, completely fine with being mediocre at best, and do whatever it takes to keep parents out of the classroom. If you can decide where to go do not choose this school. At least not under this administration. I was once an educator and understand firsthand what it takes to be a great teacher and trust me these teachers don’t have what it takes to make students resilient, encourage their future schooling, and foster a love of learning. To provide even further example to support my review, the kindergarten students were reading books that have been proven insufficient for teaching reading. During my time volunteering I witnessed two highly incompetent teacher assistance, running an intervention where they had zero ability to keep the children focused let alone retaining any information. While serving on their PTO, the teachers that were on the board refused to do any extracurricular activities to promote learning or to enhance the schools ability to provide a better education/environment,. When I suggested certain initiatives to support the students and their learning, the teachers voted every single one down and instead wanted to use the 10,000 dollars of the 13,000 PTO budget on their own class needs instead of focusing on the school needs as a whole. As one teacher put it during a meeting to which I stepped down afterwards because of the clear selfishness “ I know it sounds bad, but this is what we have always done and we need to continue to do so”. Which should be Creekside’s mission statement since they stand more by that than their current one. This school is appalling in the way the staff conducts themselves towards the students, parents and each other.

This review is specific to the middle school. I transferred my son to this school from another school in the area this year. He has grown and matured so much at NBCA. This school has been amazing. The first quarter was a bit rocky, while he tried to make new friends and find out how he fits in. However, he had amazing support from his teachers. Now, as we near the end of the year, he is actually willing to admit that he likes this school! What 13 year old admits that?! Whenever he experienced any difficulty, either academically or with friends, I email his teacher(s) and receive a response same day. They are always willing to step in and help. They really love their students, and that is displayed every day. The sports they offer are great, and he participated in some of them. He made several good friends this way. The other students and their families have been amazing!. Our family has become friends with a few other families, and feel like we fit in here. I did not feel that way at his previous school. This school may not be a perfect fit for everyone, but it is a perfect fit for my son and our family. I am grateful that I transferred him here, and I am looking forward to seeing him continue to grow with the assistance of NBCA.