Seminary Valley

My son attended SWT for three years, Kindergarten through 2nd grade. The school is very divided by the haves and have-nots. The needs of the kids who have less means are prioritized, which makes sense. Many are immigrants and refugees, which create a rich cultural community. However, the school is stretched to its limit - teachers are maxed out and it’s obvious. Many students don’t know English and special needs students are in the classrooms. It’s too easy for students of means to get lost, my son was one. I was relieved to relocate out of state and into a public school district that was in much less distress. If we hadn’t moved, we’d have moved to private school. My son was miserable and has faired much better in a school that has capacity for him. Lastly, the word “bullying” is used so flippantly at SWT. Kids have no problem solving skills and don’t learn to work things out. The volume of tattling is insane.

This school has disrespected all of my values in teaching and in anything nice in this world, the kids keep on saying curse words and slurs and when teachers notice they don't reprimand at all, and the safety isn't even good. My kid keeps getting bullied and no one is doing anything about it even after he reported it, I would NEVER let my child to go to this school EVER AGAIN (forgot to mention the nurse doesn't do much)

My daughter attended Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School during the year 2025. In general, we believe Arlington Public Schools are good, and we wanted this school to be a positive experience for our child. Unfortunately, we had a serious incident that changed our trust in the school.One day, our daughter came home with a large bruise on her face. We immediately reached out to the school to understand what happened. We asked teachers, staff, and even met with the principal. The only answer we received was that they “didn’t know what happened.”We understand that accidents can happen and that sometimes kids might accidentally hit each other. If the school had given us a clear explanation or at least some information, we would have understood. What concerned us most was the lack of communication and the fact that no one could tell us how a child was injured so noticeably while in their care.Because we weren’t able to get a clear answer, we made the decision to move our daughter to another school. We still believe Arlington Public Schools overall are good, but our personal experience at Drew left us feeling unsure about the supervision and communication regarding student safety.