Titlow

My granddaughter is in kindergarten and is bullied by other students on a regular basis and also by a substitute teacher. I’ve noticed a big difference in her self esteem and she now does not want to go to school. The learning environment is negative, unstructured, and mixed messaging is confusing to her.

If your child potentially has any kind of learning disability and you are considering this school as an out of district transfer please DO NOT APPLY. My child started kindergarten and we found out he had some behavioral issues like emotional dysregulation and ADHD. The teachers/staff were good with some situations but not good in others. Suspending a 6 year old is not helpful or supportive. We felt extremely discriminated against because they refused to support an out-of-district student and eventually revoked his application approval so we had to switch schools after spring break. Overall my poor baby's kindergarten year was mostly a traumatic experience. The new school is so much more experienced and has made a huge difference in a positive way. Hindsight is 20/20!

It is our experience with this school that they will toss out any neurodivergent learner they have in their care. The leadership at the school is cold and uncaring, and it shows in entire staff. The entire time our little one attended this school, it felt as though they were looking for ways to get our little out of there as fast as possible. The office staff is rude and impatient, the teachers are overwhelmed, disorganized and have little support. The administrators are more concerned with their image than the actual students attending the school. This is the the highest rated and highest funded elementary school in the entire district. But, I question if it is only this way because they remove any special needs or neurodivergent learners from their school. The worst part is the district supports and encourages it!! After speaking with several other parents in the district, it seems that our experience is the norm. All the funding that goes to the school should be shared with the other elementary schools in the district that actually support learners of all capabilities! The school is nothing but a show, and a poor one at that.

I'm so sad that this school is no longer open. My 3 year old is going to need a preschool next school year and I have no idea where I'll find a comparable school to Arcadia. My daughter loved it there and it was great for her to socialize and learn in a positive place with such great teachers.

This is a follow up after more than one year when our son(actually our family) was expelled just prior to the end of the 21/22 school year in the six grade. We had a conference with a senior member of the WA State Catholic Schools System, and her comment at the conclusion of our meeting is that perhaps his leaving St Charles would be a blessing for our son and our family. That was an understatement as we immediately enrolled our son into Wainwright middle school in Fircrest until the end of the year. Everyone form the principal on down was incredibly kind and helpful and at the end of the day when our son completed his first day, you could visibly see a huge burden lifted off his shoulders. The staff until the last day of school had nothing but compliments about our son's demeanor in class(which has always been the case), and his academic improvement was immediate due to the positive, helpful and encouraging environment. Last year our son attended Narrows View Intermediate school in University Place as our transfer request from the Tacoma School District was approved.(Its out of school district for Fircrest, WA) Once again we experienced nothing but positive and incredibly helpful staff regards the high performing academic culture and focus for the individual needs of our son. We had previously received similar support at St Charles until we experienced the incredible frustration with a first year teacher and principal who in tandem(along with presiding Priest) failed to protect and support the needs of our son. The inability for an effective intervention process was probably the most frustrating experience for us and never thought we would ever experience at St Charles. Now, here is an extremely important aspect of this whole episode that was also frustrating and left us disappointed. . My mother in law was staying with us at the time and she is a Phd educator and retired president of a University in the Philippines with over 45 years of educational and administration experience. She attended 2 of the meetings at St Charles School concering our son and every time she attempted to advise and impart words of wisdom and support for improvement, she was immediately disrepected and shut down by the new principal. The good is that we are now in a first class public school system on par with St Charles and Bellarmine, and just as I discovered at West Point, private school peers had no advantage over me in a highly competative college setting.