19608 E Bates Avenue
Aurora, CO 80013

My 2E child came here after being unceremoniously rejected by two very well-known and highly respected private schools locally (after they took our money and made false promises). This was our last step before resorting to home schooling. It turns out that my child just needed to be guided and nurtured! These teachers - these wonderful, attentive, caring teachers - brought my child from the brink of disaster to shining success. The staff here takes great care to meet each child where he or she is, and then guide them to where they need to be. They are helping to create fully-formed humans who will be able to contribute positively to our communities. Yes, bumps do happen and not every situation is handled perfectly ... teachers are still human. But this school bends over backwards to accommodate students, parents, learning obstacles and behavior challenges. They stress kindness to students at every step. And from the front office to the classroom teachers, from the principal to the special education department, nearly every adult in the building sincerely wants to help every child. Please believe me when I tell you that money can NOT buy this attitude. It comes from the top down, and is a part of the school's culture. The principal over the past couple of years truly supported and empowered teachers to make great decisions for the kids. I know not every family has the same experience... the key is finding the right school at the right time for your child, and this was clearly the right move for us. There will be a new principal next year, and all signs point to a continued positive future; I would keep my child here through high school if I could!

I’m sad about the negative reputation this school has, because I don’t feel that it’s accurate. The people who are the loudest are often the ones who have had issues, but the majority of the school community doesn’t fit that. It’s middle school- and middle school issues happen in every middle school. I had a child go all three years on an advanced track, and we felt that the quality of their education was fantastic! I love the diversity of the school community and I wonder sometimes about the undercurrent of negativity from people running parallel to their own opinions on diversity. Character matters, and this school does a great job in promoting PACK values. There are multiple opportunities throughout the year for family engagement- from the monthly engagement nights, student performances, after school clubs, and sports. Are there issues? Sure. It’s middle school. Some students don’t know how to behave. However, the majority of the students want to learn and those students can absolutely access a Cherry Creek Schools level of education here.

I had a few amazing teachers here, and a few that spoiled everything. I was top 5% of my class, AP scholar with distinction, ended up going to a 'prestigious' college -- but I did so much of it on my own. Especially in the English/History department certain teachers (not all) will gang up on students. The malicious teacher climate is by far the most pronounced in the English department. I had a friend of a friend tell me she walked into the office one day to get help (same English class) and my debate coach was saying horrible stuff about me with my English teacher. This was a frequent occurrence, especially with the debate coach, everyone on the debate team would talk about her choosing someone to hate and picking on them mercilessly. I ended up on the short end of the stick after several of the others on the team quit for that reason. There is no recourse that can be pursued against teachers like this, and it does really harm your mental health to be framed as a bad person and be excluded in any way the teacher can find in the activity you're very passionate about. I tried to switch schools when it got too bad, but the Cherry Creek school system did not have space for me anywhere else that year. The science and math departments are much better in terms of the teachers being kind and approachable, but there is a lot of work that can be done for boosting comprehension especially in math and science AP courses. There is a very steep divide between regular courses and AP courses. If you pursue honors diploma and related honor societies / things that result in honor cords -- there is a very big push to immediately get you into a prestigious 4 year institution. I say that mostly in that you will feel disappointment from your social circle and staff involved in AP/related courses if you do not "achieve" that right out of their school, there is no actual help with test preparation, scholarships, or application essays, or how to pursue recommendations. They do not discuss college debt or alternative options to a traditional 4 year, leaving many students in a not ideal position, just so the school can boost their stats.Ultimately Eaglecrest should invest more in actually preparing students for college/career -- while also checking a few of the teachers who bully students (way worse than any student bullying, and one time a girl literally threatened to knock me out because I was talking too loud in the hallway, that is whatever though in comparison lol)