4214 S Bahama Street
Aurora, CO 80013

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.

For the most part Summit does a good job. It's a little hit & miss with teachers from year to year, but I've one child graduate from Summit and another in 3rd grade and we've never had a bad teacher. Some teachers are just a better match for your student than others. However, I'm knocking off a star because the school's recess policies are ridiculous. Way too much supervision and way too much restriction on the activities. When I went to school we just went and played at recess with no supervision unless we did something to warrant it. Now they have teacher aides watching over the kids at recess and the children are very restricted in what they can or can't do. My kid literally cannot run around at recess? They can't play competitive games? No tag?

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)