Camelback Christian School

The school doesn't exist. It's a vacant lot.

Review of Tavan Elementary SchoolI want to share my experience with Tavan Elementary School, which is often regarded as one of the top public schools in Arizona. Unfortunately, our experience was disappointing. Despite high expectations, the support for students was severely lacking. My son faced unhelpful and even aggressive behavior from the principal, and the assistant principal’s response was often limited to issuing suspensions rather than providing genuine support. The social worker, who should have been a source of help, instead contributed to the issue by not engaging effectively and simply escorting him to the office.In contrast, after we withdrew him and enrolled him in a new school, the difference was night and day. He is thriving, and the environment is supportive, friendly, and understanding. There have been no issues, and he is flourishing academically and socially. This contrast highlights how vital proper support and communication are for students.In summary, while Tavan Elementary may have a good reputation, our experience shows that there are significant areas for improvement in how they support and treat their students.

Community is gossiping parents. Everything is based off income bracket, status, and donations. My kid was raised correctly and didn’t like it. He said the parents were the issue. He even noticed. We have 1 child in our family that has ADHD and they lack tools and skills for children with learning disabilities. A lot of activities for families on the weekend. My child’s input:Parents really lack the ability to set the example. It makes me sad my sister couldn’t be accommodated accordingly here cause of her learning style. I don’t like how everything is about your income. We did not get treated different but I saw other families that didn’t have extra means maybe and were treated not as fair as others.

Be forewarned, in disputes or disagreements, administration always takes the side of staff or teachers over students and parents. There is zero space for discussion or questions. The tone is sit down, be quiet and do what you are told, because there is a long waiting list. You and your child are replaceable. In fact, during a leadership and National Junior Honor Society seminar last year, the Principal told the students that the least favorite part of his job is the parents. If you are working to create a collegial atmosphere between parents, students and staff; this is not the way to do it. And if you are trying to undermine parent relationships with their own children, job well done! As far as managing disputes between children and teachers, kids as young as ten are expected to resolve directly with teachers, despite the power inequity between adults and children. This creates an environment that is ripe for abuse and our child suffered from several gaslighting type events by teachers and administrators. When we brought up concerns, we were simply told we were wrong, period. This created an environment where our daughter never wanted to talk to teachers about issues, and neither did we. In summary, if you want to partner with a school on your child’s education and well being, this isn’t the school for you. Please note, I am incredibly sad to be writing this review, because there are several exceptional teachers at CLS and the Pastoral staff is loving and kind.

This school is full of elitist snobs. They are unwelcoming, unsupportive and completely disengaged from the needs of family and their community

It has taken me years to write this review because I still can't believe how poorly this religious-based school treated my four-year-old child. He attended Christ Church from the 2s class through Pre-K. His teacher in pre-k was just terrible. She would isolate my child because he was "too messy" when he ate his snack. He had to sit at a table alone while he ate and clean up the crumbs on his hands and knees to show penance for making a mess. I am not making this up. When we complained to head of school, they hired a psychologist to shadow my son. She informed us that my son was not suited for the school and "would need lifelong care" but she couldn't write an opinion unless we paid her several thousand dollars for "a full workup." When we tried to place our son in another private preschool (All Saints) he was rejected because the Christ Church reference indicated that he had special needs. This was several years ago. We took him to public school instead. My son is now in middle school. He is profoundly gifted. He's at the top of his class, well rounded, and excelling. Christ Church administration was a joke. They were so far off base with my son that it is actually shocking that they are educators. The only blessing is that we discovered how bad it was before we spent more money there.