Charles R. Drew Charter School

We’ve been at BPA for two years and have felt welcome, supported, and encouraged to engage. The school community is tangible beyond the four walls of the school. Leadership has a clear vision for building a strong school community, and we appreciate it being communicated in meetings, materials, and in student achievement.

We absolutely love Toomer Elementary! The IB curriculum encourages my daughter to think globally and engage deeply with her learning. She’s thriving both academically and socially, and it’s been wonderful to watch her grow in such a supportive environment. The school community is incredibly welcoming and vibrant, from weekly bike buses to events like Screen on the Green and the Race for FATE. We truly can’t imagine a better place for her to learn and flourish.

My daughter has a learning disability, and although I wish it could have been addressed with an iep sooner, she has received services and is now thriving. With 2 children who have made their way through this school, I can say that a majority of the faculty and staff is top notch.

My child and our family did not have a good experience at Friends. We thought being a quaker school that it would be inclusive and that as parents there would be many opportunities to engage and volunteer. We found the parent committees to be cliquish and difficult to participate even in volunteerism that we signed up for. Generally the school is very disorganized when it comes to events and programming making it difficult for working families to have clear expectations that things would start on time, in the location indicated or at all in some instances. Supervision of children is lacking and safety is a concern specifically in transitions and during after school. There are many times when non-teacher adults are supervising the children. Academically, the children who do well are the children who learn easily and are taught at home otherwise, you will not see progress from your children's academic development (at least in the early grades). The high level leadership Head(s) of school have been smart, kind charismatic and caring. Mid level leadership are ill-equipped for their roles and do not have the skills needed to support teachers and foster a professional environment to work effectively with children and families. Due to the school's decades long issue (pre pandemic) with low enrollment and being a tuition driven institution they do not have the resources that other schools at this price point offer to children. They simply do not have much to offer in the creative arts, performing arts or sports. The facilities both inside and outside are in poor condition and generally are not inspiring. Teacher retention is a problem, as well as teacher attendance, throughout the course of the year each class heavily relies on substitute teachers to fill in for chronically absent teachers. This tells me that there is an issue in the health of the school as healthy schools keep teachers for years and years and they show up to work due to their passion for the work and the sense of accountability to their students. It is not unusual to have a teacher leave midway through the year. Friends has trouble retaining children beyond prek & K when other area options open up within the public or private school systems. In the older grades able attract children for whom other area schools did not work out and for them Friends is a refuge. The families that Friends attracts are lovely and the community, if they can retain them are their best asset

SPC isn't what I would simply call a school. It is a place where children become life-long students while also growing as a whole person of faith and service. Teachers truly care about their students' development in all areas, not just academics - which is so important!