Cliff Valley School

Sagamore is an excellent choice due to it's dedicated teachers, staff, location and amenities. The assistant principal Dr. Montello is a genuine, thoughtful, and proactive administrator. Teachers like Dr. Shackleford who is so positive and supportive. Locals like Mrs. Zabinski who will make sure your child is in the best extracurriculars. Mrs. Sommers who is an exemplary parent who's kids are top tier roll models. The location of the school tucked away in a classic mid century community allows you to walk or bike into school on safe streets. The campus has an outdoor basketball court, soccer field, proper swing set, playground and is located adjacent to a neighborhood swim/tennis that the students can walk to on a short trail from the school. The community is walking, biking or a fun golf cart ride to local restaurants and shops. The neighborhood is close to Atlanta, Decatur, Buckhead, CHOA, CDC, and I-85. Buy a classic mid century, a new home, or custom build your own dream house. The rolling hills of Sagamore are a perfect place to raise your family. Sagamore Hills Elementary school has the best staff, excellent teachers, and a quite well appropriated campus. You will be pleasantly surprised by this gem.

Oak Grove Elementary is beyond an exceptional school. The teachers are wonderful, engaged, and really care about the progress of the students. The parent volunteer community is strong and a powerful force behind the teachers and staff to add programs and events for the students. My kids have been at OGE for 5 years, and we have had a wonderful experience. I feel that OGE is giving my children a very strong educational foundation to build upon in the future.

The school is not a safe environment for young children. The staff has repeatedly lost my child and then taken steps to obfuscate communication. The last communication we had with the school was that they unenrolled him when we tried to escalate our concerns. The school itself is owned by a Private Equity firm, yep, that’s right, Wall Street comes to Main Street so hopefully that gives all the parents warm fuzzies. The school is more concerned with protecting their bottom line and reputation than the health and well-being of vulnerable youth.

Our family has been a part of the IHM community for a number of years - since our oldest started in K and is now a senior in High School. We also currently have multiple kids enrolled at the school in Middle and Elementary. This school has been a part of our family for so long now we really couldn't imagine them going to school anywhere else. We have been consistently happy with the supportive teaching staff and academic rigor that this school provides. We would definitely encourage anyone looking at schools in the area to choose this one - we love it!

My child attended Arbor from 2021-2024 in the Primary Class from ages 3-5. Initially in interviews we were impressed and excited to engage in the Montessori curriculum — thinking this approach would establish a strong foundation and autonomy. Unfortunately, we were wrong. From the beginning the class was poorly led. I tried a number of times to engage the lead and ask about my child progress, lessons plans, curriculum, and ways I can help further lessons at home and I was met with indifference or pushed off. Turns out I was not the only one asking these questions and learned my concerns were echoed from other parents. Several, including myself met with leadership and were told they were working on it. After several months the lead teacher was ultimately let or quit mid year. An assistant was brought in to act as a lead (in the meantime there was significant turnover with the assistant teachers). She was great and made it very clear that the majority of the children were behind. I learned that this teacher was not Montessori certified and the school had no intention to support her in getting her certification and all along planned for another teacher to lead the class the next year. Overall, from the lack of education and support from the administration, our time there was a big disappointment and felt like a complete waste of money. I ultimately sent my child to an area private school and unfortunately they are behind academically. Moving to a school that emphasizing academia and structure has been a big change for my child, however they are young enough to still have the intellectually curiosity to want to learn. I sincerely regret my decision to attend arbor but happy I didn’t spend another critical year to give it a chance in hopes they would hold true to their promises.

The management is terrible, and there is clear discrimination against children based on race and ethnicity. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. We were searching for a Christian school in our area and found this one through Google, but it was a huge disappointment.

Coralwood School is amazing! From the moment my child stepped through the doors I knew this wasn't just a regular school, there was something special about it. The teachers and staff are so warm, kind, and patient. The inclusion model of learning broaden my daughter's acceptance of others who may look or learn a little differently than her. She became more compassionate, kind, and accepting. All attributes that have been recognized by peers and teachers. All in all, sending my daughter to Coralwood was the best decision I could've made. It has helped to form a strong foundation for her to continue to learn and grow upon.