Hillcrest

Not a safe school. Not a progressive school. The head of the school needs to be replaced, immediately and the school needs to do a real hard look at itself. I had both of my children at this school for two years. I drained my savings thinking that this school was worth its tuition cost. Instead, we received a sub-par education and two children who still upset when we drive by the school sign. No diversity. No languages. No art classroom. No lunchroom. Just no. As a parent of two non-white, lower middle class children, I am not sure if my experience would have been different if I those things weren't true. My children were wildly behind in math and science when starting back up in public school. Their teachers were not surprised when they heard that they had gone to the Center School. My 5th grader (at the time) was taught more about oral sex than math, art or current events. I am a queer liberal person, but, seriously?My younger son, autistic (school knew at admittance) was left to his own devices, kicked out of class whenever he was too much, making him feel shame. We paid out of pocket for an ABA therapist to be with him at school who reported that it was actually my son being picked on, being asked to repeat bad words (echolalia) by peers and then getting sent home for them. I couldn't believe it and yet I still didn't say anything. This school is not safe: I was called by the head of the school on a Friday in August to inform me that a student in my sons pre-k class had used a racial slur months earlier and that it was now being 'dealt with.' When I asked what that meant, I was given an obligatory few lines about 'why we don't say that word' but what I really wanted, even as someone no longer involved with the school, was to know that this was going to be addressed in a real way. This school is not safe: My son was allowed to walk in the rain on the OUTSIDE of a foot bridge at the school with a 3-4' drop. He slipped, was tangled in a ball of twine that 'happened to be hanging off the bridge' (why?) fell and shattered his wrist. No ambulance was called. In fact, when I got inside, the head of the school walked in front of me/my child with her arms outstretched telling me 'he is okay' (in fact his bone was literally sticking out of his wrist and was badly broken - clearly). Thousands of dollars in medical bills later, we never received a single call or note from the head of the school. Never a mention of the emotional or financial cost. Nothing.