Pleasant Ridge Elementary School

Generally speaking, the school is a positive learning environment with great teachers and clerical staff. However, students with high academic achievement but socioemotional needs do not get the support or services they need. Would not recommend if your child may need a 504 plan but is not falling behind academically. This seems to be a trend in the school district.

Hands down the best school that my child has attended. The principal is amazing. She has built a great team of professionals. She is very involved and helpful. Our teacher was awesome. The class had the best year ever.

Overall, Harvest is an amazing elementary school, especially for kids with disabilities. Lots of specials, low teacher to student ratios, a very kind and caring principal, lots of extra curricular activities thru the district. Test scores are some of the highest in Michigan placing it at the top 10%.The IEP process is smooth and thorough- one in which therapists and teachers actually want to meet children’s needs (unlike AAPS). Their philosophy is to provide special ed services in full and early on, so kids won’t need as much extra support in later grades. Harvest packs more therapists, paras, and interventionists in a single school than other districts have in a whole district!!! And surprisingly, most if not all teachers seem well versed in autism, sensory processing disorders, mobility and fine motor challenges, etc.The building is showing its age but it’s still great. Special ed rooms are huge and well equipped, not closet sized like in most schools. Library is eye popping- modern and filled with every genre that any child would ever love to read! Gym is a but noisy but not terrible. Food is good and healthy but cafeteria can get crowded, as the kitchen setup is inefficient and so is their lunch process. Playground is large but equipment is old and lacking. Accessibility is mostly good, with zero-step entries and a commercial elevator.The teachers are great and it shows how much they care. They check up with parents often at the beginning of the year, but as the year progresses, communication decreases especially in older grades. But, they do keep up with great newsletters or blogs. The staff are so extremely helpful!PTA is kind of clickey. You have to be part of the wealthy, mostly white, mostly University of Michigan employees to get connected or taken into account as a parent. Likewise, rich white kids can be kind of mean - which is not a problem with the school but simply a reality of the district population and of the university-elite Ann Arbor culture. Having said that, teachers and staff take bullying seriously and know how to deal with it effectively.Overall I recommend this school. And regardless of the scores on GreatSchools or reviews on Maps, I do think they are educating ALL children well, regardless of ethnicity, disability, skin color, or financial means. And for students with special needs, this school (and the Saline Area Schools district as a whole) is truly a hidden gem and exemplary school to all of Michigan.

Seemed like a great school until we learned what a truly great school is like.WCA has very kind teachers and staff. It’s small, which is nice for kids who profit from smaller classrooms, but disappointing as far as extracurricular activities and course offerings for middle/high schoolers. Although kids are safe, the lax physical security is a bit bothersome.Special ed is not a priority here. The school tends to push back on starting evaluations / REEDS. Services provided to students- especially at lower grades - are extremely limited as they only have (or had on 2022) a part time interventionist and no special ed teachers or paras. Instead they depend in the public school district to provide services, which they can only do at about 25% of a child’s needs (meaning kids get half of the services they would otherwise receive if enrolled at a public school, and only a quarter to half of the days).The biblical teachings are nicely integrated into the classroom daily. In addition, students (K and up) attend worship services and receive bible class. The vast majority of teachers and staff truly love God, and it shows in everything they do. However, the way the school has focused on fast growth while deprioritizing special needs has caused them to reject or push away children with special needs - like mine - which had made me question how “Christian” this school could really be.After having to pull my kids out for lack of special ed services, and switching them to an amazing public school a few blocks away, I was able to see how much WCA lacks in terms of academics and special services. I am discovering how much further advanced kids are in public school vs WCA, in all academic subjects, especially reading and writing. Moreover, WCA still follows outdated methodology including punishing amounts of homework (even in Kindergarten), copious amounts of memorization, long and difficult spelling lists, etc.I am not sure I would recommend WCA after my family’s experience. I hope and pray that they will regain their humble beginnings and Christian focus, while improving academics and special education. Until then, I am happy to have transferred my children to a great public school, even if they cannot learn about God there.