Mahala F. Atchinson Elementary School

We have had an excellent experience sending our two kids to Red Bank primary and pre-school programs. The teachers, administrators, and staff are the most caring you'll find - putting in extra hours, running special programs, paying attention to individual student needs, and communicating with families. My kids have developed great relationships with all their teachers, and we have felt very supported as a family. We also appreciate that the school and district emphasize social and emotional learning and character development - recognizing students for their skills in school-wide assemblies and everyday badges. Beyond what happens in the classroom, the community is really the best part. Families are engaged, the district and the PTO work together to offer amazing community services and gatherings, and the school just has a wonderful, welcoming vibe. We've also been so pleased with the programs our kids have access to - from unique field trips, to music and sports programs, to a beautiful garden! We are so grateful to be part of the Red Bank Borough district and would recommend it to any family!

SBS is one of those schools that are hard to come by these days. K-8 setting, while public, feels private. The staff, faculty, and admin are amazing! The teachers care, and administration holds students accountable-hard to find these days! Like any small town, is there room for improvement? Sure! However, the school as a whole does a great job. School choice exists for a reason, and thankfully, when living in Shrewsbury, we have a great school.

My children have never loved school more. I'm an educator myself and have found that these are some of the best teachers and staff I've ever seen! We came from Middletown and had plenty of issues with bullying and now my kids feel like part of a family! It's truly amazing!

Winding Brook is the best preschool in the area! My children have attended and loved each day. The children are taught to think deeply and act kindly, and they learn abundantly!

I had three children graduate from SLG. They look back on their years at Saint Leo's with great appreciation for preparing them for their respective high schools and colleges. While technology kept updating and being incorporated into their curriculum, the traditions never went away.

Great curriculum and keeps parents in the loop via social media and email updates regularlymany fundraising events and activities to do outside of normal school functions.

Parents, beware:I urge you to read this cautionary tale so you can be better informed about the people that operate the school.My wife was planning to go back to work and we were looking at daycares for our two children. At the in-person visit, everything seemed great. They told my wife to submit an application and specifically mentioned verbally that the only non-refundable part was the application fee.We applied our children at the end of July when she started getting tentative job offers, planning a September start once my wife’s professional license cleared and she began full-time work, but we did not set a start date for school. They charged us 2 months of daycare costs for each child along with the app fees ($5,000+).Two days after submitting the second application, my wife gets another job offer at a non-profit supporting people with cerebral palsy. The job is lower pay and only part time, but offered discounted on-site daycare so we could afford the lower pay. This was good for my wife because she’s been dealing with her own health issues. Needless to say, with this job, we could no longer afford Voyagers for 2 kids, as it would cost more than her paycheck, so the next day we asked to withdraw.Voyagers administration’s initial response was encouraging, they’d review our case to see if we could be refunded the $5,000, or even a partial amount. However, we were soon told that there will be no review and we will not be getting any refund because the form we signed said “In the event of withdrawal within the first 30 days, the Parent will forfeit the first and last months of tuition. No refunds shall be provided.”Going back to the form we signed, I did confirm this to be true. However, the issue is that the form did not specify what the first 30 days were of—application date, enrollment date, or something else. It was purposefully left ambiguous so it could be used in any way they best suited their situation. As is, we gave the school 30+ days notice of withdraw, only 3 days after signing up. Didn't matter.I write this as a warning to parents that the school will likely look for any excuse to take your money. And I imagine the unbending and we-will-interpret-any-rules-to-best-serve-our-needs approach from the top (board and directors) can only trickle down the rest of the school’s operations.