The Marylhurst School

Our child went to this school for 3 years. The staff was difficult to get in touch with. We were often forced to call many times only to be told to send an email instead as staff were too busy to answer the phone. Our child was bullied. Head of School refused to meet with us to discuss our concerns. School provides no accomodation for ADHD or any special needs at all such as language or speech delays or learning differences. We tried to make this school work because of the low student to teacher ratio but in the end we felt this school wasn't the right fit.

This school is a mixed bag. The teachers are excellent and really try hard to create learning that is "outside the box" and project based. There is a good community feeling among parents and given its size, it is easier to get to know others than it is at public school. Students get more focused attention from teachers due to low class size. The school does not have strong programming in place to help those with learning differences. There is minimal cultural diversity on campus among students and none among the staff. Where this school truly fails is the administration and board. There is a clique vibe to it. Dissenting opinion is not valued. Communication downstream is abysmal, unless you are in the inner circle. Decisions are typically made by a small "in group", and then announced without outside input or concern for how it might affect others. There have been repeated safety issues at the school. Money and financial impact will always win over safety at this school.

We have 2 children at Marylhurst, one in preschool and one in elementary, and we couldn't be happier! The faculty at marylhurst has a true understanding of what children need to learn and grow, and every child is respected as an individual. My kids are encouraged to explore their interests, ask questions, make mistakes and all the while given tools for problem solving in the real world. We also love that families are encouraged to participate in all aspects of school life and, as a result, we have a loving, committed community that feels like home.

I went to preschool at The Marylhurst School and I had a great experience with my teachers who were kind and let me be creative and have fun. Looking back I realize that it was a community that helped me grow into a better person and helped me develop a strong personality.

Beware; this school is not as it appears. While it professes to encourage social and emotional growth and active, hands-on stimulating learning experiences, that has been far from our experience. Teachers are spotty in the preschool. While we heard from other parents that some are good, we had poor ones. My child went backwards instead of forward socially and emotionally and hated going to school. Twice when we picked him up he was crying and the teacher didn't know anything about why, and wasn't attending to it. My child picked up bad social habits we are working hard to undo. My child was also bored, as there weren't enough stimulating experiences to keep him engaged. There is a lot of unhappiness in the parents we have spoken to, with many feeling like there are a lot of politics and lack of transparency. Many have chosen to leave the school. With respect to the kindergarten, children will be behind academically compared to local public schools. The writing produced by the kindergartners was no where close to what is seen in the public school. With respect to the elementary school, I have heard several reports that there is a lack of authentic joy of learning in most children. Also, there is a lack of diversity of types of kids - there are few sporty kids, for example. One parent told me that although they might learn a lot of details about a particular topic (like bridges), the teachers fail to pull all the disciplines like math into the study of the topic - leaving students with a lot of disconnected details and lack of fundamentals. Project-based learning can be phenomenal, but like anything, it has to be implemented well to work. One parent told me her child hated going to school due to negative feelings in the classroom, and that her child was found to behind compared to standard grade levels. Finally, there are numerous complaints of an unprofessional and very opaque admissions process into the elementary school. While the school has all the right intentions, it fails to implement them effectively.