Sellwood Middle School

The Tucker Maxon educators seem incredibly competent and the grounds are fantastic. However, the administration is abysmal. They do not support staff, or respond to concerns by parents. They immediately shut down anyone who has an issue. They have incredibly disorganized communication processes and make frequent mistakes regarding tuition, enrollment paperwork, or other special circumstances. It truly feels like all of the problems are centered around administrative functions.

PWS has been such a great fit for both of our children. The relationships they have developed with the adults in the building is special. The staff honor each student and hold them where they are while also challenging them to do their best and grow. My kids love handwork, language courses (Mandarin & Spanish), music and choir and are engaged and curious about the world around them through their daily homeroom lessons. I feel extremely grateful we have our kids in such a loving, enriching and kind community.

I would not recommend this school to anyone I cared about. There are so many better and amazing options nearby such as St. Agatha, Holy Family and St. John the Apostle. This school has weak leadership and very inexperienced teachers. It is not the same school it was 7 years ago- in fact, there has been a complete turn-over of all staff except one, during this time frame. The turn over of principals over the last 10+ years is probably record breaking (6). The academics do not prepare students for high school and the faculty do the bare minimum for their students with huge disparities and blatant favoritism. It’s very obvious with the many families moving on and enrollment drastically dropping nearly in half.

Our family dedicated five years to this school community. We had three children enrolled, volunteered our time, supported fundraising efforts, participated in school events, and genuinely believed we would remain part of this community for many more years.Like any engaged parents, we occasionally raised concerns when we felt our children were being treated unfairly or when situations involving faculty, volunteers, or school culture warranted attention. Some of those concerns involved exclusion, favoritism, and treatment of children that we felt was inconsistent with the values the school teaches. We brought these concerns forward respectfully and through the proper channels because we believed that addressing problems is part of building a healthy school community.Instead of working toward solutions, we were ultimately informed by school and parish leadership that we had raised too many concerns and that our family and children did not belong at the school. Shortly thereafter, our children's enrollment contracts were not renewed.What has been most devastating is the impact on our children. After five years, they are being forced to leave behind their closest friends, teachers they love, and the school community that has been such a significant part of their lives.This experience taught us that families should carefully consider how the school responds to feedback and concerns. In our experience, raising concerns about the treatment of our children did not lead to meaningful dialogue, investigation, or resolution. Instead, it ultimately led to our family being excluded from the community.We are deeply saddened by how our family's time at this school ended. We never imagined that respectfully advocating for our children and bringing concerns directly to leadership would result in being told that we did not belong.

Miss Josephine has been such an incredible teacher for our daughter’s pre-k experience. The entire staff is supportive, warm, attentive and we couldn’t imagine a better situation for our daughter. Even though we don’t speak French at home, it’s been a smooth and comfortable learning environment which we 10/10 recommend.