Maple Ridge El School

My husband and I made the decision to enroll our children at SCS due to the mask mandates in place at their public school during covid. We had hoped this might be a permanent change for our children as we value a Christian education. We believe in grace and do understand that covid was a very difficult time and some level of disfunction was expected especially in the beginning. However, the disorganization within SCS was on going. Individual teachers held their own. And really our only concern with teachers was that some gave significant amounts of homework. It was not unusual to spend two hours or more on homework each night. The office staff were extremely disorganized. Information was often conveyed wrong and it was common place to be told, I don't know when you asked a question. Simply getting your invoice was an ordeal. It rarely came home and was often incorrect. There were MANY families within the school who raised concerns about their money being misused or billed incorrectly. Instead of graciously admitting and fixing mistakes, you were belittled. The church and pastor claim the school is not run by them. However, it doesn't take long to see that they dictate how daily operations go. The tipping point for us was the dishonesty. At the end of the year the administrator announced at the awards ceremony that many students and staff wouldn't be returning. They even gathered and prayed (which seemed to be a manipulative move to cause people to feel guilty for leaving). The SCS Facebook page later claimed that they were growing and needed to hire. Again, a lie. Just be honest, you lost many of your staff because your school is poorly operated. In addition, when I speak to several different school employees and even a board member and they refuse to tell me if the school has a teacher for my children I get concerned. It is also concerning to hear mutiple staff and board members use the same phrase "We have piles of referrals for students." It isn't hard to see that this is scripted and staff and board members are all told to use the same wording. It is clear that the mentality of the school and church is to join in on their bandwagon or get out. My husband and I certainly aren't about to participate in this type of behavior. We were paying customers and certainly want to play a role in our children's education. We have no interest in being part of a school that is run by controlling and untruthful "Christians."