Spring Valley Elementary School

Definitely in the business of breaking up families and punishing single mothers.

Really good, used to go to spring creek (currently go to MST and hate it and want to go back to SCE) teachers are great, huge PTA, and just love it.

Do not send your child to this school unless they are religiously observant and have ZERO interests outside of academics. The ONLY thing this school had outside of academics were decent sports including a GREAT basketball team. This team was a huge source of pride for the school and a fun way for the kids there to have a somewhat normal HS experience. They are taking focus/funding away from that to focus more on academics. Academics there are fine. What they don't have is opportunities for kids to be well rounded human beings. ZERO in the way of arts, ZERO extra curriculars, no music, no theatre, etc. and now they don't even have good sports. What an ABSOLUTE SHAME that a few well funded donors get to dictate how this school operates. The are the minority. And because it's pretty much the only Jewish HS in town, families are STUCK sending their kids there. I know Jewish kids do not fee safe in many school environments in today's world. But AYA is not the place if you want your kids to be well rounded human beings with interests outside of academics and davening. Send them to Parish or Greenhill instead. Plenty of Jewish kids at both of those schools and they can do all the wonderful things High School kids should be doing.

How does the organization expect the most seasoned teachers at below market salaries? Why not work with improving and growing educators instead of as one former teacher said, “replacing them over and over”. Hi turnover of teachers suggests leadership issues, not unmotivated teachers. The less tenured teachers would like to become excellent educators with time and coaching. Patience builds gratitude and loyalty.Turnover seems like at least 50% annually. High turnover also suggests unfair treatment. What does the turnover of staff teach the children? A danger exists for the children in continually turning over teachers, not knowing the long-term character of adults can lead to the hiring of a dangerous or negative influencing people. Empathy and kindness are constantly emphasized for the children, but for the staff just a hard knock life folks! A great organization is only built on commitment to employees. "Positive Teams Are More Productive."Where is the future with appeasement of misbehaved children?

The idea of a classical education is outstanding, and much needed. Unfortunately, St. Paul does not have the leadership or the quality of faculty to pull it off in a manner that benefits the children. Teachers are leaving, many of their top students are exiting, and the overall education is not worth paying for. Sadly, the focus is on petty discipline of the students as a way to distract from the failures of the teachers and overall environment. At the end of this past year, they began having daily mass from 8am-9am, and tried to sell it to the parents as a form of spiritual enhancement. In reality, it appears to be a coverup of the fact that they don't have the resources to offer quality academics, hence the offering of more mass. If you interview at this school and are considering it as an option for your child, get everything in writing from the principal. In our interview (we were there one year), I was told there was an honors math teacher and program, which was very important since my daughter came from a STEM school. It wasn't until November when I found out that the honors math teacher had left over the prior summer. I found out when my daughter told me she was "assembling Legos" when I asked her how her math tutoring went on a particular day after I picked her up from school--the school never informed me, and when I reached out to the principal about the honors math program my email was ignored and I never received a reply. Avoid this school until it is cleaned up and the current "leadership" is replaced. If you go to their current Facebook page, you will see how many new teachers are coming in for next year due to extensive turnover. Sadly, until the current Head of School/Principal is replaced there will still be poor decisions made regarding the program at the school, in my opinion. Many blessings to all.