The Fay School

The second-grade teacher, J. Armstrong, is being rude to the children. When they misbehave, she yells at them, calling them bad, uneducated children, and if they feel sick, she won't let them go to the nurse's office. She has scolded my daughter very badly.

I had two kids attending this school. Both had great learning experience and were prepared for the next challenges. PTO is strong and super involved with the community.

This school is designed to train white privileged obedient students, not emotionally resilient future leaders. We are immigrant families that experienced unsaid discrimination. They only care about easy management and money, not educating my kids. Not recommended.

I was at Awty since middle school, and I can pretty confidently say it was a good experience. I can confidently say that I bonded with at least four teachers throughout my time, both in classes where I performed well and in classes where I was not doing so great. Awty Connects was genuinely one of the best experiences I've ever had in my life, and I think it's an exceptional opportunity for students to have this sort of experience. I also made some of my best friends here, and they are all unique people I have yet to find at my university.However, Awty definitely has its flaws. Firstly, tuition is pretty expensive, and I'm not so sure that it was actually worth it. There isn't anything at Awty that makes me think "wow, this was totally worth 37k" besides MAYBE the IB program, but it really depends on which classes you take for you to get a good teaching experience. I honestly could not tell you why there are certain teachers teaching their classes. The disparity between the great teachers and the rest is significant enough for me to start to dislike classes I loved before, which is honestly just sad. A few teachers just seem uninterested and treat students with disdain for almost no reason. However, that being said, this sentiment doesn't reflect the broader teacher population at Awty, with most of them being good, and a few that are exceptional. College counselors were also super underwhelming, with conversations feeling superficial and unhelpful. Random colleges are tacked onto your "recommended schools" on Cialfo without any real consideration of what you want. Awty is also extremely cliquey, which is to be expected of a school with ~120 kids per grade, but I can't help but think about it in a negative light. As one student previously commented, there are lots of substances floating around the Awty sphere, and I personally know a lot of people who felt that if they didn't engage in these activities, they would be looked at as an outcast.Overall, I recommend Awty because it helped me find subjects I love and flourish, but it definitely has its downsides.

The community is nice, everybody is tight-knit because of the small school population and student-to-teacher ratio; however, the administration sides with teachers no matter the instance. If you have an issue with the administration and or teachers, they will act as though they care and will help you, but they will always side with teachers. Their Student Handbook specifically for dress code is strict, sexist, and overdone for Junior High, as well as their citation and disciplinary system. Most of the teachers at this school are respectful and offer a challenge to learning and seemingly love to teach, while others are harsh, demeaning, sensitive, and petty. They don't care for your emotional well-being and will give you an unexcused absence if you are to skip one school day to, for example, go anywhere but a doctor's visit. For Special Education, this school seems to try with the LRC, standing for Learning Resource Center, which your child is only allowed to use if they have special permission for different testing accommodations, need to do make-up work, or retake a test. This school is wheelchair accessible and has ramps, automatic door openers, and an elevator in order to get to the 5th through 8th section of the school. St. Theresa, overall, I would say, is pretty safe and has new guards around campus, although in other aspects, it has harsh punishments. They have updated the punishment system to include Uniform Violations in addition to Infractions, Demerits, and Office Referrals. Infractions are immediate recess and lunch detention same day, and Demerits are after-school detention. If you receive an unjust Infraction, and choose to contest it, for Junior High, they will simply brush it off and say high schools won't see them. But they do add up, and if you get 3 Infractions, it automatically turns into a Demerit. Family engagement is pretty high for Pre-K through Elementary School, including fun events involving principals and families, but once in Junior High, family engagement is more lax. Overall, I would highly recommend St. Theresa only through Elementary, but once in the Junior High sector, I highly suggest you either find a better private school, or switch to public.