My name is Stuart Adamson and I'm an NCS alum class of 2010…read more First of all, the biggest contributing factor towards my distaste for NCS stems from the segregation of "Those with learning disabilities " and "Those without". Depending on who you were outcomes for the same scenario would be completely different. For example, if you had a learning disability and you were late to class because you were talking to a teacher from your previous class about something your outcome would've been that you would've gotten some form of punishment because, in my opinion, you were expected to know not to be late even though you had a legitimate reason for being late. On the other hand, if it was the same scenario for a student that didn't have a learning disability the outcome would've been you had a legitimate reason and just a slap on the wrist. Secondly, I can still remember freshman year and being so excited to be in the art class elective and for a split second feeling like one of the normal students instead of feeling like a lab rat in the special education herd. That was until some teacher, I can't remember who, came and got me and was like "You're supposed to be in this class!" like a prisoner who escaped and got caught. In my mind I was like "Well they didn't f***ing tell me that!". In my opinion the life skills class should be strictly for low functioning students not for students who are slow learners.Although I wasn't the least bit happy about being in the class I had to continue to attend the class even though I'm pretty sure that "Non verbal learning disorder" doesn't mean I'm not smart enough to do daily tasks. Lastly, if there's one teacher you need to avoid at all costs it's Ms. Bartlett. Senior year you're already under a great deal of stress to make sure you graduate. My senior year was her first year of teaching. I firmly believe that she took a job at her old high school as a way to get in easy. Now by this time we all had senioritis, which is when you're so close to graduation you just want to get that dang diploma and get the hell out of dodge. The way I remember it was that we could partner up to study for this exam - so we did. The next day going about our day one of the announcements on the monitors around the high school said for these students, me included, to go to the principals office. Oh the bucket of gravel I felt in my stomach. I had never been in a situation like that before so I was really nervous. 3 or 4 of us stood in front of 3 teachers to plead our case but I don't think they would've cared to take our side of the story. Punishment was early morning detention for several days. On top of that they gave us a zero for the grade on that exam. Then it was bumped up to a 75, which is still an F, but it was too little too late.

This is a great school. We have two kids there, one in preschool and one in elementary and they…read morelove it. The faculty have been so kind and helpful to us all the way around. The teachers seem to really like being there and are good at keeping parents up to date per the apps they use. I haven't experienced any of the things the negative reviews here reference. Honestly really glad for a school like this.

My girlfriend and I visited the Frances Bond Davis Theater to see the Portara Ensemble on a rainy…read moreafternoon. The performance was excellent, the acoustics were perfect, and everything went smoothly! The concert proceeds were donated to Make-A-Wish so we also got to hear some moving stories about the impact the foundation has. Overall, it was a great opportunity to see some art and listen to a wonderful choral performance.

We have two daughters at this wonderful school, and we feel so blessed to be here! The faculty and…read moreadministration really understand girls and their education, and work hard to bring the best and brightest to the community.

Casa as we affectionately call is was the perfect place for both of my children (10 years apart!!!)…read moreAmazing owner/teacher and teachers/families that truly love and engage in the lives of the children. Lovely place to be. IYKYK. Definitely a 100 out of 10!

My son has attended Casa Dei Montessori for two wonderful years. The teachers are trained…read moreMontessori experts who know how to present engaging and developmentally appropriate materials to children so that they learn at their own pace and attain a sense of independence. In addition, the school is run by actual moms who adore children and help them thrive. The students have traditional Montessori work cycles, but also bake together and have outdoor water play. Speaking of outdoors, the outside area is cute, complete with play structures and a kitchen. Casa uniquely and wonderfully combines the best of a loving home environment and an engaging academic setting. It's the best, and I HIGHLY recommend.

Enjoyed an evening with Nicholas Sparks (Author) at MBA Theater, discussing his newest book…read more#dreamland with host Shane West from the movie A Walk to Remember. What a great time!

Our son started this year at MBA, and we are thoroughly impressed, pleased and grateful! The…read moreschool really understands boys and takes teaching and learning very seriously. Our son has enjoyed the new friends he has made, and admires and respects his teachers. The faculty is top-notch and committed to the school and the boys. There are many ways for the students to explore various avenues of developing themselves as people - music, the arts, athletics, service. If you have a son who will be entering into middle school, you owe it to yourself to give MBA a long look. You can message me if you want to chat more personally. -- Matthew

not good school. lots of mad teachers that can't control temper with kids. great principle and…read moregreat vice principle but not as good teachers.

Very good school I like it a lot this is just filler really it's a good school I recommend sending…read moreyour kid there

My son has been going to ALC now for over 2 years, and I can honestly say I wouldn't want him going…read moreanywhere else! They have flexible schedules for those parents that don't need their child to go everyday. The staff is amazing and so caring about my son in and outside of school. They really pay attention to the children's' needs and always make adjustments accordingly. They have all kinds of activities during and after school that make it fun for the parents as well. My son has NEVER not wanted to go to school. Even though he only goes a couple of days a week, he is always asking me when he can go next. He loves his teachers and every single person on the staff. As a working single mom, it's hard to leave him, but I always feel good about what he's doing/ learning when I drop him off at ALC.

I really can't say enough about the staff. There are so many wonderful and loving caregivers…read moreworking there. It feels like every staff member in the building knows my little boy and greets him cheerfully every day. His primary teachers know him really well and make great observations about his behavior and personality. I felt great about going back to work because I knew he would receive great care. I also appreciated that they offer a variety of flexible plans, so it was easy for me to transition from half day care to full day care when I went back to work. Addressing the concern about employees and English skills, there are several employees who were born in other countries and for whom English is clearly a second language. I was actually really pleased to see that my son would be exposed to such a diverse group of people so early in life. I've never had trouble communicating about his needs and his pediatrician was blown away by his verbal skills at his last well visit, so I know his language development is just fine. I have zero direct knowledge of the staff pay, so I can't address concerns about staff being underpaid. I certainly hope that isn't the case because they are wonderful.

My Daughter has attended since Kindergarten and is now in 2nd grade. Excellent experience with her…read moreTeachers, Coaches and Principal Ms.Cheadle. Sylvan Park is a Padeia Design Center - focusing on the Padeia philosophy that involves the "upbringing" of a child, the approach is more than just instruction, the idea is that the child is receiving an education. You can read more online, but I definitely see activities, school programs, and the style of teaching is geared in this direction with personal attention to each child. We drive 20 miles out of the way, 10 in each direction with traffic just to get her here each day having moved away from the neighborhood and I will continue to because she loves it here and I love her being here.

This is our 3rd year our child has been attending Brentwood Montessori Academy. My husband was not…read moreconvinced going into our first year...He said one, maybe two years, but that definitely changed!. The first year, she started to write in cursive...The second year she moved into a new classroom and had several work stations, jobs, and an extra bonus of getting to go to violin class (with only paying a violin rental of $20 a month), and several extra curricular activities that we could add on after school (1 hour extra). Her teachers noticed after a few weeks she was behind on reading a little, and let us know promptly so we could get right on to ramping up her reading...She made a huge turn around! We love this environment of learning. We love that kids are able to be kids, but also learn lots of responsibility and independence. They get to go home and be a kid without loads of homework, although, you can request some learning sheets to be sent home. Now, in our choice to choose Montessori once again, for a 3rd year in 2020, we had a couple important requirements with our choice to go back. We already had an excellent experience so far, but the pandemic and how it was going to be handled at Montessori was key to us continuing. After reading their new policy, we saw that great efforts were made in making the children's environment as normal as possible. This was absolutely critical in us sending our daughter back. They had also placed common sense approaches for keeping kids and staff safe. Because the kids have separate work spaces where they do their individual work, they are already socially distanced. They do temperature checks where my child can be checked with her wrist. They also have hand sanitizing stations (my child is able to bring her organic sanitizer-90% ) and they take the time to keep things extra clean. They have a great system of separating rooms, in case of Covid exposure which really limits the amount of shut downs. This has been brilliant! We have seen the damaging effects of other overly strict policies in so many other surrounding schools (including a lot of depression, discouragement, and lack of learning) so we couldn't be more happy in the way they have handled this so far. Because she is able to go back to school, and not have us home school her, the teachers were able to recognize that she had a bit of a learning disability and we were able to immediately jump on that and get a tutor. One of her teachers actually took the time to educate herself better on her type of disability in order to understand and be able to serve her and some other kids with this issue even better. We would have never even known she had some issues. Now we can save her the heartache of losing her self confidence and falling behind. We highly support Jim Bernstorf and his highly compassionate & knowledgeable staff. We thank them so much for the way they teach the children. Thanks to them, our child can go to school in freedom. As Maria Montessori said, "Let the children be free; encourage them; let them run outside when it is raining; let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water; and, when the grass of the meadows is damp with dew, let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet; let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath its shade; let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning as it wakes every living creature that divides its day between walking and sleeping."

Love this school. I have two children who have attended for three years. Competent faculty, caring…read moreadministrators, engaging curriculum. Highly recommended.

f You believe Education is the key to your child's future, Linden Waldorf School is the right place…read morefor your child's dreams to come true. I researched all other top private schools in the area, only to realize that Linden's Staff and Teacher's are a notch above the rest. They are trailblazers with their unique Curriculum, Culture and Philosophy. I can say this because every person who chooses to work at this school has only love in their hearts for inspiring children to become the best version of themselves in this wonderful environment. We are fortunate, feeling blessed to be able to have our child attend. The Waldorf methodology has been in practice for over 100 years and throughout the entirety of the globe. It's both time-tested and more relevant than ever to preparing our children for the unknown landscape ahead. The positive feeling from when you enter this incredible campus runs deep. You will be filled with optimism for your child's future. I highly suggest applying early to not have your child miss out on a once in a lifetime experience. Linden Waldorf is a very special place with the ability to take what's known now and shape new possibilities for the future.

Here's what the five stars are for: -The warm hearted…read moregreeting from the first call to admissions to yesterday morning's drop off. -The food train (more than one round) rallied for my family when I got long haul Covid after the first months of being here in the Linden community. -The relentless communication from one of our subject's teacher that my son was really struggling and that he really needed attention around this and the meeting, emails and text answered so timely and my sons response to excel at that level of commitment and care. -The Square Dance Chili Cookout. 'Nuff said. -Our grades teachers being seriously so fun, authentic and committed to both of my children's development in their time. Coming from another waldorf school it differed in the approach to academics, especially because where we were was K-12 and Linden is K-8. My kid got his butt served in the Academic area but the teachers worked with him closely to get him up to par and now he's excelling. -Not once has a teacher or admin not heard out my request or concern without action and/or empathy. -My middle schooler having some crazy great relationships with his teacher, like asking me to have them for dinner. -Strings Program has changed my Son's life. These relationships support my family to thrive in so many ways. I appreciate the efforts of the school in these seriously challenging times. I'll say, it's not utopia and it's not perfect but when I got up in there and reached out, did my part many came to meet me there. I think I'll stop there.