So excited to send my 4th grader here this year. Impressed with their communication with me in FB…read moreand seem highly professional and friendly! I'll keep you posted but so far I feel like they value parents and children by how they communicate quickly. I had requested an after school program list and it was sent to me within 24 hours! Wow Did not get that kind of response from Club Hill Elementary!

My nieces attend Couch Elementary. I love the Leadership. Mrs. Hill is outstanding and has a true…read morepassion for students. My 5th grade niece has been enrolled since she first started school and has always excelled. My nieces lost their mom and 1 year old brother in the North Texas storm. This has been a major life change for the girls. The principal Mrs. Hill and my niece teachers showed up to the homegoing service to express their condolences. The school had been a huge support. The girls live with my husband and I in McKinney. Garland ISD transportation has made arrangements to pick up and drop off girls to our Mckinney home until the end of the school year to assist in some sort of normalcy. The transportation guy was a retired Pastor and loved the girls and they loved him as well. Hill also gifted my husband and I with books to help with grieving and raising. One of the books is called 5 love languages of Kids. I'm blown away by the support and love. We are so grateful.

My daughter went to school at Couch 7 years ago and her teachers, Mrs. Richie and Mrs. Tori were…read moregreat. The principal, Mrs. Hill was amazing. They were open-minded to get to know their students. Soon after my 5-year-old daughter was the only one in her class who knew how to read. So I registered my 5-year-old son here this year and so far it's been a disaster. Because he has speech delay and ADHD and therefore, he's behind in development compared to other kids of the same age. However, his academic test score in Pre-K was high enough that he was not qualified for special-ed. I understand that a slow kid can be too much for a regular school, mainstream teacher who has 9 other kids in the classroom to handle but she didn't need to be totally cruel and hateful. There's constructive critique and advice with compassion that in the best interest of all 3 parties, she would recommend my child to be in a special-ed classroom setting like I, as a general dentist would recommend a child patient with severe dental anxiety to see a pediatrist. But here was an adult's (a teacher's, nevertheless) pure bashing a 5-year-old child non-stop for 30 minutes straight to his parents on the first parent-teacher conference meeting after she had already demanded him to be transferred out of her class without a heads up to us as parents. She went on and on about petty things like he (accidentally) spilled his cereal to him not understanding "scoot over." I'd be embarrassed doing so about any child because it speaks volume about my character rather than the kid's. She confidently and loudly stated: "He is not able to learn." Tell that to a kid's parents! That could break anyone's heart and induce endless fear and worry about their child's future. Good thing is that my son's neurologist ,who's Rx'ing ADHD medicine for him had already told me: "You can't diagnose a kid being intellectual disable or not until the age of 8 at the earliest." All and all, the school is not bad but this teacher's abundance of hatred and anger in her heart has diminished some positive aspects about this school. I was very sad to see this kind of character in a school teacher. I hope to see more kindness and patience from the special-ed teachers or I'll transfer my son to a private school albeit it's a long commute and it will deprive him from growing up in real life environment with kids of different social and financial backgrounds.

I absolutely love Whistle Stop Station in Rowlett. My daughter had the best experience with her…read moreteachers, and you could tell that each of her teachers truly cared about her! We moved to Forney, and switched my daughter to By the Barnyard Gate in Forney (owned by the same family). I wish I could say that I love Barnyard as much as I did Whistlestop! So many of the staff and teachers at Barnyard just don't seem to care or want to be there. I NEVER get updates about my child's day at Barnyard, but I got them daily at Whistlestop! Everyone took the time at Whistlestop to get to know me, my family, and my daughter at Whistlestop. Now, at Barnyard...I'm fairly certain no one except my daughter's actual teachers know either of us. In fact, every time someone different has been to pick her up (i.e, my Mom, Dad, mother in law, etc...) no one has bothered to ask them for any information. Thankfully, they are people that were on the list...but what if they weren't?! Needless to say, I wish we could go back to Whistlestop in Rowlett. (We'll be taking my daughter out of Barnyard very soon!) Whistlestop Station in Rowlett is a Phenomenal School!

So my daughter started at Pillars this Monday June 1st. Her 2nd day there which was Tuesday June…read more2nd, I sent my father up there to check on her around lunch time because she had listed off a few reasons for why she didn't have a good first day there. After my father got there and spoke to my daughter, he called me and told me that a little boy had punched my daughter before they went outside to play, and then while they were outside playing the same little boy kept teasing her and chasing her and also kicked her water bottle across the playground. I was surprised to hear this because I hadn't recieved a single call from anyone at Pillars about any of this happening. So I called up there and asked to speak to someone that was aware of what had happened, and after being on hold for 5 mins a lady got on the phone and told me she qould have to call me back and before I could say anything she hung up. About 5 mins later they called back, so again I asked to soeak to someone that was dealing with my daughter being punched, teased, and her water bottle being kicked around the playground and the lady said that she had talked to my daughter's teacher and they all were aware of what took place. So I asked her why I wasn't notified about any of this happening, and her response was " we normally only notify parents of a situation if the child gets hurt"... So I asked her how would she know how bad it hurt my daughter when the little boy punched her. After she realized how stupid she sounded, she then said "oh I misspoke, I meant to say that we normally only notify parents about a situation if the child is bleeding or gets bruised"... I dont know which statement was worse, but they are both bad, and most importantly wrong. I told her that just because my daughter was not bleeding, or whether she had a bruise or not, that none of that matters and they should have called me to inform me in at least a reasonable amount of time. But according to both of her answers, I highly doubt I would've ever gotten a call from them to notify me that a boy had punched my daughter, teased her, chased her, and kicked her water bottle across the playground. At this point I was frustrated, and honestly wasn't going to keep my daughter around "adults" that were this out of touch with reality, and around people that clearly didn't really seem to care. So I told her that my daughter would not be returning ever, and then she started to get an attitude with me and then she hung up on me. So to all of the parents out there considering leaving their child under the care and supervision of The Pillars Christian Learning Center, I would advise you to seek care elsewhere if your child's safety is important to you. This all happened within 2 days of being enrolled there, I can only imagine all of the negative things that would've continued to happen if I left my daughter at that poor excuse of a Christian daycare. I would trust my dog to look after my child before I would ever trust anyone at The Pillars Christian Learning Center.

Best school around! The teachers truly care and go above and beyond. The principal is inspirational…read moreand motivated to make eduction fun. The school is organized as a whole and it's obvious that it's one big family. So glad my kids attend! They provide activities like a daddy daughter dance, mother son movie night, Wolf howls, and fall carnival! They love to get the kids involved!

The Montessori program at Herfurth is outstanding. The teachers and staff invest their whole hearts…read moreand minds into the success of the students and the program. I highly recommend this school!

Herfurth is a public Montessori school for ages PK3-5th grade. See our website for dates and…read moredetails on how to apply!

Teachers and floaters are not trained. Hands are put on kids…read moreand unkind words are used. There is no classroom management and no office management. Director makes excuses. Also, asked us not to press charges on someone that needed it. She is all about money and not the safety of the students. Also, her daughter bullies the younger kids into doing stuff and threatens them.

Best school! My kids talks so highly about this school! Front desk staff is great super helpful and…read morekind .

We have been blessed to be at GCA for 13 years now. The teachers are caring individuals and our son…read moreis ready to enter the next phase of his life. He has been accepted to multiple colleges and is academically prepared. More importantly, he has been taught a Biblical perspective on life and has had multiple opportunities to grow in leadership through sports and student council. We highly recommend GCA for its Biblical, kingdom-focused education and caring teachers, coaches and administration.

The teachers and administrators at this school are really something. At orientation tour, I…read moreinformed Ms Ross, the director at the Fulton School that our daughter is on the high functioning autism spectrum. She took one look at my child and dismissed her diagnosis with "Oh she looks fine" and offered no accommodations. They then proceeded to place my daughter in the back of the classroom. I tried to convince myself things would turn out ok and went about my busy life. One day I received a message from Ms Jackman, the kindergarten teacher, that my child had wet herself by accident (she's not done that before or since). My daughter came home and told me Ms Jackman's daughter (who is also in her class) cut in front of her in the bathroom line. No big deal, just kids, I told myself. One week passed before Ms Jackman texted me again this time saying my child threw rocks at another child. My daughter said the other kid threw rocks at her first. I scolded her and told her never to throw rocks at other children and to tell the teacher instead. The following day my daughter's right eye started looking red and swollen. I felt bad for not believing her version of events and decided to keep her home to rest and tried to book an eye appointment for her. Shortly after, the teacher informed me my child threw chicken nugget at another teacher because the room was too loud (suddenly they remembered she has autism and sensory challenges). My child told me a boy in her class made fun of her for coughing (we're Asian American) and told her to "cover your mouth". She got upset and threw chicken nugget at him, missed, and hit the teacher. Again, I scolded her and told her this is not acceptable behavior. Because my daughter's autistic and very concrete, I explained to her due to COVID and us being Asian American, kids will be cruel sometimes. Concerned, I requested a meeting with Ms Jackman and Ms Ross to clarify discrepancies in accounts and to make sure things are ok at school. I mentioned someone tried to cut in front of my child in the bathroom line (didn't mention it was the teacher's daughter, in case the teacher didn't know what happened). Ms Jackman flat out denied it and said this did not happen. I then showed them pictures of my daughter's swollen right eye and Ms Jackman became defensive and insisted my child was lying and that it was the rocks bouncing back that hit her in the eye ( Really?! ) I offered the possibility of my child being bullied as reason for her getting upset and throwing chicken nugget. They said she has autism and threw chicken nuggets because the room was too loud and that I need to teach my daughter some manners. I informed them they can't randomly assign blame then use autism as an excuse whenever it fits their narrative. The meeting ended with them trying to gaslight me telling me that I was making false assumptions / allegations and that I need mental health help. Not sure where they get the qualifications to give me mental health advice when I did not offer mine (I am a psychiatrist). Couple weeks later, at our daughter's kindergarten graduation, Ms Ross purposely dropped my child's cap and left her without a cap while moving on to other children after seeing (and verbally acknowledging) that her cap had fallen. My daughter looked confused and hurt. Ms Ross then tried to push my daughter aside to put caps on other children. This pretty much ruined graduation for us. After graduation ceremony, Ms Ross came up to us and instead of saying "Congratulations!" to my daughter, first word out of her mouth was "Please put the cap back". It's exactly the kind of thing Tracy Ross would do, displacing her displeasure toward parents at a special needs child in such mean-spirited way. Wow, what can I say?

It the spirit of full disclosure I will share that my children are no longer enrolled in Fulton due…read moreto a severe discretion of my daughter, she was caught with marijuana on campus. I have 3 children that attended Fulton for 4 years. Over 4 years my children maintained excellent grades, participated in sports, were members of the honor society and won many merrit based awards. We always had a cordial relationship with all the faculty and contributed to the school as often as we could above what was financially required by way of time donated and meals for things such as teacher appreciation and sports banquets. The board of directors seem to be a good hearted lot, they awarded my children partial scholarships every year that they were there, if it weren't for the scholarships we couldn't have afforded the tuition. The problem lies in the head of school Letha Hopkins. Dr Hopkins took the one time any of my children made a bad decision and turned it into an execution for all 3. She looked down from her moral high ground and decided that all 3 of these bright, promising students should be expelled over the indiscretions of one. Letha seems to have a problem with diplomacy. There are many very good teachers that have decided that they would rather not work under her oppressive dictatorship and have taken on jobs with other school districts, ultmately leaving Fulton a talent depleted shell of its former self. Her leadership style leaves only "yes men" in its wake, to be a dynamic charismatic educator is a death sentence. I am assuming that is why enrollment in the upper school is down to a dismal half dozen students. I realize my child made a reprehensible decision and I acknowledge that there must be reprocutions for bad behavior but to think that an individual that wields the power over so many lives would chose to decimate their future so dismissively is very disheartening. In fairness to Dr Hopkins I think this decision was probably made with council from the board members which is a shame since the schools moto is do what's best for the child. What happened to my children was definitely not what was best for them. Humans make mistakes, it is our responsibility as adults to nudge our children back to center when they mess up not to decimate their lives and take collateral damage in the process.