My teen is in their second year at Griffin and we feel so grateful for this school. The staff is…read moreamazing and have been so supportive. I feel they genuinely care about my child and they are very responsive. It is also really wonderful to have a place where kids are encouraged to be themselves. The education is also top notch - challenging, but not overloading kids with homework and busywork. Class sizes are very small and teachers get to know each child.

You know how sometimes you think it would be fun to try a new hobby but then decide it's equally…read morefun and less trouble to have drinks with friends instead? Art+Wine night provides a solution to this dilemma. Show up with your favorite wine and whatever art skills you do (or don't) possess and Natalya will provide all the supplies and knowledge you need to paint something worthy of displaying in your home. The website shows the project that will be taught on each date so you can pick and choose which nights you want to sign up for. The classes are small which allows Natalya to give everyone individualized instruction. I've been to four Art+Wine nights and I see SO much improvement since my first painting! I had never used oil paint and after taking a 2 session oil class I left with a legit fruit bowl painting. Artists of all skill levels come to Art+Wine night and everyone learns something new or improves their technique. It's a great way to spend a Friday night and accomplish something while drinking!

Yummy school food Mean kids…read moreWeird teachers Good memes Wendy near Is this long enough huh yelp?

I attended this school some years ago, and it was, and still is, a joke. Will you get a better…read moreeducation here than in public schools? Maybe in regards to math. But will your child leave here better off and prepared for the life ahead of them? No chance. The school is a sheltered island that practices borderline cult-esque ideals of religion and tries to indoctrinate students with a perspective of 'how the world should be' but completely fails to prepare them for how the world actually is. For all the heavily religious people out there, consider this. Roughly half of the students I know who attended Hyde Park no longer believe in God and directly point to this school as one of the primary reasons. I've never been religious but if I was that would be a horrifying statistic to me. And for those who are not religious, this isn't because the school promotes open minded thinking but rather is so far down the evangelical black hole that it ruins religion for most. Oh and if you actually care about the education aspect (which most parents at this school do not and are primarily focused on religion), check where their graduates go to college. The majority of them go to small, relatively obscure colleges because the school is not focused on education, but primarily religion. Students who attend a private school and pay for an elite education should not be struggling to get into Texas A&M if they're just outside of the automatic admit percentile. Yikes. Glad I graduated from a different school.

Since Chris Coy has taken over, this school has zero stability. The turnover on principals,…read moreassistant principals, and teachers is out the roof. They cannot keep teachers on board and they are hiring teachers who are providing poor quality instruction. AP passing rates are terrible. They have continuously increased tuition while creating bogus positions at the school and investing nothing in providing high quality teaching and trying to improve AP passing rates. There are minimal dual credit options for the students. Tuition gets increased and there's zero transparency about it; you find out about the increases when you renew your student's spot at the school. By that time, it's too late to switch schools. Everybody is at a director level position. We now have an Athletic Director for the upper school, an AD for the lower school, and two assistant ADs...for a school this small. Wasted tuition funds paid by parents to fund unnecessary positions, many of which are being filled by unqualified people. There has also been a huge turnover with the coaching staff across multiple sports. They've hired on Phil Dawson as the head football coach. His wife and son are also paid hires at the school. His son is a college kid contributing very little, but on the payroll. His wife, Shannon, is unqualified for the position she was given. Her work history is being a backup singer and writing devotionals. She's now being paid to hold the Director of Athletic Advancement role, and they've even given her an assistant, both of whom are basically doing team mom roles but now getting paid for it. Shannon leads a bible study for women at that school, but she is one of the rudest and nastiest women you will ever meet. Her assistant has talked terrible about kids playing on the lacrosse team. Incredibly negative and rude about other people's kids...even a kid who had signed to play D1 sports. The Dawson clan has come on board and they are cleaning house to create what they want at that school. Total chaos, negativity, and selfish motivations. They fired the softball coach for no reason, the girls basketball coach quit with no notice, and the football staff turnover and boys basketball staff turnover is up. They fired one football/conditioning coach for drug possession and sent out a lengthy note to parents about zero tolerance. A few months later, he was walking the halls again, coaching, and teaching a conditioning class for all athletes in all sports. Zero communication by our so-called Head of School to explain how they went from "he's fired, zero tolerance" to he's back on board in a full time position with direct contact with the students. They removed the Athletic Director and put him into a made up role of Culture and Connection and handed over the reigns to Dawson as the new AD. A second director role for Culture and Connection was also created. The CFO was replaced with someone else before she was even told she was being fired. It's just a disgrace. The Christian curriculum is subpar. There is no focus on how to live in the world but not be of the world. They have gotten so caught up in building a business...they accept troubled kids who have filled that school full of drugs. I am all about accepting trouble kids but it has to be within the means of the school being able to manage, but there is no plan on how to guide these kids once they accept them. They bring them in with no oversight or plan on how to get them back on track...it's just about getting that tuition check. The ones who are relatively on the straight and narrow get pulled into the drugs and poor choices. There are a few excellent staff at that school, but that number has dwindled to hardly any over the past few years. I have never seen such a poorly run institution. Poor leadership and decision-making causes such chaos. At this point, it's all about the money. I pray they regain a focus on investing in the souls of their students and families and that their actions begin to reflect the Word of God.