My daughter attended from TK to 7th grade. Like other reviews, this is not an ordinary school…read more It is fundamentally not an In-N-out style magically changing your kids into whatever parents wish. Parents have to participate in all activities in order to learn skills to teach your kids and others. Definitely a good school if you care about your children's education and willing to invest your time and effort. They are not focusing on grades but on cultivating a love of learning and reading for their entire life. I know for some people this could be unacceptable. Education is not just teaching a parrot to talk. To learn how to learn: Reading, writing, logic, and math have to be consistently practiced within your family -- better not to depend solely on any school. If any school can teach your kids self-motivated learning before K-8, it's already very successful. My wife and I learned a lot every year, and those lessons are still part of our daily life. "mistake can be a beautiful oops" If you attended any public school you know how it felt when they acted like DMV. That is why we put our daughter in D2. "Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child."

We decided to withdraw from this school shortly after Labor Day Weekend. One of the main concerns…read morearose when I was showing a family member how to pick up our kindergartener -- we discovered the school building was completely unlocked at 9 PM on a Monday night following the holiday. Not only was the main entrance open, but the atrium providing access to all the kindergarten classrooms was also unsecured. That raised significant concerns about safety and building security. Additionally, we heard from multiple returning parents that teacher quality varied significantly, and there was a noticeable trend: returning families' children all seemed to end up with the most sought-after teacher. It gave the impression that there might be favoritism or uneven distribution of classroom placements. Another concern was the dynamic between some teachers and parents. It felt as though staff were hesitant to be candid, possibly out of fear of upsetting families. We were told things that didn't line up with our own observations about our child -- mostly overly positive feedback that seemed designed to reassure rather than inform. The environment gave off a sense that the school was trying hard to maintain enrollment numbers, possibly at the expense of honest communication. While we know no school is perfect, these issues were serious enough for us to feel that it wasn't the right fit for our family.

I have come to realize as a parent this is not a normal school. I have left messages with the…read moredistrict. I have spoke with the principal several times unfortunately she is the middle person, but this school needs a lot of work and a lot of attention and they don't return calls from the district

This school is so ridiculous. First off, the secretary Karen never answers the phone or returns…read moreemails. I have had the hardest time getting someone on the phone and with a pandemic going on I would rather not come in as often. But it seems I will have to if I ever have a simple question! My Son transferred from another school where he was doing multiplication and division in the 3rd grade. He is now in 4th grade attending Parkview and came home to telling me their math currently is addition and subtraction. I'm afraid my Son is not getting the proper education he needs, and its sad he has to deal because this is the area we live in now. Horrible school so far! I need to research other options.

To be completely honest and to prevent other families in believing this is a great school please…read moretake the time to read this!!! My daughter started here in first grade and it has been by far the worse educational experience of our entire lives!! Let me start off by stating that their teachers Are not very well trained, do not have many years of experience or practice and are often absent. My daughter now being in fourth grade has had a substitute about 12 times so far and the year is not even over yet, not to mention her teacher is a substitute that got hired on because they were not able to replace her. There seems to be a great volume of low income families, which there is nothing wrong with but my daughter has experienced bullying and learned explicit content because of the the poor attitudes, morals and values some of these kids are brought up with. She received her first black eye in first grade, experienced her first physical fight in third grade and was constantly bullied by other kids because of her arm hairs. She refused to take her sweater off for months because she was so traumatized. The kids also stole a strobe light at last years Halloween parade and my daughter often witnesses the 5th grade girls greeting the male students with a kiss in the mouth. She thought this was ok to do because she sees it and nothing is being done about it. I have also witnessed the way students treat and interact with each other and let me say I was shocked to hear how much cursing was involved in their vocabularies. My daughter has caught lice 5 times now! Which is outrages and ridiculous. Me and my husband have complaint so many times but we're told the kids here were "dirty" and there was nothing that could be done! We explained our concerns to mrs. Ross but eventually nothing change. I'm aware the staff has change including the principal. I am really hoping that things turn around at this school. Either way, we are considering moving just to get her out into a better school. I would not recommend this school to anyone, has education is extremely important to us and our children. A great school is usually rated a 5 this school has been rated a 3 for a Long time so if you don't believe me then look it up for your self.

The worst school ever it's sad that people actually belobe it's a good school to start the teachers…read moreare so mean and yell at the students they get mad and don't explain to your child as well as they are just unreasonable when having to go to the principal office they have favorites an want the favorite kids to not get in trouble it's unbelievable. Also the kids there are so mean they get the innocent kids in trouble then the ones that did it it's actually upsetting how this works Overall it's the worst place to put you're child in this is so bad DONT trust this school with you're child!

Teachers are very friendly. My son enjoys all the activities they held each year. Would recommend.read more

Our friends kid goes here and she has nothing but great appreciation for the school teachers here…read morewho go above and beyond for the little kids. Great neighborhood school and hoping to see the ratings go up in the future.

I hate the school because they gave detention to my brother for being late 4 times, and I have an…read moreIEP program (individualized education program) because I have a hard time paying attention, and they don't extend their assignment for me, and they don't remind me to do anything!!!! Just to work, and they don't repeat it to me. and that's why I have Fs in the school

Many activities in this school. Got my grades up right after I switched schools to this one.read more

Sakamoto is an excellent elementary school till 6th grade. It is in a nice community which cares…read moreabout the kids and programs. The teachers are good and really caring. My son came to this school from a private school and initially had lots of reservations. None of them panned out to be true. The only negative is that as a public school, the school has to tolerate some black sheeps.

Sakamoto is a great elementary school. The teachers do miracles with what little they might get…read more Not a state of the art facilities, but good citizens of the world are being born here!

My husband and I are both educators and have worked in public education in secondary schools for…read morethe past 15 years. We were lucky that for the first 3 years of our daughters life, we could rely on grandparents for complete childcare. When going to work, our minds were at ease knowing she had excellent care and attention at home. The downside was that at 3 years old, our daughter had not had much opportunity to socialize with other children or stay with an adult other than her grandparents or parents. We were of course, concerned that the transition to child care or school might be disastrous. I cannot be more satisfied with our decision to enroll our daughter at the Challenger School, Shawnee campus. We began with the summer school option, enrolling her in a half day program, 5 days a week when she was 3 years and a few months old. This was the perfect transition for a child who had no experience staying with other adults outside of family. Her cognitive, social, and emotional progress was visible immediately. That Fall, we enrolled her in a full day program in the 3 year old class. A year later, and we are still so happy with our experience. Our daughter will be enrolled in the 4 year old program for the 17-18 school year. While the curriculum and academic expectations are indeed rigorous, the staff is so incredibly loving, caring, and nurturing. The instruction is given in a way that engages the students through music and art. The children genuinely have fun while they learn and appreciate the structure and routine. We are always impressed with the work our daughter brings home. She is only 4 and can print her name, blend letters to phonetically read and write 3-4 letter words, add and subtract numbers, and so much more. Her experience is not unique as most if not all the students in her class can do the same. On top of this, every staff member from the administration, security guards, secretarial staff and teachers are excellent. I feel as though I am leaving my child with family. This is an incredibly important feature to me as I need to feel as though I am leaving my daughter in loving and capable hands when I drop her off to go to work. We have bonded with a number of parents from her class and get together for the kids birthday parties and other social events. I cannot imagine a better place for our child. I am happy to answer any further questions about our experience if you are interested in enrolling your son or daughter. Also, the school offers a tuition incentive of 15% off through a referral program. Please contact me if you are interested in this opportunity.

So like it was good my child is very smart compared to other students but I like think there's too…read moremuch of a jump between first grade and second grade like wdym at third grade all the sudden everything changes like my child's teach Ms. Holland got mad at my child and yelled at her for not knowing the difference between legal and just like wth?! However I do like Mrs Bamber, she's very supportive bc she helped my child get better grades. Although fifth grade is the hardest grade because of the biggest jump in curriculum. The turnover among teachers and headmasters are high at this campus. Don't know if it's the same for other campuses. It's upsetting when you're getting new teachers who aren't experienced in teaching. Honestly Challenger also preps you to be concerned when transferring schools because Shawnee is so small it will be easy to get lost in other campuses and like I hate this school. But they give you gold for completing PreK to eighth grade so I like that

The school has had cross walk helpers, I live near and was on the app Nextdoor and Seen a post…read moresaying a child was hit by a car?... very sad for the student and parent and the people who drive in that area wouldn't slow down,use signals etc in my opinion not an safe environment or school. Leaving a review just for the people thinking about sending their children here

This school let a little boy pull her hair she came up to me and told me the whole story discuss…read moreunappropriate.

Excellent school, great library and teachers, only complaint is that the garden is just dead…read moreplants, and smells like weed, but otherwise it's a great school.

My kids are much older and yes I have adjusted. I am more than grateful for the school that my boys…read moreare attending. They have a new Principal and both my boys are equally impressed with her format as they loved the old principal as well. They do seem to mention that they see her more around campus...So thats a plus in my books!

I would not recommend any parent to enroll their child here. I came to them to enroll my child in…read morethe middle school and fulfilled all their requirements. At the last minute they pulled the rug from under our feet and put us on a waitlist. They kept on leading us to believe that our child's admission was pretty much done. I interacted with multiple folks in their office but later realized they enrolled more number of students than what they can actually intake and then they put you on a waitlist. They do a decent job of selling their institution. Well it was an unpleasant learning experience for us as they did not make it transparent! Anyways we were unceremoniously added to a waitlist. After a few weeks they emailed us that a spot had opened up. I enrolled my child as I was still interested. Within 2 weeks of enrolling we found that their after school person does not work collaboratively with parents or maybe works selectively with some parents based on her liking them or not. We requested a couple of small requests related to how much time she shows movies for kids in the aftercare. She works with an attitude of "my way or the highway!" In other words large part of the after school care is spent every day in movies - maybe 60 mins or maybe 90 mins! We do not know why the school does not hire a more energetic person to lead the after care program who is interested in providing kids more activities and NOT JUST MOVIES! If you want an environment that does NOT support your child's growth through the day in the school where they spend most of their day then this is the place for you! We withdrew our child and went elsewhere. The principal who joined in 2025 summer, is very approachable/ pleasant/ positive person and a solution finder but in this case she was not able to help us either!

This school is not for my child. She had depression back then of learning, maybe it was difficult,…read moremaybe the way the teacher gave her hard time, she tended to plug her hair, doing fingers movements while sitting. Her grade was not good, school did not helping, told to get tutor outside. When the second grade teacher reported about her problems, she kept her eyes rolling, the way she did made me felt she looked down on us. One day, my daughter was supposed in infront of the class to speak about famous character, she supposed to wear costume, but I did not buy it on time. The teacher called to send her home at 11:00 am without letting her to stay and learn performance from other kids. Teacher said no need, " I will send you the video of others", but, I had not received any video. This is called discrimination or what? Why she not allow her to stay and learn. And that was it, I changed school. This school I had to pay money, returned nothing. My daughter had much help and improvement when she went to Rocketship. They can provide one on one help, later group help. They use different method somehow my daughter grade went up, no more plugging hair, no more stressing movement. She is fine now with As abd Bs. Again, this school is not for slow students, they don't have patience to deal with them. Period.