Very mid... This…read moreschool is very meh. The education is good but but all of the people there seem wacky. Not a huge fan of the crowd at CDH. They are very loud and cliquey. A lot of gossip and drama happens and it's a lot. But that's with any high school you go to.

We came here to help deliver meals on wheels on thanksgiving day…read more I think I would have loved being a HS student here. All stone and old unlike my mid 60's faux ranch style HS...

Attending a concert at this fine school I was deeply impressed with a tour and explanation of the…read moreprograms and achievements of this institution. In a beautiful setting in a scenic St Paul neighborhood there is a large parking lot with school next to the church. I have relations that attend this place and they are thriving. The music program, which I saw, is very professional providing a great variety of different music genres which surprised me. A jazzed up version of the Sesame Street theme would have Ella Fitzgerald beaming.

This church and school is tucked away on a side street in the heart of the Highland Park area in…read moreSaint Paul. They offer reconciliation before each daily mass , which is offered twice a day Monday through Friday. They have a vibrant community and plenty of activities for all age groups. If you are new to the area, this is a great community with lots of opportunities to meet good hearted people!

My son participates in the ECFE program here at the elementary and he absolutely loves it. They…read morehave a different room theme every week such as trains, dinosaurs, outer space, etc.. He looks forward to it and really enjoys himself. The teachers are amazing and so great with the kids. We will be in the program until he is too old!

My son has been with Benjamin E Mays for 4 years. Teachers are very helpful and understanding if…read morethere is anything I am not in agreement with. The office staff is very pleasant as well very helpful when I am calling with any concerns in regards to my child. Which is very important.

I adore The Little School! My son has been going here for about 1.5 years, first in the older…read moretoddler room and now in the preschool. My 7 month old also just started in the infant room. The teachers here - and owner Erin! - are absolutely the warmest, kindest, and most genuine people. I'm constantly amazed at the creativity they put into each day for the kids: from building forts, to the dramatic play station, to themed crafts and working on letters and counting, they do such a wonderful job at providing an environment that is fun and safe. And the ratios! You truly can't beat them. The fact that there are only 3 (!) babies in their infant room and 4 toddlers in each group (younger and older) is something you just don't see anywhere else. I also love the parents here, several of whom have become "real life" friends! It's such a joy hearing all the stories of his day from my preschooler, it's obvious how much he loves his teachers and this school. Highly, highly, highly recommend!

The Little School came highly recommended from a close family member who had her two children…read moreattend. It seemed to be fate that there happened to be an opening that came up when my daughter turned two and a half, just in time to start the preschool program. The philosophy and teaching methods that this school bases itself upon are far superior from absolutely every other preschool that we looked in to. The staff consistently maintains an overall higher level of expectation for these kids. Which was so impressive to me because at such an impressionable age these young kids are being held accountable for themselves. They take such pride in the work that they accomplish either by themselves or in a group. They are respectful of not only the boundaries of their peers, but more importantly of themselves. As a result they are rewarded by having more freedom in their choices. From science lessons, to music class, yoga, art classes, dramatic play (my daughters fave!), weekly sharing day, to hearing what creative game they made up that day while playing outside. The amazing staff, conferences & daily progress reports, the ever so anticipated Halloween party, and sincerely wonderful families and parents, I could go on forever. Overall the three years at The Little School was a tremendously positive experience for our whole family. We now have a first grader who is reading at a fourth grade level with impressive comprehension skills. As well as going above and beyond her schools curriculum in math and science. I'm so proud of her, and I attribute so much of her early successes to her time at The Little School.

Just graduated from here and decided to check out the reviews of my high school on Yelp. In…read moreresponse to Rebecca's review, I would like to say that it's not just you who are frustrated with the tight security here at SPA, as we call it (not STP), but also some of the, as you call them, "privilege", "ego massaged", kids as well. Why? Because the tight security also provides difficulties for us to use our very own school resources...as silly as it sounds. Another crazy thing about the tightness of the security here at SPA was how the school administration spent millions of dollars on security camera upgrades while teachers remained underpaid. However, you must also consider the fact that the school is a PRIVATE school funded by parents money, which they spend $38,030 for each of their "offspring" for each school year. I didn't hear anything about the school benefiting from Highland Park's tax dollars. Furthermore, I must stop Rebecca on her line: "The fence's ugliness is an apt visual representation of the slice of attendees that I get to see each school day: entitled parents or their entitled teenage children speeding through our neighborhood, running stop signs in their BMWs and Audis and recklessly endangering other people in their desperate hurry to wait in the long drop-off line." First, not everyone drives in a "german-made cocoon" as some students here come from middle-class families who simply found enough financial aid to send their kids here. Second, especially during the Chantal days, being on time was more of a necessity rather than an option as the school required all students to be not a minute late to class. Also, who wouldn't try to squeeze your commuting time by speeding if it means you can enjoy more sleep and have a filling breakfast before going to school, it's not like we look forward to attending it. Hence, Rebecca, your oversimplification of what the school community is in your review is what triggered me to write this review. Yes, there are a lot of things that the school could change, and yes, I do believe its tight security is making it look more like a prison than a nursery for "tomorrow's leaders." But still, there are people in it who are not "rich", "ego massaged", and purposefully"endangering others with their German made cocoons" and SPA doesn't have to be engaged with the community given that it's a private school (private property), in fact, your hostile review about my school is what is driving it to be less engaged in the community! In any case, that is my perspective as a former SPA student.

I attended SPA from 7th grade through high school graduation, and I would not recommend this school…read moreto anyone. Yes, the academics are strong, but they are nowhere near enough to outweigh the serious problems with the administration and the school's priorities. Throughout my time there, I watched the administration repeatedly fail to live up to the values it constantly preached. One of the most chilling examples of this was when a group of boys made a list of girls they wanted to roofie. The school's response was simply detention for one boy. The administration also implemented a new re-enrollment policy that was incredibly money-driven and extremely draconian. When a parent publicly criticized the school and this policy, the family's youngest son was expelled was punishment. The older son was told that if he spoke publicly about the situation, he would not be allowed to graduate. Whether you agree with the parent's criticism or not, that kind of response sends a chilling message to families who dare to question the administration. Even on a basic operational level, SPA consistently fell short despite charging enormous tuition. Students pay tens of thousands of dollars to attend this school, yet the technology support is shockingly poor. Near graduation, I brought my fully functional school-issued laptop to the tech office for what should have been a simple repair of replacing a few missing screws. When I got it back, the trackpad no longer worked properly, the stylus was missing, and the battery could barely hold a charge. I returned it so they could fix the problems they had created. Instead, they returned my laptop completely wiped and still having major issues with the trackpad. SPA knew I was a graduating senior. They knew that seniors are instructed to download everything from their school Google accounts (emails, documents, photos, bookmarks, Google Classroom files, etc.) before those accounts are permanently deleted after graduation. I had done exactly that, and all of my downloaded files were saved on the laptop. Without asking me, warning me, or obtaining my permission, they erased the entire computer. In one careless decision, I lost six years of work. Poems and essays I intended to submit to competitions were gone. School projects were gone. Important emails were gone. My only copies of my senior photos were gone. Everything I had painstakingly downloaded before graduation disappeared because of a repair that should have involved replacing a few screws. I sent in a working computer with a minor hardware issue. I got back a laptop that still had a faulty trackpad, had been completely erased, and had caused me to lose six years of irreplaceable work. What makes this even more frustrating is that I am far from the only student who has had experiences like this. I know many others who have had similarly disappointing interactions with the school's technology department and administration. SPA has built an impressive public image, and it certainly excels academically. But image is not the same as integrity. In my experience, the administration often failed to practice the values it demanded from students. The school is overpriced, overhyped, and far more concerned with protecting its reputation than taking accountability when it fails its students. There is a reason SPA has begun receiving increased public scrutiny, including reporting by the Star Tribune. In my experience, the issues people are beginning to discuss are not isolated incidents, they reflect deeper problems with the culture and leadership of the school. If I could go back, I would not choose SPA again. Please, I beg of you, do yourself a favor and do not attend this school yourself or send your children here.

I love Friends School. The atmosphere feels loving and genuine and I think they really have things…read moreright when it comes to developing the WHOLE child. I am so glad they exist!