Let's start by putting some facts out there... Superintendent Roby makes over $279,000 a year and…read morewas awarded a recent 3% raise for a school district that is failing miserably. Despite being called "effective" in her role, I don't see the evidence to support it. But then again, it was the School Board that gave her this distinction of performance, not any parent group, focus group or state evaluation. The average salary for a school superintendent is around $160,000 in most of the country. Why is her salary so much higher? One word: IMAGE. For whatever reason, Grand Rapids feels as if they owe her this and wants to make some sort of statement and overpays in doing so. Data directly from Education Recovery Scorecard shows the math skills performance for grades 3 to 8 at an incredibly low level and far below the national average. This is directly from Education Recovery's data reporting: "Grand Rapids Public Schools, 24% of elementary students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 14% tested at or above that level for math. Also, 32% of middle school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 20% tested at or above that level for math. And 39% of high school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 17% tested at or above that level for math." These are absolutely terrible results. FAILING GRADES. To give you an idea of the type of student attending, U.S. News and World Report provides the following: "Grand Rapids Public Schools contains 51 schools and 13,787 students. The district's minority enrollment is 70%. Also, 62.5% of students are economically disadvantaged." THIS MEANS THEY MOST LIKELY ARE NOT HOMEOWNERS WHO PAY FOR THE SCHOOL DISTRICT'S BUDGET. Basically, my taxes are not paid to educate. I'm paying to house and feed a bunch of kids who cannot read or do math for eight hours a day. ("At schools in Grand Rapids Public Schools, 62.5% of students are eligible to participate in the federal free and reduced price meal.") Lots of people not doing their jobs and it's been this way for decades. They call themselves "educators," and they cannot even meet the definition of their job description. It's time to fire every one of them.

My daughter goes to Southwest Community School. The location is at 801 Oakland Ave SW, Grand…read moreRapids, MI 49503. The school is not very open to teaching european americans the spanish language. They make european americans feel very uncomfortable with their smirks, and evil stares. Teachers show favoritism to the students, that are of latino origin. This school does not accept different cultures. Madrigal Dessouassi is a horrible teacher teacher, and does not grades fairly, and favors students. I would recommend if you are an American, avoid taking your kids here. Bullying is acceptable at this school. Also there are no adults supervising young children on the playground. I received many calls from the main office saying my daughter was injured on the playground. The equipment on the playground is very hazardous.

Greatest elementary and church in West Michiganread more

March 8: St Paul Baja Tacos…read more This is my inaugural fish fry review and my first time trying out St. Paul's! We usually frequent St. Al's or West's all you can eat fish fry, but decided to try a new place to start out our Lenten 2019 season. My dad actually suggested we try this for dinner tonight and it was such a great experience - so different from what we've had in the past! First off, St. Paul's takes online reservations for 3 serving times: 5, 545 and 630. We opted for the later time which may have not been a good idea because the toppings bar was sparse. When we arrived, there was a line (which we're used to from other fish fries) to the hostess stand but it moved quickly and we were seated at a round table with place settings and a light up lei centerpiece. We were given 2 premade fried fish tacos on corn tortillas, a side of rice and refried beans. At the toppings bar, we had unlimited choices of 1. avocado cream: too sour 2. diced green peppers 3. Pickled purple onions 4. Pickled cabbage 5. Pico de gallo 6. Salsa 7. White sauce 8. Cotilla cheese: so good 9. Chopped cilantro 10. Green salsa 11. Tortilla chips Everything was fresh and the line to the toppings bar was short too! There was water and coffee available as well as a cash bar for beer and wine. Our plates were cleared by kid volunteers. It was the quickest and least smelly fish fry experience I've ever had (usually, after a fish fry, I have to wash my coat because of the overpowering fried food smell!). They also had a few desserts for $1 each and by the time we made it to the table, there were only 2 kinds of cake, brownies, sugar cookies and Rice Krispies left. St. Paul has an immaculate restroom. There was plenty of space to move around the tables. They had high tables sectioned behind a curtain to enjoy drinks as well. Overall, this was a great start to fish fry season! From their website: Join us for Baja Fish Taco's the Following Friday's During Lent March 8th, March 22nd, April 12 Make your Reservations below for March 8th 5pm, 5:45pm and 6:30pm and receive a discount Day of walk-in's welcome, but will have to wait to be seated and will pay a higher price. Adult meal $12, Senior meal $11, Kids $5 and no family discount Reservation Costs: $10 Adult Meal/$9 Senior Meal: 2 Baja Fish Tacos, toppings, sides and drinks $5 (12 and under) Kids meal: Mac N Cheese and drinks $1 Desserts will be sold at the event If you purchase 4 or more tickets in reservation, get $5 off purchase with discount code: Family Proceeds will benefit St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church & School

From the owner: Twist on normal Lent Fish Fry. Baja Fish Taco Nights. Choice of Breaded & Fried Mahi Mahi or…read moreGrilled Shrimp. We also have Mac N Cheese and Salad Bar.

We've been delighted with the quality of education our children have received since transferring…read morehere from a private school. The teachers all seem to be engaged and there are music and art activities available. There are a couple of drawbacks. Their campus is too small. There is not enough space for the children to play outside and getting in and out of the parking lot creates massive headaches for anyone travelling down 3 Mile Rd. Class size is relatively large. Communication with parents isn't the best. It seems like there should be more information such as upcoming events or news on their website and there is precious little available. I couldn't check up on an event my children informed about and couldn't remember the details.

Dutton Christian School is an amazing school. I have 3 kids here and am amazed at the personal…read moreattention each receives. They are loved and cared for. The curriculum is spot on, my kids are learning and growing daily. I highly recommend DCS to anyone looking for a school.

From the owner: We offer a Christian education preschool to 8th grade…read more Noah's Art Christian Pre-School provides a Christ-centered educational experience for three- and four-year olds in a loving, nurturing environment. Our qualified teachers and staff strive to meet the needs of each child at their stage of development while fostering their social, emotional, spiritual and academic growth. Our curriculum is Biblically-based, professionally designed, and academically sound. Students are challenged in all subject areas. Students in third through eighth grades took the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) in March 2012. We are pleased that the average percentile rank of all the grade levels' core scores is 91%. This ranks us among the top 9% of schools nationwide who participated in this year's test.

I highly recommend Mayflower! I remember being so worried about choosing the right preschool for my…read morechildren...but now that they're done, I absolutely know I made the right choice when I chose Mayflower. My 2 kids were 4 years apart (had the same teacher) and they both LOVED it there. It was a great experience for them and for our whole family. This preschool is wonderful with experienced, kind teachers who truly care! They're not the newest, the biggest and they don't have a flashy new program or a theme, they just use old-fashioned teaching to prepare kids for kindergarten. Ask anyone who has sent their kids there to hear more rave reviews!

I have really enjoyed everything about this preschool. The teachers are amazing and there is a lot…read moreof attention to detail, learning and to the families.

This is the address for East Oakview Elementary…read more One of several elementary schools in the Northview Public Schools district. Nice, but older, building with a very good staff.

During Lent, many Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays so often churches will provide fish…read moredinners for sale. I'm not Catholic anymore and never went to a fish fry growing up, but I enjoy checking them out around town since they're usually pretty affordable and I love fried fish. I saw a photo of the fish fry at St. John Vianney and knew I had to try it. The curly fries really drew me in, but it was the massive portion of fish that put it towards the top of my ranking after trying it. I found a link to preorder which was easy and convenient. We arrived at our specified pickup time and got in line. It was a drive through situation with kids running food out to each car. It only took about 10-15 minutes to get our food which wasn't too bad. I've heard tales of lines of 100+ cars at other fish fries around town. My boyfriend and I went over to a nearby park to eat since we didn't want to drive almost 20 minutes home to eat. The park was closed, whoops! We ended up in another church parking lot to eat. The two dinners came with lots of tartar sauce, one that lost its lid in the bag and turned upside down. Luckily the bag was free of holes so it was contained inside and didn't make too much of a mess. The dinner includes curly fries, coleslaw, a roll, and a big portion of fried fish. We planned ahead and brought silverware, napkins, and ketchup packets, none of which were included. The fries were a little stale but still edible and definitely helped by ketchup. The roll was soft and fresh. Finally, the fish was perfectly fried, hot, and actually seasoned well. I was really impressed and blown away by the amount of food! We could have split one dinner. I would definitely go back again next year for this fish fry.