I received an email from parents asking me to review the school to help them have a better overall review. This is obviously an effort (this is the reason you are seeing reviews written on the same day) to take away from the negative reviews on here. I wish they would not have asked me but they did, and so here I am. Our experience at St Joseph School has been disagreeable to say the least. We came from another area to Washington state. St Joseph School was highly recommended but our opinion quickly soured when after only 2 months we soon realized their text books and other materials for the grade my son entered were about 3 years behind. He was finishing his work in class ahead of all the other kids. The teachers did nothing to accommodate him. Peg, the Principal did little to help while only providing double talk at me about how he is likely trying to show off for other students. My interactions with Judy the Vice P were no different. She bullied my son like a mad woman about his uniform, socks and him not understanding the uniform policy. We came from a school with a very lax uniform policy. When I sent Judy an email asking how we could better prepare him to meet dress expectations, she sent me an email accusing him of lying to me for attention. Yes, I still have these emails. Things turned worse when we questioned a teacher who misspelled 2 words on the board when I was volunteering. I was very embarrassed. It's concerning when a teacher cannot spell. After becoming friendly with a prior teacher in the area I found out most of the staff do not have advanced degrees, and it shows. When I told Peg about the misspelled words, she assured me I must not have been able to read Mrs Lund's handwriting. I assured her that it was not in cursive , while children also pointed out her error. One thing led to another and come to find you are treated at this school based on how deep your pockets run. Parents that give to the auction or school regularly are treated well, those that cannot afford the extra donations are treated with less respect. This school is run by amateurs. The short time there did us no favors since my son had to spend an entire year playing catch up once we moved him to another school. Lori M - your intentions to sway others with reviews are childish. People are entitled to their opinion. Anyone that has spent any time at St Joseph School that has had any interaction with Peg or Judy to express negative feedback, know if you complain, you are told this is not sound or truthful information. read more

After a 7 year investment, we are sad we had to leave the school due to extreme unprofessionalism by Leadership and an inappropriate teacher who had boundary issues with the kids. No matter how big or large the issue, they won't listen. The leadership team prefers parents to be wallflowers by never complaining about anything. Once you do voice concerns they appear perplexed by your concerns and refuse to handle the situation. There are no policies in place for complaints. No process for addressing concerns even if it involves serious subject matter or seriously inappropriate behavior by staff. They flat out refuse to help you. The most often response by staff is that kids are "liars" and "mean kids" which is their reasoning for not listening. The school offers no clubs, extra curricular activities or programs to keep kids busy. It's a very boring school that forces kids not to speak up for themselves. They expect kids to keep their mouths shut with no freedom of expression whatsoever. Children are expected to sit down and shut up. Truthfully we got used to the abuse. It wasn't until something so serious occurred that we were afraid for the safety of our child that we had the courage to leave. About a dozen friends left before us and shared their positive experiences elsewhere which was encouraging. We always wondered over the years why kids rarely graduate from this school but it's evident that since it is incredibly poorly run that in time one has to leave. I truly believe the Principal is incompetent. It's truly shocking when you bring a serious concern to the Principal of a Catholic school regarding her staff that instead of being open to feedback she automatically calls kids liars. It's extremely heartbreaking that she has no concern for the safety or well being of the children. She puts on a phony act but behind the scenes she is untrustworthy. I would never recommend this school to anyone. Therapy might be necessary for some kids after leaving since they really do a number on a kids self esteem. If you are looking to private because you think it offers more than public this is not that particular school. There are far superior private school options out there. Sadly we didn't know that until we left as we had nothing to compare it to. read more

This place is terrible. the administration is full of bullies and the teachers are verbally abusive towards the students and their families. and created an internal investigation to try to discover bullying, by researching it themselves rather than having a counselor come in and investigate it. And as it turns out the several teachers along with the principal and Vice-Principal were the bullies. over a 1/3 of some of the upper classes left due to this and several students still are in therapy to deal with these traumatic experiences. And the TIP OF THE ICEBERG was when the Principal completely ignored numerous accounts of the science teacher (Andrea Lund) for petting and feeling a child's hair during class even when the child asked her not to AND after she denied this she threatened students and their families of filing a lawsuit for Defamation of Character; which I do understand considering by her invading a child's personal space could be considered abusive and especially after the child asked her to stop. This invasion could've resulted in her losing her job and everything, but the school said that all the kids in the class were lying and need to stop being bullies. I know for one that there are several children in therapy for things like this from there and if I were you, I would never and I mean never step over the threshold of that school. overall this school is terrible 3 years behind in nearly every subject besides religion and music class. and lacks the basic structure for a child's succes. THIS SCHOOL SHOULD BE EVALUATED FOR TEACHING STANDARDS. read more

Wow. OK... Well, we really like the school, our kids really like it too. I'd recommend you visit the school, talk to some parents. You can start with me - Don Graves. 425 458-8041. Some thoughts below. Our 3 children love/loved their St. Joseph experience from K through 8th grade, and so do we as parents. First with the education, two are now in high school and I can tell you St. Joe's does a tremendous job preparing them academically for high school and beyond. Second, the teachers are caring and passionate about what they do. The classrooms are not over crowded and the teachers know the students well, as reflected in the communication with the parents. Finally, there is a real sense of community that you would hope to have with a private Catholic school. The leadership that includes Principal Peg and Father Todd foster that culture. Our kids have made friends that will last a life time, and the opportunities beyond studies have made them well rounded individuals. My recommendation is to visit the school, speak with the leadership, and again, speak with some parents. read more

I did not enjoy my family's experience at St. Joseph School. The rules make no sense! I was told there was a rule that you could not wear colored socks or colored hair bands. When I looked this up, I found the sock rule to be correct (and ridiculous), but I found that they lied about the hair band rule (which is also pretty silly). They also chose to spend money to paint the school. I was okay with that, until I saw they painted just a line around the school! I was told that it was there to keep the blue paint from spreading onto the white paint. It seemed pretty strange to me, but I accepted it because I assumed they would paint it soon. It's been three years, and nothing has been done about it. They could have used the money to buy the much needed school supplies. I believe this is a one-star school. Don't send your children here!! read more