The teachers and administrators at this school are really something. At orientation tour, I informed Ms Ross, the director at the Fulton School that our daughter is on the high functioning autism spectrum. She took one look at my child and dismissed her diagnosis with "Oh she looks fine" and offered no accommodations. They then proceeded to place my daughter in the back of the classroom. I tried to convince myself things would turn out ok and went about my busy life. One day I received a message from Ms Jackman, the kindergarten teacher, that my child had wet herself by accident (she's not done that before or since). My daughter came home and told me Ms Jackman's daughter (who is also in her class) cut in front of her in the bathroom line. No big deal, just kids, I told myself. One week passed before Ms Jackman texted me again this time saying my child threw rocks at another child. My daughter said the other kid threw rocks at her first. I scolded her and told her never to throw rocks at other children and to tell the teacher instead. The following day my daughter's right eye started looking red and swollen. I felt bad for not believing her version of events and decided to keep her home to rest and tried to book an eye appointment for her. Shortly after, the teacher informed me my child threw chicken nugget at another teacher because the room was too loud (suddenly they remembered she has autism and sensory challenges). My child told me a boy in her class made fun of her for coughing (we're Asian American) and told her to "cover your mouth". She got upset and threw chicken nugget at him, missed, and hit the teacher. Again, I scolded her and told her this is not acceptable behavior. Because my daughter's autistic and very concrete, I explained to her due to COVID and us being Asian American, kids will be cruel sometimes. Concerned, I requested a meeting with Ms Jackman and Ms Ross to clarify discrepancies in accounts and to make sure things are ok at school. I mentioned someone tried to cut in front of my child in the bathroom line (didn't mention it was the teacher's daughter, in case the teacher didn't know what happened). Ms Jackman flat out denied it and said this did not happen. I then showed them pictures of my daughter's swollen right eye and Ms Jackman became defensive and insisted my child was lying and that it was the rocks bouncing back that hit her in the eye ( Really?! ) I offered the possibility of my child being bullied as reason for her getting upset and throwing chicken nugget. They said she has autism and threw chicken nuggets because the room was too loud and that I need to teach my daughter some manners. I informed them they can't randomly assign blame then use autism as an excuse whenever it fits their narrative. The meeting ended with them trying to gaslight me telling me that I was making false assumptions / allegations and that I need mental health help. Not sure where they get the qualifications to give me mental health advice when I did not offer mine (I am a psychiatrist). Couple weeks later, at our daughter's kindergarten graduation, Ms Ross purposely dropped my child's cap and left her without a cap while moving on to other children after seeing (and verbally acknowledging) that her cap had fallen. My daughter looked confused and hurt. Ms Ross then tried to push my daughter aside to put caps on other children. This pretty much ruined graduation for us. After graduation ceremony, Ms Ross came up to us and instead of saying "Congratulations!" to my daughter, first word out of her mouth was "Please put the cap back". It's exactly the kind of thing Tracy Ross would do, displacing her displeasure toward parents at a special needs child in such mean-spirited way. Wow, what can I say? read more

It the spirit of full disclosure I will share that my children are no longer enrolled in Fulton due to a severe discretion of my daughter, she was caught with marijuana on campus. I have 3 children that attended Fulton for 4 years. Over 4 years my children maintained excellent grades, participated in sports, were members of the honor society and won many merrit based awards. We always had a cordial relationship with all the faculty and contributed to the school as often as we could above what was financially required by way of time donated and meals for things such as teacher appreciation and sports banquets. The board of directors seem to be a good hearted lot, they awarded my children partial scholarships every year that they were there, if it weren't for the scholarships we couldn't have afforded the tuition. The problem lies in the head of school Letha Hopkins. Dr Hopkins took the one time any of my children made a bad decision and turned it into an execution for all 3. She looked down from her moral high ground and decided that all 3 of these bright, promising students should be expelled over the indiscretions of one. Letha seems to have a problem with diplomacy. There are many very good teachers that have decided that they would rather not work under her oppressive dictatorship and have taken on jobs with other school districts, ultmately leaving Fulton a talent depleted shell of its former self. Her leadership style leaves only "yes men" in its wake, to be a dynamic charismatic educator is a death sentence. I am assuming that is why enrollment in the upper school is down to a dismal half dozen students. I realize my child made a reprehensible decision and I acknowledge that there must be reprocutions for bad behavior but to think that an individual that wields the power over so many lives would chose to decimate their future so dismissively is very disheartening. In fairness to Dr Hopkins I think this decision was probably made with council from the board members which is a shame since the schools moto is do what's best for the child. What happened to my children was definitely not what was best for them. Humans make mistakes, it is our responsibility as adults to nudge our children back to center when they mess up not to decimate their lives and take collateral damage in the process. read more

With the ongoing issues with testing and bullying, we were struggling with the idea of sending our son to public school, but we weren't sure we could afford private school. Some of our closest friends are public school teachers and many were frustrated with their class sizes, administration and lack of parental involvement. The administration seemed to be more concerned about test scores and passing the students than truly educating the students. It seemed as if the good teacher's had their hands tied to the point it stifled and frustrated them as they tried to manage overcrowded class rooms. Three months before kindergarten we decided to visit Fulton. We were sold that day and have not looked back. Our son is in his third year there and loves his school and has made great friends. All of the students get along and so far, we have never had an incident of bullying or any fighting among the students. They treat each other as extended family. The families are widely diverse from ethnicity, religion and income. There is tuition, but this isn't an exclusive private school for just the wealthy. The class size is small enough for the teachers to work with each child individually if needed. There are no standardized tests, so the students can learn at their own pace. If they are ahead of the rest of the class, they can move up a grade in that particular area. If they are not quite at the level as the rest of the class, the teacher will work with them individually to get them to the level expected. Knowing this, we feel that Fulton has our child's education at top of mind before anything else. If you feel your child is struggling or falling behind, being forgotten in the back of his class or if you are just looking for a great small family / school environment, I recommend that your family visit Fulton. read more