Waldorf is such a wonderful education. Unfortunately if the teacher is not great (or going through…read morepersonal crisis and has a large and demanding class) your child will suffer. Steiner's view was to nurture the soul of the child and unfortunately Austin Waldorf is seeming more budget focused and the teacher for our grade certainly really let us down and did not even have the care for us as a family to speak with us directly. I would avoid this particular Waldorf.

Beautiful campus with beautiful traditions. It is easy to get swept up in the idea of the school…read more Met the most wonderful, involved, and caring parents and a couple of wonderful teachers too. This school, however has absolutely failed my children academically. If you have a child that is neurodiverse, this school cannot meet their needs. If you have a child that is gifted, they will not be able to meet their full potential. The class sizes are at 30-33 in 1st and 2nd grade! My child's teacher assured us multiple times that my child would get the help they need. In the end my child's teacher, who had been his teacher for 1.5 years "strongly encouraged" us to find a new school midyear, with no warning. All of the previous reassurance, that they had resources for his learning needs, from her swept away. Now the same teacher is asking for parent volunteers to go in and teach children, not their own, to read. She cannot meet the needs of these children, yet you will not hear this, when the class size concern is brought up at parent meetings. You will be reassured over and over until your child has fallen so far behind, they need multiple interventions to catch up to where they should be or where they were before they started this school. My daughter was advanced for her age before this school. She requested to go back to homeschooling. She would sit in class, at AWS, with her hand raised and never get any help. She was quiet and not one of the louder children yelling out for help. She said she could not focus and would get pushed around by the boys on the playground. The school purposely holds children back from progressing "too fast." They have reasons for this. The issue is the class sizes hinder the children from moving as quickly as they need to, given the Waldorf methods, when they reach the appropriate age/grade level to do so; and they refuse to change. You will hear promises of expanding the grades to have fewer children in the classroom. This has been a promise for years. They have yet to follow through and deny any issues, even though there are many. The teachers do not fight for their students. The office staff is sweet, but when you get down to the people truly in charge, they only care about money.

Yay! I'm #1! I love…read morethis school. My son loves going to school and participates in the Y afterschool. I have been extremely satisfied. The teachers are great and I always feel like my son is safe. What more can you ask from in a school. Oh! And he has learned so much! My 1st grader can spell words like Shriek (I can't even spell that!)

What a terrible experience. We just pulled her out mid-year because it got so bad. The director is…read moreso awful to deal with. It's her way or the highway. You will get yelled at if you try and have any questions or concerns. Good luck!

By far, the BEST Montessori school around! Silvia and her teachers are an amazing, caring and…read moreenthusiastic group! My son looked forward to going to school everyday and learned so much! I truly believe they helped to set him up for success in his future schooling!

My daughter didn't like the location in river place at all. I would pull-up into the parking lot…read moreand she would have a full blown tantrum in the backseat kicking and screaming because she didn't want to go inside. She kept telling me that the teacher would tell her to go and find work to do. My child only attended the campus in river place for 2-3 days and they still charged me over $1200.00 dollars. I do not recommend this place at all!

This school could be a great choice for parents who are seeking a daycare program for their…read morechildren who are already accustomed to this kind of environment. The campus is impressive, with well-maintained facilities and a playground that could be every kid's dream. The teachers seem friendly and dedicated to their jobs. However, we had a negative experience with our 22-month-old son who had never been to a daycare before. We decided to enroll both of our kids in a full-day program from 8am to 3pm, despite having to commute 30 minutes every day for drop-off and pick-up. In the first week, the teachers suggested that we pick up our son at noon because he cried excessively, which was understandable. However, in the second week, they allowed him to stay until 3 pm for two days and then asked us to switch him to a half-day program because he was crying too much, and it was affecting the other kids. One day, we dropped our son off at school and left for home. As soon as we arrived at our garage, we received a call from the front desk staff requesting us to come back and pick him up in 20 minutes. Our son had cried so much that he vomited his breakfast, which we had previously informed the school was a normal reaction for him when crying, and not a sign of illness. When we told the staff that it would take us 30 minutes to return, they repeatedly asked if we had any friends or relatives who lived closer to the school to pick him up sooner, which we found odd. After several sick pickups in the middle of the day, the head of the school, Nichole, asked us to transfer our son to a half-day program to avoid disturbing other kids during their nap time. When we informed Nichole that we had enrolled our son in a full-day program but were asked to switch him to a half-day, she refused to refund us the portion of the tuition that we had already paid for the full month. Instead, she only agreed to refund us $3.58 for the two half-days, which we found confusing. Our advice for you is that be careful if you want SitH to be your child's very first daycare/preschool. They might not be able to soothe your kid and may put your family in the same situation like us. And you will lost a lot of money for them (their application fee, registration fee, security deposit, material fee, tuition fee. All are very pricey). We decided to enroll our children in another school the day after withdrawing them from School in the Hill, which turned out to be the best decision we ever made. Our son stayed in school until 5 pm every day and returned home happily. Another thing to be aware of is that the ZZ palm plants in the classrooms are poisonous from root to leaves. If your child loves plants or puts things in their mouth, please be cautious. We had asked Daniel, one of the school founders, to remove these plants, but they were still there when our children left the school. I have attached a photo of the plant, and I suggest you do some research about it.

Serene Hills Elementary School has been wonderful for my children. My son started in ECSE at 3.5…read moreyears old and they have accommodated him and his needs ever since. They've rolled out paths for him to succeed. He's in first grade now and has started reading and is thriving. I have seen such success with him that I transferred my daughter. She's in 4th grade. The teachers are amazing and so caring. My kids get daily hugs and are told they are loved. I'm forever grateful for this school, staff, and the principal, Keegan Marie Luedecke. There are great schools and people in LTISD SCHOOLS.

This elementary school is amazing. Everyone from the front office staff to the leadership to the…read moreteachers and librarians are dedicated to student success and wellness. We couldn't be happier with our sweet neighbor in school!

Best school in the known universe. All the teachers really care what they are doing and have…read morevested interest in all of their students doing well. They are strict on timings and take showing up on time very seriously. Keep up the good work staff!!!

there is no diffrence between this place and prison, foods the same and kids said they felt trapped…read moretheir and this place grows mold here to very bad.

If you have a child in special education, RUN ... don't walk away from this district. Between not…read morebeing able to draft a proper IEP, to failing to properly implement the IEPs and 504s they do come up with, a lack of resources, and just a severely incompetent Sped Director it's a disaster. If a child has severe issues with changes in routine, they'll do the opposite and change his plan (with out an ARD) 4-5 times in a month and blame him when he reacts exactly has his evaluations says he will. Privacy? What privacy. It's a free flow of gossip and information here. In fact, don't be surprised when your son's privacy student/medical data somehow reaches your other child in a middle school. Don't expect disciplinary action to staff when this occurs when it can be traced back to a specific source. Even though volunteers sign a privacy pledge, don't expect there to repercussions for this when they violate it either. And, when they go to a birthday party over the weekend and start gossiping and sharing a free flow of protected information between them and their friends, expect a coordinated attack which results in a temper tantrum when the school doesn't remove a kid from a placement with in 24 hours by going to a sandy hook website intended for severe acts of violence while not citing any real incidence but frequently citing a child disabilities as disruptive, mocking facial expressions, and equating disability related behaviors to psychopathy. The parents here are bigots and are quoted several times as saying special education kids don't belong in the general education class and are in need of removal. To which, the school will ultimately violate federal and state laws and remove the child at their request. When your last attempt for compliance is to file an OCR complaint (that OCR agrees to take on due to the egregious nature of violations) expect a mirrad of retaliatory tactics, non compliance, and an obscene amount of gaslighting. RECORD EVERY CONVERSATION EVEN IN CIVIL. Despite their sped population growing over 3% since the 2019-2020 school year, their budget has not increased to accommodate growth to support these programs. This they will not take on that issue but what they will do is spend a ridiculous amount of money on a an attorney out of Houston to fight you on having to do their jobs. A bill that will likely incur them fees more than their sped transfer budget of $75,000 (which also hasn't increased). It's honestly comical at this point. But, seriously, run away. Which is probably what they want anyway to artificially pump up their testing scores.

The staff at Paragon make all the difference. You can see their commitment to the school and…read morepassion for the kids. We have 2 kids attending and like the diversity, high expectations, and school culture. They both love this school and enjoy events like "roller skating week", pool parties, lots of after school sport options and overnight trips. This helps them bond with both students and teachers. Paragon offers high academic standards mixed with life skills. We like the focus on a well-rounded education with academics at least 1 grade level above the standard. In elementary, they are also developing good social skills, learning responsibilities, and planning skills for future academic success. (For example, Paragon gives kids a daily planner to track their homework assignments and get parent signatures for visibility). In middle school, there are lots of team projects, hands-on opportunities, presentations, and field trips. (Projects like running a small business during lunch and breaks.) There are many resources for parents and a great community within and around the school. We recommend this school to friends also.

Our experience at Paragon did not align with the individualized, child-centered education that was…read morepresented when we enrolled. While the school offers a structured and academically rigorous environment, we found that the approach was not as personalized as we had hoped for our child's specific learning needs. The Valor program, which was described as providing additional support, functioned primarily as a quiet space for students to complete homework rather than a program focused on building executive functioning skills, learning strategies, or individualized academic support. Paragon's curriculum moves at a fast pace, with significant homework and testing expectations. For some students, especially those who require a more tailored approach, this can mean parents may need to provide additional instruction and support at home in order for their child to keep pace. We also found that the staff's experience and approach to supporting a wide range of learning profiles varied, and the level of individualized support did not meet what we had hoped to find. That being said, Paragon's main strength is its activity calendar. The school provides a wide range of activities throughout the year, and we found both the teachers and students to be kind and welcoming. For families looking for a traditional, academically challenging environment with a strong focus on homework, testing, and keeping students on pace, Paragon may be a good fit. However, for families seeking a highly individualized, child-centered experience designed around diverse learning needs, I would encourage them to ask detailed questions about the specific supports available before enrolling.