The week of April 15, 2024 has been "luxury week" aka "penalty week" as 4th and 5th grade students…read moreare subjected to getting extra recess, donuts, gum, etc. if they perform well on their standardized tests. If you don't pass them, you are publicly embarrassed while all your peers "get" to enjoy these "luxuries" in front of you. This is harmful for the students who "get" to participate as they are heartbroken for their peers, causes stress and anxiety, creates a fear of mistakes, and overall limited growth mindset. I've tried to change the minds of staff at the school, with evidence from studies that show penalties for testing are harmful academically, emotionally, and psychologically and not only extinguish inspiration but carry lasting impacts on our children. Our children are our future. Let's ensure they are treated with dignity and respect and not hold them accountable for mismatching teaching styles with learning styles. I believe teachers should be paid more and revered because they literally touch our future, but this... this is tragic.

As a long-time Centennial parent with six kids who have attended here, I've seen this school from…read morejust about every angle. My children have had IEPs, 504 plans, and been in gifted and talented programming, so this isn't a one-lane experience. What I've consistently seen is a staff that is thoughtful, responsive, and genuinely invested in kids as individuals. Centennial provides structure, support, and accountability, and in our experience, that balance has helped our kids grow. Academically, my kids have been both challenged and supported. Communication has been consistent. Centennial is a diverse, Title I school, and that diversity is one of its strengths. Many families, including mine, value the sense of community and belonging that comes with it. Our children have been known, supported, and cared for in ways that matter.

We moved to the area from a higher income county. Our Child has and IEP. (A child should have an…read moreIEP to protect them from getting expelled from school. It reminds the School Districts that it has a responsibility to provide education to all kids, regardless of their particular type of disability.) Adams County School District is far less prepared to handle students with emotional needs (IEPs) than our previous county School District (SD) was. (We're not wimpy parents and don't treat our kids like spoiled brats. But we have a brain, and can see what works and what does not with our child.) We were told that Centennial E was one of two schools that Adams School District said was 'prepared' to work with kids with IEP issues and thus we were shuffled off to Centennial, 10 miles from our home. (There is a perfectly good and highly rated Elementary (E) a two minute walk from our house, but they can not take our child there.) Centennial E is rated as a low performing school, on two different state level measures. I think this is mainly because of the neighborhood in which it is located. It tends to be properties with less value than surrounding areas; not that this area can be considered 'low income'. However, there is a trailer park adjacent to the school. Even though our child was shuffled off to Centennial E, because of their IEP, we found the school unable to deal effectively with students who have IEP needs. The schools seems more focused on punishing kids than working with the kids to teach them skills to overcome whatever issue is holding them back, or periodically getting in their way. Looking back over the last year, our child did not seem to have a pathway that allowed them to work their way back into a regular classroom, as they did in our previous county SD. Every time my child would make great gains in learning how to control their issue and climb the ladder to (the school's definition of what was acceptable) the goal of inclusion in a normal classroom environment, a slip would drag him all the way back down to the bottom of the ladder. He would have to start all over again. (The school's definition of what was acceptable behavior seemed to me to be more focused on how little disruption any child would cause to a teacher; a la Pink Floyd's The Wall.) This becomes very defeating to a child. This 'AN' room seems more like a jail to us. Our child was in class with other children who are similarly challenged and similarly punished, and it seems to me that this begins to instill the idea in them that they are bad kids. Many of them showed signs of not caring anymore about becoming better. In addition to all that, we have had to work with our child over the summer just to make sure that they have learned everything that they should, according to (or to stay up with) the Common Core standards. My child is bright, but a lot of what should have been covered in their education was not. We are dissatisfied and looking for other options. I friend that we had made at the School, who had a very bright child, would tell us stories from a different perspective. Her son was in the highest level classes available at the school. (There where other schools in the area, some advanced. But the more advanced schools had waiting lists or lottery systems to wait through.) This boy would often come home upset because he was constantly being picked on and challenged for being 'smart'. The boy is somewhat athletic. He could play any type of sport. We were told that the teachers would see this 'bullying' and do nothing, deny it happened, or say something the the effect of 'boys will be boys' or 'there is nothing we can do'. It seems that being smart is looked down on in this neighborhood, while being athletic; i.e. soccer, football, was to be exalted. I think if you cared enough to take an interest in the School that your kids attend, you should take your kids out of this school as fast as possible, at least until the SD brought in to this school some wholesale change in thought-process, and took some time to improve the management and performance of this School.

My family has had an amazing experience at the Academy. My son started in 2nd grade and is now in…read morethe 10th grade. The school is inclusive, has many options for all different interests. The theater and choir program has been especially welcoming to my family. I love the small environment where teachers know my son instead of feeling like just a number. Academics are challenging but not over the top so kids can still enjoy the social emotional aspects of school. College credits can be earned in high school free of charge. My son will have lifelong friendships thanks to this school.

If you want emotionally damaged children, send them here! From K-9th, I was severely bullied by my…read morepeers and humiliated by staff while everybody did nothing. In 3rd grade, I couldn't "walk up the stairs the right way" so my teacher would pull me aside, make me hold her hand and told my classmates to laugh at me until I learned how to go upstairs the "right way". In 4th grade, my art teacher hung up every student's artwork except mine. When asked why, she said my artwork wasn't good enough. In 6th grade, a group of girls ripped off my fake fingernails, told me to kill myself and one girl threatened to kill me. When the principal was informed, she forced me to apologize. My teacher made me hug those girls because he said I instigated it all. In 8th grade, a teacher threw a desk at me because I asked to change seats. I left the Academy with several mental disorders and lifelong emotional damage. Also, in high school, when we would have substitutes, they would just pick a random teacher that had little to no knowledge in the subject they were substituting in. The staff here was useless and, if anything, encourages bullying, harassment and humiliation.

Just finished our first year here. Great environment for preschoolers. Creative, nurturing, caring…read moreteachers. Outstanding care!

We absolutely love this preschool. Everyone is extremely friendly, loving to the children and it is…read morevery clean. Our daughter attends 2 days a week and begs to go every day. She always comes home excited to tell us about how much fun her day was and all that she learned. I can not say enough good things about Children's Center....

It's All About the People…read more I had a chance to visit Adams during the holiday break. Many of the employees volunteer their time to make Christmas extra special for the children. I was lucky enough to be Santa's helper. He came in on a firetruck and greeted all of the kids, much to their delight. Then, the kiddos had a chance to sit on Kris Kringle's lap. They got to tell ole Saint Nicholas what they wanted for Christmas while I took pictures. Thanks to the wonderful volunteer effort, parents got to have the pictures with Santa processed and printed before leaving. It was really a special time. Thank you to all of the Adams 12 employees who volunteer each year and bring smiles to little faces.

As a former employee I would not recommend this place and I'm writing this so other people think…read moreabout it before applying here. I was a ecta (Early Childhood Assistant) at Thornton and bright horizons (inside horizon high school) The staff act basically like teenagers, they lack of professionalism, hard to get in contact with coordinators to express concerns. They don't care about you, they just care about having people working and doing their job but not about how you feel or how the work environment is. I just quit last Friday, the classroom I was in had 18 kids some with special needs and bad behavioral issues. The teacher over there didn't want to take advise from anyone and just wanted to do her way and the classroom was a completely disaster it was impossible to do activities with them or circle time. Last year they had 4 classrooms open and they decided to close two, so they had the bright idea of put all 18 kids in each classroom and not enough staff. They only have 3 ects, no site director a bunch of subs and the "specialist" just stare at you and watch you struggle with the kids and just take notes and leave the room. The coordinators knew what was happening and did nothing about it, they kept enrolling kids knowing they didn't had enough staff to cover. It was a truly safety concern being in that classroom, kids had really bad behavior issues, I think if we didn't had a lot of kids or at lest enough help I wouldn't had left but since the coordinator didn't care at all I had to put myself first at left. When I let her know I was not coming back and they saw how bad it was they finally decided to do something about it. I'm just thankful nothing bad happened when I was there because I don't think those parents would have believed me if I tell them how bad that classroom was. If you are thinking about applying at this district specially preschoool just know coordinators and teachers love to gossip around, are not professional, are selfish and don't care about staff and the people that are there trying to help.

My children went to stargate after my son was told he was gifted. It was good at first, all the way…read morethrough elementary school. But as my son went into Middle School, we almost had to take him out of school because of the teachers. Then, he went on to high school, and my daughter went to middle school, They both complained about the teachers. They only had one teacher they liked. A lot of times, they would come home upset that something had been stolen from them.

This school is for gifted children. They specialize in making learning holistic and differentiated…read moreto meet the individual needs of each student. The teachers here really care and love their students as if they were their own children.

Adams School District claims to have the best schools around and I have come to believe it. We have…read morelittle ones going here and they love it. They get up excited to go to school which says much for the teachers and staff. Stuckey has the usual grade school stuff-big yard, playground equipment, etc. and any time I have come to pick kids up after school there is always someone out front ready to pounce on tiny miscreants, aleways reminding the kids to cross at the cross walk. I feel good that someone is keeping an eye on the kids. I realize other schools do thisI want to remark on how appreciated their vigilance is...and how good we feel about this grade school.

I love this school so much. it's pretty sigma ngl. The principal is nice, the teachers are nice,…read morethe school is nice! love everything about this sigma school. this school don't give off bad vibes bro.

The staff is super kind and teachers were super caring. This school felt like home and most…read morestudents were nice.

I really loved this school with all the friends I got from it. Some teachers weren't so great but…read moreeventually they were amazingly nice and super supportive.