I don't normally review things, but I have had a horrible experience with the school. Many of the…read moreteachers are very unprofessional with their students and the lack of discipline baffles me. Some of the teachers were caring, but I find it preposterous some of the things that others got away with, like blatant favoritism. I do know some of the staff members were fired, but based on previous years, they just cannot find competent people to hire. Also, according to my child's experience, things I've heard from other parents, and events I've witnessed myself, many of the children here get away with terrible behavior. I have heard so many horror stories of children saying racial slurs and micro aggressive comments, but none of them have faced actual punishment, besides maybe getting marked. If you are looking for a small, cozy Catholic school to send your children to, St. Rita is not that.

Hello, If you are…read morereading this review, you'll probably consider St Ritas for your child, keep in mind that our child attended St Ritas for 3 horrific months, it took that long for us to be convinced that the TK teacher was mocking and making sarcastic remarks to our child, not something you would expect from a TK teacher. Stay away from TK at this school, Alverno is a much more peaceful place for a 4-year-old child. Love the church and all the wonderful members, let me start by saying god loves everyone, thank you lord for guiding me and helping me make clear statements. Unfortunately, it seems the TK teacher have lost their passion for teaching and are merely comfortable with their jobs. We are disappointed to hear that some teachers use awful language and sarcasm on four-year-old kids. I feel that if Jesus had a team and had to pick team players, he wouldn't have picked this TK teacher to play in his team. One teacher in particular has gained an uncompassionate reputation that has followed her for many decades. We have spoken with many teachers in different schools, such as Alverno, and they have confirmed that while this teacher has a good teaching record, she is simply an awful person to deal with. Some of the school staff have left St Ritas to find a peaceful work environment at Alverno. Thank you for your time and hope this can help save someone from the stress found at St Rita's School.

Both of my children went to this school through 6 th grade. It is a wonderful school and is rated…read morewell. One of my neighbors was displaced by the Altadena fire, and has 2 daughters who currently attend this school. They love it so much that they hope to still attend there when their home in Altadena is rebuilt.

On February 20th, my husband and I received some very disturbing news. Our son, Michael, shared…read morewith us that he was using the bathroom at school and a 5th grader was in the same bathroom watching him use the urinal. Our son expressed that it was making him uncomfortable and told him to leave. The other child refused and did not stop looking at Michael's private parts. In fact, he made a comment to the effect of "Next time I am going to take a picture and send it to your Mom!" This is completely unacceptable behavior and frankly warrants taking action. Michael also expressed that he shared this experience with Ms. Alma who later shared it with Mrs. An, his 4th grade teacher, and Mr. Budd, Special Education Teacher, only to be told that Mr. Budd knows who Michael was talking about!?! We as parents were not notified until we reached out to the school, Sierra Madre Elementary School and PUSD. As of today, our son Michael has not received an apology from the student nor the teachers who he trusted the most to share this disgusting experience. When will SME and PUSD take accountability for their actions and mistakes!!!

We still look back at our time at SMCNS as some of the best time spent on our children's…read moreupbringing. My now high school aged child thrived while at SMCNS and still recalls fun memories of his time there. He was accepted to every private school we applied to in the Pasadena-area, including some of the most prestigious ones, with no extra tutoring or educational supplementation. We moved away when my younger child was in attendance and finding a similar preschool in our new area was impossible. My son was much more prepared for Kindergarten than my daughter who attended a less developmentally focused preschool.

I just transferred my son from a highly rated, 2-year- wait list school in the area. He was…read moremiserable there for some unknown reason, which I still can't pinpoint exactly what went wrong. The teachers, director, and I tried everything we could think of, and my son continued to hate going to school everyday. He threw massive tantrums and pushed boundaries with his teachers, he eventually did the same at home with me and my husband. I was unaware how stressed he was for 2 months until the week my son joined SMCNS. Last couple of months, he started struggling at bedtime and sleeping 1-2 hours less at night. I thought he was going through sleep regressions or that he just didn't need as much sleep as he's getting older. Turns out he's been stressed. Since the first day at SMCNS, he calmly settles down to sleep at night and sleeps for 11+ hours through the night, uninterrupted. He is not cranky after school and does not fight over little things with us anymore. He's back to being his old happy self again. I shed happy tears seeing the immediate changes in my son, and wish I had switched schools earlier. I've been a teacher for 15 years with a child development background, and have 5 education certificates. Children need meaningful and purposeful play-based learning and develop social emotional skills to build the foundation they need to succeed in the future. I'm so glad to be part of the SMCNS community and know that my son is in good hands.

The preschool director is on top of things and the staff is nurturing and caring of their little…read morestudents. There is potty training available for the littlest ones and actual curriculum for helping the older ones to be ready for learning. All done at appropriate levels for the children.

Bethany Christian School is amazing. The teachers, administration, and head of school work every…read moreday to make sure the kids are happy, loved, and learning and growing at their own pace and full-potential. The entire staff at Bethany are genuinely kind, loving, smart God-fearing and God-loving people. The kids are kind, smart and blessed. I can't say enough good things. If you're looking for a loving, Christ-centered school for your child/children, do give Bethany a chance. Their admissions director is wonderful. Call the school for a tour, I'm sure they'll be happy to accommodate!

I don't know why people have such bad reviews. This school is amazing, they even have advanced math…read moreclasses and AP science! The school encourages the students to be eco friendly and make them clean up after themselves. If they keep the campus clean, they get rewarded with a fun event! If a student is bullied or is racially offended, they can report to guidance for help. They also support LGBTQ and accept all races and religions (religious or not). They also respect their neighbors enough to restrict students from the far end of the school on breaks, since it can carry loud sounds. I really like this school a lot and recommend it. :)

Sierra Madre Middle School looks new and shiny from the outside, especially situated in such a a…read morequiet lovely town. But make no mistake. The bullying and racism by the students, and by some teachers is rampant and uncontrolled. The administration has no control over the student body and issues few consequences for really, seriously bad behavior. That empowers and develops the worst parts of kids' characters because they know that they can get away with almost anything. Even worse, when the kids get in any kind of trouble at school the parents are seldom, if ever, notified so they don't have the opportunity to parent their kids. If their kids are bullied the parents aren't notified so they can support their kids. Everything is about keeping up appearances and placating concerned parents. If a parent does find out something concerning and brings it to the administration's attention, they will be kind, concerned, say they are "investigating" but ultimately nothing will come of it. The bullying from the kids that occurs during nutrition break and lunch is made far worse because of a disturbing lack of adult supervision... especially on the field. There is bullying during PE. There is humiliation and shaming by certain teachers. And the bullying continues after school where groups of kids go together to the park unsupervised and act like gangs that surround other kids and torment them verbally and sometimes physically. Parents believe because this is Sierra Madre that everything is safe and peaceful from school to park. It is not. This is nothing remotely like the amazing SME. Many (underscore MANY) of us parents who have had terrible experiences there and have brought it to the PUSD have been told over and over that since COVID that the reports of bullying have skyrocketed and that they are overwhelmed. But this is their job and their responsibility to keep our children safe and make an environment that is conducive to learning. If they don't step up and provide the necessary resources to protect our kids while they are in their care, who will?? There are a several wonderful teachers who do really care. The front office staff and nurse could not be lovelier.

Driving up the foothills in the shadow of the recent bobcat fire, I wondered how safe is the air…read morequality and where is Alverno? Then it appeared two massive iron-rod gate doors which lead to the grounds of this majestic campus. It's what I would assume the mansion of great expectations once was. There are strawberry and oaks trees for acres and a linear koi lily pond. So here the history lesson: it was once a mansion which consumed hundred of acres of land. As time marched on, as it does hundreds of plots of this plantation-Spanish styled looking mansion were sold-off. Creating the adjacent neighborhood of Sierra Madre. Including, a large plot to this now existing school, Alverno. The mansion is host to the girls drama classes and plays: Bravo! I can't speak to the school or the educational quality but as a shooting location it's Ethereal. Such a delight and an endless time capsule of history. The city of Sierra Madre was wonderful and welcoming. And this feature film we are shooting which I can't say much abt, truly will be the stuff of legends.

The high school closed down unfortunately due to poor management. They claim it's declining…read moreenrollment but none of the other high schools are closing down. they took the money in donations and tuition from families who are expecting their girls to be invested in the school. They never let the parents know they were in financial trouble. that was wrong and I don't think the whole story because the new principal now says at public meetings she is going after much younger students because that is where the money is. It's sad when a school has to focus on the their heads giant salaries and not the students once the Covid funding stops. On the plus side it's a very cheap school Unfortunately they have a lot of interest in holding weddings (almost every weekend) and filming (even during school hours) on the campus. I wouldn't want my kids around strangers when they should be getting educated. My nieces enjoyed a good high school 30 years ago. My grandnieces and nephews have not at the new Alverno. Their parents pulled all three kids out. They felt the education was lacking compared to other schools. And are now enrolled in and very happy. The staff seems ill equipped. Some teachers are nice others seem very disgruntled. they really don't seem happy to teach there. It comes across to the children. some teachers are just there because the kids are getting discounted tuition and that doesn't make them qualified either. There is a mentality between those who have which are a lot against those students who have less. So much for Christian teaching The new Alverno is not the school that it use to be. The school require the kids to enroll in a sport so they can claim they have a big sports program. More fees. I find it misleading especially upsetting for kids who have no interest in their team sport but would rather compete in something more individual or that the school doesn't have (like gymnastics). Or in participate in the arts. Every time one turns around there's a fee for something (Jagothon,field trips, fundraiser in school hot dog lunches) so the school isn't as inexpensive as initially thought. They constantly want money for some sport courts. They have lot's of land but lack the accoutrements a proper school like a gym with showers, an updated cafeteria, a proper theater, etc. Their hand is out throughout the year. This makes the tuition more expensive in the long run. They really should have skipped allowing the new lower school to come in and worked on improving the high school. It ruined the campus

this is my old el school I am now in high school going to the 11 grade this school was so good in…read more2018 -2019 and 2017 peak days had so much fun teachers were nice and everyone I really enjoyed moment of that's school I have a year book form 2020 then I graduated , Dereon

I'd rate this place 0 stars if I could. I was employed with…read morea staffing agency to assist disabled children in classroom settings. The teacher I was assigned was Ms. Brittney Alberts and that woman + her little clique of aids is the definition of catty. She lied to my staffing agency about my practices and nit picked everything I did just because she didn't like me as a person. She nor any other staff member never bothered to ask me directly about what I was doing, let alone get to know me as a person. They would give me the cold shoulder all day then go complain about how "horrible" I was to my agency. To play with people's employment like that in this economy is sick and twisted. I can't wait for those fuck ass clowns to fall flat on their faces harder than I ever could. Fuck that classroom and fuck that teacher.

I always assumed my daughter would start school in TK, but when she turned 1.5, I kept hearing…read moreabout programs for two‑year‑olds. I was hesitant--especially because of the cost--but decided to attend a community open house to learn more. That's where I first met Miss Emmy. Her warmth and genuine kindness immediately stood out. After talking it over, my husband and I visited HRNS. Initially we were hesitant about the co‑op commitments, but we instantly fell in love with the bright, welcoming campus. We had toured another school, but nothing compared to the warmth, openness, and sense of community we felt at HRNS. Meeting the teachers and seeing how the children were supported made it clear our daughter would be in good hands. Miss Emmy explained parent expectations honestly and clearly, and everything felt manageable within such a supportive environment. Even though we have someone who could watch our daughter at no cost, we choose HRNS every day because of the community we've found. The teachers and parents have embraced our daughter with patience, care, and encouragement. Watching her continuously grow into her own person has been a joy, and she genuinely looks forward to going to school and moving to the "next door" each year. We will be sad when her time at HRNS comes to an end, but incredibly grateful for the foundation the school has given her--and us. If you are considering HRNS, know that you've found a true gem in Pasadena, ready to welcome you and your child with open arms.

I cannot praise this school enough. We love HRNS. We have had two of our children attend over the…read morecourse of the last four years. The love and care shown by the teachers and staff, the community that goes beyond what we could ever imagine, and the knowledge my children have acquired is unmatched. I was nervous about participating in the co-op setting, but afterward I realize what a privilege it is to be a part of this community and watch my children thrive and learn. They have grown leaps and bounds. I am so thankful for the TK program and Miss Julie and Miss Jenny. My children's confidence and skills were mastered through them and the school's play to learn strategies. My now first grader thrives at school because of what she has learned here. So thankful for HRNS.