So now that my 3 children are successfully enrolled elsewhere after lasting 90 days into the school…read moreyear, please allow me this platform to be completely honest! Their systems are all broken. Their bus system started out fantastic and 1 week into the year they lost our driver. Who was replaced two weeks later. After about 2 more weeks we lost our route for the rest of the year. So a 20 minute ride turned into 45 each way. Unbelievably inconvenient and shows an inability to problem solve on the administration front. The bully system, also severely broken. I probably should have led with that however, im not sure any school is fully free from this. But after reporting 3 incidents and being told it will be dealt with we finally had enough and pulled all 3 kids from their clutches. Not only was my daughter being physically assaulted on a daily basis but even the teachers were diminishing their spirits and im not sure its ok to make kids eat lunch in silence every single day. Not allowed to speak during what should be a free period To top it off once we asked for our transfer paperwork they dropped the case and said its no longer relevant because we are switching schools. So the bullies face zero consequences and will move onto their next victim. Unfathomable. Disgusting and ludicrous! IEP system. Lets start by saying they approved 2/3 for my kids. Now let's get to the nitty gritty. The head district iep lady literally commented to my wife in an incredibly sarcastic manner that she should know all about iep's because one of our kids has one, than proceeded to laugh indignantly. Disgusting behavior which no one in the room, and in said room are top school officials, said a damn thing. Pathetic really. Our kids need extra assistance so instead of providing that in an inviting fashion they chose to make fun of us! Shame on all of you. Truth is, its a blessing in disguise because after returning home from their first day of school my kids are over joyed to be in a loving cradling environment! Keep your kids away from this shit hole! FACTS!!!!!!

I would give this school a 0 if I could…read more I was a student in the Sarasota campus (from 3rd to 5th) and it was the worst school I'd been to. The teachers were rude, the students worse, and they did nothing to help students with learning disabilities except take us to another room for FSAs. My 3rd grade teacher (we'll call her W) was the worst teacher I had there. She would yell at me for no reason since I was just slightly louder than the other kids and had ADHD and undiagnosed Autism. W would grab my wrist hard enough to leave marks and drag me to the principal's office. When I would hold onto the railings to try and stop her, she would tell me I was "only hurting myself". When I jammed my wrist bone into my arm bone after falling off the green jungle gym and couldn't do my work since I'd hurt my right hand (i'm right handed if that wasn't obvious) W would tell me to stop faking and "get back to work". My other teachers weren't as horrible but they did still yell at me and punish me for just being kind of loud. The kids however were worse. In 5th grade I thought I'd made some good friends but I noticed they were getting distant. One day, I'd gone outside to work and they were also outside just around the corner. I ended up overhearing them talking shit about me. I didn't trust them much after that. Then there was Hilda and Olivia. Hilda and Olivia bullied me relentlessly. They made me cry often. The same went for Iz and Hannah. Iz was nearly as mean as them but Hannah was nice and never liked being mean. Then back in I believe 4th grade, someone wrote "[Deadname] sucks" on a whiteboard. The bus driver at the time (miss patty lee) was horrible. She would yell and scream and tell us to shut up. Everyone hated being on her bus. The only good thing about this school was Mr.Mike (one of the other bus drivers). He would give kids candy on fridays if we were quiet during the week. Also they took us out to the forest after FSAs and just take us to get grape fruit from the grape fruit tree like it was normal.

My 4 year old son has been attending St. Mark's preschool and aftercare program since he was 18…read moremonths and it has been so great for him. He'll be starting kindergarten in August and he's very well prepared and ahead of the game because of the entire dedicated staff of St. Mark's. They provide progress reports and conferences for the parents, make learning truly fun for the kids, with themed weeks like camping week (during which Ms. Sarah set up an enormous tent in the classroom!) and Dr. Suess week. Every teacher is so hands on, the ratio is around 2 teachers per 4 kids and the class size is small. The administration dept. is kind enough to work with my unusual custody arrangement and go above and beyond to ensure the parents and children are happy. The school is also involved in a lot of charitable organizations for less privileged children, and they have book drives, Christmas pageants and more to make the school a community. Once kids are in a certain age group, they go on field trips to the fire station, parks etc. Sometimes only walking trips! It's safe clean and my son will enter elementary school knowing how to read. Even better? There are scholarship options available!!

My son just "graduated" from pre-k at St. Mark's, and we already miss it. His teachers were…read moreabsolutely wonderful; they really tailored their instruction to his abilities, which enabled him to maximize his learning. He had so many great experiences there -- fun & educational field trips, class events, visiting instructors, and so on. The school provides what in my opinion is the perfect balance of socialization and academic instruction. I'm sad he won't be going there any longer, but so thankful for the time he had with them.