Sequoia Village School

I am not from this tiny little, underserved area and I guess that makes all the difference in my perception. MOST of the schools up here are backwards, and of the choices, Sequoia Village School was probably the worst one I could have made. I have exceptional children ages 9 and 12 who have attended for 2 years and it has been a nightmare. My younger child is not challenged and is allowed to slack off with minimal contact from the teacher (who actually is very nice, hence the 2 stars and not 1) however my oldest child, also extremely bright with language arts, was recently diagnosed with ADD and initially had pervasive anxiety (diagnosed) which had not been linked to a source of undiagnosed ADD. Tony Reinhardt has led me around by my nose, attempting everything in his power to NOT address my daughter's issue, placing all the blame on the home environment and the student. Her teachers are downright mean and punitive and unless you can get on a 504 or IEP they are VERY inconsistent in maintaining agreements made in meetings. And good luck getting any evaluations or accommodations. Every bit of headway I made came after a long battle and as a single mom, I had to drag advocates with me. I usually left shaking from the confrontations/meetings. My daughter's counselors, who came and tried to intervene on her behalf, cannot believe how horrid and underhanded he is. If you do not have a mainstream child, I would avoid Sequoia. If you are contemplating moving to the area, I would strongly take into consideration the backward education system. I am a student myself and have attended college at community colleges in the valley, out of state at a top engineering/medical university as well as U of A and the education I have received at the local college is far below other state universities and community colleges. The college, however, is populated with adults who do not get pushed around, brow beaten, and left to their own devices at a time in their education when they do not possess all the skills to self-educate. This town, although laid back and Small Town-ish, is not a place I would have chosen to live in long term and I am finding out that if you don't come from here you should probably stay away.