Cabot School

My years at Cabot High School have been the best years of my life. They have an amazing faculty with great teachers who bend over backward to get you the help you need. The students are kind and respectful with no bullying in sight. The new PBL curriculum is fantastic and much more effective than traditional learning. Definitely an amazing school.

I’ve been a student at Cabot for nearly ten years, and there is no place I would rather spend the most important years of my life. As a high schooler, I can say that my experience has been above and beyond anything I would have expected coming into the high school. With the new curriculum, classes are intuitive, fun, and engaging. Above all else, Cabot’s faculty value their students’ education and the school could not hope for better teachers.

Though we all recognize that there are shortcomings and issues with every school, Cabot is exceptional in how it overcomes those issues. Oftentimes, instead of trying to solve the results of problems, Cabot’s community tackles those problems at the root.

Cabot high school serves its students in a way that no other public school in Vermont does. With a fully project-based curriculum, students get real-world experiences, enjoyable projects, and opportunities they wouldn’t get anywhere else, while maintaining proficiencies in art, math, language arts, science, social studies, inquiry, problem solving, and much more.

Cabot is a small school, and because of that it may not be able to offer the extracurricular activities that many schools do. However, the experiences I’ve had within Cabot’s small community are ones I wouldn’t trade for the world.

The Middle School has the awesome program called Cabot Leads. Also we have a School Board who cares about the entire school and have spent the last 7 months proposing ideas to the state to keep the high school open

It is unfortunate for the community and families with children but Cabot's school has been declining for quite some time. The main objective of the School Board is to keep the school open no matter what so that teachers and faculty do not lose their jobs. (And that is where the majority of taxes go anyway) The curriculum is lacking severely, the buildings are falling apart around the students, and the tax rate due to the school issues is skyrocketing. 23 percent increase this year alone. Now they have come up with a wacky scheme to try and get out of town (rich) students to come to our humble and unimportant town that only has a small forlorn country store, an auto garage, and a hardware store turned speakeasy complete with alcohol. And they would have to pay $45,500 each for the privilege. Who would do such a thing when they can easily go to St Jay Academy or anywhere else for that matter? Talk about pie in the sky dreams. But it will be the students (local) and taxpayers (don't move here) who will pay dearly. And on top of that the clique that runs the school and the few current parents of children who attend will defend it till the end despite the overwhelming issues. They even sent around a survey about the school ( many never even got one)- got all their 'friends' to answer positively and then tried to claim it was a vote not a survey. Maybe their example is why the school is doing so poorly in the first place. Hence you can understand why students, parents, etc. will come on sites like this and praise the school to the moon or disagree with poor reviews. Take some well meant advice and look elsewhere for your children.

Cabot School in Cabot, VT lacks a rigorous academic program, the Project Based Learning program lacks true STEM learning. There is excessive bullying and the facilities are in need of over 5 million in repairs. With only 165 students PK-12 grade the cost is unsustainable and sucking tax payers dry. The school is not serving its intended purpose and needs to close.

For years I gave 100 percent of my support to this small town school. The community is tightly knit, and we have worked hard to keep the school alive. The elementary school has been greatly improved over the last few years. However, the high school simply does not fit into modern education.

My child was one of 10 children, in a class of 13, who applied to leave for a more suitable high school. After researching the project based learning program, and looking at surrounding high schools, we made the decision to move on. The Project Based Learning program offers very little. There are no tech studies, no advanced math, little in the way of language studies, science is minimal, and the emphasis is in funk music. This is a specialty school disguised as a public school. It is better suited for students not planning to go on to college, or lucky enough to inherit a trust fund or family farm. Academics are just not the priority in the high school. The high salary of the music teacher, versus the other teachers, will attest to that. When in the website, under Academics, you will only find "The Arts", nothing more.

It was disappointing to learn our honor roll student was years behind the other students at the new high school. To get caught up, we worked tirelessly with the new school and a series of tutors.

Currently, Cabot School is struggling to keep it's doors open as even the high tax rate is not enough to offer traditional learning opportunities. The staff is limited, the buildings are great disrepair, the only sports are soccer and basketball, and there are no extracurricular activities. Enrollment continues to decline as each year more and more 8th grade students chose neighboring public and private schools.

I understand how difficult it is to let go of cherished school, but not at the expense of the future of our children. No parent should ever have to be told their child is behind after seeing honor roll for years.

Before choosing this school, please look a the curriculum of the many other public schools in Vermont. Look at the test scores. Check out the rankings. Check into the poverty level of the town. Had I have done that years ago, I might not be writing this review today.

Horrible school! Teach suck, and I was never taught well And was never challenged in school. Not many choices for classes at all either! Plus the buildings are falling apart and very easy to have unwanted visitors come in and out of buildings without admin knowing!

This school needs to close. As a parent if 3 it was our saving grace when School choice was an option through the lottery. This school is not preparing our kids for the future. The town is wearing blinders. We have over 3.8 million dollars in repairs that need to happen. Why should the tax payers take on this burden? Close this school!!

We have had five kids go to Cabot School, two are still attending but we are actively working to get them out. We have been through five principals in 12 years. Many that were incompetent. The schools Project Based Learning (PBL) academic program is half baked and doesn’t provide the rigor of a true STEM based program. Often there are not enough kids to make up a sports team. The facilities need over 3.5 million in renovations. High turn over of teaching staff. Overall very unhappy with Cabot School.

Cabot is a little school, in a small town, trying hard to get by with what it has. Incredible improvements are being made in the k-8. The high school, though, continues to see students leave for better opportunities in neighboring towns.

Programs are limited, and I do mean limited. The declining enrollment has left the school with Project Based Learning as the only option. Unfortunately, this learning style is not a good fit for many students. Little emphasis is placed on STEM studies, and the music program takes the highest priority. Last year, 10 out of 13 8th graders applied to leave Cabot in favor of other high schools. This has been the trend for many years, and maybe only 1 or 2 students from neighboring "school choice" towns are choosing Cabot for high school.

The facilities are in disrepair–moldy and decrepit throughout, rusty lockers, outdated materials, and so forth. The school can't afford quality teachers when positions become vacant. The budget can not absorb Master's Degrees and experience.

Students are varied in backgrounds, but there is little in the way of diversity. This year's 8 grade class consists of 11 boys and 1 girl. Socially adept children often struggle here with the small class sizes once they get into high school .

Graduates have a mix of success stories. Some do go onto college, some just go right to work, and some end up in jail. Average for high schools. Nothing different from neighboring towns.

Though it is a small school, kids still manage to fall through the cracks as some graduates have attested to not being able read above a 7th grade level.

Overall, this is a small school in a small town crippled by poverty. They are making do with what little they have, but resources are running shorter every year. Most likely, they will be merged with a neighboring school within the next year.