First Presbyterian Church School

This past summer First Presbyterian Church School hired a new head of school. RUN AWAY!!! The new leadership is beyond awful. Changes in curriculum and changes throughout have been awful! Parents are fleeing left and right. Just beware if you plan on investigating this school. It used to be a wonderful thriving school but unfortunately the leadership has changed the core value and integrity of the school. We are planning on pulling our daughter at the end of the school year.

First Pres. is an outstanding school! With the absolute most amazingly, loving, understanding and thoughtful teachers I've ever encountered. All 3 of my children attend/attended the wonderful preschool. During preschool they learn social skills, their letters and numbers, how to recognize and spell their names, and so much more. It is a fantastic foundation for any child beginning their school career. We continued on with my oldest into the elementary school and currently still have 2 in the preschool. The elementary school has nice small class sizes, where the children develop long lasting friendships. The parent community is very welcoming and friendly on both the preschool and elementary sides. As far as the Head of School and Administrators, First Pres. could probably use some re-organization or re-structuring. ALL schools have their own flaws and First Presbyterian Church School is no different. Overall I am very thankful my children get the opportunity to attend First Pres. I am proud of our little school and know my kids have a great foundation to their education.

First Presbyterian Church School has lost many students from 5 longtime families at the school due to problems at the school that the administration and head of school refuse to deal with and address in a healthy way.
While it is true that there are many great teachers at the school, the policies of the school board and the administration leave families who have an issue with their child's education hanging out to dry. When you follow the schools policy of addressing the school board once your issue hasn't been resolved, the school board will either defend the actions of the school or just not respond to you at all. A school board should not be full of parents and church members. A school board should be filled with leaders and mentors from the community. This school is out of balance, doesn't have the integrity to fire teachers who need fired and doesn't have a system in place to deal fairly with issues. It is unfortunate because of the quality of most of the teachers there but you can't go through the school and skip a certain grade so your child will be damaged psychologically while in that class. This school needs to start again at square one if they want to succeed.

I paid 2011-12 tuition on August 3 and tried to cancel it on August 10th because we unexpectedly bought a house over the weekend. I accepted that the $165 registration fee was non-refundable, but the school continued to bill me another $240 for withdrawing. Mind you, $405 later, my son did not attend a single day of school for that school year. I would say they are more concerned will filling pockets than they are about teaching and extending Christian values.