Private Schools St. Cloud, MN

[ahlers2008]

We are in the process of moving to the East Bethel area (St. Francis school district) from Southern Illinois - have been comparing public schools @ www.greatschools.com and the school my kids currently attend in Illinois does not even begin to measure up w/ the schools in MN......

[knke0402]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Wow. Not sure where you're from, or what schools you've looked at up there, but Twin Cities suburban schools seem to be considerably better than many (not all) of the suburban schools down here in Atlanta, and the public schools in Minnesota have been winning awards and being rated at or near the top of the nation for the past 20 years plus.

I grew up in the SW Minneapolis burbs, and that whole area is bursting with public schooling goodness.

What?
What school district are you in? Because that can explain a lot.
Its like if you buy a bag of Apples, and like out of the 30 apples, 3 sucked. So would you say all apples that you buy are horrible?

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by knke0402

What?
What school district are you in? Because that can explain a lot.

I live in Cobb County, GA, and while there are some exceptional schools in our very large school district (e.g., Walton), there are also some schools which I've been told aren't all that great. For the most part the schools are okay, and I would say all of them are probably good enough, but I don't think our district compare all that well in general to the schools in the SW Minneapolis suburbs where I grew up (Minnetonka, Hopkins, Wayzata, Edina, Eden Prairie, St. Louis Park, Bloomington Jefferson, Armstrong, etc). That's a pretty strong lineup.

When talking about bad schools, I'm mainly thinking of places like Clayton County GA which just lost its certification, and that would NEVER happen in the state of MN due to the extreme difference in school district organization (Georgia often does it by county, while MN has zillions of small independent school districts).

Its like if you buy a bag of Apples, and like out of the 30 apples, 3 sucked. So would you say all apples that you buy are horrible?

With all due respect, I never said that southern schools were bad -- I was questioning the OP's blanket assertion that southern schools were better in general than northern schools ... and providing a specific example.

[former_school]

Originally Posted by TeaVert

Hello Readers! I am looking for advice regarding private Catholic schools in the St. Cloud, MN area. I am highly interested in opinions regarding Saints Peter, Paul & Michael school and St. Francis Xavier(Sartell). My child will be primary school age this fall and we are new to the area. I am also looking for insight re: John 23 and Cathedral High School and opinions on going 100% Catholic school compared to Catholic primary and transferring to public.

Its hard to leave once you start with your kids and so its an important decision. I can definitely say that most parents are quite disappointed by the experience. Many do leave and do not attend the middle school. To give you an idea just how bad it is, I attended the first night of school where the vice principal said we should not talk among ourselves but only direct complaints directly to them. Of course, anyone who does complain is really in trouble. Teaching quality if poor and the administration is worse than that. Due to financial problems there is always one kid in the school that is there because the public school system has said they should not be mainstreamed and believe me the public school system is correct. Therefore, all classes are quite disruptive. Parents are not allowed in the classroom except on special occasions and parent volunteering is discouraged. Parent/teacher nights resemble legal depositions where it's impossible to get the teachers to say anything about anything. It's a closed school. Due to financial problems the books are old and the teachers are underpaid and seem discouraged. The former priest and school board attempted to make changes but the priest retired and the new Fr. doesn't attend the school board meetings and board is personally selected by principal so things have gone from bad to worse.

I feel ashamed as a parent that I allowed my kids to stay as long as I did and I know other parents including the handicapped kids parents who felt they were duped.