Cactus Shadows High School in Cave Creek (Phoenix, Scottsdale: new home, middle school)

[accessaz]

Hello to everyone: I am new to this forum. We are in the process of moving to Arizona from Orange County and have made an offer on a home in Cave Creek. We have since spoken with friends here in CA who are from the Scottsdale area and they had some negative comments regarding the high school in our new area. We were told the drug problem at Cactus Shadows was above the norm and they would have been hesitant putting their own kids that school. We are from an area here in Orange County not so different from the Cave Creek area and we are well aware that there are substance abuse issues in ALL public high schools but is Cactus Shadows an exception? My daughter is in middle school and our choice in a new home would depend on the high school in the area. Is anyone here familiar with Cactus Shadows High School in Cave Creek and what have you heard or experienced? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[observer53]

Others will post here, but if you click on the search button, click on advanced search, type in Cactus Shadows High School, and select to show the results in posts, not threads, and click on Arizona (or Phoenix area) on the forums to be searched, you will see several posts. They may or may not address the specific issue you are asking about, (I did not open each post) but you may find some useful info in addition to any responses here.

[AZJoeD]

I live in the district and my younger son went to Cactus Shadows 4 years. We have many friends in the area and their children all attended CSHS. While I will not say that drugs are not present, I am sure every school has their share, CSHS does not have any rampant problem. If your children are going to get involved with drugs, I am sure it can happen at any AZ public school.

There certainly are enough rating organizations that rank schools. I would research authoritative sites and not take "hear say" as your rating system.

[tymike]

We moved from a affluent area of Northern NJ 3 years ago to Cave Creek. I have 2 son's in Cactus Shadow right now.
One Senior and one Sophmore. To me high school is what you make of it / CSHS is a very good high school for AZ.
It has no more or less problems with drugs than any good high school back east. Actually the area we lived in back east probably had a bigger drug issue because the kids all had BMW's and more money that they knew what to do with.
If you want some specific's PM me and I will be happy to give you more details

[Phxdude]

I went to cactus shadows high school, and I graduated 4-5 years ago. There was a pretty bad drug problem when I was there. A lot of my friends ended up becoming addicted to pills and some of them to heroin, and some ended up dying. A lot of kids I knew liked to go to underground raves, and I would say over a quarter of the kids that went there smoked pot regularly. I wouldn't say it's any worse than some other schools in the Phoenix area, but there definitely was a problem when I went to that school. That being said, most schools in the Phoenix area have a bad drug problem because of the close proximity to the Mexican border. Phoenix is a large distribution hub for the Mexican cartels, so naturally the drugs that are transported through the city will find their way into the public schools easier than that of other cities. If you have a choice, send them to Norte Dame or Scottsdale Christian academy. I wish I could have gone to those schools instead of wasting 4 years of my life getting high and growing up too fast. Plus, the curriculum and class selection at CSHS are ridiculous. Very limited selection of courses to engage a student, no auto or wood shop classes or any hands-on type classes besides art or ceramics (where kids just try to get away with making bongs and pipes anyways) etc etc, nothing that gets you prepared for the real world or prepares someone for a career. Just your basic courses required to graduate, some language classes, and that's about it. Nothing more, nothing less. Sorry to be so blunt, but there are better options than CSHS for your child in my opinion. I Hope this help sway your decision.