My son went here for a couple of years. The school is a for profit and it reflects as such. From my experience, if you have to ... Read More
My son went here for a couple of years. The school is a for profit and it reflects as such. From my experience, if you have to ask "how much," chances are you cannot afford it. They increased the fees substantially which prompted me to look over the cost to benefits. The cost did not warrant the additional expenses as we calculated the child at the age of 6 shouldn't cost $20-35k per annum. From experience and speaking with other parents who were both accepted and denied, there is no guarantee you will be accepted into the following year. The core assembly of executive staff look over not only the scores of your child's tests, but the history of your family as alumni, and frequency of your donations. The second year we did not donate as much as the previous year due to the price hike. However, to compensate, my wife volunteered at every single opportunity as she was, at the time, a "stay at home" parent. Our son was evaluated a second time by a 'child specialist' at it was determined by the school that my son was 'below average'. We asked what type of testing criteria they used to come to this determination and they would/could not provide adequate answers. We were in shock and promptly had our son evaluated for cognitive defects such as dyslexia and autism. After thousands spent on professionals and doctors, the Hx was null. No defects or abnormalities in cognition and comprehension. Again, a shock. We asked the school about this (after the dismissal of our son) and they did not provide information that would help us in zeroing in on the reason. Additionally, they mentioned us to "respect the other parents and not discuss anything related to this topic. " I am not sure what prompted that response as we did nothing to provoke such as statement. I found that rather obtuse and authoritarian. We have good relationships with some of the Harker parents still enrolled and they are saddened to see our son not attending. He forged some good relationships with a couple of the well behaved children. One parent, who donated a substantial amount of stock options to th school did say that their child also received a "below average" score much like my son which prompted them to donate additional funds. Interestingly enough, their child was accepted due to "additional space being opened up". The parent said they would speak with the administration but I told them to not do so due to the previous statement by the administration stating, "Do not share information. " I did not want them to have issues since their child was accepted the second term. We came to the conclusion that many children with sub par scores will make it to subsequent years because of the family history and continued funding they present. Based on our experience, if you are not an elitist, then please keep your child with their peers at a more affordable charter or public school. There is no proof that attending this school will mean your child will be set up for success. However, they do offer a wide range of activities for youngsters which is a plus. I found that augmenting my sons after school activities with weekend field trips to museums and other activities made up for this. --I will tell you, most the parents speak Tesla, iPhone, large monetary donations, and multimillion dollar estates. Hard for a child that isn't in this category to relate to his peers. They don't speak jeans, civic, blue collar. If one makes it in with a loan without substantial donations, expect child to get low scores and denied continuation within school. If parents are heavy donors, advance payers, and child is at or below average, expect additional support and continuation of school. Read Less
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