It seemed like an amazing school at first, but Three Cedars declined over the years that my children attended. Specifically the culture changed from a community that sought to include all of the students and welcomed parents on campus and especially at festivals to a closed and cold campus that promoted secretive communication and rumor-mongering among both students and parents. While I enjoyed much of the beautiful artwork produced by my children and some of their classmates, the core curriculula of arithmetic and English were very weak. Some teachers were very good at their subjects and as community leaders but many of those teachers have left the school the past two years or so.
I wanted to believe in Three Cedars. My children were there for over five years. One of my children had learning difficulties and the other was a high achiever. The school could not meet the needs of either one so a change had to be made and it has been a huge improvement for each child. I also want to add that the faculty at Three Cedars seems somewhat secretive in how it operates and it sometimes made me uncomfortable as a parent.
Posted January 20, 2014
Our child attended Three Cedars for several years after we grew disillusioned with public school. While Three Cedars was generally pleasant during our child s younger years, we grew concerned about the level of academic achievement as our child grew into the middle school years. The matter was complicated by the upheaval of having our child s main teacher depart in the midst of the school year and the school s inability to hire a replacement teacher for the remainder of the entire year and the school s decision to bring in a patchwork quilt of temporary block teachers. These events occurred at a critical time in our child s education and set our child (and likely many other members of the class) back. We ultimately felt that Three Cedars was not providing the necessary foundation for higher learning in upper middle school and high school and decided to remove our child. It has been an academic catch-up battle for our child since arriving at the new school.
While I do not subscribe to Anthroposophy, the ideology that guides Waldorf pedagogy, I do feel this school can meet some children better than other private or public schools. The Early Childhood faculty is amazing and a beneficial fit for most children. But there are teacher imposed lifestyle challenges for parents and children in the grades program. Science and mathematics are weak in the grades program. The education is portfolio rather than grade based, and reading is discouraged until age 7. There are a number of children with health challenges at the school and while the school works to meet these children, I have found that it can be difficult for ordinary, healthy children, like my two kids, to thrive in a classroom environment where more children than average are not vaccinated, have profound dietary restrictions, or suffer from a variety or emotional disturbances. The school strives for multiculturalism but is challenged with bullying in the grades owing to it's use of an orthodox boundary-based or behavioral approach to discipline. Team sports are very limited. Currently, it has postponed it's accreditation with AWSNA and NWAIS.
Posted January 13, 2014
I don't doubt that many parents have had good experiences even in middle school at TC over the years and think highly of the Waldorf curriculum. The problem with Three Cedars, however, is that both the director and all of the current middle school teachers feel it appropriate to treat some children badly without facts to support their actions. My children are not the only ones to depart for this reason. Moreover under the current director since 2011, six teachers, or nearly every veteran Waldorf main lesson teacher at the school when the director took over, has left Three Cedars. Also there is little oversight for the actions of the current school administration beyond the Board of Trustees and it seems disinclined to act as it hired the director.
—Submitted by a parent
In it's early years this school was a great and
flourishing with life. Bur recently it has taken a turn for the worse,
making terrible decisions about faculty and poor academics. If you want a
place for your child to mosey there way through school up until high
school...this is the place for you.
Well meaning, but falls short academically and in safetey and
disclipline. We were fairly shocked by the lack of emphasis on
anything related to direct education. Discipline problems were evident
among the more active kids.
Comparatively speaking to other Waldorf schools in the area, this
developing school has only 'back-slided' in the last several years.
Due to lack of funding and an outrageous mortgage, they are not putting
as much into their curriculum as they were previously, and have also
made some pretty un-wise choices as far as faculty.
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You may ask, "where are all the 5=Star reviews?" Well, the problem with those reviews is that many tend not to be too honest. I have included 4-star reviews that appear honest. Often, gushing reviews are placed by teachers and administrators - as some comments here indicate. "This school educates the whole child!!!" - 5 stars - by Anonymous... I say baloney! Notice, many of the reviewers have been misled by Waldorf and are still buying the PR, even after having been disappointed. Feel free to comment but understand the intent of this blog. Comments are no longer moderated.