My children have been here since the first year the school started. We started in one portable at Magnolia Middle School , then as the school's reputation grew it expanded to 2 portables and a classroom. It has now grown so much they took over the original Pleasant Ridge Elementary (and former Sierra Montessori also) campus on Duggans. They have a garden with chickens and a huge playground. The director and teachers and staff are amazing and are very attentive to the needs of the children and parents. They have different options from 100% homeschooling to a blended middle school program 3 days a week from 9-2. My children attend 1-2 times a week from 9-12 so they get the experience of learning with their peers in a traditional classroom setting. Also, Arete offers tons of extracurricular classes from cooking to archery where the kids get to make their own bow and arrows to a huge variety of arts and crafts classes. The school also offers a lot of field trips that cover a wide range of interests. There is a family resource room as well where as a parent you can use it as a classroom for your children. The school also has a nice size library where you can check out books and games as well as all kinds of educational kits. I wish they went through 12th grade because it has been so great for my kids!

Special Education team is amazing Very supportive and engaged. Our son is thriving because of the great support he has. He is in 8th grade right now and moving to High School. Transition to High School has been great, and the teachers really care. We recommend RHMS to any parent that wants their kids to be successful no matter the condition your kids are at.

I am an award-winning, veteran teacher of high school mathematics, and I have lived in the Southland community for close to 20 years. A few years after Southland opened, I thought I could bring my expertise from the inner-city to my Southland neighbors. A group of CPS school administrators from the offices downtown were kind enough to set up an interview for me and I remember sitting down with the Southland Prep Assistant Superintendent and a couple of the School's faculty. Over the years, I have had the honor of working with some of the best and brightest school leaders but this Assistant Superintendent was certainly not one of them. Needless to say, I did not get the job, but my treatment during the interview was shockingly unprofessional and brash. I can't help thinking that if this kind of behavior comes from an Assistant Superintendent, how can the School expect any benefit trickling down to their students. That day, Southland students were deprived of the opportunity to benefit from an educator who could inspire them and instill a genuine respect for learning, two qualities lacking in their Assistant Superintendent.

My daughter was in public school for first grade, which ended in covid quarantine. I was not displeased, as it gave me the chance to see how little she truly learned there. I then homeschooled for second and third, but the teacher for really tired of it. It was me, I was the teacher. She had to go back to school. I found Oaktree and decided to give it a year and see how she did. She THRIVED. She loves her school( her teachers, her classmates. The school is very interested in family, in values, and in being Christ-centered. When my daughter's grandma died, teachers were so loving and caring that it stunned me. She tested gifted in public school, and I worried that she wouldn't be challenged enough in this school. She now teaches her older friends things they haven't learned yet... And they're a year ahead of her in their respective public schools. I could go on and on. My Girl is now preparing for middle school there, and she has truly blossomed there. We just adore it.

My daughter learns so much here, she is happy going into 2nd grade and testing at a much higher level.

As a parent, it hurts to see your child struggle in school and show signs of anxiety due to bullying and lack of prevention. Weapons on campus, fighting is the norm, and school suspension is given as a badge oh honor.

This school is horrible. The teachers are subpar and there are constant fights. So many fights that they had to close down the bathrooms which makes it so you cannot use it when it’s not transition time. Overall this school does a poor job at teaching with its tests scores reflecting that.

Positive environment, caring staff, small student to teacher ratio. Character, morals & kindness become ingrained each day through all curriculum. By High School many students are chosen Man or Women of the Year. Proving the well rounded individual who learns to focus on others rather than self.

This school is amazing! We were hesitant based on the reviews until my kids started going here!

Iep parent, this school is terrible for any students with differences.

Poor communication between school to parent. Parents are not notified correctly if their child got hurt by someone else. They do not take bullying seriously. Absolute worse experience so glad my child is going to go to a different school.

Don’t send your kids to this disgusting school and here’s why: First of all, the thing i am most concerned about is the amount if bullying. Kids make unfunny and racist jokes all the time. All they do is call each other racail and homophobic slurs, and make fun of people’s insecurities, as well as making fun of special ed kids and not taking autism and other mental disabilities seriously. Me and my friend got bullied on our bus just because we looked “gay”. The same person that bullied us also took a picture of us thinking we wouldn’t notice. Another kid also called my friend the n word. These kids are also concerningly violent. I overheard one kid talk about how they “got banned from a Skyzone” for fighting somebody, despite ONLY being in 6th grade. Second, the principal is always trying to push us beyond our limits. He always expects us to be at school every day, but I don’t think he realizes that KIDS CAN GET SICK OR HAVE SOMETHING ELSE HAPPEN. If we are missing from school for a couple days, teachers will mark the work as “missing”, which piled on alot of stress for students, it’s not even their fault they didn’t go to school for a few days. Teacher’s expect us to finish an essay for homework. It’s too much for these kids. A teacher themself even confirmed that they had less homework in highschool than we do now. And last but not least, the hygenic condition of this school. This school appearently is the cleanest in Baltimore County, but the bathrooms are always dirty, and if you take a look at the floor, it is covered in dust. How is this clean? This school doesn’t deserve to be the best in Baltimore county, and if it is, then I’m concerned for other schools in the county.

Review from an alumnus who graduated in the last 4 years. Grace Christian is small and low on resources. Teachers care a lot about students but tend to be unqualified and uneducated in their dedicated area. The school does not compensate the teachers well or provide good benefits for them. The academics are poor. The material is Christ centered but lacks academic rigor. I was unprepared for my college courses especially as someone pursuing a STEM degree. I was far behind my peers in biology, math, and physical science courses. Grace Christian prides itself on educating students from a conservative evangelical Christian perspective but chooses to do so by neglecting valid sources because they are secular. This results in a curriculum that is outdated, biased, or simply untrue. A culture of masculine dominance protects predators in the school. The school is isolating (due to a lack of students), close minded, racist, homophobic, unsafe, unintellectual, and a massive waste of money.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Many positive reviews are employees. Mass exit of families in 2023 due to declining standards, lack of transparency and official investigations into safety concerns for students. Sent two of our children for 2 years. Had to have our oldest tutored because she was not at the appropriate reading level upon entering public school. The idea is wonderful, however what you are “sold” is the dream and not reality at RMA. It had a good reputation when the original founder was running things, it went downhill quickly after she left. No standards, no transparency and nothing but excuses to parents to blame their lack of “understanding” of Montessori to justify why their child isn’t learning. Our kids never had behavior issues, never had concerns from teachers about pace of learning (until we brought them up) and after a year in public school I can tell you that the teachers at Montessori are deeply disappointing and lazy. They hide behind the Montessori method to avoid actually teaching and advancing students. I loved the idea of Montessori and was heartbroken to leave but now that we are gone I see clearly how deceitful administration was to parents.

This school is being ran by a woman who is more concerned with appearances than anything else. The school lunches are absolutely disgusting, but yet the teachers lounge has more snacks and parties than Sam’s club. Constantly spending money fixing the looks of the school instead of investing in better school materials. Expect your children to be searched by police/dogs at least every week. The actual principal doesn’t care about these kids. Instead she cares about forming opinions about children. Definitely in it for the wrong reason. The amount of sex that’s spreading amongst this middle school is crazy, over half the fights between the females, are over boys, which granted is not the schools fault but they do nothing to help stop it. My child is currently always in A honor roll always straight A’s, please explain to me how on her testing she isn’t even hitting satisfactory. The thing is, these teachers are aware that the kids arnt being taught close to anything on the testing paperwork. So my child having to do special tutoring to hopefully hit even on her scores so we can go from there. Caddo Parrish needs to do better on its schooling. Shut this school down and fire the principle.