The Altamont School

This is the best secondary education environment in Birmingham. Teachers and staff truly care about all aspects of the child and the education is exceptional. Each child is respected for their individuality and the students are very accepting of each other. Wonderful school community which embraces everyone.
--Submitted by a parent

Sarah Whiteside is a wonderful principal and academician that permeates down to the whole staff. Altamont is a very special place that fosters the development of the "complete" child. I would recommend this school to anyone considering a top notch education for their child.
--Submitted by a parent

Love this school!! Great teachers and board. the arts are important to everyone here, which is unusual but really appreciated! enough freedom to have fun but also learn responsibilities.

The academics are great. The teachers are amongst the best, however the administrative staff of this institution of 'learning' are absolutely horrible! Particularly the financial staff. Education is no longer the main focus of this once top-rate institution of learning; they are now more focused on courting those with a great amount of income and doing whatever is necessary to eliminate and force out those who are not as fortunate.
--Submitted by a parent

This school suffers severly with a lack of communication and polotics. The school has some great teachers left, but the majority now have no communication skills. The administration at the school needs to be reconsidered. The school has lost it's main focus, the students, and focuses on nothing but satisfying the parents in order to obtain their money and keep the school alive. The number of enrollments has saignifcantly dropped due to the sharp decline of excellance at this institute. It needs to change, or it is going to fail even more.
--Submitted by a student

The best voice my husband and I have made - was to send our daughter to Altamont. The teachers are all very dedicated to their jobs.
--Submitted by a parent

This is just about the best school in alabama! i love every aspect of it and hope that many more students will choose to attend Altamont.
--Submitted by a student

A wonderful school, in every area. Academics are challenging, and teachers are truly allies of the students (not to mention parents). Small class size and dedicated faculty set Altamont in a class by itself. Sports is a vital part of this school, as are the arts. Children graduating from Altamont go on to highly selective colleges, and do well. An outstanding school.
--Submitted by a parent

With the death of Martin Hames this school is not the same place. It was once a great school that fostered broad learning and did not cater solely to AP courses and was not solely concerned with numbers and with reputation. Now it has lost everything that made it unique. Do not go to Altamont for a unique educational experience because it is just like some other schools that cost half the price. I must say that Altamont's direction can be changed if there were to be a change in the administration. Instead of caring about students and faculty the present administration ahered to a relativistic philosophy that can only be characterized by elitism in trying to drastically change a school that did NOT need to be changed. Return Altamont to what it once was!
--Submitted by a former student

This is a terrible school now. The new administration has sent this place down.
--Submitted by a former student