Camelback Desert School

Our entire experience with Camelback Desert School has been positive and professional. The staff is friendly and supportive. The parent teacher organization is welcoming, and actively involved in providing fun learning and social experiences for the entire school. CDS also provides increased arts and extra-curricular classes that are comprehensive, and taught by organized and experienced teachers (Public Schools are more limited). We believe CDS offers high quality teachers, with exceptional academic opportunities, and we are pleased with our choice to join the CDS family.
--Submitted by a parent

Camelback Desert School is the kind of school everyone dreams they went to as a kid. It has a Montessori feel in terms of focusing on individual learning, character development and the overall home-like feel to the campus itself, yet ensures all students are meeting or exceeding National standards. All students have the same basic requirements at each grade level, but teachers inspire and encourage their students to find and use their own interests to further expand their knowledge. The special area teachers are phenomenal and clearly love their fields of interest, which shows in their teaching. The principal has a personal relationship with each student and works very hard to make sure everyone feels comfortable and happy in every aspect of their education. He has an open door policy to both students and parents and has a very welcoming personality. All staff members at Camelback Desert school make it a mission to get to know all students throughout the school and are clearly invested in them. It's clear that the staff want their students to live up to their true potential both academically and socially. I would highly recommend this school! ~parent of a 6th grader
--Submitted by a parent

Love this school! Very non snobby atmosphere with incredible integrated learning. The staff is genuinely motivated to make the students feel like it's home. The small class sizes allow for top notch student/teacher interaction. Camelback Desert is very progressive, accepting and diverse in comparison; We looked at all the private schools in the Phoenix are and this one is a jewel; just really refreshing and one of a kind!
--Submitted by a parent

Love this school! We have been a part of Camelback Desert School for years. In fact many family members attended when I was a child. That says a lot for a school to stick around for such a long time.I'm very involved and have watched the school suffer in the last few years. They let go in May of the last principal as she was just not able to be what the school needed to excel. She was unprofessional and not a good leader. The assistant principal has done a wonderful job as interim principal. I've been impressed with her dedication. Gratefully, we have a NEW PRINCIPAL!! From my interactions with him so far, I'm totally impressed. He is warm, sincere, caring and listened to everything I shared with the true intent of hearing my thoughts. His resume and background is impressive, a true refreshment to the school. I know this school will continue in the course of amazing growth, excelling academics and what its known for, its close knit family environment where the administration and teachers care about my children with intention of knowing them as if they were their own. Feels like the school is getting back to its roots. I'm more than thrilled!!
--Submitted by a parent

The members of the Camelback Desert family look forward to a rejuvenating and constructive academic year. Positive decisions have already taken place under the new direction and new leadership. Leadership skills and consistency that the previous principal lacked are already present in the new administration. Enrollment has increased since her absence. Families and highly qualified staff members have remained faithful to this school for years. The few parents who have left must be unaware of just how unprofessional and ineffective the previous principal was. The atmosphere on campus is now vibrant and professional. What a relief...
--Submitted by a parent

This school is just not up to par when compared with other schools in the area, and the enrollment in the upper grades continues to decline. The teachers are all very nice, but they seem to have a high turnover. Many of them are first or second year teachers that were just looking for a position wherever they could find one, and after getting a few years under their belt, they move on to larger private or public schools. The academics are not very challenging, as one would expect in a private school. The best thing about the school was the wonderful principal who departed at the end of the 2011 school year, and now that she is gone, it has turned the school upside down. The administration just can't seem to connect with the parents, and there are a lot of unhappy parents. My daughter is in her last year of preschool, and then we will be moving elsewhere for Kindergarten. I really wish I liked this school because all of the parents I've met have been amazing, but the administration just brings it down.
--Submitted by a parent

Strengths: The teachers are nice and caring. Good "specialty" teachers for art, PE, music, Spanish, etc. Nice campus with a playground, soccer field, swimming pools. Negatives: After preschool, enrollment drops. Upper grades have only a handful of kids. Who wants to move their kids to a different school in 4th grade, but who wants to be in a grade that has only 6 kids? There is no auditorium for events, & everything is jammed onto the field. There s no parking spaces, and you must park your car and take a shuttle to parent functions. The preschool pickup is the worst. They now insist on bringing your child to your car one-by-one, which takes forever and holds up the entire line. Parents should be able to get their own kids without be reprimanded. The best principal just left in May, and everything went downhill. I pulled my kids from summer camp after 3 weeks due to lack of organization & poor staffing. The Vice Principal is clueless and fake, and the office manager is unfriendly and rude. A new principal just started with a very limited resume. I m making this the last year for my kids. I ll move to a school with a better reputation, like Tesseract, Rancho, or Phx Country Day.
--Submitted by a parent

The teachers and staff have been very easy to work with Ms. Morton in the 4 year old class is just fantastic. The kids love PE and swimming, art, and science programs!
--Submitted by a parent

I have two children at CDS and have found the overall experience to be a very positive one. The teachers are engaged and interested in each one of their students. There is a very active parent teacher association at the school. This is an informed and educated community of parents, teachers and administrators who go above and beyond to provide the best to all students. The Stanford test scores across all grade levels rank very high. Our sons artistic abilities have flourished at CDS and our daughter just loves her small class. I absolutely recommend giving your child the opportunity of a lifetime by attending CDS!!!!
--Submitted by a parent

My son and daughter both go to CDS and absolutely love it. My son has been there for 4 years now and the school has gone through some changes but they are now performing at a top-notch level. The teachers are fabulous, the class size is small so they get really wonderful one-on-one attention and they provide an array of specials with amazing instructors from art, music, spanish, PE, computers, etc. It is a nurturing yet challenging environment without the pressure. My kids both love going to school every day and their growth has been amazing.
--Submitted by a parent