St. Philip the Apostle School

correction: read some of the post here that are in the negative and it blows my mind. My son and daughter have attended this school from the beginning. The Principal is outstanding, the office staff are great and very knowledgeable. They know every student, every family member, it is very calming to know no stranger can get my children out of the school not even a relative without written permission and proper identification. My son test in the upper 90th percentile on almost everything for the standardized testing. My daughter is doing outstanding work as well but still young and reading and writing in the Kindergarten and working on the computer. The cost, first people should consider it is a PRIVATE SCHOOL. The reason you pay for books, supplies, etc is because the school is NOT publicly funded. It s funded by families, the Archdiocese and the church members to operate. IF you are building a case because of the money to put this school in the negative, it is not fair to those would be interested. I have met alumni from this school who are doctors, lawyers, teachers, budget analyst, etc., St. Philip is an EXCELLENT SCHOOL and let's face it, private school education is NOT FREE!
--Submitted by a parent

My son has attended St. Philip the Apostle School since Pre-K and he is now in the 6th grade. We both love the school. The school has a friendly and safe environment. The principal and teachers are very strong educators and make themselves easily accessible to the parents. A very important part of St. Philip the Apostle School is the parental involvement. Parents are strongly encouraged to get involved in the school, which helps establish a partnership with the parents, principal and faculty. St. Philip the Apostle School provides strong education, discipline and family involvement and is an excellent school for my child.
--Submitted by a parent

When I visited the school the first thing that caught my attention was the level of involvement from the Principal. Her standards for appearance, behavior and academics mirrored my own. I RAN home and told my husband that I found the Elem. school for our children. We are blessed that we found another VILLAGE away from home to help raise and educate our Children. When we are in public and the children are in uniform, we are always asked, "What school do your children attend?" The Principal and Teaching Staff at St. Philip the Apostle are providing my children with the fundamental building blocks to success. It is so encouraging to speak to past parents and hear their praises of St. Philip when their child has just graduated from, Bishop McNamara, DeMatha, Gonzaga and Holy Cross to name a few. A past St. Philip alumnus just received a 2011 Wu Fellowship to Princeton Univ. in pursuit of their Ph.D. The work may be demanding at times, but I know my children will be prepared to enter the competitive world when they leave St. Philip the Apostle. My INVESTMENT since 2005 is returning priceless dividends!
--Submitted by a parent

I have worked at this school for several years. I believe the priniPAL is great, she knows the students all by name and gives praise where praise is due. She runs a tight school with strong and set rules based in catholic values. She makes sure each teacher responds to parents requests for information with in 24hrs. Homework is posted daily on a public website linked to our website. Students are issued an agenda book to write their assignments down and expected to remember and to be organized to bring needed material home to do the assignment. The PrinciPAL encourages each teacher to continue their education by offering professional development oportunities. I plan on staying at this school for the foreseeable future.
--Submitted by a teacher

From the first week of school we have had some type of incident with the principal. My husband is military and I am former military and she spoke to us in a way that neither one of us dared speak again during the conversation. She has singled our child out on several occasions and not to praise her. Our daughter is usually very well liked by her teachers. We have had problems getting homework brought home and when we finally addressed the issue with her teacher we were ignored. The school is constantly sending home fund raisers and everything costs money. We recently had to pay for an assembly. When we began to question what would happen if we refused the note sent home said "mandatory" at the top. I have not been impressed with this school and we feel that we are constantly sending in money for this or that.
--Submitted by a parent

I have one son who attends St. Philip the Apostle. He's currently in the 3rd grade. This has been such a rewarding year for him. He adores the teacher. There are 27 children in the class, which is ideal for 3rd grade. I as a parent sometimes feel that the homework is a bit much, but then my son says...Mommy that's how I keep learning at home :-). My son and I have been treated with the utmost respect at St Philip's, the teachers know each student by name, as well as each parent. Any questions that I have for, or about the school are always answered in a quick and timely manner. I believe that you get from a situation, what you give to it!. We look forward to the remaining years at St Philip's....Go Bulldogs
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter has only gone to St. Philip for less than a year. At first I was a little concerned on how strict I felt that the environment was but soon found out that my daughter excelled in this type of environment. I also didn't appreciate the amount of homework that a Pre-K kid had every night but again... when she comes home counting, recognizing words and saying the Pledge of Allegiance... I have to say their methods work for her. I do feel like I am nickel d and dime d during the year and I wish that they would just say you owe X-amount and not ask me for more money throughout the year. Overall I think that this is a FANTASTIC school, loving staff and I am glad that I chose it for my daughter. She will be going there in the years to come.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter attended St. Philips for less than one year and I felt that the school was not worth the tuition that I was shelling out. My daughter was in the third grade and there were 35 children in one class. Yes, there are several helpers but how do you justify having 35 eight year olds in a classroom at one time. After researching the matter, most of the large private nationally known high schools do not have the enormous teacher student ratio. Parents are called and harassed for money but not called if their child is failing. This year parents paid for children to dress down. The excuse was wrapped in a fundraiser. The grading system is harder than an Ivy League University where a D is a 74%. Your child is setup to fail. Lastly, it is widely agreed that the principal is very condensing to parents
--Submitted by a parent

I have one daughter who attends St. Philip the Apostle. She s currently in the fourth grade and has been here since the first. She is constantly challenged by the workload the school enforces. She has become quite responsible and organized. To stay the school only has one class per grade level, they offer several activities for the children. The staff is very close knit and the teachers seem to know all of the children. The children respect the adults and more importantly each other. In this day and age it is very refreshing to know my daughter is in an environment where she is safe and being positively encouraged in her academics. The Principal, Ms. Cullinan is so patient and organized. She really knows what she's doing. I m truly grateful to have my daughter in attendance at St. Philip the Apostle!!!!!
--Submitted by a parent

I strongly agree with the last two posts. Our boys have been with St. Philips since 2004. We love the school. The teachers genuinely care about the students. The principal is excellent. She knows each student's name and something about them. My children are safe and receive both a rigorous academic education and an excellent moral and spiritual grounding. As an educator myself, you just don't see that level of detail, organization and care in many schools but you see it at St. Philips. I have appreciated their level of organization and commitment to the education and development of my children over the years. The fundraisers are not forced on parents and you can see how the money actually benefits and is invested in the children. St. Philips is an excellent school.
--Submitted by a parent