Hammond School

Hammond school has great potential with some great teachers, however, the administration has degraded the entire academic system....allowing the "select" few get favors, do overs, and special privileges just because of who their parents are or how much money they donate. My child was in the lower school and it gets totally out of control by the time they get to the upper school. I guess if you want to buy your child good grades without having them work for it...this is the school for you. Otherwise, you would do just as well at Dreher or AC Flora with actual academic standards and teachers who challenge students.
--Submitted by a parent

After three years we are taking our children out of Hammond. The school has great facilities, teachers and great parents but management is just shallow. The air amongst a vast majority of the students is they can just breath the air at Hammond and become successful. Hard work is a distant thought at best. For the amount of money Hammond charges, nobody should walk away with the total disapproval we have but, we are.
--Submitted by a parent

Unfortunately, Hammond is not what it once was. The current administration(at every level) has endorsed a watered down curriculum and is admitting children who who are weak students and behavior problems. Let the buyer beware! Our children will be leaving after this year. Why pay premium prices for what you can get for free in the public schools?
--Submitted by a parent

Hammond was instrumental part of my education. I attended 5 years and graduated in class of 1998. I found the math program (particularly Mr. Austin) and physics program (Mrs. Peterson) to be very impressive. My only recommendation would be more focus on college prep earlier. Junior & Senior year there was a lot of college focus (resume, GPA, etc.) but it needs to start Freshman year to be more competitive. Nonetheless, I was able to get in to a top 10 college. Minus 1 star because technology in the school was weak (at the time) and because of above comments on college prep.

If you are serious about education, Hammond is the school for you. From academics to athletics to the arts, Hammond excels.
--Submitted by a parent

Mr Angel has no iintegrity. He makes deceisions with out hearing both sides of the story. He always take the easy way out and this makes him a poor headmaster
--Submitted by a parent

Used to be a great school. The current administrators are not good and are taking the school in the wrong direction.
--Submitted by a parent

This is our fourth year attending Hammond School, and I couldn't be more pleased. I have not felt the dissatisfaction that the other parent wrote about regarding the Lower School. I have found the Head of the LS to be available when I need her, prompt to respond to my communications, and have consistently had the teachers go the extra mile to educate my children, both intellectually and academically. I feel we are getting a very well rounded education
--Submitted by a parent

We started our child in Kindergarten and were happy with the lower school. He excelled acedemically. The Middle School was a different story. Bullying was a major problem and the Middle School Head was incapable of dealing with it. There were countless incidents involving physical force, sexually inappropriate gesters and racial slurs. Also, Hammond has always been a step behind other schools technologically; Edline, Smartboards, even email. Our child made the decision to move to another private school. We feel as though we have stepped out of old fashion teaching methods and stepped into the 21st century.

Hammond School has always been a school of academic excellence. It is known for challenging students and preparing them for college. Unfortunately, the Hammond philosophy has apparently changed. In the last four years the leadership at all levels; headmaster, upper, middle and lower schools has changed. As a result, the solid curriculum that has been the foundation of this school's excellence has also changed. The lower school principal's leadership and communication skills are poor. There is no respect for parental input and there appears to be very little for the teachers. Both the teachers and parents are frustrated with the lack of communication and the 'daily' changes of lower school. With every change made, a new set of problems has arisen. The Board is apparently more concerned with the 'bottom line' than they are with the problems at hand.
--Submitted by a parent