Freedom Park School

This is the absolute worst school I've ever seen. The administration and teachers are apathetic, lazy, and singularly unmotivated and uninterested. If you have a child with any form of special needs, from ADD/ADHD to autism or anything more serious, run the other way. Instead of making some accommodations for children who are not, in their view, "normal", they do nothing but make excuses and justify why they DON'T have to do anything to benefit the children academically, behaviorally, etc. I've actually had one teacher threaten to move child to a remedial class (he's got a genius level IQ and is one of their top scorers on the stupid CRCT) if he didn't stop "disrupting" the class. Mind you, the disruption consisted of his fidgety ADD/ADHD related behavior, sharpening pencils too often and so forth, and one emotional outburst caused by her "winning" personality and refusal to accommodate his needs. Her reasoning? He'd get more attention from her in the remedial class. Ha! With attention like he gets from her, he's better off without it. They blame the students for their failures instead of addressing known and documented problems with their policies, attitudes and procedures. Don't waste your time asking productive questions or questioning the way things are done because common sense and willingness to improve are in short supply at Freedom Park. The only thing they're interested in is not spending money on anything beneficial, talking over you, justifying whey they don't have to change anything, or making excuses for why things are the way they are. The entire curriculum is geared towards passing the CRCT standardized test and keeping their funding, which I can assure you, doesn't appear to afford any improvements to the services/programs offered at this school since there are none. No band, very little art or music except minimal and sporadic classroom instruction, no extracurriculars, no sports, nothing, nothing and more nothing. They've refused to provide lockers for the middle schoolers. My 70 lb. son carries all of his books and supplies in his 30 lb. backpack back and forth to school and between classes everyday because not all neighborhoods have bus service and they've made no arrangements to prevent still developing children from having to perform like pack mules. And they wonder why scoliosis is on the rise? Once again, another issue that's been ignored by staff, administration and faculty. There are a few good apples in the bunch, but for the most part the teachers are rude, abrasive, ineffectual, ineffective, and they manage it all with an air of entitlement and condescension that is simply astounding. If you are moving to Fort Gordon, look into Columbia County schools or the new charter/magnet options that are available if you can avoid living in on post housing. Run as fast and as far as you can from this school for your children's sake. What I've mentioned here truly is only the tip of the iceberg. I am typically a non-confrontational person who doesn't like to make waves, but this disaster of a school is too big of an issue to be ignored and making sure my children get a good education is one of my primary concerns as a parent, as it should be. If nothing else, consider homeschooling. I hear of more and more people who live on Fort Gordon who are doing it as an alternative to that hell hole up there.