St Croix Catholic School

621 3rd Street South

Stillwater, MN 55082

16 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK-8
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on February 02, 2024

Our experience at SCCS has been wonderful. The teachers and staff truly care about the children, kids learn a lot, and we are part of an exceptional community of families. The school has done a lot of work in recent years to make academics strong. It does a great job of staying true to the Catholic faith while also remaining open to others. It's a great place to be and we are so grateful that our kids get to spend their days at SCCS.
Submitted by parent on March 27, 2022

Our student had a good experience at Ark of Angels pre-school. Upon entering Kindergarten our experience declined. The religious content is extreme. In second grade our student was taught being “drunk” was a mortal sin. Why are you even speaking about being drunk to 2nd graders?3rd grade was our worst and final year at SCCS. The teacher had no control of the class and ignored behavior until she found it unacceptable and then sent kids to the hall for long periods of time. Our student experienced bullying which we brought to the attention of the school on multiple occasions. The teachers solution was to allow for 5 minutes of “tattling time” after recess. Why would you encourage tattling instead of dealing with the bullying?Finally, we received no assistance from the “special services coordinator” in support of our students 504 plan. We had to request a meeting at the beginning of each school year. When we met she would begin by saying “you asked for this meeting, what would you like to discuss?”. I was blown away by the attitude of the special services coordinator and lack of willingness on the teachers part to even try to follow the 504 plan accommodations. We moved to a Stillwater elementary for 4th and 5th grade during which time our student thrived!I would not recommend SCCS for any family. I would particularly discourage this school if you have a student who is bright but with any learning differences.
Submitted by parent on December 28, 2018

I had a great experience at SCCS, specifically in the Middle School's history class (this was in 2005). I had a Dominican sister as a teacher, and I was a challenging student, to say the least. I had a lot of questions about truth, and she was very patient with me. She went out of her way to have deep discussions with me outside of the classroom, and she is in large part why I am still a faithful Catholic today. She referred me to deep philosophical books, got me interested in Chesterton and rational thought, and she expressed deep care for every student as an individual. In my mind, the Dominicans are the best thing SCCS has to offer. My Middle School English teacher (she still teaches at SCCS) was also phenomenal. She inspired me to stick with writing, and she recognized my deep love for words. Her encouragement is a large reason why I continue writing today.In fourth grade, teachers recognized that I was partial to language arts. They had a special advanced program for me, and it was hugely formative. I ended up pursuing English and journalism in college. I worked in non-profit marketing, and the career was fulfilling and lucrative to me on a personal level. Today, I have a freelance writing business.
Submitted by parent on January 18, 2017

We have had a great experience overall with this school.
Submitted by parent on September 15, 2016

Some of the teachers do a great job, but the administration is not parent friendly.
Submitted by parent on May 17, 2015

My experience has been nothing but positive. We came new this year and have been welcomed warmly by all- from the front office to the lunchroom staff to the teachers. My child has been welcomed by the other children in the class and some have said it's like my child has always been here! This certainly does not always happen in any school. Each day, my child is excited to go to school and is eager to tell me about the day. We just experienced a very fun time this weekend at our Fun Fest and SCCS Rocks fundraiser. What a great time we had! Such a great community to be a part of! We wish we came to SCCS sooner!
Submitted by parent on March 23, 2015

This school has a great pre-school program and then gets progressively worse. There have been numerous families that have left because of the math program. I consider myself to be a religious person, but this school is definately for the ultra religious. They have hired parents, which I don't think brings a value. Its clear they were hired because of their relationship with the leader rather than their experience. I am only giving this one star to even out the rating to where it truly should be. This school is a 2.5 Looking at the reviews it is apparent that the school asked parents to complete a review in December. In response to those December reviews, it is apparent who you are. Great women but how can you justly rate a school in which you were the teacher behind their good grades. You said it yourself Molly, they only attended a grade or two at this school. Come on now. Lets be honest, isnt that what we would ask of our children?
Submitted by parent on February 06, 2015

If you want a lot of religion than you will like this school. The Dominican Sisters are a nice addition. There seems to be a strong desire to hire in alumni and or parent/family members as teachers and not all of them are good. Middle school math curriculum needs work as well as some of the lower grades. Science in middle school is excellent, teacher uses stem. English seems right on task. Not sure if there is any review of teacher lesson plans by anyone in authority to make sure specific core requirements are met. I find this very true in lower grades. Public schools are much more advanced in technology to keep parents and students informed of grades and assignments. Also not sure how much smartboards are used even though many classrooms have them
Submitted by parent on February 01, 2015

SCCS IS AN OKAY SCHOOL. THE STILLWATER AREA SCHOOLS ARE ALL VERY GOOD. IT JUST DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR
Submitted by parent on December 09, 2014

My family just loves this school! The teachers are amazing and the curriculum is excellent. We've been at the school for many years and it just keeps getting better and better!
Submitted by parent on December 09, 2014

After homeschooling for nearly a decade we decided to give SCCS a try and we have been very impressed with this school. Nine of our children have attended at least some grades here and have been well--prepared for different HS, excelled in PSEO and university. Even more important is the real focus on our Catholic faith, dignity of persons and respect for classmates, and a truly incredible level of parent involvement and community. The presence and leadership of our Dominican Sisters has made SCCS truly unique.
Submitted by parent on December 08, 2014

We've currently got four kids in this school and have had two graduate from 8th grade here. We couldn't be happier with the school. Our 11th grade son said the other day "public school is easy after SCCS", and his grades show it. The teachers are very high quality- really care about the kids and seem to love teaching. We think this is one of the best schools in the Midwest- and it gets better every year. Every single one of our kids loves the school and is/was very happy there. No school is perfect (literally none-it seems like some parents expect them to be though), and there will always be families that are just not a good fit for some reason, but we really can't imagine sending our kids to another school. I wouldn't judge this school by calling in and catching a secretary on a bad day (we all have them) or by what I or others say about it online- if you're interested bring your kid(s) in and see what you and they think. Or talk to some of the current parents- I've found parents at this school are really happy with the decision to place our kids here.
Submitted by parent on September 08, 2014

While I'm a firm believer in a strong Catholic Education, there are far better schools in the area to meet that goal than SCCS. Our experience before we removed our child was weak at best. Kindergarten the teacher was truly engaged and loved her job, each student like her own, and did her best with all of the students. After that, nose dive! Our interactions with the Principal in regard to bullying issues resulted in being told that "Discipline is not part of her job" nor did she have intentions of following the student handbook in regard to discipline. Our child was coming home purple and her concern was the size of our check to the school. . Since moving our child we've been having to backpedal from shoddy teaching problems from first and second grade. This year is the first time we've found our child to look forward to going to school even though her teacher last year at the new school worked overtime to get her reading and other student skills up to where they should be for the average student in that grade. These were suppose to be the magical years, if we had it to do all over we'd have not limited ourselves to the only Catholic school in the school district.
Submitted by parent on July 09, 2013

Wonderful school. Current leadership is outstanding. Middle school is a great place for academic and spiritual growth -- these kids thrive in high school ... top notch!
Submitted by parent on October 25, 2012

this is a fantastic school. It gives a great sense of community for the children and the parents! I love this school!
Submitted by other on September 14, 2012

If this schools front office staff acts anything like they do on the phone, I would stay far far far away from this school. After calling to obtain information about the school for my child, the secretart was extremely rude, told me she would not provide the information and hung up on me. Great values you have.