The Gregory School

3231 North Craycroft Road

Tucson, AZ 85712

31 Reviews

School District
Grade

5-12
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by other on September 25, 2024

At this school, money drives most things. When I attended, the teachers were constantly leaving or retiring. The management was shifting around constantly. Due to the amount of white students attending, bullying based on race was prevalent. The teachers that stayed around were amazing for the most part, but so many teachers left it was inconsistent who was going to be teaching you and for how long. Most kids had private tutors or some other form of outside help that allowed them to thrive, and if you didn’t have this available to you it was easy to feel left behind. The academics weren’t exactly as intense as at a school like Basis, but there was a heavy emphasis on GPA and the like. If you didn’t already have support from the outside and an idea of what you wanted to do going forward it was easy to feel stranded because there is such a heavy emphasis on college. If you want your kid to feel extremely stressed about attending a good university, then that is alright, but for those kids who were considering alternative routes it wasn’t exactly praised or pushed. Help for disabilities really varied by the teacher, and some teachers weren’t keen on helping. The schools worst fault was favoring the kids who paid or donated the most money. It is not a bad school if you come from money, but for those who are not wealthy it was easy to feel ostracized both socially and educationally. Especially if you weren’t as smart as your fellow classmates. The issue of race was really a problem as well, a lot of the students come from very sheltered backgrounds and don’t know how to interact with kids from different demographics. I am not saying to not send your kid here but if your kid is a minority of any sort, or has any sort of intellectual disability or physical disability, it is not ideal.
Submitted by parent on May 25, 2024

My daughter loves The Gregory School. Amazing teachers, facilities and students. We feel so lucky to have found this school.
Submitted by parent on September 30, 2023

Our daughter is in middle school at the Gregory school and LOVES it. Literally, every day, she says she loves school. She’s been to a few schools and has never before said she loves them like this. She has said she likes other schools, but never said she loved them. The staff is even doing a book club and are currently reading the book, Permission to Feel. Wow. They have Friday explorations which are just SO cool. You can find a YouTube video about that made by a student. Students get to choose what they want to do for their explorations which last between 1 and 3 Fridays. They have interim week each year where every grade has a whole week of field trips - full day trips. The high school students went to Utah (I think 10th grade), other grades went other places, some locally, some to like Mt Lemmon, etc. Wonderful community building, bonding, and learning experiences.The whole staff is just so thoughtful in their choices. Very student focused. I am a former teacher and am very picky about schools because I know what they should be doing. I can find no faults with Gregory (this is a first). Plus, they serve actually healthy lunches so I don’t have to pack lunch. So nice. They do dirty dozen organic. Made from scratch mostly. Often using food from their garden. Fries have trans fats, so I just tell my daughter to skip the fries, but very healthy otherwise. I can’t say enough good things about it. You can also have your kid do a trial day to check it out.They have need based scholarships and if you don’t qualify, you could get an ESA tuition reimbursement. They are also a non-profit organization, which means that make decisions that are best for students, not best for profit.
Submitted by parent on August 28, 2023

My experience at this school has been positive and encouraging. The community is excellent and helpful. Dedicated teachers and leadership are doing everything they can to support students and parents. My son was back after two years in Salpointe. He seems happier and enjoying the school and loves his teachers at TGS.
Submitted by parent on September 02, 2022

The teachers are fabulous! ...dedicated and engaging. The school is very responsive to parents. The smaller size provided many opportunities to take part in school activities and extracurriculars not otherwise possible at larger schools. The exploratory elective on Fridays provided an opportunity to try out new things and new subject. The curriculum is well thought out. Our kid was intellectually challenged and able to take plenty of AP courses. Choosing Gregory School for our high school student was the best decision we have made for our kid...so far.
Submitted by parent on March 03, 2021

I absolutely love this school! I have had multiple children attend this school since 2013. I had plenty of reservations prior to enrolling because my children are black and we are not wealthy. I was afraid of how they would be treated by the school and the parents. About a month in, I realized what a special place this was. My kids were always treated equally by both the parents and the administration.The teachers go above and beyond to help the kids. The teachers meet regularly with each kids “advisor” to discuss the kids progress and they develop action plans that are across the board to help. My youngest daughter had some bullying issues with another child in middle school but once I brought it to the administration, they put a stop to it immediately.The academics are well above state standards and they not only teach academics but they teach you how to study and be prepared for college.I had one child attend from 7-12 grade and she realized in college how Gregory prepared she really was for college.My other kids only attended middle school because they wanted to go to a larger high school for sports.Gregory has a successful sports program but they didn’t have football so we had to move. All of my kids, have life long friends and have community connections with the parents! Great school!
Submitted by parent on December 19, 2020

This school is driven by money. The parents who have it buy their kids out of trouble constantly. And there is a lot of trouble here. The academics are ok but the teachers are not helpful. The leadership is exceptionally poor. There is no accountability or emphasis on character development. There aren’t any fun activities or extra curricular activities that are fun. There is no school spirit ot sense of community. The teachers don’t seem to like being there. The principal doesn’t like kids and is very judgmental. The turnover rate is very high. Most kids stay one semester or two at the most. The kids who return seem to have already been at multiple schools so they have no options. And they are the reason the other kids leave. This is not a friendly or inclusive school. It is very difficult to make friends. For the money you pay to go her you would expect to see some exceptionalism. We didn’t find that in any area. For academics, basis is a better choice. For social environment, any school in Tucson, Marana or Vail is going to be way way better.
Submitted by parent on March 01, 2019

AMAZING! We are definitely looking forward to many more years!
Submitted by parent on February 15, 2019

Amazing! My boys love it and are doing very well!
Submitted by parent on January 11, 2019

This school is very negative. They do not deliver what they promise in any way. Kids leave constantly- the turnover is excessive. It is a very unhappy place.
Submitted by parent on September 25, 2018

Our experience over the past five years has been outstanding, at both the middle and upper school levels. Our children work hard academically but they also have fun and experience new things regularly. The really enjoy and respect their teachers and are learning to be critical thinkers and good citizens.
Submitted by parent on September 24, 2018

The Gregory School has been an incredible experience for my students. The teachers are engaged and well liked. The students too are engaged, interested, and interesting. The tangible skills such as note taking, writing, mathematics, etc. that are instilled are incredible and my older student has enjoyed great success in college largely as a result of the Gregory School.I pretty much guarantee that if your child does a "shadow day" at The Gregory School, that is where he or she will want to go to school. It is amazing.
Submitted by parent on September 13, 2018

Excellent. My son hated school throughout elementary school, but he now loves it. When he did a shadow day, he fell in love with the Gregory School as he got to play a czar in a readers' theater of a Russian folk tale in English class. He is engaged and excited to learn, and the small class size fosters closeness between students and teachers.
Submitted by parent on June 13, 2018

Good until change in Head of School
Submitted by parent on January 25, 2017

My daughter attended our local CFSD elementary school from kindergarten and it was great up until 5th grade. Partway through that year ('14-'15) she was unhappy and did not love school as much as she had previously. So she did a shadow day at The Gregory School. She loved it so much that she begged us to send her there right away. We had her switched within two weeks and have never regretted it. The teachers have been fantastic, the small class sizes are wonderful, and the two combined mean that the kids get to do lots of hands-on and interesting learning activities. The campus is open and lovely, there is a great farmyard with goats and chickens that are cared for by the students, and the teachers really get to know the students. Our daughter rocketed ahead in math and is now in 7th grade doing 9th-grade level work and loving it. She has taken Latin and now takes both Spanish and French. She has guitar as an elective class. She has spent time in the Fab Lab working on a project of her own design. She's done basketball, volleyball and track, and now she is part of the all-school musical. The teachers are open, friendly and happy, not stressed-out and overworked. The head of the middle school and the Headmaster are both WONDERFUL, and focused on the right priorities. I can't say enough good things about this school and how happy our daughter is to get to go there.
Submitted by student on May 24, 2016

WATCH OUT!!!! the principial just fired 3/4 of the teachers that were the ONLY good part about the school! she emailed all the parents today after people starting posting stuff online. the teachers made the school special and now they are gone, do not support this school!
Submitted by student on March 29, 2015

Many of the teachers are incredible. A few are just OK, but they are being phased out. Fairly advanced classes (all are Honors-level), AP classes too. Some use traditional methods, others do really unique and interesting things. Feels like college sometimes. The campus is quite nice. Very open. The weather is great, hallways are outdoors. So much open space. Incredible views. Lots of glass. Some old, some new buildings. It's a private school in a good neighborhood. Almost all families are upper-middle or upper-income professionals. The campus has security but is not tightly guarded, but that's a good thing because it doesn't feel like a prison (like other area schools). The communication between parents & students, the administration, and the board needs improvement for sure. Parents and students don't really have input in any of the decisions made by the administration. They are pleasant, but the Head of School is the only one with any power. If you want really competitive sports, the school doesn't play in a big league like other local ones, but they usually do pretty well when they compete. There are a variety of clubs, along with art, music, and theater.
Submitted by parent on October 26, 2014

We couldn't be happier with this school. It offers the perfect combination of academics, community and extracurricular activities. My kids moved from a local charter school that absolutely killed their love of learning. It's back at the Gregory School.
Submitted by parent on October 09, 2014

Tucson has so many options for high school, and I looked at each one objectively for my child and chose Gregory for many reasons. Overall it provides the most well-rounded education, if you care about great academics as well as great art, sports and extracurricular clubs and being held accountable for community projects, then Gregory is the best option. The classes are small, teachers respond immediately to concerns and tutoring is offered daily, and encouraged. The athletic teams have great school spirit, we have highly ranked teams going to states, and art classes that are more inspired than those I took in college. The campus is the most attractive in all of Tucson and the science building is incomparable with beautiful labs and inspired teachers. There is dedicated college counseling with a very devoted counselor and a huge college fair annually. The student body has a large international contingent, my child has friends from South Africa, German, Ukraine, China, Turkey and Brazil. It's incredible! I think it's impossible to find a better option for middle or high school, just send your child for a one day on campus visit and they will not want to go anywhere else.
Submitted by parent on September 13, 2014

While it was just renamed, the school is still the same. My daughter is in high school and her teachers are excellent. They all have advanced degrees in the field and they are experienced in the classroom. The academics are great preparation for a top-tier college or university, but they value critical thinking, writing skills, and creativity over pure test prep like you see at many other schools. Students are well rounded because of arts, sports, and extracurriculars. The education is great, but the school is run by its biggest donors who are appointed to the school board.