St. Gregory The Great

13925 Telegraph Road

Whittier, CA 90604

39 Reviews

School District
Grade

K-8
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by other on February 21, 2025

This is a horrible school!! Kids ate beings bullying left and right!
Submitted by parent on April 13, 2024

St. Gregory the Great school is a family oriented highly caring Catholic School. I have had 2 children graduate from St. Gregory and the valise and principles that they learned during their days at St. Gregory have led them to successfully integrating into adolescence and high school. I currently have 1 child at St. Gregory, and I look forward to seeing him continue to grow and graduate from St. Gregory the Great.
Submitted by parent on April 05, 2024

My kids have been enrolled at SGG since TK, they started distance learning at the end of kinder and all of 1st grade and I was amazed on how great their teachers handled it. My kids didn’t experience any learning loss during the pandemic and have excelled academically. Now as fourth graders I have noticed how much they have grown and love learning. Most importantly they are taught to be respectful and follow their faith.Parent engagement is highly promoted and has a positive impact with parents and students. I’ve seen a lot of growth in building community within the school and church. As a parent and parishioner I am happy to be involved and volunteer. Teachers and staff are amazing, dedicated and very welcoming. Our principal, Ms Clagon is truly remarkable and such a devoted person. SGG is truly family!
Submitted by parent on March 29, 2024

Staff is sweet but curriculum is rubbish, they do not listen to parents about bullying and the bullies have no consequences. They also left my child who was in a wheelchair out of their Christmas play except for the one showing of it where I attended.. then they wheeled her out front. My child's academics went back a grade and despite asking that she be put in a higher grade for harder work they refused. They want everything done online for easy grading so they don't really write essays.... I had to finally take my kid out of the school because she and gone backwards academically and was being bullied on top of it. I do not at all recommend this school.
Submitted by parent on June 20, 2022

This is my Third Child to attend a private school but our first year here at St. Gregory the Great due to us moving but we are so glad to have enrolled our daughter here. The Principal is AMAZING as well as all the staff. The school and parents are welcoming and are always willing to offer assistance when needed. Glad to be a member of the SGG Community!
Submitted by parent on April 06, 2022

It’s a great school the principal is amazing and full of enthusiasm!! I do not agree with former reviews about the principal, it must be an isolated incident.I am a former parent and my daughter was very happy attending here and she has excelled with her education because of the foundation she received here. I strongly recommend for you to tour the school and find out for yourself.
Submitted by parent on March 31, 2022

St. Gregory the Great is an amazing school. The teachers and administrators make you feel like you are family. My children come home from school happy and excited to tell me what they have learned everyday.
Submitted by parent on February 14, 2022

In reading the last 2 reviews, I would have to agree 100%. The principal and teachers are adding more covid rules than needed. The pandemic is over and the principal and teachers need to move forward and let our children show their smiles, not add shields or have them sit on a line during breaks! It's unbelievable that they will be having an auction party with adults, but it just shows that just like the rest of California, they don't care about the children, but simply about the money. The covid testing being done every week should be voluntary not a requirement, but again, it's all about earning money off our children. Parents should really open their eyes. Many parents have expressed concerns and she sent an email that is filled with anger and frustration toward the parents that don't agree with her. This is sad because we chose St Gregory the Great for its spiritual, loving, fun, educational environment and the principal just brought it all together. How sad that she is more concerned about receiving funds than about the health and well being of our children. I guess money can do that to people. In the email sent by the principal on 2/8/22, she says she sees the kids happy; how can she see that if they are wearing a mask. Of course kids will act happy around her, otherwise she'll yell at them, this has become her new norm. Kids can't even drink water anymore because they can't pull down their mask. Only when on breaks kids can drink water. She also guilts children by telling them if they don't wear their mask they don't care about others around them. And she wants parents to be mindful about what they say in front of our children. She wants our children to be little puppets and not speak up or understand that what is going on in California and the masking of children is not right. The principal claims she is not acting in fear, she is either acting in fear or wants to continue to collect the covid money. Either one is wrong and inmoral.
Submitted by parent on January 31, 2022

We have always loved St. Gregory the Great. The teachers have been great through all these years. There have been very few times when we didn't agree but it was resolved. It has been our experience that the principal has been fair and has always been involved with the students. We have enjoyed all the events and extracurricular activities. As I read the review before my review, it is disappointing that covid has changed the principal. I wanted nothing but to add a positive review for St. Gregory the Great, but the principal has changed and makes these times more difficult for students. St. Gregory the Great makes fifth thru eight grade wear shields plus a mask. They never asked me or any other parents if our kids should wear one. They just told the kids to put this shield on without asking the parents. St. Gregory the Great continues to add more measures than are necessary. The principal also makes a very big deal about wearing sweaters with hoods. Not sure how important that is compared to the times we are in. Bottomline is the principal adds more rules than needed and never tells you why. I have realized that she responds to most issues raised with never really giving you a reason but more of because that is the way it is. If you are looking for a new school, especially during Covid time, this is not the school for you if you would like to be involved with decisions for your kids and would like for your kids to be appreciated, have an education with some healthy fun, and not told your kid does not deserve certain things. To end on a positive note, the families and kids at St. Gregory the Great are wonderful and I am thankful we have been there together.
Submitted by parent on January 26, 2022

First year parent. Bullying issues are not addressed and ignored by both teacher and principal. Principal is not friendly and stands outside like a security guard, she does not say hello. We went to this school because we had heard great things about the teachers and the principal. As of now the principal is not friendly, especially with parents. Also, we are aware that covid can spread, but this school has added more measures than needed making the children very unhappy and feel fearful. The mandatory testing has to stop as it is causing distress among children. Kids are forced to wear shields in the upper grades, it is truly overboard. They don't have a PTO and have never asked parents for any input. During zoom parent meetings, the principal rushed through the meeting and never asked parents if there were any questions. So far our children are learning from the teachers and homework is fair. But there is a teacher that does not address the bullying issues and makes excuses for the bully. Perhaps without covid this school would have a better environment, although the principal's approach can be different and needs to lighten up. We don't want to move and really wanted St. Gregory the Great to work for us but too much pressure is added to children's daily life rather than focusing on faith. We thought about talking to the principal but she is not approachable. In talking to other parents, once you raise a concern with the principal, she treats you differently and excludes those parents from volunteering or other activities when they do have them.
Submitted by parent on October 12, 2021

My son is now in the 7th grade at St. Gregory the Great and has been there since Kindergarten. We have had a wonderful experience at this school with an incredibly engaged principal and caring staff and teachers. The school brings parents and families together for mass, volunteer service and other events that create a sense of family and support. Teachers at this school truly bring to mind for the that their role is a vocation. They work tirelessly and are present for events and other school activities. The curriculum is good. While not highly competitive there are other programs and activities for kids interested in extra-curriculars to support their growth and learning development. Pre-pandemic there was an academic decathlon and even a robotics club. There are few sports but there is a great parent serving as cross country coach and getting our kids out in the open for runs and exercises a few days a week. The school seems to mostly attract/hire new teachers working on credentials. Many of them are fresh and energized and make up for lack of experience with a lot of enthusiasm. They did recently lose quite a few talented teachers who sometimes opt for teaching at public schools. We are sorely missing a fantastic math/science teacher who was very engaged and had a lot of passion for the kids and teaching. Mr. B. - wherever you landed, those kids are lucky to have you! We have new teachers in place and expect good things from them as well. We will support them, as the SGTG family that we are, and will continue to do well together. I chose this school because my priority was a nurturing, caring environment for my son that combines Catholic studies, character and values and gives him room to grow and develop. It has been a good experience for us.
Submitted by parent on March 21, 2021

The school had potential to be as great as it's name implies. However, weak leadership, lack of teacher accountability, and cliques/in-groups sabotage this school. I'm going to give an honest review of my experience and it won't be all good but I do want to say that I do believe the administration and most of the teachers want to do right by the students. Would I recommend this school? No, I wouldn't but I also wouldn't encourage people to pull their kids as the stability of being in the same school usually outweighs these issues. Pros-The school has a good variety of extra curricular activies.-There are several teachers at the school who are worth their weight in gold.-They provide plenty of opportunities to meet your volunteer commitments. -The auction dinner is usually a fun parent event.- The have started a program to provide counseling for students. This is by far the biggest development in their favor. Cons-Lack of teacher accountability and open hostility/disrespect from teachers. There are a few teacher's who are known to create problems with parents, sometimes for decades. They are still employed and continue to create the same problems.-Lack of diversity is teaching staff. Yes, the principle is black but all of the teachers are white or Hispanic and the principle refuses to get involved in issues of discrimination. -Lack of consequences for bullying type behavior. The principle's method of dealing with "unpleasantness" is to rug sweep and when that doesn't work she will try the "no one could possible be mean on purpose so it's a misunderstanding" method. None of it address the actual problem. If the problem child is from a legacy family it's even worse.-Lack of effective teaching philosophy. This is more an issue of not keeping up with current studies but there is also a desire to seem more effective than they actually are. They have a lot of outdated practices that cover up the fact that they're teaching to testing. -Lack of meaningful accommodations for students with mild learning differences.
Submitted by teacher on November 19, 2018

Beyond my expectations and to see these students with amount of love and excitement they have for their peers is immeasuraable.
Submitted by parent on November 17, 2018

I don't usually go on these sites but I heard about a bad review and when I read it-I knew I needed to be proactive. The administration, the students and the families are all committed to education and building faith and community. My family is blessed that we are part of this community.
Submitted by parent on November 08, 2018

We came to this school in the hopes that we would find a good school. Instead, we found a school with mediocre academics and programs. The school we left had much higher standards. It's too bad that this school is more concerned with what they are putting out in social media and not with improving the school. This school was a mistake and a regret.
Submitted by parent on June 30, 2018

Thank you for 2017/2018 school year. Every year has been even better at St Gregory the Great School. The love of teaching that you have given to our children shows us how much our child loves being at school and learning. I wished I had this experience when I was younger. This brings us joy to hear when she says she might want to become a teacher. Only shows us what kind of role models the teachers are and have inspired her. St Gregory the Great School is definitely family to us. We are truly grateful for all the dedication in all your work. Keep up your compassion. We are truly blessed.
Submitted by parent on June 06, 2018

Love this school my daughters did wonderful at this school, the staff is wonderful they really make you feel like family. I will miss this school and the staff, thank you for making us feel like family.
Submitted by parent on June 05, 2018

There are a few thing I would change but overall it is a great school and challenges the students. It is absolutely the best option for a Catholic elementary education in the surrounding cities.
Submitted by parent on January 25, 2017

Overall I am happy enough that I continue to enroll my students here. However, in the interest of giving an honest and fair review I will discuss the positive and negative aspects.Pro:- They have an enormous amount of extra-curricular activities. Normally these can be hard to come by in k-5 and they have then here.- They also push academic achievement independent of religion. There is no obscuring of science and history to benefit the ideas they want kids to have. Big plus for a religious school-Like most private schools they require volunteer time. I've always believe that this is an important thing to teach kids.-They spend a lot of time talking about having good values and being charitable. I wish this was taught more to people so this is a big pro to me.Cons: -In The lower grades they have aides who I question their suitability. They don't seem to receive adequate training. -The principle's main goal is to increase enrollment and this is leading to larger and larger class sizes. In this I feel that one of the main reasons to pat for private school is so you don't have 40 kids to a room. I would expect class sizes to stay under 25 and it doesn't seem like that is the plan. -Because it's a private school it's cliquey. There is obvious favoritism at play and certain kids are given more leeway then others because their parents are friends with those in charge. I believe for a school that's suppose to be teaching kids to be Christ-like this is counterproductive.There are good parents and bad parents like at any school but overall there is nothing negative to say about interactions between them. Everyone tends to be at least civil and stay out of each others way which can be a relief to those transferring from more competitive school environments.
Submitted by other on December 31, 2016

St. Gregory the Great has high academic standards,a nurturing, caring school environment, and an outstanding principal who strives to constantlyimprove the school. We are so happy that thechildren attend St. Gregory the Great.