Barnhart School

Barnhart is a great school with a wonderful and caring community. I love how integrated the learning is, and that critical thinking and creativity are incorporated very day. Writer's Workshop is amazing - as a first grader my son has already written and illustrated many amazing stories. Music, PE, art, and Spanish round out his education. more

We enrolled our son at Barnhart years ago as a Kindergardener, then our daughter 2 years later. We loved the school; the families, the students, the teachers and the staff. We were thrilled to be part of the community; that was until after the 2011-2012 school year. The wonderful Head of School, Joe Harper, was fired, along with many other incredible administrative staff like Carol Reiter, the librarian Mrs. Yao and many others who made Barnhart what it was. In their place, enter Ethan Williamson, a man brought in to ""transform"" the school... and ""transform"" he did... Williamson co-authored a 5-year ""strategic plan"" intended to market Barnhart and enforced a strict ""communications policy"" which prohibits virtually any speech he doesn't approve of. Violation of this carries the punishment of ""separation from the community."" I guess the Barnhart Board thinks this will help improve enrollment?! No thanks. We spoke up against Williamson's attempts to enforce a draconian policy for caring for our diabetic daughter who had been a member of the Barnhart community for years. The result? Immediate expulsion! No, I am not kidding. Williamson didn't like our ""tone, tenor or word choice"" and threw our innocent kids out of the school. Needless to say, we do not recommend Barnhart School. more

My son started at Barthart 8 years ago and we could not be happier with his experience. The reason we first came to Barnhart School was the middle school. Our child was only in preschool, but we saw the type of students that the school was turing out and we were amazed. The middle schoolers were helping the kindergartners, they came out of their way to say hi to us. One girl walked over to my soon, knealed down and started speaking with him. She told him all about the school and that she had been there for 8 years and really loved the place. My wife and I knew that if Barnhart could produce such nice kids at the 12- 14 year old age, this was the place for our son. We couldn't be happier with the choice. He has turned into one of those nice kids. We have had none of the middle school angst and frustration that we here from our friends whose children attend public school. He is also NOT EXPOSED TO DRUGS OR ANY LEUD BEHAVIOR that we see with our local arcadia public schools. He's a nice, if somewhat sheltered young man. That's what I wanted from Barnhart and that's what I got. A kid I can be proud of. The education at the school is great as well. Most of his friends who just graduated got into Poly, Prep, La Salle or another school of their choice. Best of all the school is so much more affordable than other private schools in the area it just makes sense. more

Barnhart is a wonderful school which offers great academics and a rich athletic and arts program. As a parent of 2 kids at Barnhart I have seen the changes the school has gone through over the past few years and they are mostly positive. The academics are very strong, the athletic and arts programs are wonderful and the teachers are extremely compassionate and helpful. Our older child is now attending one of the best private high schools in the area, and is the top of the class there. Previous comments in City Search talk about the AUSD being as good as private school are completely wrong. The public schools don't give the one on one attention Barnhart teachers and administration give. There are generally 20 kids or less per class which is much better than public school. Yes it costs to go to private school but a great education is one of the only things you can give to your kids that no one can take away. I am completely sold on Barnhart and what they have given my kids. more

WELL AS A PARENT I WANT MY CHILD TO HAVE A GREAT SCHOOL LIFE AND A SCHOOL THAT WILL CHALLENGE HIM, BUT AS I DID SOME RESEARCH THE PUBLIC SCHOOL WERE JUST AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER. THIS SCHOOL IS JUST PRIVATE BUT BESIDES THAT ITS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO AS GOOD AS OTHER SCHOOLS IN AUSD Pros: NICE AND PRIVATE Cons: TOO HIGH PRICE more