Cheremoya Avenue Elementary School

My son attended Cheremoya from k-5th and I could not be happier with our decision to send him to this wonderful, diverse community school. Sure it has it's issues as every school does, primarily being that because it is diverse it is hard to rally all the parents behind certain causes because culturally there are different expectations of involvement. And yes there is a smaller group of parents in the foundation doing the lion's share of working to bring in awesome programs like coding and art and PE and gardening and after school programs and additional support and technology... however I can only imagine how amazing this (already great) little school would be if the parents in Beachwood Canyon had the courage and conviction to get behind the school. The actual structure is great with high ceilings and huge windows and space! Originally I had our son enrolled in charter school having heard or thought this school wasn't great, and at the last minute I decided to check it out. I cannot imagine how much more stressful my life would have been had I not made the leap. As it is we had a 2 minute commute so we got more time together, I had at least 5 parents I could call to pick up my child if I was running late from a work meeting, we have friends/play dates in the neighborhood, he wasn’t going to school in a glorified shipping container on a black top and we really felt like we were part of a community. My son scored high on all of the standardized tests and was accepted to all of the GAT / Magnet middle schools as well as the private middle schools so all of my fears about falling behind or having limited options for middle school were completely unfounded. Instead, I got to spend more time with him, we built community (sure it could be bigger if more BEACHWOOD PARENTS JUST SENT THEIR KIDS HERE ALREADY!!), experienced true diversity, and I have a son who absolutely loves learning, is a great communicator and is heading into an awesome middle school. Thank you Cheremoya and all the parents who made our time here so special. I really hope more community members have the courage to make the leap as well and bring it up to the “WONDERLAND” or “IVANHOE” status. The power is yours. It’s a great neighborhood elementary school. Don’t be afraid of the ratings, just go check it out.

I noticed a couple of negative reviews here and feel compelled to weigh in. Not every school is a perfect fit for every student and family, there's no doubt about that. We can only each speak to our own experiences, and for our family our children's time at Cheremoya has been great. As students they are happy to go to school everyday, they are challenged and have opportunities to participate in after school enrichments. As parents we have great relationships with their teachers and the school staff and love the neighborhood feel and diversity. Each to their own I guess.

This school needs improvement in a lot of areas. The administration talks about building community but it is all lip service. They don't take steps to bring anyone together. There is also a large turn-over of families who leave the school. The parent-led group, The Cheremoya Foundation, works hard to get programs and extras in the school but they are a small group that has little support from the majority of the families at the school.

Run don't walk away from this school. Community is a word they like to use but there is none. Most of the families just drop their kids off and don't donate money, don't volunteer time so it's the same families doing everything and most of those families left.