Catalyst Public Schools

"Most of the teachers are nice but the whole fix-it ticket thing is a very weird way of punishing bad behavior. Personally I think that its a good school besides for some of the weird kids, BUT overall I really like this place it makes me feel at home."

"Love this school! Their teaching is top notch, and they believe in success for all, not just some. I'm impressed with the curriculum they use, and their focus on co-teaching so that all students get access to rigorous and relevant teaching AND get the support they need to be successful...wouldn't it be great if all schools did that for all kids? Also, the co-principals have proven track records of running successful schools, so you know you'll be in good hands. Highly recommended!"

"As an educator myself I would be excited to work or have my kids go to Catalyst if I lived in Bremerton!!! I’ve visited several times and found the staff and the culture to be positive and focused on student growth both academically and as human beings."

"HIGHLY recommend to NOT bring your kids to this school. Biggest regret of raising my child was putting her in Catalyst for Kindergarten. They all are talk and no follow through at all. They didn't offer music class, library, PE class, etc for young children. The class size was gigantic. There was chaos all the time. We pulled our kid out mid year and three other kids also were pulled out right afterwards. All from parents feeling like their kids weren't learning there. First of all, they promise smaller class sizes. She had 30 kids in one class whereas she had 15 in her new class once we pulled her mid year. They get away with it because they "have two teachers" in the class. But one teacher would lesson plan all afternoon which meant one teacher to 30 kids. If one teacher was out sick or on vacation, they didn't bring in subs. And it doesn't matter how good the teacher is, no teacher can handle that many young children in one room together. The person in charge of family relations would call my daughter a very stereotypically racist sounding name instead of her first name and no matter how many times we corrected her, she'd continue to do it over and over again. It felt extremely disrespectful and ironic that she was the person in charge of family relationships but wouldn't ever get her name right. The biggest issue was that my daughter learned ZERO for the 3 months she was at this school. They had no idea what to do with a kid who was more advanced and ahead in class. Their solution was to hand her workbooks and let her do those without ever having teacher one on one time to work on harder work. The teachers were super sweet on a personal level but with a bad school administration it is hard for even a good teacher to do their job if the school doesn't support them in the right ways. The second we moved her to another school, a public school, she learned more in a week there than she had the entire time at Catalyst. Her teacher at the new school immediately identified that my daughter was advanced and went to work on finding appropriate ways to teach her. She instantly started thriving so much better! Also I will mention that our new public school is just as inclusive, and understanding about social an emotional wellbeing. Catalyst kept saying they were the only ones that offered that but her school now has way more resources to monitor and help with that where she's at! The staff at the school was all friendly and loved my daughter, but the admin itself was flawed and disappointing. When we left the cofounder was passive aggressive, didn't seem to take any type of interest in trying to fix the issues we all had, etc. I've met several parents who all have felt this same way. And I also have met ones who like it a lot. I think it depends on what you're wanting from school for your child. We all felt it was a glorified daycare and were blown away on how great our new schools are."

"I’ve been going here for 2 years, since 7th grade and it’s an amazing school, friendly and understanding staff, yet high standards that keep students on track! I do suggest bringing your child here."