St Croix Lutheran High School

If you are a devout and doctrinaire member of the WELS, you will not agree with what I have to say here. Read it anyways. Opposing views aren’t evil. Different isn’t evil.
I am a former student who was born and raised in the WELS. This school and the denomination (WELS) it is affiliated with are anti-​gay. While attending SCLHS, despite multiple attempts to speak to administration, nothing was ever done about the pervasive anti-​gay bullying here, to my knowledge. It certainly didn’t get any better for me. Teachers and coaches didn’t do much, if anything to discourage it. This was a decade ago, but based on conversations with other more recent students, I doubt much has changed in this respect.
I also, during my time there, witnessed a student with special needs see those needs ignored. Instead, the administration and many teachers did little to find out how to reach him, how to teach to him, and how to educate fellow students on his difference. This student was bullied worse than I was. To my shame, I was a part of that bullying.
I hope that they have learned since then that there are better ways to accomodate a student. I also hasten to point out that the bullying problems at this school are hardly unique to private schools or schools in general, but that does not absolve the administration and many of the teachers for their failure to provide a safe and effective learning environment free of harassment. I hope that this has changed, but if you are a parent of a child with special needs, TREAD CAREFULLY, do your homework, and don’t accept basic assurances that your child’s needs will be met. ASK FOR DETAILS AND A DETAILED PLAN BEFORE ENROLLING A SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENT HERE. DO NOT ENROLL LGBT CHILDREN HERE.
It is also the policy of the denomination/​school to teach Young Earth Creationism. This means that the school will not seriously credit any possibility that evolutionary sciences, astrophysical sciences, and geological sciences are correct about the origin of the solar system, the formation of the planet, and the course that life has taken to develop upon it are accurate. They favor instead the ancient writings of Middle Eastern nomads, treating them as divinely inspired and literal accounts of Earth’s history.
This is fine if your student want to be a pastor in the WELS or pursue a career in retail management or be an Army Officer, and the school has produced many excellent graduates who have gone on to do these things and more. Unfortunately your child (ren) will be presented with significant hurdles if they wish to have a career that requires knowledge of geology, natural history, anthropology, astrophysics, evolutionary biology (or even regular biology), advanced medical science, or any other field related to a science that this church school has deemed heretical.
I’m still a Christian, by the way. I believe that God gave me a brain and meant for me to use the rational capacity contained within it to understand the world. It makes the world no less glorious to me that it has clockwork processes and laws and order and it makes life no less miraculous to see an evolutionary process bring function and beauty to chaos. It does, however, undermine the authoritarian view that the only true and correct way to read Scripture is the one adopted by the clergy of the WELS. And that is the biggest flaw within this school: THEY WILL NOT TEACH YOUR CHILD TO THINK CREATIVELY. THEY WILL NOT TEACH YOUR CHILD RESPECT DIFFERING OPINIONS OR VIEWS. THEY WILL NOT TEACH YOUR CHILD TOLERANCE FOR DIVERSITY.
Lest you think my entire time at this school was a negative experience, I did enjoy parts of it. The music program was excellent and I had good instruction from many teachers, including in English and US History and various math classes. Much of that is tainted by the intolerance of the denomination and their generally hostile attitude towards «unrepentant sinners,» but I have hope that some day even the WELS will see their error. Until then, in every aspect in which this school excels, I am hopeful that you can find a healthier environment for your child that will not teach them intolerance and self-​righteousness, and will encourage them in Christian love. (The Catholic school De La Salle comes to mind as a better, if not perfect, alternative.)
And please do note that I graduated with good marks, but that I am also (by the standards of the denomination) an «unrepentant sinner» who grew up in the WELS. Take what I have to say with that in mind, but also remember that the denomination claims to hate the sin and love the sinner. I assure you that it has been my experience that the «love» is only extended to the «repentant» and usually that’s mixed with a high dose of shaming. (You don’t even want to get me started on how they treated teen pregnancies while I was there. Reprehensible. Sexist. Not worth discussing.)