Harding Academy of Memphis - East Memphis Lower School campus

NOT CHRIST BASED My child went here for 3 yrs and on the 4th year we did not renew contract because we were possibly moving out of town but not confirmed. The principal AND front desk secretary both hounded me daily to renew my child that they said was such a joy and that they loved our family so much. I thought they were generally sincere and after 3 years these people had become trusted caring Christian friends… or so I thought. My deadline to renew him into Jr. K had expired past the deadline - they still hounded me to sign after the deadline since my move was not 100% confirmed but my husband would not let me. They manipulated me daily by saying things like “they would hate to have to turn us away if in fact we didn’t make the move” and to “hurry up and at least enroll him to be safe just in case”. Finally after all this pressure from women I trusted, I then pressured my husband to allow for us to sign our child up “just in case” against his better judgment. We moved to another city that summer and our child did not attend Harding Academy… not even one day. They asked us to keep our child physically in the Harding Academy Jr. K class at White Station for the first 30 days of school so they could then tell the insurance company that our child had attended and collect from them half the tuition balance of the full year and collect the other half from us. I thought this was a dirty scandalous idea to even entertain. I was in utter disbelief and shock! To ask us to put our child’s education and stability at his new school on hold to temporarily attend Harding Academy for 30 days and miss the first 30 days of his new “real” school in another city just for their own personal greed for a full years tuition on a child they never even had to teach one day? We did not agree and started to see a very greedy, money hungry business enemy immediately and it was a very telling ugly side. They demanded we pay the whole year tuition since we did not commit to lying to the insurance companies. We hired an attorney after they forwarded our file to theirs just 3 months into it. Basically we were bound by our signatures to pay a full year whether we moved or were coerced. Our attorneys worked out a payment plan for the entire year of tuition (that they never taught my child not one day) and they STILL filed a judgment against us even through an agreed upon payment plan amongst our attorneys within 3 months. A judgment stays on your credit for 10-20 years and cannot be removed even when paid in full. It is as bad as a bankruptcy or a lien. I cannot tell you the depth of unfortunate disappointment I have in my heart. Disappointment in myself - for signing the contract over better judgment and hurt by people I thought loved and cared for our family. This judgment on my credit report is far beyond being able to even explain how damaging it has and will be to my family. My lesson is that Harding Academy is a business and I should have listened to my husband and not let the school leaders prey on my vulnerability as a loving mother. These people who you think love your children are really run by money – not love and NOT CHRIST!

I have found the teachers at Harding Academy to be dedicated to the success of my children. I am thrilled with the challenging curriculum and the high expectations of the faculty and staff. My sons have shown incredible growth in the six years they have attended Harding. I would recommend this school to anyone.