Original Research by School Decision on Grove District
Grove District is a single-school district serving grades seven through twelve in the form of The Grove School, a Montessori-based charter located in Redlands and authorized by Redlands Unified. The enrollment is small, distributed evenly across the middle and high school grades with a slightly larger cohort in the lower grades. The student body is racially mixed, with white and Hispanic students each making up a substantial plurality, and meaningful representation from Asian students and students of two or more races. The district's free-and-reduced-price-lunch rate and counts of students with IEPs or in English learner programs were not available in the data.
The school operates on a Montessori pedagogical model and admits students through a public lottery during an annual open enrollment window. This structure means families interested in the school enter a competitive admissions process rather than attending by residence; it also means the student population reflects who applies and wins the draw rather than neighborhood geography alone.
State assessment data were not available for the district, so no picture of proficiency or learning gains by subject could be drawn. The graduation rate likewise was not reported, which reflects the charter context and potential data reporting variations; a parent should ask the school directly about completion rates. These gaps mean the academic pathway and attainment picture cannot be measured against county benchmarks from the source data.
The chronic absenteeism rate places Grove in the top quartile among San Bernardino County's districts, a clear strength suggesting strong engagement and attendance culture. Per-pupil current spending falls in the lower range compared to county peers, a common profile for charter schools that typically operate with leaner resource allocations.
The district and school are currently navigating a substantive change. The Grove School has won approval from its authorizer to expand its campus, with updated admissions policy language aligned with state facility grant funding requirements finalized in August of 2025. A facilities expansion is a concrete shift for families considering enrollment: it will affect school capacity, the number of available lottery seats, and the physical learning environment for all students in grades seven through twelve. Parents should view this as an active transition period and may find it useful to ask the school about the expansion timeline, what programs or facilities will be added, and how the lottery process might be affected during construction or growth phases.
For a family drawn to Montessori education at the secondary level and comfortable with lottery-based admission, Grove offers a small, intentional community with low absenteeism. The lack of state testing and graduation data is a genuine information gap, and visiting the school and speaking with current families and staff about outcomes, course offerings, and post-secondary pathways would be a necessary step before deciding. The school's location in Redlands and its single-entity structure mean there are no other public secondary options within the Grove District itself.
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