"It's a Great School"

"It's a great school!" What does this mean? I feel like it's such a canned response. Really, what makes it so great? I really want to know. Is it that it's close, that it's free or have you genuinely had an amazing experience with a teacher or gardening program? I've just heard that so many times and often from people without children! "All the schools are good here". How would they know? We all want to feel good about the communities we've chosen to live in and we want to know that we're giving our kids a good start but are we really? I am so lucky to live in a community that offers so many good choices and has tons of community supported arts and music but I still think it's so important to truly find the right fit for YOUR child. Of course not every kid fits the same mould! Don't pick a school because it's close or you feel like you don't have choices. What do you believe a good school should look like, feel like? If you're not getting that, then find a way to include that in your child's life. And please don't say a school is "great" until you actually know something about the school from a personal experience. It's just silly.