Warner Avenue Elementary School

In sum, I expected a better school. We bought a house in the district and frankly, were overall disappointed. To be fair, there is a lot of good here. It is a nice, safe campus, mostly great teachers, and great arts, computer, and library offerings, extra teaching assistants, etc., all paid by the PTA. The after-hours program (STAR) is superior. On the other hand, the school (at least in the early grades) is very, very, very focused on drilling kids for their standardized tests. We had a good experience with Kindergarten, but things went south quickly at 1st Grade when insipid "work sheet" homework went through the roof. The 1st Grade teacher we got was NOT a good fit for our child. She relied heavily (very heavily) on drilling and worksheets that our child. Our child struggled with doing the same thing (that he already knew) over and over. Worse, the teacher tended to use humiliation in the classroom as a means of control. It was clear to us that she viewed our child as "a problem" and did not care for him much (a point she did not work too hard to hide).It was also very difficult to get any individualized time with this teacher. When we sensed a problem, we tried to meet with her in to discuss the situation--she afforded us a 10 min. conference before class, at which her tone was dismissive. In hope for a better second grade, we met with the administration to (politely) try to identify a better fit for second grade. The administration was nice, but the message clear: Parents get no input on class placement, and we should expect more of the same. As the administrator politely noted: Warner is a "traditional" school where we should expect lots of workbook-based teaching. And if we wanted something more individualized or personal, we should go to a different school. To be clear, the administration was polite about this. But I was shocked at how indifferent they were. Warner is very much a "teach to the middle" and "teach to the test" school. As they told us, if you want different, go to a different school. We did--we switched schools. And we could not be happier. Totally different experience where the teachers care about the children individually. Our new school sets out dynamic plans to try to figure out what works best with the individual student. And our child is MUCH happier. In sum, I cannot recommend Warner, unless you have an average child that you want to train to take state standardized states 3d grade tests.

Strong school with great leadership. All teachers we've encountered were good, and a few were excellent.

Great experience with my 2 kids for the past 7 years

I wished I could find Warner earlier. Although it’s a public school, the standards are like private school ( we were in private elementary school too). Even the after school enrichment programs are great. It has a lot of varieties activities, not just STEM. Unlike what rumor said that it over-emphasized academic work. It has great art/music and dancing program (both school and after school ). I highly recommend this school.