Secrest Elementary School

The administration has created a poisonous culture by denigrating teachers over trivial matters and minor mistakes. It is demoralizing for teachers to have the principal come into the classroom and zero in on anything she can find to criticize, no matter how small. Her belittling and badgering strips teachers of their confidence, rendering them unable to teach effectively. Students are harmed when teachers are constantly put on edge. They need to be allowed to do their jobs in a relaxed manner, or students pick up on their tension, with negative consequences for their education. No wonder Secrest’s test scores are so low.

I have two children that have attended Secrest for the last 6 years. We have been very happy with the progress over the last few years. Every teacher except one (maternity leave) will be returning next year which is a fantastic sign. I am very happy with academic and behavioral support my children receive. Grateful that Secrest is my neighborhood school.

New administration and the school has no effective behavior management system. Individual teachers are great but very high turnover of staff over the past two years. The feeling of a safe community is gone.

My husband and I have been very unhappy with the quality of education our son has gotten in the pre-school program at Secrest. We feel that he has not been academically challenged. We have tried to address this problem several times with school personnel. Unfortunately, they have not made any adjustments to classroom instruction. They also have not made any attempts to differentiate for our child. Additionally, we feel that the staff has not taken sufficient steps in dealing with inappropriate behavior by certain students. Despite the fact that this has been a problem since August, the staff does not seem to believe any action should be taken regarding the behavior. Overall, we are very unhappy with Secrest and are considering taking our child out before the school year ends. I WOULD NOT recommend this school to other parents, particularly if their children are very bright. Their children will not receive instruction at an appropriate level. The staff also seems very unwilling to differentiate instruction for advanced students.