Sandpiper Shores Elementary School

I am HIGHLY disappointed. My children went to Verde before and we relocated to this school district and changed them, oh how I regret it. The staff are rude, I've never met the principal or vice principal despite being there 3 times a week for PTA. It is ran like a prison, I couldn't even bring my 1st grader her lunch box! Those are my children in there, I want to be able to see what's going on behind these closed, locked doors. I am so sad I changed them from such a great school that Verde was. I think they're barely learning anything either, besides the horrible x rated songs they hear played over the speakers on the bus. So sad.

The ESE/special needs program is absolutely awful here. Renee is the ESE coordinator and she's too soft for the job. She has no handle on the department at all and it's obvious, though she's a nice woman. When the teachers are out of line she doesn't do anything about it, nor does the principal. None of them are adequately trained. There are events put on by the school district and none of the teachers attend, even if the trainings are on the weekends. The principal and the teachers do NOT embrace inclusion...which is federally mandated. One of the ESE pre-k teachers has had numerous parent complaints because she's downright mean to the special needs kids and no one in the district or at the school cares. She has the "high functioning" kids so she switched my son out of her class because she couldn't handle him. Her patience is non-existent and every parent can't stand her. It's well known among the Sandpiper community to avoid this pre-k teacher and yet they keep her there with 3-5 year old kids. The office staff is absolutely awful. The receptionist is rude and doesn't even look at you to greet you. The nurse swore in her office with kids sitting 3 feet away in the lobby. The car line is such a joke it's downright sad. They've literally restructured the entire parking lot because they're not smart enough how to run a car line...and yet every other school in the area does it without a problem. It is absolutely the worst elementary school in Boca - no organization, no leadership, and some of the teachers are really not in the right line of work.

Administration has lost sight of the big picture and what really matters...our children

Sadly, this school has gone down after the past 2 years with the new principal. There seems to be a closed door policy by her. When I ask my 2 children (1st and 4th grade) about their principal, they say they never even see her. (The old principal had many interactions with my older student, even having lunch with her class on occasion). The school activities (carnival and dances) have drastically changed for the worse over the last 2 years and were MUCH better the 3 previous years. The teachers are wonderful however, and both my children come home saying how much they love to learn from them. The moral of the school has gone down (with the letter grade as well) and you can actually feel it from the office staff to the teachers and parents. I know of many Sandpiper veteran families who unenrolled their children last year or have talked about doing so this year due to the poor leadership of the new principal. I give this school one more year in hopes to change leadership before I enroll my youngest in a different school as well. Sad that one manager can change the wonderful experience from top to bottom so drastically. I hope the school board does something about this before the new school year starts!