W. Douglas Hartley Elementary School

This school might have been “the place to be” 10 years ago. But now it’s nothing more than a bunch of bratty cliquish loud mouth students that day and do mean things to each other. If your child is new, and learns a little differently and is unique, don’t expect him or her to have any friends or have good encounters with the cliques that are steadfast in place. The parents are what makes a good school as well, and these parents are not very involved or friendly. I moved from out of state and am just shocked at how this high rated school is really run. The only good thing is we have an excellent teacher and the materials are challenging. But it’s hardly a good learning environment. Also, the school is not very secure and has major safety issues.

When my child attended this school, a classmate of his was found walking down US1. Somehow he walked out of his 2nd grade classroom and out of the school without being stopped. When I approached Joy Taylor about how this occurred and how it was being prevented, she was very unpleasant. A week later, my son left his computer class and wandered back to his classroom without anyone stopping him. Again, a visit with Ms. Taylor did not end well. After that point, she took her frustration with me, out on my son. She was rude, allowed my son to be bullied, and watched my son with a very very critical eye. She created such a unpleasant learning environment for us, we pulled our son out of this school. When my son found out he was not returning to Hartley, he was so happy. He told me, "they made me feel bad about myself everyday." We are so happy to be away from that horrible woman. We know many many people who have had similar issues with her. If your child is not a statue, you will eventually have an interaction with her.

If you are moving to St Augustine make sure you are zoned for Hartley. This is the BEST school in the county. I wasted a lot of $$$ in private schools for my older son who is now in college (and was not prepared at all for college). I have my 6 year old in Kindergarten and we love it! Ms Jones is great. Hartley is safe, great parent involvement, easy to communicate with teachers and principal and most of all best test scores.

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