Goodwin Elementary School

My son has only attended kindergarten at Goodwin, but we have been very pleased with the school and the staff. The majority of any child's experience is going to be directly related to the teacher they have for the year, and our teacher (Ms. KB) has done an excellent job with the kids. My son come home and I am surprised by the things he is learning and understands. She also helps the kids understand consequences - my child has brought home a ticket (for some minor misbehavior) for which we had to discuss what happened and come up with a plan to avoid that behavior in the future, we the parents and our child had to sign it and bring it to class the next day. Besides that, all the staff have been friendly and helpful. You get the sense that they genuinely care about making school fun and enriching. I also see both the principal and vice outside during school start and end of day to help with the transitions from buses and cars, and they always have a friendly hello and will chat with you if you need.

We have two kids that go to Goodwin my daughter is in 2nd grade and my son is in 5th grade. My kids are in and out of class all day because they work with Miss Wojnowska she is new this year as the Special Education Teacher. My kids love working with her. Last year they worked with Mrs. Ferrell who retired at the end of the school year. All of the teachers are wonderful at working with my kids and their special needs in class.

My child loves Goodwin. This is her 5th year here. There are many great teachers (including Ms. Groom for the 2nd grade) and staff members. My child loved the art teacher Ms. Hovden and missed her after school art club! She was sad to see Ms. Hovden leave. The great principal Dr. Detrich left after two years wtih this school. Hopefully the new principal will continue to improve the overall quality of education here. The running club (free) after school for 4th & 5th grades is very nice. Hopefully there will be more like this and the art club (for a small fee) available. The down side is that students' lunch time is too short (about 20 minutes) and the computer lab is small so students' access is limited. It seems that the school is making effort to ensure safety and avoid bullying, hopefully these will be kept as top priorities. Overall we are satisfied with Goodwin and glad to see the rating goes up from 5 to 8!

Before my child started here I was very skeptical about him getting a great education here. But since then I have been pleased. They have lots of caring teachers and staff, after school programs (free or cheap), fun events throughout the year, very active PTA, it's like a big family. Unfortunately, the wonderful art teacher Ms. Hovden is leaving and won't be back next year. Also a new principal starts in the fall, the third principal since starting here. My child has gone to this school 4 years. One way the school could improve is a stronger gifted program. Either have the gifted program start in the lower grades, before the current 4th grade start or some how challenge the kids more who do above grade level work.