High Hills Elementary

We just PCS'd here a few months ago and due to lack of options put our daughter at High Hills. There are good and bad things about this school. The curriculum is adequate for the grade level. However , you have to be very involved in your child's education because the school sucks at keeping parents informed as to what is required. Your child's grades can be viewed on-line but no graded work is ever sent home. If you have a question, you have to go ask the teacher to see the work. If your child has missing work you will never know until it is time for parent teacher conferences and those are a joke. No time is scheduled, you just show up and hope to talk with the teacher. There is also a big problem with bullying at this school and nothing seems to get done unless you get the principle involved. Most of the staff honestly care about the kids, but it seems like they are burned out over lack of parent involvement so they don't try to communicate with parents unless you initiate the contact. I gave the school a 3 star rating, not because of the curriculum, but because of the lack of communication and bullying problem. The education is there, you just have to stay involved.

My child is a fifth grader at High Hills. She has a fantastic group of teachers this, especially her ELA and Science teachers. The teachers team teach in groups of three (ELA/Reading, Science/Social Studies, and Math) and the students see every teacher each day. Students also get computer lab plus one "special" each day (library, music, art, or P.E.). T.A.G. students receive about 45 minutes of extra instruction in the morning, rotating between ELA and Math each week. While there is parent involvement, it tends to be the same small group of parents that volunteer when needed. This is the principle's second year. She seems serious most of the time but I have seen her walking around and interacting with students on many occasions. She likes to keep the award ceremonies short and quick; Students are asked to stand in their place until all names are called and then the parents are allowed to clap. While I understand her desire not to interfere with instructional time (it's all about those test scores after all!) it comes across as impersonal and rushed. She seems willing to talk to parents but doesn't necessarily resolve issues successfully.

This is my son's first year at High Hills. We recently had our first PTA meeting and it was very organized and put together well. There was a lot of information given out and many people to answer all questions with smiles on their faces. The President was very informative and stressed the importance of being heard as a parent being a mother of twins herself. The school is very clean and feels welcoming....The carpool line is always flowing a the lady that greets the children every day always has a smile on her face. I have seen her hug many children and even more when they are sad to leave their parents on occasion. Being a child of a school teacher I appreciate these little things already this year! High Hills Rocks!!!

Wow, I have read some of the other reviews and am shocked that parents actually think their children are receiving a quality education. My child has attended 4 schools due to my husbands job and this school takes the cake on poor performance. The teachers in general are difficult to keep in contact with, if your child does have a problem do not expect to here about it until grade reports come out. Due to the large volume of students in each class the teachers all seem to have difficulty keeping even the good students on task. I have no issues with my childs teacher now, but as a whole Sumter schools seem to be more worried about funding, pta events, and test scores then their true job educating students.