Elizabeth Smith Elementary School

We had such a good experience at this school

I would rate this school a 2 for the efforts when it comes to student activities and PTA. My first year at this school was an complete nightmare. I have two children that has never had any behavioral issue and always did extremely well in school. Unfortunately this year they had all kinds of issues of student bullying and bullying from a teacher that wasn't her teacher bullying my child and myself for two six weeks. This same teacher had bullying issues with other students as well, she would threatened the students telling them not to tell their parents or something will happen... which of course that would make any kid fearful. So many people have file an complaint on this lady and yet she still remains there untouch. What really concerns me about this school is safety. This school has a lot of young teachers and teachers blatantly there for a check so when it's time to drop off students in the morning or pickup in the afternoon, there is lots of talking amongst each other and cellphone activity not ensuring that the kids get in and out of the car safely. The teachers pretty much do what they want at this school and it's safe to say that it is very lenient. The way this school handles bullying is disturbing. If they don't see it with their on two eyes it's not considered bullying. The way they do their investigation is based on he said she said and then the leadership forms their on opinion of what they think might have happen. Its sick an pathetic on their part making the victim feel helpless, defenseless and uncomfortable for standing up and bringing to their attention. My daughter endured this for a whole year and begged me not to return to this school next year. When your child feels unsafe and feels like she can't talk to no one at this school its alarming. Despite the high rating this school is not a good school a lot of parents their agree and are scared to voice there opinion not wanting to make it hard on their kids because of retaliation. Be very cautious if you attend this school, there are more bad apples than good ones. I know because I worked in the school a lot. My advice to any parent going to this school...be a voice for your child, and be persistent.

My son is going into 2nd grade this year at ESE. I cannot emphasize strongly enough how happy I am with this school. While my child always performed great academically, even in preschool, the behavioral issues we had was of great concern to me. I approached the principal before my son started K and explained to her the sittuation and asked to consider it when assigning my son his first teacher. The match was perfect. The teacher we had for first two years was knowledgable, understanding, patient, found exactly the right approach to dealing with my son behavioural issues. She was letting me know almost on the daily basis about my son progress. I trully believe if you have communication skills to keep in touch with teacher about the issues that are concerning you your child will do great.

ESE is a wonderful school. These teachers are outstanding. Communication is excellent, curriculum is challenging, and instruction is top notch. In my family's experience, the teachers really get to know the students and go above and beyond to make sure that they understand the material being taught. The atmosphere of the school is one that acknowledges that education is a joint effort between students, teachers, AND parents. As a parent who supports this view and is willing to spend the time needed at home to be involved in my child's education, I appreciate this view. (and I work full-time outside of the home) I suspect the negative reviews are from parents who expect to send their children to school to be babysat/indulged and are not actively involved in their children's education. Parents who truly value quality education and an extremely professional staff will be very pleased with this school. I can't praise ESE enough!