Hickory

Amazing school with amazing teachers. Both of my kids have loved going to school at HES.

The school does not have an inclusive philosophy for children with developmental or intellectual delays. They still use self-contained classrooms as the primary placement. Southeastern happened to be our school district, but many of my daughter’s classmates were bussed in from other schools to attend the self-contained class, further separating those students from their peers by not only being in a separate class but also a different school. My daughter was not challenged in this setting, she was not exposed to the same curriculum as her Gen. Ed. peers, even after I obtained the Gen Ed materials from other parents and videoed her doing the work. We eventually pulled her and placed her in a private school where she is 100% included. While the VA DOE does have a published guidebook for inclusion, this school does not follow it. They have not implemented the practices discussed in the guide book such as a written inclusion policy, development of an inclusion advisory team, or universal design learning. I gave this school 2 stars rather than 1 because I believe the teachers did indeed care about my daughter but were not supported by the policies in place, lack of 1:1 aides, and training on inclusive practices. I blame the admin and district rather than the individual teachers.