2240 E 5th St, Tucson, AZ 85719

Sadly, this school put my child with special needs in danger and then completely abandoned her. This was our home district and we were happy to get my children into what we thought was a kind and inclusive school community. The problem at Miles wasn't the teachers, they are caring and creative, the problem is poor resources and ineffective and inflexible administration. The district will try to get out of paying anything they can for students with special needs. I had a letter documenting my child's need for an aide from her developmental pediatrician and they had the data from the school showing she clearly needed 1:1 support but they still would not provide it due to the cost. When my 5 year old got away from her teacher who was in charge of a whole kindergarten class and ran into a busy street they finally recognized that she needed some aide support. That was several months into the year when she had already been endangered by their reckless policies. Then when school went to online only in March 2020 and my 6 year old child with special needs could not learn that way, admin just gave up and refused to educate her. They would not bring her in for tutoring or any services, nothing, even though her special ed teacher recognized that she could not learn online and wanted to teach her in person and felt she could do it safely, admin refused and completely abandoned her. The school has remained shuttered for an entire year now, 12 months, to students who desperately needed in person education, what a travesty, I feel terribly for any students stuck in TUSD who needed in person education and have list out on so much. I am so incredibly thankful we got our kids into CFSD, they are doing an excellent job educating all children safely even during a challenging year and are a much more welcoming and inclusive community!

I had two children attend this school. The younger one attended from K-3 and had a very good experience. I liked all the teachers, especially the K teacher who is a fantastic and very caring. My younger kiddo is a very bright and outgoing kid with no academic or social/emotional issues. The school seemed fine for him. This review is based on experiences with my older child, who is super smart but has a variety of learning disabilities and ADHD/autism. Things were okay at first when they moved to school in 3rd grade. SH seemed to be willing to provide the services and support needed. My kiddo had the same teacher in 3rd and 4th grade who was strict but supportive and used accommodations. However, they started to struggle a lot more in 5th grade, as a new teacher was much more inflexible and had zero training in teaching neurodivergent kids. This teacher kicked my child out of class almost every day for refusing to do work and she seemingly never tried to understand what was behind the refusal. The principal was not helpful and honestly became downright mean, threatening to expel my kid after a behavior incident that very clearly was the result of their disability. The IEP and BIP were a farce; the school never showed me the actual data on my kiddo’s progress, which made me feel they weren't collecting any data and were just making things up for the IEP meeting. My child was labeled a problem kid by adults, and other kids delighted in trying to get them in trouble for anything, no matter how minor, or the fact that other kids were doing it too (this is what my younger kid told me he saw happening, so I believe it). My kiddo became very isolated with no friends and felt bullied by the constant criticism and punishment from the teacher/principal. It got to the point that they expressed suicidal ideation at 11 years old (and not in a general way but a very specific way that was super scary). When I told the school, all they said was that my kiddo can’t come to school until they are seen by a Dr. and they are “better”. There was no kindness or support; zero phone calls from the teacher, principal, special ed teacher, or counselor to check in or offer support. Nothing. Sam Hughes had a one-size-fits-all approach that clearly doesn’t work for neurodivergent kids. I would never recommend this school for any kid with ADHD or ASD.