2408 S Ponca Ave
Independence, MO 64057

For the longest time, I was made to believe it was my fault for the way the faculty handled these situations. And I somewhat believed it was my child that was to blame, as well. After the 2nd or 3rd month here, my child started hurting himself anytime he made a small mistake. However, instead of coming up with an APPROPRIATE action plan, they asked me what I thought they should do. The principal implied my child had autism and/or ADHD, his teacher began isolating him, putting him down, not addressing the bullying from other, mostly older children, etc.. I stayed up for weeks researching & changing our entire routine & lifestyle. While his behavior improved at home, it never seemed to improve at school. The school decided to then involve the school Districts Family Services. Our home life was absolutely nothing but normal. My child was not being abused - mentally or physically, he was not left alone to care for himself, starved, ignored, living in filth, etc.. The way the district & this particular officer handled this was inappropriate, as well. I took him out of Kids Safari & school started to improve for a short period of time. I started my child in therapy & they determined the issues were brought on by stress. My child was FIVE at the time. No child, especially someone who’s only been on this earth for five years, should be under this amount of stress and it should NEVER be caused by the adults at the school. Kids Safari staff were glorified babysitters, neither experienced or qualified staff. The school counselors were in no way helpful & took little to no interest in determining, or assisting, what the cause of the issue(s) were. The only Counselor that did take an interest in my child’s mental well being worked at a different school. Once he was in daycare full time over the Summer, NONE of the issues that were happening at the school occurred. In the end, we moved & my child is THRIVING at his new school. We had some repeat issues the first 2 months of school, since his experience at Blackburn gave him PTSD, but because of the absolutely wonderful staff at his new school, he’s had an amazing 1st grade year.

This is the worst school in the district. The staff is not properly trained on how to stop bullying and harassment going on daily. Please send your 6th grade child somewhere else.

Please home school your kids. Public is not worth it. Take the time to be involved with your child's learning. Do everything possible to make it a reality. Your kids will love you more for it and their are so many opportunities for socializing and learning the same things at a higher level than public school students.

Pioneer Ridge has been amazing with the transition of our daughter during the 8th grade year. Their after school programs for tutoring and school work help have made a world of difference with our daughters grades in difficult subjects. The staff has been extremely helpful and approachable. Easy access dashboards and portals to view progress in real time have aided us at home in keeping in a weekly standard as well as being able to see an overall look at the semesters. Really happy that things are working out!