3362 Apache
Piedmont, OK 73078

Great teachers and approaches to learning practices

My children have attended the Piedmont school system for the past 8 years, and ultimately, our family has made the decision to move because of our experiences there. While Piedmont is often described as a great school system with a small-town feel, the district's rapid growth has clearly outpaced it's infrastructure, staffing and resources. Along with the growth have come significant concerns related to student behavior, traffic, water reliability, internet capacity and ongoing staff shortages. One of my children had a teacher leave less than a month into the school year, and it took nearly 3 months to find a replacement. The replacement was a retired teacher who returned primarily to help support her grandson's classroom until the end of the year. While she did her very best, the classroom behavior issues were so difficult to manage and was told it was due to very little support from administration or parents to address them effectively. The ongoing disruptions created significate anxiety for my child and caused him to dread going to school due to all the conflict in the classroom. Unfortunately, behavior issues have become one of our greatest frustrations with the district. My children have frequently come home expressing their concerns for their safety and what is allowed to take place in bathrooms and classrooms. One incident in particular was especially concerning. My child came home with a busted lip, and when I asked what had happened, he casually explained that another student had kicked him in the face during gym class because he was sitting in "their spot". He also shared that this student had a known pattern of aggressive behavior towards other students. When I contacted the school, I was informed that staff had witnessed the event, but chose not to notify me because the assailant was special needs. It was deeply disappointing. My child deserves to feel safe. In addition to these concerns, the district has faced repeated infrastructure issues that directly impact students education due to water outages and internet limitations leading to students being sent home in the middle of the school day. These examples represent only a small portion of what our family has experienced. We no longer feel confident in the district's ability to provide a safe, stable and supportive educational environment for our children. We gave as much grace as we could all these years and now it's time to move from this school system.

Bullying at this school is the highest I've ever seen. The teacher leaves the room and the kids gang up on the kid the head mean girl decides to pick on and then follow through the halls harrassing the same kid. The school just tries to cover it up, doesn't report it and misinforms parents. My kid still has a stigma against her because her bully took to social media to lie about her and most everyone still believes she did it. She did not. The police department even investigated and found the truth. The schools' email didn't express the innocence of my poor kid. I would steer anyone away from MSP and PHS, unless your kid is a star in yhe sports arena... then you will be totally fine.

Some positives are that the front entrance seemed very safe and the front office staff was very friendly and helpful. However, our overall our experience at this school was not very good. My son was in advanced classes at his previous school, but this school does not offer any advanced classes so he was forced to repeat material he already learned. Communication with his assigned counselor was terrible and I had to reach out to the vice principal for assistance in enrolling him in LEAP. Communication with the other school staff was positive. Meet-the-teacher was just going to the rooms and scanning a barcode to view a pre-recorded message which was impersonal and not ideal. Very little communication from the teachers during the school year. Some bullying. School buses are so crowded that students sometimes have to sit on the floor. School is overcrowded for the capacity of tornado shelters. One of his teacher did not allow students to ask questions??? So my son struggled even though science is one of his favorite subjects. The teacher later quit, which left my son with substitutes for several months, but the teacher who eventually replaced him was good. My son felt that students at this school were excessively disruptive as compared to other schools he attended. School focus seems to be more on athletics rather than academics. My son did like the fact that he never had homework.