5191 Clark St SW #B
Clarkdale, GA 30111

I am a parent of two children that attend Hendricks Elementary School: a son, who is in kindergarten, and a daughter, who is in third grade. Our time with this school and its administrative staff when it comes to the education of my son has been problematic, though my daughter has had little to no issues. Our son is diagnosed with sensory processing disorder (SPD), which makes it hard for him to process stimuli, and even harder sometimes to communicate. When he struggles to communicate, it angers him to the point that sometimes he is inconsolable. Because of this, my wife and I decided to pursue an Individual Education Plan (IEP) to ensure my son is receiving the proper care and attention he needs to thrive in school. I open with this because it is important for parents who may be looking to move into this school district and may want to look elsewhere. I want those reading this to have an understanding that my son can have his difficult moments. He does require a bit of extra attention at times, but he has shown some improvement since the start of the year. It is important to realize we had shown his teacher an amount of grace in the beginning of the school year because we understand that he can be a challenge. The issues began to show themselves when there were inconsistencies with what we were hearing from our son and with the daily behavior report that was sent to us for the first months of school. It escalated further when we would later find out that recess was being taken away as a punishment for bad behavior, something that is illegal in the state of Georgia as of 2022: students K-5 in the state are required to have recess, a bill that was signed into law by Governor Kemp (House Bill 1283, also known as the Quality Basic Education Act). The principal of the school has been made aware of all these issues and we have had meetings and discussions about my son’s behavior on a few occasions. Following his guidance, my son’s teacher “streamlined” communication, something that has made it impossible to have any sort of dialogue with his teacher. He seems unmotivated to remedy any of this, and instead we are left to trust an individual we no longer trust, and it seems by the time we get our son evaluated for an IEP, the school year will be over, something that I am convinced is intentional since the principal admitted to me that this all has to do with a budget issue.

I did encounter some bullying, but not as much as Lindley. Most teachers there are amazing. The orchestra teacher from 2022 and the male 7th grade teacher from 2022. The lunch was way better than Lindleys current n in general I’d prefer the school. The principal was direct but a little too rude. The office lady’s were good/fair to deal with. The bus times tho are a small bit iffy. Sometimes I would get home at 5:05 n then my bus was late n I got home around 6:00

There is a reason this school has such a bad. The school is unorganized, I have seen that teachers and administrators seem to ENJOY BULLYING students, all around are disrespectful. I have NEVER seen this behavior from “professionals”. I have seen and heard guidance counselors ROLL THEIR EYES at students in distress.As well as the students, the school doesn’t seem to do a lot about bullying or the frequent drug use and gang violence happening. The school itself is in disrepair, the bathrooms are filthy and some areas lack proper air and heating. The security is garbage and any person with ill intent can come and have their way. If you’re a parent considering enrolling your kid in this school, DO NOT. My child will transferring during the next school semester because of the problems I’ve stated. I would love to see a news station come up there and see what is really happening here.