Ash Aly, Tucson, AZ 85701

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 three boys here. Two for 6th and one for kindergarten. I had heard that the school welcome children who are autistic. All three or mine are. They definitely did not. The only two that actually helped my boys was ms Alexis and ms Simpson whom my oldest loved. One of my 6th graders got into trouble for doodling in class weapons from fallout. He was suspended for it. Depicting violence I guess. No matter how much they explained it and justify it to make sense; neither my husband or I understand. We just agreed and moved on. My oldest got bulled a lot. Shoved into lockers (both older boys did really). Once both my boys defended themselves after telling teachers they got into trouble. I once witnessed my 5 year old get yelled at by the teacher as soon as I dropped him off. I was shocked at the way she yelled from across the room to ask him to put something down. The principal called this “strict”. Once my son had an incident where I had become upset and I had to calm him. I finally got him to calm down then the principal “dr” Kuhn came in and she upset him again, triggered him, and she then walked away. I had to then restrain him because he began to get violent. My sister and my mom were there to witness he do this. They do not know how to help children on the spectrum and I don’t think they should be yelling at kids.

This school is adequate representation of why the public school system is so low in Arizona. Some teachers and faculty have been there so long they are no longer effective. Scores have plummeted and it seems like no one cares. A principal that seemed like she could make a difference in this was chased out by a subset of parents that in no way represent how most of us think. My nephew who is in kindergarten at a charter school is able to read and write already while my child is barely at preschool standard. It is quite sad to see parents and teachers more focused on social aspects of the school rather than the academics of the children. We are moving my child in hopes that we can rectify how far behind they are after being here for kindergarten. I would think twice before placing my child here. Some parents and staff preach kindness as well as community but their actions are the opposite. School safety is also a concern especially in the after care program. Ratios are NOT followed and there is no standard. We gave public school a chance and have been very disheartened with this school. For those that disagree just look at stats, AZ ranks at 48-50th in public school education and TUSD itself ranks 11 out of 17 in the Tucson area. There are better options out there.