West Coon Rapids

The admin doesn’t want any teacher input or anyone (teachers or students) thinking for themselves. They decide everything in a top-down manner while being an admin team entirely unqualified to do so. There are ZERO conversations where teacher input is valued or encouraged. If you voice an opinion you will literally not be asked back to teach there, even if you are a great teacher and they are (always) very short-staffed. (This didn’t even happen to me, but multiple co-workers.) They do many, MANY sketchy things around Special Ed, intervention and ML services. They essentially do not have intervention in a school where most students need it. They are not honest about SpEd and ML services. The admin thinks if you teach the tier 1 curriculum, most students will pick it up despite serving a population with very low proficiency. They also have awful or non-existent curriculum. The math curriculum is outdated and they absolutely do not use Science of Reading. The literacy curriculum is whatever admin came up with at some point. I truly felt guilty working there because of how poorly the students were being served. Also, parents are not allowed in the school. They do not let parents volunteer, or invite them in for any events throughout the year. There is no community aspect to this school. There is no helping your neighbors. There is no support - because admin does not value it or want it. They seem genuinely scared to allow parents to see what the school is really like. Also, the food is awful - barely edible in a way that is offensive to the students attending. They are people, they need real food.

I went to this school from 3rd-8th grade and the experience was absolutely awful. Do not go here.