Harlingen

This is an average elementary school. Students do well in this district because the parents are wealthy and pay for outside tutoring (see the FB group), therapy services, music lessons, etc. - even in elementary school. Students are given an evaluation at the beginning of the school year and their progresses is compared to that for the whole year (not against national standards). For example, if your student is the worst in the whole grade level at something, as long as they show continued improvement they will have a good parent/teacher conference, top marks on their report card, and no additional help or services offered from the school. There is no homework, so it is very hard to know what your child should be working on or where they might be struggling. No field trips- except to the woods behind the school. Once a month there is a day of play, where you send your child in with a non-electronic toy to play with. Teachers communicate via email, and often do not respond to them.

They hire anyone. They don’t care about the kids or their staff .