Daffan

This is not the same school that it was a few years ago. A new principal and administrative staff as well as an invigorated staff and active student body have all played parts in rewriting the story for Decker Elementary. As a parent, I am proud to send my children to school each day.

My children started at Overton. Pre-K teacher Mrs. Richards was awesome and so was Mrs. Clark though I'm not sure what grade she's currently teaching. However, my children experienced teachers who profiled them and me. One teacher told my child when she expressed she wants to be the president of the U.S.A that this was not possible. Also my oldest while in 3rd grade with Mrs. Peralta had continuously failing grades. I switched their schools. My youngest had all A's all year, while my oldest ended with all AB Honor Roll the entire year, she also passed her STAR test (4th grade). My experience was the teachers quit caring, and felt I was a young black mother who didn't care, which couldn't be further from the truth. My kids will go to UT and Spellman, and be very successful, I now have them at Decker where the teachers communicate with me and want and expect excellence from them just as I do. The principal I thought was a good role model but she was not as involved as she should be.

Magnolia Montessori for All Middle school is a fantastic alternative to a traditional public middle school. The 2025/2026 school year was the first year to have six and seventh grade students. My kid is a sixth grader. I have been very pleased with the administration and the teaching staff. The reason I only gave four stars on the part about students are excited to learn. Is that middle school students are a rough crowd in many respects.Magnolia does a great job to reach every kid— it’s just the age group is not always so motivated. What I like about Magnolia, is there focus community, setting all kids up to succeed, and realizing that everyone doesn’t learn the same way. They work hard to help each kid be successful. They do a good job, finding the balance between providing support and expecting accountability. I also love the social emotional aspect, the fact that direct teach is only a part of the curriculum and that there is a lot of opportunity to do personal discovery projects and group projects. Most people agree that middle school sucks. But, Magnolia believes that it doesn’t have to; they are little school with big opportunities! I recommend them enthusiastically!