Cooper Creek

As a retired teacher and librarian, it has been my privilege to volunteer at Alexander for six years. During that time, i have been continually impressed by the dedication of the exemplary staff as well as the level of parent involvement. Students at Alexander are generally happy to be at school and learning with enthusiasm and curiosity.

My son attended Wilson now Nette Shultz graduating from it the year of the name change. He had dsylexia and is slightly on the Autistic Spectrum. It was a hard slog. In general his teachers were top notch, but as is the case ...a few bad apples. He did well in kindergarten and then got into first grade where his teacher a wisened old veteran who clearly retired on the job. He learned nothing that year and grew to loathe going to school. His second grade teacher, Mrs. Smith was one of the highlights of the school. She figured out he was dyslexic --- something his first grade teacher should have suspected. I had put him in sylvan and they tested and confirmed it. Once he was taught how to handle Dyslexia he did better in school, but he was about a year behind for several years due to the lost 1st grade year. I had a private tutor (a special ed teacher from another school) tutor him for an hour a week every summer for 5 years to catch him up with his class. Most of his other teachers at the school were solid, but he did have another dud teacher before he got out who made a point about Student responsiblity --- basically her way of covering not wanting to reach the standard of the other teachers. My son went on to Strickland Middle school and is now an A&B student in high school taking an honors course in science every year. Most of his success is due to the majority of teachers at now Nette Shultz who were soild, if not strong teachers.My two cents though are if you get a line of poop about teaching your kids personal responsibility at the start of the school year, try to get your kid into one of the other classes. That is a teacher that will let your kid sink and never communicate his struggles to you.

This school has some serious issues. I worked here and witnessed some of the most unfair and outright vicious treatment toward a teacher and a substitute, and it was unacceptable. People were let go not because they failed students, but because of incompetent administration, and that is what’s truly damaging. Situations like this are exactly why people lose trust in public education and question where the funding is going. When leadership wastes time, money, and resources like this, it’s not just frustrating, it’s harmful to everyone involved. Also, how much millions is the district wasting by hiring a contractor to manage the subs?