4481 W Castlebury Ln
Fayetteville, AR 72704

The second of my two girls is currently in the 3rd grade...both started in K (oldest went K-4th). Both girls love the school, as do my wife and I. Teachers are phenomenal and caring about the students and their progress. Children are safe and in a great environment to learn. I'm sure someone could find some things to pick on if they wanted to, but overall we've been very pleased with our experiences with Holcomb and would certainly recommend!

The AP program is great. Very good teachers on the whole, both in AP and outside, but especially in AP. Very good votech with Mr. Laney and others. He actually puts his own cash in the program and has gotten many kids jobs. Other parts of the school are more mixed. It is very big and bureaucratic, so some kids get lost in the shuffle. Kids are now taking 8 courses, which is just too many, I think to get them through the building fast so it won't be too crowded. The leadership has not handled covid well, starting with the fake temperature checks to start the day as kids enter. It doesn't work and is all for show. Again too many kids are just getting lost and not showing up to anything since covid; many classes have 25% attendance combining online and in person. All that said, the school's teachers are generally solid, a few losers but not many. The kids are nice. Good facility. It is a school where if you want to get a good education, stick mainly with AP classes and you will learn a lot, as least when covid is not happening. Some of the activities are also very good, including drama, litmag, quiz bowl, music, and there is a college level athletic program. Oh, and just having filled things out, there is a very laid back attitude toward cheating, too much so. Some teachers and assistant principals would like to change that, but they get no support. There was a lot of disruption when they went from a school discipline scheme that mostly worked to one where they took away most any punishment. Kids are not stupid and could immediately tell. I think they are rethinking that, and luckily, since the kids are mostly nice, things never went too out of control. Kids feel safe at the school.

My son was sexually assaulted and did not feel safe. I was constantly getting messages about vandalism and threats to the school. They have a cop at the school always which makes it seem more like a prison than a school. Seems like the cops presence is more of a challenge to the students in terms are trying to get away things. After my son was physically and sexually assaulted they wanted me to send him back to school saying it would be safe. This is way kids don’t feel heard when they feel unsafe but school say your fine come back and they are sent back to an unsafe environment. The principal said they were going to help but instead I never heard back she never told his teachers and he failed a few classes because of it. The cop at the school also told me it’s normal for boys to touch each other, I told her that is not our normal but she said it was there. She told me I could file a report, this would do nothing to help my son and I felt like they thought I was over reacting and like it was a waste of their time. Also this wasn’t the first time it happened to which I called the school tried to get in touch with someone to help and no one called back. Needless to say my son will not go back to this school. I also have an autistic daughter who would have attended next year, who now will also not go to this school. I think the kids hear need help and the staff don’t know how to handle them. My son told me a few kids would cuss the teachers out and so many fights would happen. Maybe it is normal here but like I said it’s not normal for us and I feel horrible putting my kids at risk because I was naive in schools didn’t really have these problems anymore. I guess we were luck in our prior schools. Some teachers did reach out with concern on why he hadn’t been to school in weeks but out of 5 teachers only 2 reached out. The only good thing my son would say is that he liked how little homework he received compared to his other school.

one of the best schools I've ever been to! this one stands out as one of the best. After moving from Owl Creek, I have truly come to appreciate the kindness and welcoming of this new community. I am grateful to be here!