1500 Push Ridge Wilderness #7210
Tucson, AZ 85737

I think this school is good and competes well with other schools in the area. It seems to value the arts as well as basic instruction and supports the special education of students who have needs. The teachers could use more support systems. Overall good.

It all went down hill with the latest principal. Last school year, she attempted to enact having parents wait in a line to get their kid(s) because they wanted to deter parents from utilizing walk up pickup. Per their staff, it created issues with another after school thing. After parents became annoyed, they eventually stopped. But. Again this year, 4 days into the season, it seemed they tried again. Parents are to fill out if they don't already have one, a card with student(s) and teachers name. They go back and forth to get a bundle of cards and retrieve children, all while the kids wait unnecessarily in this AZ heat. Apparently they lost two children earlier in the week, at least that's what a school staff member said and are NOW having students beat interest in mind. Teachers will tailgate you in the parking lot, while trying to find parking during morning drop off and also nearly run you over. Staff are borderline incompetent, and are so overly sure they are gods gift to education, they fail to see their own short comings. This again didn't happen until the latest principal took over. Run, Run away.

We've had 3 kids go through Ironwood. Each child is unique. Each has taken a wide range of classes, 1 played several sports, 1 took AP classes, 1 was involved in many clubs, 2 had various special needs/accommodations. None of the 3 kids would report bad experiences. Each of proud to be a Nighthawk. Sure, lots of social and other challenges/distractions are found at Ironwood. But you find those exact or related issues at any school in Tucson. The opportunities at Ironwood are enormous. All the staff, teachers, and administrators strive for excellence. Strive for inclusion and helping each child achieve his/her best, regardless of background. We've seen this many times.The kids will largely get out of HS what they put in. Just as kids did in the 80s and 90s when I was in K-12 elsewhere in AZ. I went to at tiny AZ high school that was awful compared to Ironwood and all other area public and charter schools. Several commenters in this thread recommend other Tucson schools are just awesome, and seem to (falsely, in my view) suggest Ironwood is uniquely a mess and worse with failing teachers and administrators. This isn't the case. Each school -- whether that be BASIS, CDO, Foothills, Tucson High -- has its own issues: student related, teacher related, and administrative. Each school has many awesome teachers. Each has some that are less awesome. No school has a monopoly on talent. Nor a monopoly on caring, nurturing.Ironwood HS will continue growing and pressing forward. Newer homes and developments -- some of the last available plots in Oro Valley -- are being built now near the Ironwood campus. Other schools in the Amphi districts are much older (Amphi: 1939, CDO: 1964). Ironwood's enrollment is bigger (~1700 kids) than Amphi (~1200 kids) and CDO (~1550 kids), and with that comes a larger on average class size. That number will drop over time as more teachers are hired, and campus expands to meet the larger numbers of students.I have no doubt that the Amphi district and Ironwood administrators will guide the growth at IRHS well into the future. Other district schools will likely not experience the same growth nor face the same opportunities. In 10-20 years another new high school will likely pop up around Dove Mountain or somewhere in Marana. If parents wanna drive all over Tucson to educate their kids, they have that right. For us, an awesome school, IRHS -- though not perfect (no school is) -- is blocks away.