Valley Oak Elementary School

Loved having my kids at this school, amazing teachers

Lincoln is an amazing elementary school with knowledgeable and compassionate staff. Under Mr. Verhalen's leadership, the school provides phenomenal support for the students and their families. The school is diverse in all categories from cultures, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. I have found my kiddos' experience at Lincoln to be enriched so they can strive for excellence in character, academics, sports, and extracurricular activities. We have been a Lincoln family for over 10 years and are back with a younger crew. We have found that the quality of teaching at the school has remained at the same caliber of excellence. From administration and teaching to maintenance and supportive programs, Lincoln stands above the rest! Go Lions!

We love this school! The teachers are kind, supportive, and really care about the students. The staff is always helpful, and the school provides a safe and welcoming environment. My kids are learning and growing so much here. Highly recommend to any parent looking for a great school!

Wonderful school ! This school should be on the top list in Clovis/fresno . The environment is warm and so far I love their curriculum.

I have 3 daughters, one that is presently attending Liberty Elementary School (5th grade) and 2 that have graduated from this school (now in the 8th and 10th grade). My experience with this school was great for my first daughter - no issues and quality education. However, I have seen a significant decline in the quality of academics, teachers, and administrative staff after she graduated Liberty, and more specifically after the pandemic. A vast majority of the classwork has become robotic in nature (essentially practice assignments for State Testing) with minimal challenge. The class work in grades 4 and up is primarily computer based, with kids spending a large portion of their day on a screen completing assignments or playing computer games as a reward for finishing. There is no incentive for kids to try for academic excellence. There is no encouragement to develop fine motor skills with handwriting or complete quality work.Two of my children participated in the GATE program. It is essentially a short meeting once a week (meetings start in December) where the kids are given an optional activity they can complete at home. Liberty's GATE program does not include academic acceleration, classroom based challenge, or a sense of pride in being academically different as the GATE students are encouraged not tell anyone they are in the program. There are some genuinely amazing teachers at this school. However, there are far more mediocre ones. Many teachers seem tired, lazy (using the computers to babysit their students and "teach" them using learning games), and generally don't seem to want to be there. The teachers K-3 are the best but as you get into the upper grades it is harder to find quality teachers. Safety and bullying at this school has become a big issue. Liberty had a change in GIS several years ago, and the new GIS seems to struggle with how to appropriately handle these situations. The bullying between the girls is bad and seems to fly under the radar. The GIS seems very focused on punishing trivial infractions like switching seats in the cafeteria, running in the hallways, not picking up trash, etc. than handling the more serious issues at that school.I am writing this review because this school is changing, and not in a good way. If you have a high academic student, care about safety and bullying, want a supportive admin staff, and want teachers that provide a quality education then this school will not be a good fit for you.

See the previous reviews. Ethnicity plays a hige role as well as who puts in more money and which mom who does not work helps kore at the school and who's husband has a better job. If your child is bullied they dont do anything. They dont have or enforce the policies or the zero tolerance policies. The new principle and GIS are worse and they favor their kids more so than others. They also dont listen to the kids who express themselves as far as the kids saying hey i dont understand or i need a little more help or so and so push or is saying threatening things to me. Everything gets brushed under the rug. They judge you by the color of your skin and the way you look and treat your kid the same way. Unless your white forget it. This school shouldn't get a 10 and as they get older it gets worse 3 of my kids went here and now granite ridge and clovis north. They are nightmares all the way around. My kids dread going to school and i dont blame them. Not playing a race card here at all. Just being bluntly honest. We are not going to go out of our way to be fake to be liked. People should not be racist and treat our kids wrong because of their skin color. Oh and if your white and cry, your kid will get away with murder. This has happened to my daughter 4 times this year so far and 1 time in front of me. When i brought it up it was brushed under the rug when that kid was clearly in the wrong. Race based. Principle and GIS and lunch time parent helpers are a joke. Make my kid feel uncomfortable along with a few teachers. Entitled kids with their Entitled parents. Apple doesnt fall far from the tree here.

We came from woods where my kids were getting strait A’s and awards. They were doing so good academically. Teachers knew our kids and knew they were honest and hardworking. We transferred them toThis School after moving closer to Fugman. We have found that the two older kids are not growing academically and if anything they have fallen short of the learning experience. I have found this school is more about rules than anything. My kids always were kind and looked out for others while that was a huge thing taught starting at TK over at woods and was instilled at home but encouraged at school. Woods felt safe for my kids where bullying was not allowed. This school is over packed for sure. I have never known an elementary school to hand out CC points starting at an early age. Again our kids never were in trouble and stood up for others where we came from. But Fugman feels like there are so many rules for the kids and parents. Woods did an amazing job at making an environment feel safe and welcoming and school fun while being respectful. I’m sad to not have been able to stay. We have tried transferring back but was denied. Very disappointing when I know currently there are parents driving from madera ranchos or fashion fair mall who are currently going there without problems. Transferring to a school where you felt your kids did their best should’ve been approved. This is the first time that my kids came home with grades that are not A’s. Disappointing!!!The Only kid who is adjusting well is our 1st grader but that is mainly because the Teacher herself is probably the best educator I have ever seen.