Jackson Avenue Elementary School

The school is great with the exception of the principal. I just found out this week that every other elementary school in the district goes to science camp except Jackson. How fair is that? Apparently Mr Jones doesn’t want to deal with the hassle. Other than that, our experience has been fine. Teachers are good and engaged. School sponsored events have been fun for my kids.

Our son has been attending Jackson Ave Elementary for 3 years now and we love the school.What we love about our school:- Teachers are friendly, approachable, and accessible.- Office staff are helpful.- School fosters positive school social culture. Kindness and good behavior are rewarded.- Conferences at the beginning of the year, and throughout, to review grade level expectations vs where your student is testing. It's clear where your student is doing great and also areas needing some focus.- Received Silver for PBIS, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support. Jackson Ave encourages and provides a framework for positive school social culture.- Programs are available for students needing emotional and behavioral help.- ESS after-school care is on school grounds for the parents who work (although it's about 1-year wait). - Great PTO. They offer great fun activities for the students and provide all the teachers with some of the funds they receive through donations. - Jackson Ave. families are wonderful and supportive! It's not a huge school and it's easy to get to know other families.What we dislike about our school:- Principal doesn't engage in a friendly approachable manner. No smiles for the students, teachers, or parents visiting. It would be nice to have a principal who is comfortable having impromptu conversations with the families. It's unfortunate because he is nice and seems to care about advancing our students academically.- Parents are not allowed on campus unless invited for an event or conference, volunteering, or assembly. Parents have to wait at the gates until the office opens them. This started because of Covid and it's a bummer that they haven't reversed it. - No running at school outside. Silly rule for an elementary school. - The parking lot is a mess. The office hasn't made it clear to the parents who can't figure out which lane to use to get out of the lot.

This is our third year at Jackson and I absolutely love our community!

The teachers are absolutely amazing, we couldn't ask for better teachers for our kids. Having said that, the school has really changed since the arrival of the new principal. I'm so grateful our girls will be in middle school soon but it's sad that this is the Jackson new students are experiencing. In years past the principal was engaged with both students and families and the school had a very strong sense of community. Unfortunately this is no longer the case. The principal seems to just want to do the bare minimum to get by. I had hesitated to comment when it seemed to only be affecting the parents but I'd like to share what my 9 year old daughter told us (unprompted) this week. She told us how much she missed her old principal after seeing her at an event. "He never smiles, he always seems grumpy. I think he is good at working with grown ups but not kids. He seems mad all the time." If I had written this a couple of years ago it would have been 5 stars no question, but leadership starts at the top and Jackson is sorely lacking in that department now. I hope the district will see the changes and step in before the culture at Jackson is completely lost. It's heart breaking that our school that was once so amazing is losing it's spirit.

Teachers are fantastic at Jackson! Never had a bad teacher. New (as of 2021/2022) principal is terrible. He is not engaged with students, parents, the community, etc. makes policy changes just to make life difficult for others. Has no interest in maintaining the school community and is doing what he can do destroy the community feel of the school. Hoping he doesn’t stick around too long. Talking to him you get the impression that he’s already got one foot out the door.