Red Oak Elementary School

We have two kids in the school and we are beyond impressed. The teachers are amazing and the principal and school district does a good job of keeping the parents in the loop.

So sad to say, but happy this is our last year. My youngest two will not attend their final years here. The counselors agenda and lack of cooperation with parents is disturbing. The test scores are high because the parents are educated and we do not have a large language or low income population. It is the families in the area and commuting in...not the school. It has sadly changed so much in four years.

My children have been so fortunate to have had an opportunity to be with the staff on campus. Each staff member truly does care and they go above and beyond to help. The school has endured many changes since my eldest first started. New curriculums, counseling, computer class, you name it! The staff has brought this community of children to a higher level of thinking. My kids are more well rounded today because they think about the earth, the school as a whole group including staff and friends, and academically, they are just smarter today then they were just a few years ago with new curriculum and less homework. It's almost too hard to explain. My kids are better people for there experience here. I can truly say this as I have older children who missed the new curriculum curves and went to another district nearby. You will be a better parent learning from your child how to treat others. It is just how they roll over here.

I have a mixed opinion of Red Oaks Elementary, so I gave it a 3-star rating. Here's why: Strengths 1. Always receives 9/10 rating from greatschools. 2. Clean, maintained campus. 3. Mostly uniform socioeconomic status of enrolled families. 4. Moderatly active parent community. Concerns 1. Despite good testscores, academics are not as strong as they should be. For instance, the school has really really big "green living/sustainable agriculture/veganism" focus, but the academic purpose behind it isn't clear. As an example, while the school designates Sustainable Gardening class as STEM education, I wasn't able to obtain a copy of class objectives or curriculum. 2. Info on student progress isn't great. Trimester progress reports are generic and fairly useless. 3. Lack of responsibility and accountability on teachers' and administration’s side. When a student fails a test not a single person at Red Oaks Elementary asks himself “What went wrong with our teaching approach ?”. Quite the opposite, teachers immediately blame the child for not trying hard enough. Some teachers go further by blaming parents for not sending children to private tutors. 4. Absence of GATE program. Even though the school does identify students as GATE by the end of the 3rd grade, there is still no advanced placement in 4th and 5th grades. The GATE identification is based ONLY on the teacher's recommendation and is an extremely biased process. That process is especially unfair to minorities, English learners, or just to any child not raised on the ideas of self-promotion. 5. Absence of meaningful consistent homework. The school has "no homework policy". 6. There is always a fundraiser or request for money and supplies. Always! I feel for the families who do not have much to give. 7. Although PTA brags about its memberships, only a handful of people ever shows up for the meetings, which to me reflects poorly on the PTA 's ability to involve its members effectively. 9. The school administration never addresses parents' concerns.

Do NOT enroll your child here if he has any issues with learning. This school will go to great lengths to avoid providing any services. We have received nothing but difficulties from the school administration. Thank goodness we got our child out of this place. Oh, and don't bother if your kid is gifted either. Apparently their GATE program doesn’t even start until the 4th grade, and all they do is provide you with a marketing brochure describing the program and email invitations to some Parenting of Gifted Students seminars @ $100/each. Your child will see no difference in classroom curriculum whatsoever.