Garden Valley Elementary School

American Lakes is a school I've been attending since the fourth grade. I'd say that it's not the best school, but for the most part that's no fault of its own. The children at this school are simply uncontrollable, which takes away from the learning of others. On top of that, the children underperform, and it makes my above grade level test scores look like the work of a genius in comparison. There are some pros, though. It is a very diverse school, and despite the problematic jokes made in bad taste, I think this school has taught me to be respectful of other cultures better than anything. The teachers are great (shoutout to the middle school staff, 6th grade's Mr. Smith, and 4th grade's Mrs. Westbrook), and they have good support for mental health and emotional well-being. As an elementary school, American Lakes is great. As a middle school, however, American Lakes is intolerable. The ill-behaved students combined with the lack of classes makes the middle school experience a disaster. Not to mention the fact that the people in charge are so busy handling kids they seem to neglect the middle school all together.I think it's a decent school to send your kids to, especially if you don’t really have another option, but get them in somewhere else once they hit 7th grade.

This is the most informative school I have had the pleasure of dealing with. They take bullying and safe hands very serious which is amazing. My son loved going to school everyday. Mrs. Peri for kindergarten was amazing, understanding and compassionate. Ms. Abney for first grade was great with communication and so sweet! Happy my son got to experience this school.

As a parent I will have to say that the leadership in this school does not properly know how to deal with bullying. My energetic and social child who have never been in troubled was bullied and the principal punished my child by removing my child from the classroom. This has caused my child to question why she was removed, her grades has dropped, she was negatively affected and continued to not feel safe. My initial request was to have the bully removed from the classroom, but the principal stated that that was impossible…I removed my child from this school and the district entirely and she has been thriving since. The principal during the 17/18-18/19 school year should be removed from her position so that she could experience what my child went through.

I highly recommend parents to take their children to this school because they do help your child on their education. They also have a lot of activities, events, and culture day as well.