Richland Elementary

The school has gone downhill in the last 5 years after the former long time principal left. There are not good boundaries for kids and there are consistent recurring issues like theft from kids backpacks that the school ignores and never addresses with the parents. A lot of the staff has turned over as they have hired Spanish teachers and the staff at the school seems inexperienced.

Both my daughters went here and my nephews!! They all love it.

Coming from years of private school, I was apprehensive about putting our daughter in public school. Well, Paloma Elementary has dispelled all my fears - what a great school! Every teacher my daughter has had from 2nd to 4th grade has been amazing - great communicators with my daughter and myself, encouraging my shy daughter to speak up, supportive of all her endeavors, and instruction seems to be top notch - my daughter learned the structure of essays, how to make a power point presentation, and do some public speaking in 2nd grade and every grade since! She gets 2 outings a year which she loves and additional ones through the GATE (gifted) program at the school. Principal Marquet does an amazing job with school spirit - staff seem happy and students are into being part of the "panther" collective. I like the monthly Flag days where students get recognized for one of 7 pillars of excellence (character traits such as kindness), which all the students work on one trait each month. Students are in general nice at this school - lots of school spirit and no complaints of bullying. Yes, some kids/friends have said unkind things on occasion as kids will do, but not on a consistent basis and my daughter has been able to work things out with them. If kids are having a hard time with anything or overwhelmed, they can go visit the school counselor who has set up such a comfy, welcoming safe place for them, that my daughter says, they love to just go hang out there. The PTO at this school is amazing - we have fun events such as a Halloween festival with bounce houses, games, a petting zoo. There is a Neon glow dance, a cultural fair, welcome gatherings. They fund a garden that kids get to visit once a month with an educational component and veggies/fruits are harvested and eaten in the cafeteria at times. The PTO also funds an art cart to make it easy for teachers to provide art lessons. There are funds to help students who can't participate in outings, book fairs etc.. The school is very safe - entry and exit is monitored closely and volunteers are vetted and given training. Only negative I would say is a comment more for traditional schools in general - my daughter can get bored sometimes even with the self paced supplemental math and ability to get more challenging books at the library but she'd rather put up with it then leave. In middle school she'll be able to take advanced math so she's willing to wait.

All staff is rude and incomptent. Every interaction I've had with the women that work here has been a negative one.

Excellent. The teachers are effective and caring and ALWAYS open to parent communication and doing all they can to assist students in the learning process. The teachers and staff are genuinely passionate about their jobs as educators.