Dalton Elementary School

Hey! Former student here. I recently had my FINAL day at Dartmouth. Moving on to middle school. Yayyy! Anyways, here are my thoughts on everything included on here.First, the learning. Some students are motivated and excited about whatever we're learning, some are completely disinterested in the learning. There is a bit of an in between, but it's pretty much you're interested, or you're disinterested. Teaching! The teachers are amazing. I've only flat out been barred from the education I needed once. And that teacher didn't really know what I was capable of doing. In my opinion, that's pretty good! Now, I'm sort of excluding the specialists. My honest opinion on the specialists isn't great. Three out of the four just sort of wait for a student to do something wrong and then get them in trouble when they do catch them doing something wrong. And it's only a couple of kids that get in trouble by them. Even when it is a thing that everyone can do sometimes. It's messed up.Social-emotional support is alright. Social workers are meh, the counselor is outstanding. The social workers just kinda tell your parents NEARLY everything you say and it feels icky.Special education is OUTSTANDING. They provide the needed support and accomodations for those with disabilities.The safety is a big yikes. This has happened multiple times. So, I was late by like 5, 10, or 15 minutes a lot. So, I'm ten minutes late. The doors are supposed to be closed by 9:05. So I get to the back of the school, what do I see? Two entry points wide open without supervision. It takes less than a minute to walk into the school. That's the scary part. Thank goodness nothing has happened.Lastly, the family engagement is pretty good. I have nothing more to say.

My son went to this school in 2024 he had a great 2nd grade teacher who ended up retiring after that year ended, 2025 came he's now in 3rd grade his teacher speculated, a lot that was going on as far as his learning he had an IEP which he knew, Other parents disliked this teacher and I made him aware of that and I said I would give him the benefit of the doubt (this was verbally) my son told me that he would say slick things to him while not in my presence when I asked him was this said, he told me he did not speak to my child that way I know my son would not lie to me this teacher began to be very disrespectful to me I held my ground like a lady my child then dealt with another individual in the classroom this teacher during conferences exposed some information about another child to me and then becameargumentative long story short, I had to call the Super Intendant about the matter because no one took accountability for what happened I expect my child to be in a safe environment when he is at school and if there are any issues that involve my child I would like to know but that was not the case I was disappointed with the situation involving my son if you plan to have your child go to this school and you are a person of color as well as your child I would not recommend putting my child in this school until they get rid of the principle and the dean they both seem to have an issue with people of color and this is not a school I want to have my child at 2026 horrible, after the New Year Jan 2026 I moved my son to another school and he could not be a happier 3rd grader now going to 4th again I would not recommend this school while the principal and the dean are there horrible communication.

Do not send your kid to the school if they have special needs. You will not have the help that you need. They will put you through circles and confuse you and not help. For example, my fifth grader is at a kindergarten level because they continued to push him through each grade, even though he was far behind everybody else. I would not recommend the school to anybody that wants their kid to have a one on one para if your kid elopes or has behavior problems. They do not have enough staff to take care of each student.

This school has a great potential to become a better school if the administration and the teachers will start focusing on academics. Family engagement is great, bullying and other issues are usually taken care of, but kids at school are not challenged enough to become strong scholars. Kids at this school are struggling with basis math and reading concepts. There is no help and resources. Whatever school offers as far as help is very limited and ineffective. The homework policy is strange and inconsistent. I honestly do not understand what my kiddo does there all day besides numerous parties and fun things that are not related to learning.

For the most part Summit does a good job. It's a little hit & miss with teachers from year to year, but I've one child graduate from Summit and another in 3rd grade and we've never had a bad teacher. Some teachers are just a better match for your student than others. However, I'm knocking off a star because the school's recess policies are ridiculous. Way too much supervision and way too much restriction on the activities. When I went to school we just went and played at recess with no supervision unless we did something to warrant it. Now they have teacher aides watching over the kids at recess and the children are very restricted in what they can or can't do. My kid literally cannot run around at recess? They can't play competitive games? No tag?