Vassar 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.

The school does an excellent job at bringing the community together with special events such as Back to School Night, School Carnival, Trunk or Treat, Family Field Day and their Culture Night. The staff really pitches in to make the students and their familes feel welcome. My kids have always had a positive experience here. We are a multicultural family and I have seen many staff members who speak spanish helping other families who need assistance. A very caring school community.

Before my son started this school for kindergarten he very smart, at the end of the year my son didn't learn anything from what I saw. I had removed my son from public schools to re-teach him with the 1-1 that he needed that Iowa Elementary couldn't give my son. Didn't follow the plans that was required from the doctor unless I called the school and demanded them do there job that is required for my son from his doctor. I am so glad that I removed my son from the public school so he can have the education he learned at 6 months old. Rita Wellington thanks for making son effort to teach my son.

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.

i have found that this school, at least for the K-1st grade area is lacking in so many ways. the teaching staff have no idea what they are doing with early childhood development or educations, and expect 5 year olds to not have energy and to just sit down, shut up, and focus all day. as an adult i can barely sit through a meeting at work, and they expect these kids to do it all day. it has been 100% proven that sitting all day is not good for kids, and they need to be more hands on and interactive in order to learn, and the schools still seem to push the sit down and shut up or you are a bad kid who needs to be drugged narrative. My first son who went there got the same treatment, and now he is in middle school and doing fine aka he grew up. now they are saying the same exact thing about my youngest. i talked to other parents and they are getting the same emails, especially the little boys. the staff here lie constantly, and their punishments are extremely inappropriate for their age group with no thought on the child's psyche or social growth and development. i would say that their middle school is decent, but overall, the early childhood stuff is extremely terrible.