Independence Elementary

My daughter first year at Cranium Academy and she is loving it and the teachers and the staff is so kind and does a wonderful job.

The gifted program is a joke as is the new principal. The "gifted" classes contain averge (& sometimes below average) students. These classes should be fast paced, but have to be slowed down for the non-gifted kids (who then feel bad because they can't keep up with their gifted peers). There is no difference in the curriculim between gifted and non-gifted classes. The principal only cares about the special education students (& the money the school receives for them). She does not care about the rest of the students. If you are zoned for this school, use other options - home school, virtual school, charter school, private school, school choice - anything but this school. Stay away.

My children had great teachers in 2st and 5th grade—Mrs. Gash and Mrs. Strobel were both excellent educators. The school itself is new and has good facilities.However, the administrative side is very disappointing. The staff member responsible for handling student information is extremely unhelpful. She does not give parents the attention they deserve and has very poor communication. On multiple occasions, when email exchanges were necessary, she would only respond at the end of the day, leaving no time to follow up or address important requests. She showed no willingness to engage with parents and took an excessive amount of time to reply to any inquiries.Additionally, when I requested my children’s documents to transfer them to a new school, I had made this request in advance, four days prior. However, when I went to pick them up on Friday as scheduled, she informed me that they would not be available and that I had to return on Monday instead. This caused unnecessary disruption, as my children were supposed to start classes at their new school on Monday, but they were unable to attend due to this delay.I do not recommend this school at all. I strongly suggest that the administration evaluates why there is such a lack of effort from this staff member, as well as the other professional who assists parents at the front desk. A school’s administrative team should be just as committed to student success as the teachers are.