Helen A Hansen Elementary School

Unfortunately special education students are pushed through with very little effort to improve. They are segregated from the regular classroom much more than necessary against their IEPs, including lunch time. Parent requests and concerns are disregarded. We are extremely disappointed. I would highly recommend parents with special needs children to choose a different district.

While I find the teachers very professional and excited about their students progress I find the rest of the staff to be lacking in professionalism and unable to handle issues properly.

The brand-new light and bright school facilities really promote a wonderful learning environment. There is a great deal of cultural and economic diversity, so kids get a wide variety of real life interactions and make friends across common boundaries in the socioeconomic spectrum. There is an adjacent woodland area the school uses for outdoor and nature learning sessions which is nice to have at a public elementary school. The teachers are happy and excited to teach and class sizes are small. With all these strong benefits, this is the top elementary school in Cedar Falls in my opinion.

My son was welcomed to Southdale for 5th grade. His teacher, Ms. Sellers was above and beyond in her attention to my son. I was also welcomed warmly. All my questions and concerns were answered, no problem. E mail and texts are an extremely important add on for reminding me of all the wonderful activities, school closures, and early dismissal. I'm excited to have my son there this year for 6th grade. Thank you Mr. Strubb, school principal for a lovely experience.