St Frances of Rome

Every teacher I have come in contact with at WP has made me feel that they care for the children. However, when I come in contact with the assistant principal or people in the office, they assume you’re uneducated and aren’t willing to do what is necessary for your children. When my daughter was in 1st grade, the teacher decided not to return to the class and was gone for the rest of the year. Leaving the class with sub’s for the entire year. I along with other parents volunteered to help in the class and were told we had to leave, even though it was obvious the sub’s needed assistance. If I had known how easy it was to home school my child I would have pulled her out so fast, their heads would spin.

Our family has had a great experience with Longfellow. It's not problem free, but I feel the administration has dealt with anything that comes up effectively. The teachers are by far the stars of the show here. My kids have loved them all. They work so hard and make the kids feel special. The music and art teachers are beyond wonderful and we love the annual music shows and the artwork that comes home. The school offers access to algebra to give 5th graders a jump start on middle school math. They also offer fun summer programming to all students for math - students show up to the library once a week and earn prizes for doing summer math (both regular and advanced/challenge) - kudos to Mr Winchell for running this amazing program. You make summer math fun for the kids. There are plenty of field trips for each grade. The after school offerings are amazing. My kids don't think of it as "childcare", they beg to do the fun classes offered to students 4 days a week after school (ALL - Always Learning at Longfellow). They can do different things each day like cooking, art, acting, basketball, running, yoga, sewing, crochet, improv, gardening...and there are many more to choose from. There are also monthly "coffee with the principal" meetings where parents can get easy access to administration and the PTO does a great job with things like the Back to School Picnic, Winter Carnival, and Field Day. The one big area for improvement would be the hot lunch offerings. The menu has been on repeat every three weeks for years and it desperately needs a revamp, but that is more of a district issue than a school issue, as the menus are the same throughout the entire district.

I have to think sometimes about my kids transitioning out of Prairie Oak as they get older and part of me wishes they didn’t have to. From the administration higher up to the social workers to the teachers to parent-support, I could not have for better. The social-emotional teaching is just beautiful. Prairie Oak has teachers my kids will never forget. I won’t either. I wish it was a middle school too, I really do! Mrs. Abrantes and Mrs. Vicars go above and beyond for the instruction, safety and well-being of the kids. I wish we could just manufacture more of these women so everyone could know how amazing they are.

This school does not care about the students and staff only the scores even if students are coming from a broken background or having difficulty they do not care. The students can barely read and they give curriculum that the students cant follow.