Dundee Highlands Elementary School

My children attended this school 2012-2015. The GOOD : Principal Almodovar was new in 2014, and has some great ideas for school improvement in many areas. He is visible, communicative, accessible, and the students love him. Mrs. Mejia, the school liaison, is consistently above and beyond. I admire the amount of dedication and passion the bilingual teachers display. I have heard special education teachers are excellent. Coach B stands out as a positive, influential, strong male role model, the students love. The teachers & staff are caring & positive, overall. Parkview is working hard on increasing their standards to align with the common core, & (I believe) is doing better at it than many schools that started in the same place (several years ago, they were rated a 6). The few parents who regularly volunteer are passionate & dedicated. Children who are below or at academic standards are going to get a good education here. The BAD : Parent involvement is lacking. I strongly believe the PTC needs to pay more attention to understanding the differences in family dynamics, cultural differences & income levels; in order to help bring more parent volunteers to their meetings & the school. More parents need to step up and help the PTC, to achieve this. Although, Parkview does its best to provide enrichment events throughout the year, innovation & creativity in learning could be stepped up a notch (art, science/social projects, field trips, etc.). I feel accelerated students do not get enough attention to continue in their growth pattern. The PBIS in place is good, but not necessarily followed through (for entire year) with consistency. OVERALL : I would have rated this school as average, but when you consider that this school is a Title 1 school, that has a lot of barriers to overcome (and is doing a good job of it), I think it deserves a rating of Good. The staff works hard to increase academic performance, the 2nd steps program and PBIS target behaviors, this school is safe, and clean. Again, the only real frustration I have had, is a desire to see MORE enrichment, MORE parental involvement, and MORE for accelerated students. Obviously, my personal frustrations are not the most important. Parkview is addressing the most important issues, (as they should) and I have no doubt that in time, they will continue addressing other issues & improving.

I was nervous at first coming from another district but so far I am happy

We sent all three of our children to Immanuel from PK3 to 8th grade, and now they are all successful in High School and College. The best thing we can say is the family atmosphere.

We love St. Catherine’s! The teachers and incredible- Mary Pat Johnson has been amazing with all of my children.My son Luke had the most wonderful year with Mrs. Lipinski in second grade.We love the family centered atmosphere of the small school.We can’t wait for our 3rd and last to start in the fall and we will have all 3 Of our children attending St Catherine’s. Father John has been a wonderful leader and really lead the school in the right direction. The principle just retired so we are excited for the change!

Wonderful one on one relationships with the students, fun learning environment. Always available to answer questions.