Journey School

My son went to this school for almost a whole school year and unfortunately I had to pull my special needs son out immediately.I initiated updating my sons transportation and made three points of contact, two written, to update this. They mistakenly sent my special needs son to the wrong home to which we both had severe emotional reactions to. The issue is when i asked for a meeting and an apology directly to my son by phone and in writing to ensure his safety was a priority they ignored several requests. All of this i have written proof for and I have reported the school. But the Assistant Principal and Special Needs Coordinator Kim Woods handled things incredibly unprofessionally so I removed my son.

From a parent’s perspective, I want to share our experience in a calm and balanced way. My children are very bright and have generally done well in school, so it was concerning to learn that my daughter was going through a brief period of difficulty academically and emotionally.During that time, I had expected more proactive communication from the teacher so that we could address the situation early. Instead, we did not receive timely feedback about her struggles. When my husband and I reached out to better understand what was happening and how we could support her at home, we felt that our concerns were not fully engaged with, and it was difficult to establish a collaborative dialogue.We also had a challenging experience with the IEP team. From our perspective, the process did not feel as collaborative as we had hoped. We expected a partnership approach where parents and school staff work closely together to support the child’s needs, but instead we often felt that our input was not fully incorporated into the discussion.Overall, while we recognize that many educators are doing their best and appreciate the effort that goes into supporting students, our experience left us hoping for a more open and cooperative approach between parents and the school, particularly when addressing student challenges.

My son is in 5th and my daughter is in K. We have lived in this neighborhood for 16 years. When we moved 6 years ago we deliberately looked to stay in the Stevens Forest neighborhood. This is a gem of a school. Every student, except 1 small bus load, are walkers which means every friend is walking distance away. There are only 2-3 classes of 15-22 students at each grade level so every student knows each other and every teacher knows every child. Also, teachers who come to Stevens Forest stay at Stevens Forest. Happy teachers create such a positive, happy learning environment. There are tons of resources and supports for all learners. And because of its location I never worry about sudden growth and overcrowding. This is a true community elementary school and I recommend it to everyone when they are looking to move to Columbia.

My kid got hit 23 times and that is NOT ok