St. John the Baptist Elementary School

As a former teacher I know student safety and staff safety is not a priority. In the last couple years the staff as turned over as new admin took over.

This is a good school. I believe in time with the teachers and principle that they have this school has tremendous potential to rise above. They have already shown some improvement over the past years and I believe attendance also plays a major role as well. The more days children attend school the better.

I agree with the previous poster. This school does not have a steady leadership in place. . Last school year, the year was started with one principal that was eventually replaced with a different one around the middle of the school year. There are too many changes in principals here, and maybe some teachers too. Plus, the teachers are so overwhelmed with paperwork and bad kids in the room, they have no time for personalized anything with your child. They are too busy putting out fires, and trying to calm the storm. Ive seen some very disrespectful kids, talking back to the teachers and displaying thuglike behavior and bullying other children, and there is nothing done. Kids are roaming and running the halls. My child has said that some of them slam doors, throw things, and then walk out of class. IN AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. This is a shame. The teachers hands are tied. Some bright spots however, are the preschool classes, and the kindergarden classes. If you send your child here, I probably would not send them past kindergarden ( or even preschool since it is free). If you can afford it, I would definitely move and put them in a better school after they attend free preschool and maybe the kindergarden The teachers are doing the best that they can, but they simply cannot keep up with all of the paperwork they have to do and the large numbers of bad problem kids with no hometraining that they have to deal with in their class every day. Mines will be leaving this school when I move in a couple of months, and we can't wait.

My children have totally blossomed at Betty Wheeler CJA (formerly known as Kennard CJA). We transferred from another school and have been blown away. Many teachers have been working there for more than 5-10 years. There is a dedicated staff, great PTO, and great principal. There's many related arts options (drama, Spanish, Chess, art, music, PE, library). The playground has great mature tree cover. Beautiful building in a lovely neighborhood. We love Betty Wheeler!!

If you can have your child go somewhere else. Kids get bullied and the school doesn’t do anything about it. My stepson gets bullied everyday and the school never intervenes and they don’t even try to teach the kids anything. Good luck getting a teacher that actually has a teaching certification as well.