S. Y. Jackson Elementary School

What a wonderful school! The assistant principal was so nice to talk to about education. The staff is friendly, knowledgeable and my kids love this school! One of the best in ABQ!

It has been an honor to work at the school under Ms. Lovato. She cares about every child in the school. She knows all of their names. She is very involved in every child's education. She treats the teachers like professionals. She does not micro manage. She is always out at the parking lot in the morning or after school. She is always working lunch duties. The teachers work so hard at this school to keep all children safe.

This school is a wreck. They discriminate against children with disabilities, and they do not provide any emotional support to the children. The teachers leave in droves, which I can only assume is in response to the principal. The principal has no interest in engaging the parents, and if you even attempt to ask her a question, she will make you feel like dirt. Unfortunately, this school has only continued to deteriorate by the year. There is no sense of community, and parent involvement is unwelcome. While the school boasts good test scores, that is simply a product of the neighborhood and the families that live in the neighborhood. When you have a school located in an affluent neighborhood, good test scores are inevitable - doesn't reflect at all on this school. Unless you want to pay for years of therapy for your child, avoid Hubert Humphrey.

This school is a top notch school. Highly recommended!

We feel so fortunate to be at EHCA! Our sons are happy every day and enjoy going to school. The communication is excellent from classroom teachers and the administration. The community feel and family events makes all the difference for us as parents. Our boys are challenged academically and the security of this school is completely top notch. The “extra” classroom activities the teachers come up with keep the kids engaged and excited about learning. We are so thankful to attend this school and appreciate their focus on discipline, along with treating all with kindness and respect.

A couple of parents were unhappy with COVID requirements in our state and opted to drop negative reviews everywhere they could to voice their frustration, so I felt like the right thing to do is give a more objectively honest and moderate review. We have 2 children enrolled in Sunset Mesa. We are a military family making ends meet to afford to send our kids to the best schools we can afford to due to the lack of funding and general poor management of the public school system here in central NM (and the state overall, but I digress). For context, we are products of east coast public school systems and are not affluent by any means, nor are we part of the "private school circuit" as this is our first experience with private schools. Honest Review: Academics- We could NOT be any happier with how are children are thriving in this environment. They are being challenged and encouraged, and the grade level classrooms offer differentiation to meet the kids where they are which is what we were searching for (and unable to find in the public school system here). My mother is an elementary public school teacher in another much wealthier state (who was pretty offended we were electing to go private) and she was blown away by where my younger elementary children are compared to the students she teaches in upper elementary. Class sizes seem to range to 12-14 students and they adjust the staff every year to accommodate the number of students enrolled in order to keep those class sizes small. This was especially helpful during COVID. Campus- The campus is open and kid friendly, and reminds me of a smaller version of a college campus. The playgrounds could use some updated equipment and we all hate the parking lot that's too small for the size and influx of vehicles but that's out of their control based on their location. Safety- Positive discipline and respect are some of the cornerstones of this school and that was one of the things that drew us. It's got the values and positive aspects of parochial schools but it's obviously secular. **COVID Safety: I feel compelled to address this only based on the other reviews by the disgruntled parent. With 2 children in school full-time, Sunset Mesa's policies kept my home COVID free for now 2 years, which was comforting to us with now 2 younger babies in the home. I'd characterize their communication as good, and policies erred on the side of caution for self-quarantine and testing during the pandemic.