Pinon Elementary School

Switched my kids here after a bad experience with Chaparral. Absolutely the best decision. Current principal Mr. Hunter is very calm but firm. He doesn't entertain any kind of bullying or harassment and makes sure to have the full story before any discipline. Teachers often coordinate with each other, and all have genuine interest and concern for the kids. Small school, but that works for us. Special education is not ignored and getting info or contacting staff is responded to quickly.

We happy to invite you and your children to our school to get to know our students and staff. Our Mission is to Serve the whole child, Foster a Christian worldview within each student, Cultivate a Christ-Like character in the student body, and encourage all students to Achieve academic excellence. We enroll year-round and welcome you to come and visit us!

My children have been at this school for five years and they are thriving. When I ask them what they did with their day or what their favorite part of the day was, they tell me it was recess, but I can see from the level of reading, writing and process of approaching new problems that the teachers are working extensively on rigorous academic training with them. I appreciate the teachers so much because they all work together and the threads through all the grades’ curriculum is very clear. The teachers and administration have always gotten to know my children, with the higher grade teachers making the effort to learn my children’s name and character before they even had them as students. The Principal and Director are very level headed and so far more than their exclusive job descriptions to make the school work well. I am so grateful that my children get to attend this school.

I want to commend Santo Nino for a fantastic 3rd grade. The instruction my child received was wonderful, the curriculum rigorous and excellent. The classroom control was beautiful with all the students learning to be a team and excel.4th grade was the polar opposite. So I pulled my child out halfway through the second semester and just let the money go. I decided keeping my child in would be falling into the “Sunk-Cost Fallacy”.The instruction was non-existent. Apparently, the planned 4th grade teacher passed away before the school year and the very nice religion instructor stepped in to act as a substitute. And as with many substitutes it is often not the best instruction. As near as I could tell, this was a case of no instruction and just play time interspersed with constant IXL testing. This is a critical point, I think. IXL is not a substitute for in-person or even online instruction. And we were indeed paying for in-person instruction. At the halfway point through second semester my child tested the same in a third party placement exam as they did at the end of 3rd grade which would imply they had learned nothing. And based on our conversations and their frustrations this seems accurate.In addition to this failed time of instruction, the substitute was lax and paid little attention to the children. This allowed bullying to take on new levels and include assaults with physical items and things bordering on sexual assault. The school’s response with the first instance was adequate, the second similar, but by the midway point in second semester they seemed so short staffed as to just be glad the school hadn’t actually burned down and were doing nothing to improve the classroom environment.Again, 3rd grade was wonderful. 4th grade was not. If they get their act together for 4th grade in the future it might be a good place. For us, and many other families (we were not the only ones to pull our child out), it was not. So caveat emptor, and make sure you pay very good attention to the environment as you consider this school.

The teachers are really kind.It is a really cool school.I recommend this school.