Durham Elementary School

A few years in, and I say this is a very bad school for my kid. Maybe others have had better experiences. My kid came into this school at kindergarten knowing how to read quite well. Recently, they tested at reading levels two grades lower. This whole process has been discouraging and my kid hates it here, but at home nothing has changed. They are a curious learner in all things and a voracious reader of grade-level books. There is constant reading, learning games, and fun educational stuff at my house. My child is well-behaved and respectful. In my opinion, Templeton has some questionable metrics and teaching programs. I call it Checklist Teaching. As others have experienced, students are not challenged and pre-assessed enough to ever move on. My kid should have been out of lower learning groups a long time ago. And don't get me started on Math. In 2nd grade, the teacher got sick and missed a whole state-required unit, so I had to pick that up at home. The principal seems to try, but he and all the teachers seem vastly overwhelmed even for their tiny classes. Despite plenty of parental volunteering, it's still not enough. Experienced teachers appear to have the same low standards and do not seem passionate about their work. The pattern I observed is a general attitude about education. Only one teacher really connected with my kid, but they left the next year. We were all so bummed when she left. It was clear she didn't like teaching in this new facility. Even in tiny classes, my kid said they were often overlooked despite having a true zeal for learning. Other teachers cultivate wonderment: Templeton destroys it. Maybe there is a reason why on ALL the review sites, this is the worst elementary in the district and not even in the top 300 in the state. The numbers and consensus don't appear to lie. Don't take my word for it. Talk to parents in the area. Side note: this school is a rebuild. They had a chance to make the drop-off easy and a straight loop directly from the street, but decided to put a huge stone slab sign where that could have happened. The school is flanked by two big parking lots, never full, and a huge area behind the school. Instead, it's a nightmare zig-zagging through this line just to pick up or drop off your kids. And parents forget how to drive. It's pretty time-consuming and ridiculous. For only moving a short distance, it takes 30+ minutes to get through.