St Joseph School

All of the teachers at Christenberry are great.

My family and I have had nothing but great experiences with teachers and staff at this school. We have met some teachers whom we felt loved our children as much as we do, and we have also had some teachers whom we felt no connection with. The school also provides a lot of opportunities in which parents can get involved. I do wish there was more diversity and inclusion at this school. As far as negative things about this school I will say there are somethings worth mentioning. First, in the past 3-4 years other parents and I noticed that many students were being placed in the same classrooms over and over again which has created the "It" crowd. Then, it was noticed that the same students were repeatedly pictured on the school's PTO Facebook. In fact, in last year's yearbook these same students and same teacher took over nearly the entire spread of third grade. Clearly, there were other third grade classes in the school, why they were not featured as much is unknown. It's understandable that there are parents who sign the photo media release to not have their children's photo used, highly respect that. While I have the upmost respect for the PTO Board Members and all that they do for the school and teachers, it seems that they have special privileges to gloat their children on yearbooks and the school's PTO Facebook. Whether they know and do not care or perhaps are unaware, this has been creating the "It" crowd for quite some time. I do believe that some have been aware of this, but for one reason or another have not spoken up about it. In today's age there should be more inclusion in schools and not a popularity contest based on social status, materialistic items, and whether or not your mother or father is on the school's PTO Board. Each and every student at this school as well as the teachers should be celebrated and seen (unless the media consent is signed) just as much as the PTO Board Members children. We need more kindness in this world and not another group of mean girls and mean boys club. Children these days deal with those issues a lot in middle and high school, let's not start it in elementary school.

The teachers in this school go the extra mile and then some for their students. The administration however will do whatever it takes to squash the hopes, dreams, and joy of those teachers. Many teachers dread coming to work everyday solely because of the way administration runs the place. They are not allowed to do what is best for children because of the egos in the office. They are limited to reading scripts and doing things all the same way. The teachers are great, but are being held back from their full potential.

Great overall school that often gets overlooked. The faculty and parents are extremely involved. As a family not originally from Knoxville, we were extremely lucky to find this school.

Unfortunately, we are zoned for this school. Run far from this school if you can. My children were coming from with bruises on them from other kids bullying them at school (physically and verbally). I followed allnproper routes and nothing was done. The teachers claimed it's not bullying because it was happening to other kids too and that there was nothing they could do about it. Teachers are not supported by the admin to be able to make a difference. I ejded up having to file a report with the district to have anything done. My children went from loving school to being severely depressed and now they hate going to school. They don't feel safe at school and I have since pulled them out and resorted to home schooling.