Dorothy Smith Pullen Elementary School

My son loved Pullen and so did we. This was his third elementary school and it was orders of magnitude better than his previous two.

This school is terrible. Both my kids attended another elementary school before moving to this district and were happy in school. Here, some of the teachers don't care whether the students learn or fall behind. There is so much bullying that is not handled because this administrative team is not capable of dealing with it. They are beyond incompetent. I'll be pulling my kids out as soon as I have another alternative. I will homeschool if I have to.

Excellent. Very strong support for all students. My granddaughters transferred to this school from DISD January 1 2018. The difference in teaching and atmosphere was amazing! My kindergartner and 2nd grader immediately felt welcomed and were excited to be going to Pullen. Over the summer they couldn't wait to start school again. This says a lot about how wonderful this school administrative and teachers are.

All 3 of my children went through Pullen and had great experiences with teachers, staff and administrators. They are all doing well in high school and one in a top tier college.

Pullen is generally a good school. Much like the rest of Rockwall, you have a problem because of student behavior. Teachers generally respond well to these issues, but have trouble because school/district policy, along with parents who refuse to participate in disciplining their kids no matter what the circumstances, have handcuffed the teachers. They are not able to deal with behavior issues in a way that actually solves the problem. On top of that, you have some teachers, in particular the gym teacher, who does not actually supervise students effectively. This means that a lot of incidents happen in PE where kids know they can get away with anything. The problem is even worse on the buses with fights, bullying, and other incidents happening on a regular basis. The kids know when no one is watching them and they act out. They also know that their parents won't punish them at home even if they get in trouble, so they don't seem to care about being caring people. Now, that is not to say all kids. We have found that many, many students are wonderful and welcoming. But, the ones that really stick out are the bullies and the brats. The teachers know who those kids are, the administration (partly because there is new admin every few years) takes awhile to catch on each year but eventually notices too. The parents of these kids simply refuse to accept that sometimes their kid is the problem. Because of this, it makes it hard to really focus on the great parts of the school. My child's teachers over the years have mostly been great and for the most part, the educators at the school are there because they love the kids and love teaching.