Hardy Oak Elementary School

I’m sharing this in hopes of helping other families make an informed decision. This isn’t written out of anger, but out of concern for student well-being.If you are considering moving into this school’s attendance area or enrolling your child here, I strongly encourage you to research carefully before committing. In our experience, bullying was not occasional—it felt frequent and ongoing, creating a stressful environment for student. Over time, this had a real impact on our child’s emotional well-being, feeling accepted and willingness to attend school.Equally concerning was the lack of consistent support when issues were raised. While there may be caring individuals within the school, our experience was that concerns were often minimized and meaningful change was difficult to see. This made it hard for family and student to feel protected or heard.If you have flexibility in where you live, you may want to consider other areas. If you must remain nearby, exploring alternative education options—including homeschooling—may provide a safer and more supportive environment for your child.Every family’s experience may differ, but based on what we went through, I felt it was important to share this perspective so others can ask the right questions before making a decision.

Since enrolling my son at this campus from a private school his academic performance has significantly decreased which is no surprise seeing this schools widespread poor academic performance scores compared to other schools in the area. His teacher makes absolutely no effort to motivate or make lessons engaging to more gifted students, he also turns a blind eye to the pervasive bullying going on in his class. Also despite the new law House Bill 3 passed on September 2023 requiring Texas schools to have an armed security officer at every campus during the school day there is still NO full time officer on campus to ensure children's safety!!

We have been attending Canyon Ridge for the past 5 years. My daughter was identified as dyslexic in her second grade year. The school was fast to identify and put the measures needed to assist her in reaching her full potential. Her test scores improved as well as her confidence. From Admin to the Teachers to the staff, everyone strives to make Canyon Ridge the best school for learning and inclusion.

Disappointed. My son is on the spectrum and we're learning what works. We moved and no live on the school line. Basically given no choice but to go to hardy oak. Krista did all our paperwork in a day then blew up my phone Friday before school let out while I was at work bugging for a signature. When I was in her office few weeks ago. We live a block away from the school I was trying to keep him in the same school to not have to erase the last 2 years of growth and structure my son but Principal and Krista say no. PTA mom isn't even in district but they can stay? Just Disappointed all around. I feel like they just pushed my son out without a care.

Our time at Buckner Fanning School at Mission Springs was deeply disappointing due to the school’s failure to uphold the Christian values it professes. Our child, born in mid-September, was initially allowed an early start. However, near the end of their time there, the administration claimed new adherence to strict school district guidelines, forcing our child to repeat a year. They insisted this policy was universal. Yet, on the first day of the new school year, we discovered younger students had advanced to the next grade, contradicting the school’s claims. This revealed selective enforcement and favoritism, showing decisions were driven by the administration’s interests rather than fairness. Feeling misled by a school that preaches God’s word but acts hypocritically, we urge families to seek a school with genuine integrity that equitably upholds its values.

I felt this school was a total waste of my money and was a most disappointing year for my g-son. My husband was extremely disappointed as well. Having attended catholic school growing up I never would have expected the disappointment I found existed at Rolling Hills.

I am not sure if the issue is the school or the required NEISD curriculum, but focus seems to be solely on STAAR-test preparation and computer assessments. Math and reading assignments seem to be a mixture of packet and tablet and seems incredibly disjointed and hard to follow. My child tells me that most instruction is watching a video. With the exception of weekly spelling/vocabulary tests, the majority of the assessment are on computer, so I have no idea what my child is actually learning or what he is missing. A large number appear to be computer-based District End of Unit Assessments, and I have been told it is frequently hard for even the teachers to understand what the questions are asking (and parents never see them). Content instruction appeared to end in March to review and take practice tests for the STAAR. After the STAAR tests, my student had project-based weeks on economics and Ancient Rome that appeared educational and finally discussed a book in class, so I think maybe the teachers are trying, but everything else since has just been review. Until this book study, my 3rd grader, to my knowledge, had discussed no books in class. Short passages as presented on the STAAR test have replaced any discussion of high-quality literature. I saw maybe three writing assignments of any substantial length, with everything else solely short responses.Equally concerning is that content in science and social studies seems almost non-existent. Time is scheduled for either, not both, and for the past two years my child has frequently said they ran out of time to get to it. It makes no sense to me as this content, with varied information and types of material, could be used to augment language abilities and introduce concrete math and analysis concepts and thereby innately improve test performance. Grade and assessment wise, my child is doing well and with 12 MAP tests and other countless practice tests, progress well-monitored (no wonder there is no time for anything else). I just believe he is not being provided with a well rounded education or love of learning and it is reflected by his comments that school is a waste of time. I believe the exposure to a diverse study body is equally important, so other options are not ideal, making it incredibly disappointing that what is supposed to be a top public school in the area is so lacking in a quality education.