Mh Specht Elementary School

Coming from a larger city, we are impressed with Hardy Oak. The teachers are engaged, responsive and my three children (one is on to Highschool now) love going here. This school and Lopez Middle School across the street pack an educational punch. If your kid is struggling, teachers really step up.

My child is a kindergarten student here. Within the first 5 months they received a death threat from another student and reported this same student after they threatened to kill another. Both times, the principal called me. Meanwhile, student making the threats is still in the classroom, bullying other children. A different bully is harassing and hitting my child as well and other children repeatedly going on months now. Their teacher does nothing to communicate this is happening. When confronted, she admitted she knew and failed to communicate it. Other faculty, such as the gym teacher, are aware of the issue and have been informing the parents. When we tried to address this, the counselor ignored us entirely and the principal both denied finding any evidence and accidentally admitted to trying to separate the bully months prior. All of this is taking place at the kindergarten level. I can only imagine how much worse it gets as the kids get older and learn there’s no consequences. There was already a bomb threat. However, despite assurances that police were aware and would be conducting a search, I witnessed no police at this school and I live very close by. The principal similarly did not have a reassuring plan of action. At no point did anyone mention school being dismissed early. PTA has no interest in working parents. Meetings are scheduled before lunch. When contacted about this, they will ignore you. They are, however, happy to collect. Your kindergartener will bring homework home. Texas comes in on the bottom half of national education rankings, so I can’t imagine what this is supposed to solve. States with better education systems usually don’t give homework before 2nd, often later. They will never answer the phone. Or return calls. Getting my child registered to attend was a nightmare. I had to stand in front of the registrar and ensure she was actually doing it because we had been in “processing” for weeks. My child tested well above average at the beginning of the year and is now showing regression. No one seems to care. The school appears understaffed. Multitudes are retiring and not being backfilled. The supposed police presence as mandated by the state is still “in hiring”. Roan forest feels unsafe, uncaring, and by several objective measures appears to be failing. I feel for the children attending. We will likely be pulling our child soon

When it comes to this school's community, it's welcoming, whether it's a member of the PTA, administration, or teacher. The administration, teachers, and staff are hard working individuals who care students needs. The student to teacher ratio is good. When there is a child who is struggling the school does a stellar job at finding a solution that works for the child and the child's classroom environment. I would highly recommend this school to anyone who has a child that is about to enter school or transferring from another school. It's rewarding to see the hard work and dedication that these educators have for the children and families within the community.

Buckner Fanning is a wonderful school! The school environment is very warm, welcome and safe! Both of my boys went to the school and got a great education! The principle, Mrs. Newman is a wonderful leader and the teachers are great! My younger son couldn't pronounce his “R”s and Mrs. Means, his main teacher at that time assisted us to get him into a speech program and help my boy fix his speech to perfection. We never forget, and are very thankful to how kind and caring a teacher she was!Mrs. Loomis was main teacher for both of our boys. She discovered the student's weak subject and worked hard to help the student develop and succeed. She was just amazing! She cared not only about students' education but also their manners, interactions, gratitude and most importantly being good people. Students were not scared of her, they were free in her class yet respectful and well behaved. My boys love and miss her!We remember every great teacher; GT, the computer, the coach, the art, the Spanish, the music, Mrs. Hartshorn who also offers piano classes in the school and the rest of the staff members.Thank you Mrs. Newman for having us in your school and leaving us with great memories! God bless!The Reynolds Family

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.

My children have attended this school for the last few years. They have always enjoyed their teachers, progressed well in all subjects, and we have had no issues with the staff. I would recommend this school to anyone.

My daughter went to school here. The staff was incredible! She was behind when she started and was excelling by the end of the year.