John A Sippel Elementary School

Parent engagement is a focus on our campus. We love all the events.

We have had an awesome experience at Wiederstein. The teachers are amazing and the Principal is wonderful.

The principal of this school feels she does not have to follow the law concerning safety or treatment of special needs children. There have been multiple complaints lodged against her. When a tenured teacher with 16 years in the district with multiple accolades stood up to her, she had the teacher removed from the school because she felt she could not continue to work with her. The principal compromised her integrity multiple times but was close friends with the district superintendent, so nothing was done. Multiple teachers took jobs in other schools and districts because of her incompetence. She even took school business on Facebook and argued with parents and basically stated people were lying but refused to meet people as a group to discuss. Multiple incidents of “lost” children after school. Don’t send your kids here until she is removed. She refused to follow state directives for special needs children and showed no respect for concerned parents. Intimidation is her tool of choice. Very much a bully. If truth does not support her, she changes her story or makes up new charges, like stepping on the grass or having a secretary say the voice was loud.

We decided to transfer our daughter out of the kindergarten “Fish” class after a difficult experience. At home she is loving and well-behaved, but at school we mostly received negative reports and little focus on her positives. Some discipline practices, like being told to “get out of the carpet” in front of classmates or sitting on an “X” repeatedly, felt public and shaming rather than supportive.On a few occasions she asked adults for help when another child hurt her, but no one followed up. We also reached out to the counselor about a sensitive concern and felt the response lacked empathy.In the end, instead of encouragement and patience, our daughter felt anxious and stressed. Five-year-olds deserve to feel safe, cared for, and supported. That was not our experience, which is why we moved her to another school.

We loved this school. Kids were happy, teachers were great and communicated very well.

Unaddressed bullying, poor communication with teachers and principle until you threaten to withdraw your child. Great GT teacher! Unfortunately very different from SST Early Elementary, which is OUTSTANDING!