Rice Elementary School

We have 4 kids and have been at Rice for 5 years with 4 more years to go with our youngest! We have had the most amazing teachers each year that have communicated well and worked with our kids to make sure they were understanding what was being taught! The other students are also great! We have been able to make lots of friends at Rice and I’ve been able to meet other parents as well through different school events and activities! We love Rice!

My daughter is in kindergarten and she is always happy to go to school. One thing I love in this school is the family engagement through the PTA.

Rice Elementary feels like family. I am so grateful to have a school that I feel comfortable taking my child to everyday. I know she is safe, accepted, pushed academically and surrounded by leaders who show support and grace. Thanks Rice Elementary!As a bonus, I am a teacher here, and it is an awesome work environment. That’s hard to find for many educators, and I feel blessed.

Excellent, attentive leadership. Any issues are dealt with quickly and directly. We feel incredibly welcome, safe, & well served academically. On top of all that, Rice manages to make school is fun! From nerf Parties with the principal to being greeted in the car line every morning by smiling faces & happy music. Best elementary in TISD, hands down.

We've been at Rice for the last 2 years and have had a very poor experience overall. Our child went from A's and B's to C's, D's , and F's. The teachers and principal use exercise-based/physical punishment (not corporal) without communicating with parents or being given permission to do so. There is no effort to have the children engage in learning or develop good study habits. Our child's previous school would send home a newsletter for the coming week with homework expectations, lesson overviews, as well as any fun projects they had planned - along with their respective deadlines; this school doesn't even make an effort to do anything remotely close to that. Our child was also snatched up by a teacher last year and was screamed at within inches of his face and they continued to employ her until this year, despite other children confirming this on several occasions. We asked Tyler ISD if he could switch schools to a more supportive environment and they told us we had to wait until February 2023 for the open enrollment period. We have had a number of other issues from students picking on our child because of race (white, yes you read that right) and weight and have not seen or heard of said children being punished in the same manner that our child has for minor things like engaging with other children in class. The school is currently using Plays (like school plays) to increase engagement amongst parents and students - when engagement really starts with the attitude and teaching structure within the classroom. Our child use to love going to school every day, that is no longer the case. His love & curiosity for learning has been diminished by this environment, which is the same for several other children after speaking with parents. This place is a prison, and the children are treated like inmates rather than being respected and appreciated for who they are and the check they provide for the teachers.