Central Elementary School

Its a small school area with only a couple hallways for children to have to navigate their first few years in school. The teachers are soft spoken, and always willing to give the students an extra hug or two if they need it.

We have been absolutely thrilled with our experience. The principal has spent more time for us than the principal at a small private school our child attended last year, even though Central has well over 500 students and there isn't a full time asst. principal. She went far above and beyond to get our child lots of extra help with social skills. I'm shocked by the review that stated that special and gifted ed are a joke. Schools aren't required to provide gifted services until 3rd grade, and we weren't expecting much. But, our child attends and advanced reading program daily with the librarian in a very small group and was moved to a different classroom for math to receive advanced instruction. Although not qualified for special ed, our child has received lots of help from the lead special ed teacher for his grade, and is allowed to "take a break" and go see her anytime that the regular classroom gets too overwhelming. All of the teachers we've dealt with are very flexible in making accommodations. This is the first year that I've felt that we got all of the support that we needed, that we are always informed promptly when an issue arises, and that we've been treated with respect.

The only thing worse than teaching at this school is knowing that my own children have to go here too. As teachers we are constantly bullied by administrators who are only concerned with test scores. No individual instruction is allowed, and special education, or gifted services, are a joke. I am seriously considering homeschooling my own children next year.