Cunningham Park Elementary School

My kids go here and they hate going to school everyday for some reason. My daughter’s teacher would bully her and she would come home crying everyday.

My child has been here for multiple years now. Their current teacher is amazing, and our previous teacher just wasn’t the right fit for our child. They were still a solid teacher that my child enjoyed. I cannot say enough about how fabulous their current teacher is. She is beautifully managing a classroom with 6 kids above grade level and other kids who have just immigrated to the US with limited English. My child has been placed in the AAP program they need, and their teacher is actively seeking the higher curriculum needed. My child loves their classroom. They are grouped by capability with lessons geared to each group. My child does have special needs. I proactively reached out to the school prior to their first school year and everything was well addressed. Their plan has been proactively managed with things added as needed. New things tried when the need arises. My child also faced disciplinary actions. The school communications were great about what happened and how they would be addressing the challenges as they arose. I was never blamed for the behavior, expected to remediate only at home, or not part of the plan. I have been equally impressed with the emphasis on socio-emotional learning. The community is great. My child has several friends and enjoys all the school activities such as the before school programs by the PTA, the community events, and seeing friends within our neighborhood. The SACC program is fabulous as well. The staff is fantastic and dedicated to their students. Finally the rating is what it is for 2 reasons, the highest level of need in the Vienna community (serves the lowest income group) and MRES being the center for special needs in the area. I see this as a positive as a large portion of the school is of a higher socioeconomic class and being exposed to a larger community is a good thing for me.

My son is extremely introverted and shy. He gets overwhelmed by large groups of people and can have a hard time opening up and getting comfortable with new people. He would cry every single day when we dropped him off at his old school. We expected it would take months for him to get used to his new teachers and friends at Appletree II. But after a few days, he was so excited for drop off! He comes home everyday with a new song he learned at school. He talks to us about all his friends at school. He practices the manners and amazing values he learned at school here at home. He loves his teacher like she’s family. And we, as parents, feel so informed about how’s he’s doing and what he’s learning each week. We love this school so much and it’s been the absolute best place for our son. We just had a second child and we’re just counting down the years to be able to send him to Appletree II as well. Take a tour of the school, meet Ms Annely (the Director), get a sense of the values and community there, and peek in a classroom and see how happy the kids are. You’ll love it, too.