Happy Valley Elementary School

the teachers are nice i went there before and it was fun exempt for learning

Not a great experience for my oldest kid. We ended up getting the district involved with a particular situation and they did nothing. The district as a whole isn’t what we expected at all — looking to move schools!

In my very biased opinion, this is one of the top elementary schools in our area. The current school score is skewed. The equity score is based off extremely bad data unadjusted for statistical variables related to the covid years. Additionally, the Bellingham school district goes above and beyond and they are well funded not only from the State but also through additional voted property taxes. The citizenry of Bellingham prefer, as evidenced by the voting records, to pay additional taxes to ensure public schools have plenty. Renters also contribute to this increased property tax through higher rental rates, which increase each time the property taxes increase.

Ok, but not what would be hoped for given the fees. Teachers by and large have little education beyond their Montessori certificate, and so do not know what they don’t know.

Our son just started but already he is loving it. We homeschool so this is a 2 day a week option for us on days that I work. The rates are affordable and I feel that he is getting personalized attention. He actually comes home excited and tells me about his day and has enjoyed their nature walks to the arboretum and building an ant with robotic legos and making things run with some circuit builders. Lots of great stuff in the makerspace for STEM oriented kids like mine.