Hope Elementary School

Terrible because of the principal and his unprofessional conduct.

Hope Elementary is unfortunately a missed opportunity for the local community and Carlsbad in general. There are a few good teachers there who would probably be great in the right environment and in a setting which promotes high academic standards. Sadly, the school operates based on the principal's whims, and on the whims of the inner circle of parents that he surrounds himself with. If you're in, you are all set - you'll get the most desired teachers, you'll even be able to get a green light for your ideas and projects. If you are a working parent who cannot afford to spend endless hours volunteering or participating in the PTA activities - you can be certain your children will be at a disadvantage - worst teachers (there are plenty of those and nothing is being done to correct them - they just get moved around from one grade to another), and forget about the principal paying attention to your requests. Many parents secretly complain about it, but they are unwilling to speak up because they don't want to "fall out of grace".One other very serious problem - even though the school promotes itself as a kindness hub, the bullying is rampant and I personally haven't witnessed or heard of effective handling of bullying situations - either by the teachers, or by the aides, or by the principal. Finally, the academics are last priority for Hope Elementary - the high achieving kids are in no way encouraged, or made a positive example of. The school claims that the classrooms provide differentiated instruction but in reality it is a joke. The teachers, even those who have good intentions and try, are overwhelmed by the large number of students and in the majority of the cases fail to offer what is necessary to meet the needs of each individual child. This is especially true for the children whose needs differ from those of the average student. All in all, I am happy to be done with Hope Elementary - again, a missed opportunity for an otherwise great community.

We have two children at Hope and we’ve been very happy with the programs and staff. The administration is excellent — I’ve never heard of a more involved principal than Mr.Tubbs and he genuinely makes the school a great place to be. Staff is mostly excellent. A couple of teachers were less effective than others, but they are the minority. The environment is welcoming, parents are involved, students are sweet...and my kids have flourished here.

The main reason I enjoyed Hope was because of the teachers. My daughter was learning so much her first two years and was in the advanced groups both years. The teachers she had were so involved and cared so much for the kids. What I didn't like was the parents, I'm a full time working mom, I won't lie it's very hard for me to get out of work to volunteer, so I was judged for it. The moms here gossip so much it's crazy. They seclude you if you don't fit their criteria. One day I pulled up in the drop off lane and I literally heard two mothers talking about my car (2008 dodge neon). How childish can these women be ? When my daughter made friends and I would call the moms for play dates, every single time "oh sorry we have plans" or my calls are just literally ignored. I always had to apologize to my daughter, trying to explain to her why she never got to see her friends outside of school, it was horrible. I took her out, even though she was doing good in class, a kid needs those friends to socialize and grow. She was hurt. She loves her new school and has so many for friends this year. Oh and the parents are actual grown ups.