East Garner Elementary

My son is in the first grade and he seems to really enjoy his teacher - even though he has told me she sometimes yells at the class. She is new to the school, and is only in her second year of teaching, not that it's okay, but she probably hasn't learned how to handle ~20 kids at once. Other than the teacher, there is nothing positive to say. The process of checking out students is utterly ridiculous. I checked my son out without being asked for my identification. So did two other people that I had pick him up when he was sick. Is this a big deal? To some people, it may not be. But, in our situation, it is huge. In fact, when I asked the front desk person how they know who can check him out, she flat out lied and said she recognized me. I had never seen her before. As another parent stated, communication is minimal. At the beginning of the year, the principal did recorded announcements on the phone. As the school year went by, the announcements became fewer and further between. Of course, as a parent it is my responsibility to know when my child should be at school- no argument there. But, when it comes to picture days, fundraisers, award ceremonies, etc....if you want to know any of that, good luck!!! My son won an award and I had no idea until he brought it home. The principal apparently likes to utilize twitter, something I don't use, for communication. Recently she has started posting more on the class dojo app. That's usually the only way to get a response from her. If you call the school, very often you cannot get through which is a MAJOR problem if you ask me. I am trying very hard to take my son out of this school.

I had children in 4th, 1st, and Kindergarten this year. They all had fantastic years! I was so impressed with each of their teachers and the hard work they put in to make sure each of my children was at or above grade level by the end of the year.

I understand that this school has a new principle who is supposed to be trying to make this a better school If she has actually made any headway with that i would hate to see what it was like before. The teacher that my child now has is very sweet and seems to love her job. As for the rest of the staff that I have encountered they radiate misery. I'm not sure who is in charge of the school wide events (such as spirit week, picture day ect.) but that department is more than lacking in organization. The teachers are given flyers to send home with no more information than is provided on the flyer, which is minimal at best. So if there is missing information you have to find the person in charge of that specific thing. Also they don't allot any extra days to receive notifications about happenings at school (i.e. hat day: Flyers were given on Friday and hat day was on a Monday. Kids who missed Friday are left out!) That's just a small part of the problems at this school. They have one lady at the front desk every so often that hassles parents about coming to visit their kids. Which is a BIG problem to me. I am a frequent face in those halls. I don't have any criminal history I'm not even in the room with other kids for more than 30 minutes a week. I go in while their class is in specials to help the teacher and pick up things to do for her at home. Parents should be welcomed in the school. We are a TEAM! Our kids need to know and see that. It really makes me wonder what they are trying to hide. My child had originally started with a different teacher and less than a month into school my child (who LOVES school) didn't want to go to school anymore. The teacher was being mean. I witnessed a few instances myself. We will not be attending the remainder of the year.

Well from what I have seen of the summer program and that schools employees it is no wonder no one knew about the school!!!