Percy Priest Elementary School

We have had great experience with this school. My now 1st grade son has attended this school last year as a K student and he loves to go to the school every day. He is a gifted and talented student who is thriving there. The school staffs listen to your concern and are providing extra learning curriculum he needs. His kindergarten teacher is now his younger brother's teacher. My younger one also like his teacher and school. He walks out to take a school bus to school without me telling him to everyday.

My daughter spent K-4th at PPE. We were absolutely in love with the school until about third grade. Once we hit third grade I noticed that some teachers gave kids second chances on tests while others didn't. It made for a very unfair advantage grade-wise. Once we hit fourth grade the teacher's attitudes were much colder and more difficult to deal with. Communication was terrible and if a teacher wanted to "check out" because of personal reasons, then your child's education was at risk for the rest of the year and there was really nothing you could do about it. Also- there doesn't seem to be a "personal responsibility" aspect at this school. If one child misbehaves in a classroom, they all suffer. I have nothing to compare this to (as far as other elementary schools) but wish that they had been more balanced with their approach to grading, and expected higher standards of their staff (esp- better communication with parents, better attitudes towards our children, and when a staff member is having personal issues- they need an educated replacement ASAP in order not to affect the children's education.

I am the parent of a kindergartner and this is our first year at PPE. For the most part, we are happy with the school. This is a very affluent school, which does not drive diversity but does drive parent engagement. The school is older and needs expansion/remodeling, but the school seems to make the best of what they have. Our teacher is experienced and compassionate. Our child likes school and most parents seem very happy.But, there are a few issues we are struggling with: First, the way the state determines teacher allocation is based on an average class size from K - 3. And, Kindergarten this year has been very large - so classes are now 23 - 24 students and growing (and the magnet school down the street is at 16 kids per class). There is no recourse to have smaller classes since the "budget for teaches has been set for the year." So, this means as new kids come in - classes grow and additional resources are not available. For children needing extra help, this means they may not get the attention they need. For example, the number of interventionist are set - as are the number of children they can help each day (per set ratios again)- so if your child is on the margins of needing help, as classes grow, they may not receive it. Also, there is very limited supervision at lunch. Several of the parents I have spoken with are concerned about the rowdy behavior, pushing and fighting they have seen at lunch. (I broke up a fight the one time I visited for lunch - none of the lunch staff noticed). I think it is getting better, and I think the school is doing the best they can, but is is clear that it is overwhelming and resources are stretched. Lastly, there is a bully in our son's class who the school is working with - but the bullying has not stopped. I understand the issue is complex, but children are being injured (one went home with a bloody nose in kindergarten!). Again, I think the school is doing the best they can with the resources they have been given.

If you are not affluent and your child has ANY kind of learning disability your child will not get the support or education they need. We actually moved to get our child into another school. Children whose parents give large sums of money to the school are given precedence over others. Our child has a learning disability yet is also gifted. He was held out of the gifted program because "he might disrupt the class for the others" translation "the other children's parents gave us a lot of money and even though they don't test as high as your child they get to be in the gifted program" We had to get an advocate to deal with the administration's lack support and their dismissal of our child's needs. When he was being bullied they did nothing because the child bullying him parents were very involved in the fundraisers at the school. Diversity is almost non-existent. Bottom line, if you aren't well over the six figure range in income and your child is anything but white, and non-learning disabled your child will not receive the education or school experience they deserve.