River Oaks Elementary School

The experience varies from year to year, as teachers retire and new ones replace them. Because I have another experience to compare to this one, ROE is chaotic, fast paced, disorganized, and there is not enough time in the day for teachers to teach advanced math skills, teach a music instrument, or celebrate all the child prodigies amongst them. The teachers do a tremendous job giving the students so much, while the district is providing them with so little to work with. The parents may be the biggest contributing factor to why ROE remains a high rated school. The parents are highly educated and committed to volunteerism at the school. Contrary to popular belief that most parents are wealthy at the school, they are not. Their value is being hardworking committed parents who will teach their own kids math, when the school lags behind. Parents will pay for independent tutors to overcome language barriers. Many parents teach their own kids to speak multiple languages fluently. Parents have taken the initiative to pay for outside instructors to develop extraordinary music, art, and sports talents. Spending great time and money on after school programs to cultivate academic success and talent in their own children.ROE takes credit for academic achievements that are not developed, cultivated, and nurtured during school hours. A child can go through ROE, playing Mozart, reproducing Michelangelo, acquiring trophies for every tech, talent, or sports competition, and remain uncelebrated and invisible at ROE.The student selection for ROE is based on the delicate balance of race, wealth, and the contribution of academic development by educated parents, upholding the caste system. Education that is being administered at River Oaks is neither fully funded or equally distributed among the students. There are certainly better schools, and better experiences for elementary students than River Oaks Elementary. Compared to what is available in HISD, and the innerloop, River Oaks is definitely a top choice. This school will definitely teach Reading and the English Language, intro to STEM careers, Cultural Assimilation, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Critical Thinking, Social Class Structure, and the Superiority Complex very well through the IB Units. Once a child emerges from this pressure cooker, they are destined to emerge to be a formidable presence.

This school is run like an organized ship. I wish that the school supported a different environment where teachers nurtured the kids learning and made it more fun for the kids. There is a lot of pressure to learn and to preform. I get that, but I think the school needs more teachers who personally connect to the kids and bring out their unique abilities. I want my child to be encouraged, nurtured, and taught in a fun environment where they can blossom into an independent and inquisitive learner nd not just be another child in the class. The rigorous school work coupled with disciplinarian personalities just isn't for every child.

The principal is very easy to talk to. She takes all concerns seriously and responds promptly. There are a few parents who walk around with a sense of entitlement. She doesn't put them on a pedestal and therefore the complaints below about her. She is fair. She is intelligent. She is very careful about communicating adequately and not over communicating. I can tell from the word choice in one of the more negative reviews below that it is coming from a parent who thinks that school administrators are their public servants. They are not. They work for HISD and they do not play favorites. The principal of ROE is very fair and that may annoy some of the more entitled individuals who are not used to the word No.

My daughter has also attended this school since Kindergarten. For the past years, parents were allowed to walk their kids to classroom without any issues. Parents have been very cooperative in the morning and follow school guideline. Just this week, Dr. Fovart, sent out email banning parents from walking their children to classroom. We are still in the first 2 weeks of school, kids and parents are adjusting to the routine after 3 month of summer. I would miss walking my child to her classroom and see other parents in the hallway. Why are parents perceived as cause of safety concern?