Fireside Elementary School

My son is graduating this year form Fireside and I can not say enough about how happy I have been with his experience. The sense of community and pride that the teachers bring to their school is remarkable, My son's first years of school were at another Louisville public school and I was so dissapointed; very little cohesion to the teaching and not much help with early social development. Fireside offers diversity and expertise and I am so happy with the educational beginnings that my son has experienced there and beleive he has been well prepared for his future.
—Submitted by a parent

I had two children attend Fireside two years ago. My 5th grader had a fantastic experience with her teacher and the Gifted Program. My youngest had a horrible experience with his Kindergarten teacher. Without speaking to me about any issues, she decided that my son was 'too much of a leader' and separated him from all of the other students in the class. She turned his desk around and did not include him in reading groups for over a week before my son came home crying and I confronted her. The extended substitute later told us that she didn't believe that there was a discipline issue and didn't understand the core teacher's actions. This experience negatively impacted his desire to read while at the school. The next year we put him into Coyote Ridge. Within 2 months in the school, he was 'Coyote of the Month' and has excelled since.
—Submitted by a parent

The office staff, principal and teachers at Fireside Elementary have been instrumental in my grandchildren's lives. They have been understanding and supportive when my grandchildren needed them the most. Thank you, Fireside Elementary!

I have two children who currently attend Fireside. We have been at the school for five years, and we've had amazing, dedicated teachers every year. In my experience, the principal is supportive of both parents and teachers, and is committed to fairness. The music program at this school is phenomenal, and the high level of parent involvement is terrific. We feel lucky to be part of such an incredible, caring community!
—Submitted by a parent

I've had two children go through Fireside, and through all that time, we've only ever had one teacher that I wouldn't rate as excellent or better. Fireside Elementary is the focus school for English as a Second Language, and there are over 16 languages spoken there representing over 25 countries. This diversity has been an amazing experience for my kids, and they have formed strong ties with kids from other countries. In addition, the music and PE programs at Fireside are also excellent. It seems that this school attracts highly motivated, articulate, professional individuals to teach the kids there. The former principal, in his last year there, was named Colorado Principal of the Year for elementary schools. The current principal has maintained the excellent staff that was there before, many of whom have been at Fireside since it's opening 17 years ago.
—Submitted by a parent

Fireside provides excellent caring environment with highly qualified creative teachers. The school is clean and the new playgrounds support multi-ability kids. Expectations are high for student achievement. All four of my children have had positive experiences attending this school. Parent volunteers are the most active and supportive. Many extra curricular opportunities in art, music, science, sports. My sons all had male teachers for at least one year in elementary school. Great prep and support for middle school. Excellent pre-school program.
—Submitted by a parent

In my opinion, Fireside, is ill-equipped to deal with children with special needs. As well, staff is powerless due to state regulations which serve themselves. The kids needs are not a high priority, as one would traditionally expect, but instead the school and staff struggles to insure all needs are met on paper and with funding. Far too high importance placed on that funding, tests (CSAP) that measure performance. Indeed, a high priority is placed on the CSAP - far beyond that of the needs and welfare of their charges - the children. This school has certainly lost touch with the entire point of a public education (that is funded by this nation's taxpayers). They are more interested by far in their 'occupations' (and those taxes), than their original purpose (which was, at one point, intended to have been educating our children).
—Submitted by a parent

Excellent Pre-K program peer model classroom. Music. art and daily outside playtime are all part of this amazing program. My son flourished in this program and as a parent it was wonderful to see this small class interact. The program had 12 children in the AM program and a total of 10 children in the PM program with 2 para pros. The speech therapist and OT on staff were good. Parents play a strong role in the class with each family taking on a small role to support the teacher such as, taking or making the book orders and switching off to provide healthy snacks for the week. Birthday parties are welcome and show and tell play a big part of the student interaction. All and all we loved this program and the teacher in charge -- she has been a wonderful influence on our son.
—Submitted by a parent

Our experience at Fireside Elementary School has always been very positive. The teachers, administrators, and other staff have always been very supportive of our children.
—Submitted by a parent