Allamanda Elementary School

We are new to this school and love it! Moved here from another state. Everyone is so nice, helpful and friendly. Lots of after School Events too. Glad we are fortunate enough to start out in such a Great School in Florida. Here's to a Great Year at Allamanda! My child thinks all the kids and teachers are so nice too!
—Submitted by a parent

Do not send your ESE student to Allamanda if you have a choice! Use your McKay scholarship to move to an appropriate private school. Allamanda has the worst ESE teachers, low parent involvement, and the ladies at the front desk are rude and unprofessional. My childs teacher would take them to the bathroom (there's a bathroom in each classroom and no cameras allowed) when she was angry and twist his arm behind his back until he'd cry!! He only told me this after the school year was over and after he became more verbal due to outside of school therapy. Another teacher we had barely spoke or wrote proper English which I still can't comprehend why a school chooses to put such teacher in an ESE classroom when our children are delayed speech anyways. That was a wasted year and she was rude to my son after he was out of her class by ignoring him if he said hi to her at drop off and pick up after school. Aadditionally, we had a terrible wasted 3rd year in 2nd grade with DiCarlo. Lack of communication skills, looses it in the class room, disorganized, & disheveled. Transfer if u get her! Rona should retire! She is rude, disrespectful, and insensitive regarding our children. (Continue..)
—Submitted by a parent

sadly this school has been on an out-of-control downward spiral as of 2009. We will be transferring.
—Submitted by a parent

Chapter 8 Sect. 8.025 state statute states in paragraph 13. PHYSICAL EDUCATION TIME (P.E. OR RECESS) TIME SHALL NOT BE WITHHELD AS A PUNISHMENT OR USED AS A PUNISHMENT. Allamanda DOES NOT abide by this law. It is not just 1 or 2 teachers that do not abide by this, but there are MANY teachers who do not abide by this. I have spoken with numerious parents and I am finding that this issue is equally a problem for the ESE program as it is with the main stream program. I DO NOT believe these ESE children should be "punished" by taking away their recess time! They should be "redirected" immediately after an incident, not punished. What good is taking away recess for a punishment 30minutes -1.5 hours later after the incendent occured?? At this point, they are not even connecting the dots. A child with Autism does not understand why they are being punished from recess when its up to 30min-an hour later. I do not think these teachers/office staff have been trained into how NOT to PUNISH our kids, but try redirecting them immediately. Then there is a chance we are getting through to these children and why something was wrong.
—Submitted by a parent

WHY is Allamanda hiring ESE teacher that barely speak good ENGLISH?!? Here we have a great ESE program, but then they hire teachers who's stronger language is SPANISH, speaking broken ENGLISH. WHY??!!? I cannot understand my child's teacher, let along can I expect my child to understand her. The journals they send home daily with their daily report of how their day went is written in such broken English, that I have to re-read it to understand. I rather them teach my child spanish rather then broken English. These teachers should be able to teach our children with special needs, language delays , comprehension problems, or with autism with clear, grammatically correct English! What are they thinking????!!!
—Submitted by a parent

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Allamanda Elementary. My son who was in 5th came from North Palm Elementary (Awful). Let me tell you Allamanda surpassed my expectations. There is constant communication between the teachers, parents and student. I love the discipline structure at Allamanda. and Mrs Vonderhaar, Mrs Norman and Mrs Gorman are terrific!! My daughter also attended her first year (Kindergarten) this year and let me say ROCK ON Mrs. South and Mrs. Amber. They made it such a positive experience for my child and for us as parents. I have nothing but HIGH PRAISES for Allamanda. I never had any issues with pick up and drop off or returned phoned calls. Also take the opportunity to Volunteer once in a while it makes the kids happy and also helps the Teachers (I worked full time also). Thank you Allamanda and can't wait to next year!!!!!!!
—Submitted by a parent

Principal Garcia is the most rude, beligerent and disrepectful person I have EVER conversed with. She sits on a high horse and refuses to return calls, and belittles parents when forced by the school board to finally call a parent back. Also the school is extremely strict during lunch time. The kids can barely talk without being told to be quiet. They are EXTREMELY loose with who picks up your kid from the curb. So be there @ 2pm when they come out. There are however some FANTASTIC teachers there who are head and shoulders above any I have encountered. Ms. Nelson (2nd grade) and Statlander (K) are AMAZING. The front desk staff are TOP NOTCH. Just avoid Ms. Herman for Kindergarten - she is horrible and mean to the children. If it wern't for the aformentioned things, I would rate a 5. But over-all a 3.
—Submitted by a parent

To much pressure on the child all they do is worry and prep for FCATS, My child still has not been taught basic Time, Money etc and she is 9. We have to do hours of homework each day to catch up. Horriable way to send the child home.

This school prepares the students for the best things in their future.

This school claims they are an A rated school. A for Anxiety. Al they care about is the FCAT at the expense of our children learning nothing.
—Submitted by a parent

The more I get to volunteer here, the more I love this school! And most importantly, my son enjoys being in school!
—Submitted by a parent

By far i think this school is the best school in Palm Beach County. The Teachers are outstanding. They work with the children in a way the children can relate to. they also give alot of homework and that is great we need to stay on top of our kids educations. when i was young i can remember only getting homework once a week.

i loved this school i went there from k to 5th grade the best school years i will never forget my teachers and 5th grade was the best school year amazing the school is great and the teacher r wonderful i have been in chorus since the 2nd grade and the music teacher is awesome it was a great expierience and i recommend this school mrs.south,ms.m,ms.nelson,ms.laplaca,ms.howe,and mrs gorman alll amazzzzing teachers
—Submitted by sarah horton, a former student

My son is just completing the third grade, & I must say I am disappointed in this past year. I have spoken to friends with children in the same grade at other schools,& they are much more advanced. I feel the year was spent teaching to the FCAT, with little learning in other areas. I feel a great deal was missed, & the children are behind their peers in other schools. I would like to see the administration care more about the kids then a state test.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter just finished 'k' and all I can say for you new parents is 'mrs. South!, mrs.South, mrs.South!' you will never find a more loving and wonderful teacher that goes way above and beyond. Fight, kick, and scream to get your children in her class.
—Submitted by a parent

My child is in the ESE program and I am really pleased at his progress! The staff is wonderful. They offer a dance program for the ESE students and he loves that. Parents are very nice and helpful. I love this school and I am happy we decided to send him there. A+ in my book.
—Submitted by Kimberly Nash, a parent

My son attended this school from k-5th grade. Overall i would say that it was a pretty good school, there were a few times that i had run ins with the vice principal and teachers, they were very few & far between thankfully. There are some incredible teachers at this school! if you are concerned about your child having a disability that needs to be tested at the school in my experience i started at the end of kindergarten and again all year during 1st grade asking for my son to be tested to see if he qualified for occupational therapy, etc & never got anywhere until the end of 2nd grade & beginning of 3rd grade before they really got the ball rolling with his testing & actually placing my son in the proper classes, etc. So my suggestion is to use your voice and fight for your child!
—Submitted by a parent

There is a godd extracurricular activities (for Crhistmas Kids did the Nutcrcracker (chorus and dance) Crhistamas carrols for the little ones...and not only for chistmas, alla over the year.) They worked on that for 4 months. and it was beautifull, they also made a presentation in City Place.
—Submitted by Janis A, a parent

Parrticipation of parents is important. There are plenty of extracurricular activities, specially in music and art. The Teachers are very caring.
—Submitted by a parent

Allamanda Elementary has a wonderful program for special needs students, specifically at the kindergarten level. Our son has benefitted greatly from the reassuring, kind and friendly staff who work with him. Class size is reasonably small so students can get individualized attention and care. Focus on educational abilities is addressed to meet the needs of each student and our son has a good balance of class work and homework. Communication between the teachers and parents is encouraged and welcome - so essential when your child cannot fully express his or her daily activities to you. In short, we are very impressed and satisfied with our experience at Allamanda and grateful to have had the recommendation for our son. The rest of the student body seems happy and involved as well and much like the teachers we have seen, the office staff is friendly and helpful.
—Submitted by L. F., a parent