Sunset Elementary School

My child was in the Spanish program and struggled immensely with the workload and the structure. There is nowhere to get the Spanish homework assignment other than in class, and if your child does not write it down then you will scramble to call other parents or your child will get a bad grade. There are hours of homework starting in the second and third grades which can be a real stress on the whole family when they have such a long school day (out at 4:05 except wed 3:05) and everyone would like to relax when they get home. Both parents and children have to shift into work mode again at home or at least get tutors in many cases. The program was not good for my child's self-esteem and the school is inflexible about making any exceptions for anyone. It does have wonderful homeroom teachers and math and science teachers but they need to work on the Spanish program and the teach the children in class- not expect them to learn everything at home. It would be helpful if they started to conjugate verbs before the 4th grade as they are expected to read pages and pages of stories and understand them without any context on how the language works.
—Submitted by a parent

My kids did the test for the magnet program;No considerations,staff and administration are extremely rude and extremely pretentious;Especially Mrs Pujol Burns,the leader teacher, I was asking her questions about the program, she got nervous and she hang up on me on the phone.!!!! I already put a complain about her attitude to my embassy ; It is unacceptable .We decided not to go in this school,you should do the same.....
—Submitted by a parent

The academics are overrated and in the Spanish language program the children do not receive instruction in grammar i.e., proper use of pronouns, tenses, verb conjugation etc. So, your child may have a couple hours of Spanish a day but may not be able to have a conversation. Main focus of the program is vocabulary. The math "magnet" program is the same as regular math in other public schools. There is a bullying culture at the school. It is shocking and disgusting that with all the bullying awareness on tv, internet and social media that bullying is tolerated. Many of the parents are in denial and will tell you great things about the school. As a past parent, I am telling you that it is not a good environment. The school tolerates bullying and the academics are a bunch of hype.
—Submitted by a parent

Our child is in the first grade Spanish magnet program and gets 1 to 3 hours of homework nightly. The standards here are high, and students and parents are expected to meet them on a daily basis. Teachers, not so much. Far as I can tell, homework isn t checked by the teacher it s checked by other students for completeness, not accuracy. Class work doesn t appear to be reviewed either, since I m always finding uncorrected mistakes. Most learning will take place at home. The school s 10 rating on this website is an illusion and a matter of pure demography. It has the benefit of being in a wealthy neighborhood with households that have a stay-at-home parent that can dedicate 500 hours a year to school work, or money for tutors that can help. If the teachers and administrators deserve any credit for the school s success, it should be for expertly marshalling the resources of their parents to do the job they should be doing themselves. If you ve got plenty of time, money, or other resources, your child will do well here. Otherwise, you and your child will struggle.
—Submitted by a parent

We live nearby and visited the school several times to help us decide if we wanted our children to attend. Although I never saw inside a classroom, my husband and I were thoroughly unimpressed by several administrative staff members (of both the regular and language programs). Unorganized, arrogant, uninformed, rude. Nothing about the school made me want to have my children attend.
—Submitted by a parent

I am moving to the Miami area and called the school to learn more about it to decide if we wanted to move to the area to go to the school. They were totally unhelpful and rather rude. They gave us no reasons to want to attend the school even when pointedly asked.

Very upset over the lack of support from the Spanish Magnet program. The homeroom teachers are great, but I have a Spanish magnet teacher who is totally arrogant and will not give my son the help he needs. She continues to be in denial and have told me she is VERY GREAT at her job... when in fact, behind the scenes, parents are scrambling to understand the homework and nearly everyone has hired tutors. This is not acceptable teaching. I understand Standards are high at Sunset, but I cannot believe the arrogance of the spanish program.
—Submitted by a parent

this school is awesome my child went there and she graduated last year and now she is carver middle school very well prepared getting strait A's thanks to this school and my other daughter is in 3rd grade and she is having a blast and also getting good grades in school.
—Submitted by a parent

I love the fact that my child is able to attend this school because of the magnet program, however, there is a lot of school politics and there is no control on behalf of the principal or staff. There is a lot of nepotism and the kids either sink or swim. I understand the school standards for Sunset are high, and I understand the kids are to be able to handle the workload; however, I believe that as teachers, they should prioritize and provide more help and assistance to the students who need it. Not the other way around.

This is a good school but it is not great. The way the school handles the Spanish magnet program could use some work. My daughter is a non-native Spanish Speaker. In first grade, she was put in a class with non-native Spanish speakers (they were lumped together) and given the worst teacher possible. The class had 25 students with no aide and the teacher had no control over the class, making it very difficult for the students to learn. On top of it all, she had a heavy accent, the kids could not understand her English and thus it made it difficult for them to learn Spanish from her. Meanwhile, the native speakers had classes with a teacher and an aide and smaller class sizes. How unfair is that? If you are the administrators at this school, knowing that the native and non-native speakers would be mixed together in second grade, wouldn't you do it the other way around so that the non-natives can catch up and assimilate better in later years? The fact that it wasn't done that way spoke volumes about the principal and her assistants. Additionally, the fact that my daughter is even able to handle the program (and is thriving) is because I got outside help for her.
—Submitted by a parent

My kids are very happy at this elementary school. One of Miami's best public school. Its hard to get into because of the lottery controlled choice system in Coral Gables but we got lucky.
—Submitted by a parent

My son graduated last year and is extremely proud of his school. Sunset teachers are very involved with their students and the end result is an excellent education. The language program is the best in the county and produces a true world citizen.
—Submitted by a parent

The school has exceeded my expectations, the dual education program, along with the gifted curriculum and moreover, the quality of the Teachers, makes it worth every minute my son spends in the school. I often joke with my friends how they have to spend enormous amount of tuition for less than what we get from a Magnet Public School such as Sunset Elementary.
—Submitted by a parent

Beware if you have your child in the IE (home school) program! Unless your child is in the Magnet program (foreign languages), your child will ignored. Administration is very unhelpful to IE students and parents.
—Submitted by a parent

The curricilum and the Teachers are wonderful. Great organisation. Me and my son are very happy.
—Submitted by a parent

An excellent academic environment
—Submitted by a parent

Its bilingual program is great! parents help a lot around the school.A lot of resourses for students ans after school activities!
—Submitted by a parent

I love the language program and the parent involvement!
—Submitted by a parent

This school has a language program that produces trully bilingual/biliterate children. I love the amazing, dedicated teachers that work at this school.
—Submitted by a parent

The language program is 1st class!!!
—Submitted by a parent