Sand Pine Elementary School

Sand Pine Elementary, Average Teaching nothing out of the ordinary, Principal and entire staff other than lunch room supervisor lack communication. On more than one occassion my child had injuries at the school and they handled the situations as though nothing took place, nor did they communicate any of the situations with each other or the parent. I don't know how they keep receiving safety awards with practices like that....oh wait I just answered it....NO COMMUNICATION..........
—Submitted by a parent

My son was a special needs student who got limited support and understanding from the teachers and staff. Instead of trying to work with us, they actively worked against us and made commitments they never followed through with. I offered to pay to have a specialist come in and help the staff develop an understanding of his needs and why he behaved the way he did and they declined and explained they were experts in education. I removed him and placed him in a private school and upon testing him, he scored high school in 3 areas and on level in 3 other areas. He also went from a B and C student, to an Honor Roll/ Principal's Honor Roll student. He has truly blossomed since he left Sandpine. I have another child who is set to attend Sandpine and I am terrified.
—Submitted by a parent

Our child studied there since kinder; unfortunately we had to move and we miss all the positive enviorement & great education he was receiveing. We felt part of the school as a great family. We are considering to move back just to keep our son in such a great elementary. We miss you so much SPES.
—Submitted by a parent

My grandchildren go to Sand Pine Elementary and are doing very well at that school. The teachers there seem to be involved and interested in their students.

Both of my kids go there and they love it but the school needs money for a computer lab, etc.
—Submitted by a parent

Execellent school & teachers. Gorgeous grounds. But they need lots of stuff!!!!

Great school and my grandkids love going there!!

Sand Pine is a great school for 'cookie cutter' children. However, if your child is outside of the box, socially or academically, than this is not the school for you. We have had positive experiences with our special needs child in another school, but at Sand Pine our child has been left out since day one. We spent a lot of time researching schools before we moved to this area. And again, it is a good school if your child is bright and a model student. (We have one of those too.) But they do not know how/want to meet the needs of those who struggle. It has been a very painful experience for us and our learning disabled child. The staff and administration are more concerned with meeting state standards, (which is unfortunate to be in that position) than meeting the needs of the individual.
—Submitted by a parent

The teachers and staff not only provide strong educational programs, they also teach the children to respect themselves, their fellow school mates. Mrs. Ward has been influential in teaching my shy child that you can 'Do it if you try' and the encouragement and mentoring has helped her truly to become a beautiful little butterfly. I thank the school for encouraging parents to become a part of the children's learning process which for our family provides reassurance to our child that we love and care about her as an individual. I am very proud to belong to such a FANTASTIC school!
—Submitted by a parent

Sand Pine has an incredible combination of dedicated teachers, staff and admininstration. The community really rallies around this great school as it should.
—Submitted by a parent

They worked very hard to keep my special needs child in a regular class room.
—Submitted by a parent

Sand Pine has always made great effort in putting education a priority. Everyone there cares about the kids! The teachers are great! The entire school has made communication with the parents so easy and you can always reach the teachers or staff when needed.
—Submitted by a parent

Sand Pine Elementary is a wonderful school!! My children have grown a great deal due to the awesome administrative and teaching staff. Thank you SPES!
—Submitted by a parent

Sand Pine Elementary School is wonderful!! The staff is great, and my children have excelled and been very happy there for years. Thanks Sand Pine!
—Submitted by a parent

I don't think this is a very well put together school. I sent my children here for 1/2 a year and I took them out because I was so unhappy with it. Most of the teachers are behind in the books that they are supposed to be teaching.
—Submitted by a parent

I have 2 kids at SPES and am very happy. I love the continuous progress. My son would have been extremely bored in the traditional model. Unfortunatly his pod has changed each year, but that is how it was when I was in school. Next year with the new school to ease overcrowding, I look foreward to them having the same pod each year. Any other minor problems will be solved by easing the overcrowding. I love him being around the older kids, and then being the older kid in the group, I think that teaches him how to deal with different kinds of children. Acedemic programs are wonderful, I wish there was more emphasis on sprots/art/music, but I believe that's a state issue not SPES. Overall I could not be happier!
—Submitted by a parent

SPES has been far from what we expected in a public school. The school is one of many in the county which emphasis continuous progress or multi age classrooms. This approach to learning has not worked for our child. It has not offered her the opportunities which she received in the traditional style classroom. It has been a big dissapointment for us as newcomers to the area. We would not have moved in this county had we known that the schools here used this model for teaching. This model does not take into account that if you are at the high end accademically and in one of the upper grades, there is no room for growth. There is also no gifted program offered at this school. Socially this model does not allow for enough exposure for students to peers which are their own age.
—Submitted by a parent

our child is a third-grade pupil at sand pine. It has overall been a positive experience. The problems we notice are not really unique for this particular school, but have to do with growth in this area. Too many students, not enough time spent on individual pupils, things take a while to get done from the administrative level. We also noticed that our child's teachers changed very often, probably too often for our tastes. The curriculum and teaching methods are satisfactory.
—Submitted by a parent

My son is new to this school but so far I am happy with it. The staff seems responsive and capable and there appears to be a great deal of parent involvement at the school. The school utilizes multi age learning groups with classes arranged in 'pods' containing different grades. This is appatrently to allow kids to learn according to their own pace of development. Because my son is in the youngest age in his 'pod' this works great. However, I'm concerned that this approach may hold back the older kids in the pod.
—Submitted by a parent

My children went to Sand Pine for 3 years and it was a great school. They had lots of after-school activities for the students. Overall it is a wonderful school.
—Submitted by a parent