Oak Grove Elementary School

I dislike this school for my son this year. My son is 5 years old and this was his first year in kindergarten. His teacher was excellent but she was overcrowded with 20+ students and had no order for controling some of the children. I would go there to help out and she was overwhelmed with the student:teacher ratio. It was horrible. I felt the school was very much racist. There was not 1 african american student of the month and there was only 1 african american teacher and she was a headstart teacher. I will be removing my son from that school next year.
—Submitted by a parent

We moved from a Cobb County school 2 years ago. I wish we had moved sooner. The teachers are excellent. They really enjoy teaching and my daughter has improved so much. Thank you Oak Grove!
—Submitted by a parent

The staff is amazing! The principal is focused on the continuing growth and improvement of the school, students and teachers. And the principal stays on top of the newest technological learning and teaching tools to help the teachers with organization and creative teaching methods. I have been pleased on every level with Oak Grove.
—Submitted by a parent

WE love Oak Grove elementary. The school is very community oriented and focused on educating with lots of gifted education strategies.
—Submitted by a parent

I have nothing but good things to say about this school. Excellent teachers and librarians that truly seek out great educational experiences. I participated in the mystery reader program and felt the children really took an interest in expanding their reading experiences.

Done with this school. Those of you who love it, great for you. My child is out and in homeschool as of yesterday. The final straw was when this school replaced a needed academic class with some feel good self-esteem nonsense. You might want the school telling your child how they should feel and teaching them ethics but as far as I am concerned those are my job. I have nothing against the teachers and Ms. Holbrook is a wonderful lady. I have serious doubts about some of the administration and the choices they make. People remember back when you were a kid. We learned, we dealt with life and we didn't need some counselor telling us how to cope. I am a Christian and those are the values I will instill in my child. I will not have some government school do it for me!
—Submitted by a parent

Love, love, love this school. My daughter gets bored very easily in class and after an early in the year conference her teachers and I came up with a plan to challenge her more, and they were happy to have my input! The academics are outstanding, the arts are emphasized, and the family-school activities have gotten my 3 year old wanting to go to 'sissy's school because they have fun stuff!' We could not be more pleased.
—Submitted by a parent

The school is too overcrowded, the teachers are great but they belong to a system that it's underpaying them and giving them more and more children in a limited space and with limited resources. After 2 years and a half I took my daughter out of this school, for so many reasons...the biggest one is the curriculum. Children in general need to be challenged; the expectation bar needs to set high enough just in case if the children don't meet the expectation it will be ok. But when the bar is set too low and the children barely pass those CRCT test then we have a big problem. No Children Left Behind is a joke (it's defeating its purpose), I didn't want my daughter to belong to a failing system that stressed so much in score, and in the meantime the kids can't resolve a critical reasoning question.
—Submitted by a parent

Out 3 years in Oak Grove my younger son has only had 1 teacher he didn't care for. Out of 2 years in Oak Grove my older son loved them both. The library staff is super. The office staff usually does an outstanding job with helping me with questions on the phone or in person. Thanks to all of you for your hard work and understanding. The principle is not my favorite person, but the VP ... love him. He listens and truly cares about my kids.
—Submitted by a parent

Oak Grove could use improvement with: Extracurricular Activities for After School Program- ditto sheets to color shouldn't be considered an activity (don't they do enough ditto sheets during school time?) Less overcrowding in each classroom-- especially in the very young grades Better two-way communication with parents I really think that too much emphasis is placed on the No Child Left Behind Tests. I know this is a major problem today existing in many schools, but I think each school could get a little more creative with the approach while being successful. On the positive side: Our family has found most of the office staff to be helpful Teachers are nice We think the lunches are great!
—Submitted by a parent

We have two children at Oak Grove and have been satisfied with the teachers we have had. The AIM teacher is wonderful. Lunches have improved. There is a lack of after school activities for the kids. The office staff can be helpful at times, but the principle is indifferent to complaints and has a bad habit of talking down to parents.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter is currently in her second year at Oak Grove and I have found the teachers absolutely outstanding and she is excelling academically. The library staff is also impressive! Unfortunately the school offers very little extracurricular activities for the younger students so it must be found outside of school and a bit costly. I have observed poor quality lunches and extremely poor behavior/discipline of a monitor in the lunch room repeatedly. I feel the PTA is struggling with to many plans and not enough follow thru. Many parents have been active this year in her class compared to last year which helps so much with the students since kindergarten is the only class with a teachers helper. If I can find the quality of teachers in a private school I will switch in the next year or look into the home schooling that I've found many doing.
—Submitted by a parent

I beleive that 99% of the teachers at Oakgrove do teach because they really enjoy it. But the 1% give Oakgrove the bad rap. My child Has now moved onto Chapman, and the only problem I find is that I do not beleive my daughter was actually ready. Not because she had bad teachers but because her teachers actually were to good and they always gave her diect directions. Now she has to basically be totally responsible for her work, which is a struggle.
—Submitted by a parent

We have thoroughly enjoyed working with our daughter's teacher and her progress during her two years at Oak Grove has been amazing. Several members of the office staff, however, are often rude and show little regard for the concerns of parents. A lesson in customer service would go a log way...
—Submitted by a parent

This school has a poor idea of parent/teacher communication. The aim and extra cirricular teachers are great, but I have not been impressed with any of the classroom teachers my daughter has had. Until we moved to Acworth she loved school. We plan to move soon.
—Submitted by a parent