Ella Dolhonde Elementary School

Last year was my son first year at Dolhone as a second grader, the school he attended prior to Dolhonde was Bridgedale. I intentionally moved out of Bridgedale district because my husband and I had to many negative encounters with his teachers and the principle. Through out the entire year of Kinder and 1st grades they threaten to keep him back. They were not patient with him, all they wanted to do was lable him as a special ed student but when the test results came back his scores were too high to be considered special ed. But Dolhone teachers and staff were patient and his teacher and I kept close contact with updates on how he was doing through out the year. He even made honor roll. This school also offers a free after school program called 21st Century that helps the children with school work, they read, play games, do arts and crafts etc.... My son will finish elementary here at Dolhonde.
—Submitted by a parent

Both of my daughters love going to this school. If you get involved with your kids school, teachers, etc... Things will be differant and then they know what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. Parents.......get involved.
—Submitted by a parent

I rate the special ed dept, one of the best in the school system. You are not going to find more caring professionals anywhere else. My daughter has been with Ms. Teri and Mr. George for 5 years and I cannot sing their praises enough. They are always going to conferences and seminars to learn more about autisim and how to help their students afflicted with this horrible disorder. All of the para educators are wonderful too!! Anyone who has a child with Autisim would being doing their child a tremendous disservice by not looking into the Autistic class at Ella Dolhonde.
—Submitted by a parent

The special education department is the best. Ms. Teri and Mr. George are the best there are. They have done a wonderful job with the autistic children. I have visited the classroom on several occassions and have been impressed by the activities, and amount of assistance in the classroom. Mr. Moscona is a great principal. He has makes it a point to say hello to all of the children he encounters on any given day. The entire staff (regular education, special education, child care, cafeteria and housekeeping) have always (when crossing my path) made it a point to say hello to me and my child. Kudos Ella Dolhonde, Keep up the wonderful job!!!
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter is in 2nd grade and was at this school in 1st. They literally shoved her through 1st and when I tried to have her held back they talked me out of it. They do not want to help children that need help and I plan to take my child out of this school. The teachers will not call back, they don't pay attention to whether or not the parent signs behavior reports, tests, etc. This is a horrible school and I believe someone needs to be running it. The principal does not call back or answer phone calls either.
—Submitted by Jennifer Powell, a parent

My daughter came to this school in the middle of the year.I must say I have never encountered such a horrible academic leadership problem .Nobody really cares at this school it hurt my heart to find out this school ranks number 2 on worst shools list.I am trying to make a way for my baby to not return this school year but its hard because this is her district school I am not happy with nothing about this school.
—Submitted by a parent

I have two grandchildren who attend and I am extremely dissappointed with the overall quality with which the school is run. I attended several field trips with my youngest grandchild and while the initial part of the trip was fun and entertaining the remainder of each trip was spent at a neighborhood park. The teachers 'sat' at a small table near the entrance to the play yard. They were not able to see what 60-70 little children were doing and did not get up at all to check on them. The lack of supervision was scary. Teacher-student ratio is to high for the skill level of some of them to properly maintain a good study atmosphere. I am hopeful things will improve.
—Submitted by a parent

My child has been going to this school since 2nd grade &up until 4th, everything was great. Now,I feel everything is falling apart. The thing that upsets me the most is the fact that when one of the teachers has to be out, they apparently have a 'substitute teacher problem' & just have the other two teachers check in at different times on the class that has no teacher. This is not acceptable to me. Anything could happen if no one is watching these children at all times but also there are those of us who depend on these teachers for 504 acomodations. How can they accomodate our children if no one is there? Then if the kids get rambunctious, they want to give them punish work. If a teacher cannot be in the class, then the principal, secretary,lunch person,or someone could be found to watch our children.
—Submitted by an administrator

This is absolutely the worst school when it comes to discipline and consistency. When I have tried to resolve matters the principal avoids my phone calls. I have heard other parents say the same as well. My son was asked to leave this school. He is now on the principals list at his current school and has received awards for good behavior. A good school can make a difference!
—Submitted by a parent

My chidren have attend Ella Dohlonde for the last 3 years. I love the caring of the teachers and Mr. Moscona. My 5th grader who is a diabetic really gets attention from Mr. Moscona and from his teachers.
—Submitted by Melissa Aguilar, a parent

I concur with the previous parent. During the 4 years that my mild mannered child attended this school, he was physically attacked by other students on more than seven occasions (minor incidents (2 with blood), but still tramatic). The principal would not return my calls or acknowledge the letters that I written to him about the incidents. I was never made aware of any resolution or discipline. Several of the teachers are impatient with the children. I had one teacher threaten me with the suspension of my child if I (me, not my child) did not apologize for an act he DID NOT commit. A large part of the year is DEDICATED to review of the LEAP and IOWA testing. There are several excellent teachers at this school, but the leadership is indifferent to the parents.
—Submitted by a parent

Ella Delhonde is the worst operated school I have ever encountered. The principal avoids speaking to parents when there is a problem. I called on many occasions and never received a return phone call. A friend of mine that has a child there had to go to the school board to get some action for a seriuos matter. My experience on field trips with the teachers was a joke. The teachers were not involved with the kids, they let them run wild while the teachers sat down and talked.
—Submitted by a parent

I had 3 children in Ella Dolhonde and I cannot stop singing its praises. I experienced and saw how the teachers of this school lavished individual attention and interacted with the children in their classes. I felt extremely sorry when I relocated to another state and my children had to leave this school.
—Submitted by a parent