Havelock Elementary School

On the final leg of finishing my third year of having a child in this school. Third principal in three years, but each one has been a step in the right direction. Current principal is excellent, the kids all know and love her and vice versa. Don't want that to sound overblown, but they had a contest this year and one of the prizes was lunch with the principal. Wouldn't have been a motivator at any school I ever attended, but her influence is a strong positive. This school really feels like it is on the way up and I look forward to seeing how it continues to improve in the future. I have found the teachers and staff to be very accommodating to our requests for explanations or other assistance with getting my children the education they require. I've heard varied feedback about the other teachers in the school, but I found the ones teaching my kids to be first rate. Amount of homework seems to be fine. Year round calendar here, which has pluses and minuses. Minuses are multiplied if you have kids attending the local Middle or High Schools on a traditional calendar. For some reason ($?) busing is never efficient; they ride the bus an hour when we can drive there in 10-15 mins.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter has attended this school for two years (K-1st) and we have had some small issues with the school but it was solved very quickly with parent-teacher conferences. I think that the teachers are really receptive to the parents and try and come up with solutions that best suit the child. The principal is very personable and the office staff seem to know every child who comes in there. Overall, I have been happy with the way that this school operates and my child is happy to go to this school.
--Submitted by a parent

I am a former student and 3 yrs ago, when I went there, they had great test results, excellent teachers, and satisfactory tests. I never had a bully in the 6 yrs I was there.

HES is a WONDERFUL school with Caring administration who is ALWAYS willing to listen and help the parents and teachers the same, seems most parents dont want to even attempt to speak to the administration when there is a prob just would rather bad mouth HES (very sad really). As in all schools there may be a teacher or two who is a little tougher but all in all most kids need a lot of structure at the same time fun in learning, we have 2 now and are excited for our 3rd to start next year. Great school! Would recommend it to anyone!
--Submitted by a parent

This school is terrible and unsatisfactory. 1. the students are not aloud to talk at lunch. 2. the teachers are so mean i can't volunteer there any more. 3. the kids say bad words. 4. a kid is always in iss ( in school suspention )5. the test scores are really low. 6. the school is dirty the janitors don't do ther job. Not a happy environment
--Submitted by a parent

This school is horrible! They don't care about the children or making sure they receive a good education. All they care about is doing whatever it takes to get the school itself out of it's failing status with the state - to the detriment of the students and actual learning. Teachers have meltowns to and in front of their students and say horrible things as generalized statements to these young kids grouping them as a whole instead of dealing with individuals one-on-one. And they never to appologize to the students they've hurt. This school is also notorious for making large decisions that greatly impact students (i.e.- deciding to have the 3rd-5th grades start changing classes like they do in middle and high schols) without notice or talking to the parents before hand - they don't even notify parents of theses changes until after they've implimented them for a week or more!
--Submitted by a parent

Havelock is a failing school. Right now they are offering free tutoring services from centers such as Sylvan, to try to place the school at an appropriate performing level. Both my children came home complaining about how boring and easy their schoolwork was a Havelock Elementary. This is coming from children who have obtained the highest scores in California STAR tests and won Presidential and Congress Awards. A school should accomodate the needs of gifted students. Another issue with Havelock is the violence and racial slurs that many of the kids use at school. My children have been to many different schools because of my husband's occupation, and it is the first time that I have seen this lack of respect for others. I am happy that my children are not attending Havelock Elementary anymore.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter has attended Havelock Elementary for 2 years and I am really happy with the instruction at the school. After a rough start, my concerns were heard by both the Teacher and the Principal. I feel that if you are involved in your child's education and address your concerns with the adminstration and staff then your child will excel. As for Havelock being a failing school, I disagree with the assessment. If you look at all the testing data, broken out by subgroups, you will see that some subgroups are scoring high marks and then some subgroups are bringing down the overall score. Havelock is working with those students to bring up their overall scores. The only reason I didn't give Havelock 6 stars was due to the classroom size, 20+ students per teacher is to high...17 would be perfect.
--Submitted by a parent

I am very dissapointed in how some children are singled out and picked on not only by the other children in the school but the staff and the adminstration is not helping at all.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter has attended HES for almost two years. So far it has been a very postitive experience. The teachers are very nice and provide a creative learning environment. On the downside, the uniform policy is a little strict. Considering the location of the school, there are not alot of merchandisers that carry the collared shirts required by the policy. I often have to travel outside Craven county to find them. Last year the policy was a little relaxed and allowed the students to wear white or navy shirts, but did not enforce the collar policy. This year it has changed and finding these shirts is very, very difficult.
--Submitted by a parent