Indian Land Elementary School

Love Indian Land Elementary. We moved here 3 years ago when our son was in 1st and now he's in 4th and have another in 1st. They have learned so much. This school is way ahead of the school that we came from. Also love that it's a uniform school and they are very big on manners. They teach them to be respectful. It's more than teaching to a standardized test! Would highly recommend to anyone.
--Submitted by a teacher

We moved to Indian Land last spring, after looking at school statistics and reading reviews here and other places I felt confident, yet as the year goes on I feel as if I am in a parallel universe or something because our experience at this elementary school has been anything but excellent. I was surprised considering the children are told to follow the warrior way yet teachers, office staff and including the principal are far from setting any kind of exemplary standard of kindness, welcome or consideration. From the day of registration, to the open house parent night neither teacher nor principal was interested in making my child feel welcome to the new environment. The Principal is the most unprofessional person I have ever witnessed from owning a FB page where she chats with certain parents, to screaming at children, to allowing office staff to be rude. The screaming at children to intimidate, and I do mean screaming, is what I have the most trouble with, nationally we are teaching the kids not to bully and intimidate, yet she can? Lead by example I think not, not in this case. Some warrior way...
--Submitted by a parent

My son was a transfer student from a great school in FM. Being the new kid is hard enough without having a stiff uniform policy to follow & not understanding why wearing your jacket on a chilly day is a big deal! Then you have not 1 but 2 new teachers to get used to, 1 of which was very unwelcoming & didn't even try to hide that from me or my child! On top of all that, the other students were also less than welcoming & he would go weeks without "friends" to play with on the playground & just flat out felt unaccepted. The office staff was rude at times & the teachers that he had have NO CLUE what parent/teacher communication is. Even at my conference there were concerns of mine mentioned & they said that they would "take care of it" & none of my concerns were taken care of until weeks later when I called to complain about them not being looked into. I asked for weekly emails when we first transferred to the school since he was having trouble adjusting & that NEVER happened once! Pure laziness if you ask me. So glad he's not there anymore. He is now in a WAY better school in a different state & happier now than I ever saw during his time at ILES! Horrible, horrible school!
--Submitted by a parent

I do not like this school and is hoping to sell my home soon so we an get our children out of this school. Coming from out of state, this school is subpar academically and I wish Id known this before enrollling my kids here. They seem to be too focused the wrong things like making sure the clothes dont have logos on them and giving far too many projects that dont seem to have any relevance to what they are learning. I feel bad that they have to attend here. We outta here in searh of better schools!!!
--Submitted by a parent

I have had children in the IL schools for 11 years, with my youngest now in second grade. While not every year has been carefree, anyone who believes that you will not have some issue with one of your children's teachers within their school career is not being realistic. ILES is run as a tight ship, the children are required to be respectful and well behaved or they will face consequences. I LOVE that! And for those who have issues with not being able to send junk food for your kid to snack on during the day, try to understand that your child's teacher doesn't want your child sugared up to sit and try to learn. How anyone has a problem with this is beyond me, you should praise the school for caring about your child enough to not allow them to eat garbage! Look around, huge obesity issue in the U.S., take some responsibility. As for questioning the education, you get back what you invest. My oldest is currently in a US military academy, which has the highest acceptance standards around. ILES is not a "everyone is a winner, fluffy, feel good school," but to claim that they don't provide a great opportunity for education is patently incorrect.
--Submitted by a parent

Anything I was concerned about with the classroom was handled in a timely fashion and with respect. The only thing I do not agree with is this healthy snack only, it's a snack not a fast food meal! We are a Uniform wearing, CLEAR water bottle only, & no peanut butter school. I would like to let anyone who is coming into this district to know that the BUS TRANSPORTATION is TERRIBLE! You can complain every day but why waste your time. Nothing gets done. There is no site available to find out about their bus transportation statistics ex:/ accidents, reports, driver capabilities ect. I depend on the bus to get my child to school safely and on time. The bus driver hit my neighbors large brick mailbox and then left! The yellow/orange paint still on the mailbox, no cb from transporttion dept so she called the Police and filed a complaint. The next day she got her call back from tranportation then and was told not to get the police involved. Nothing was done here either. This was just one of the recent major problems with the bus company. Every school has down falls or something that a group of parents doesn't agree with. Remember that you choose the school not the other way around.
--Submitted by a parent

I'm prompted to write a review because I'm truly suprised at the amount of good feedback I'm reading. I wouldn't call this school bad, nor do I think it's in a poor area as one of the other reviews stated... but I do feel like there is a serious lack of common courtesy from the staff here. Every year I become less impressed with the faculty. The first year she attended, my 5 year old was released into a gym full of strangers after a christmas concert instead of being taken back to her classroom to meet with her parents like we were originally told, then we get a joking email from the principal to inform us of a fire at the school (not funny if you ask me), then I get strict guidelines about what i can/cannot send for my child's snack time...and the teacher's are told not to allow my child to eat it if I send in cookies? what kid doesnt eat cookies?? oh and lets not forget when they told my child that she could bring in money for her best friend pictures late due to the fact that she was sick in the hospital, but then when she brought it in....they refused to accept it. Luckily her dad straightened it out, but not before they stood and stared at my crying child. Ugh...
--Submitted by a parent

Our kids have been at ILES for 3 years. We have been incredibly impressed with the teachers, the special learning opportunities offered, and the administrative leadership. I am continually amazed by the fact that our principal knows all 1200+ kids by name. Both of our children are thriving in school, thanks to Indian Land Elementary.
--Submitted by a parent

LOVE the school! We have been here for six school years and have experienced a child in each grade. There has always been great open communication between teachers & parents and administration & parents. Even the janiorial staff bears mentioning as they keep the school clean and the floors shined every day. It's a pleasure to walk through the school and see the kids work on the walls and the decked out in themes. The strong PTA is a bonus here as well. The dress code is a great idea; we like the dress down days and only can hope and pray that ILHS will adopt a stricter dress code someday soon. It is evident that the staff at ILES try very hard to be the best school it can be!
--Submitted by a parent

We transferred in from a private school where our son excelled to a grade level higher than public school, however tuition became rediculously expensive. Our family has been well supported during the transition. The principal, assistants and teachers have bent over backwards for us and still do - it's not special treatment, it's the way they run the school. Principals Blum and Blacknall run a tight ship so we have no worries about bullying, teasing etc and have peace of mind that each student is supported, nurtured, guided and recognized for their accomplishments. In a school with such a diverse student body we appreciate the community and acceptance the leadership instills. Communication far exceeded our expectations and still does. Our child now returns home happy instead of exhausted and stressed, has an appropriate work load and remains on the honor roll. He has more opportunities for growth, a greater range of students with varied backgrounds that he has become friends with and is a very well-rounded child. This school has far exceeded our expectations and discussions of returning to private education have been tabled for the foreseeable future. Please, no further budget cuts!
--Submitted by a parent