Laura Ingalls Wilder

I also had high hopes for the school because of the amount of taxes we pay to live here. This is our second year. The first year was good, but 1st grade has been anything but good. Teachers do not seem to care about the students here. The work ethic of the teachers if horrible. My kid always has at least one teacher absent once a week. The classwork seems to not even be challenging for my kid and parent involvement is very low if you are not in the class where all the PTO kids are. The new principal is nice, but she has a big job to do here in order to turn this school around.
—Submitted by a parent

I find it interesting to read some of the negative reviews Wilder has received. Many of them seem to be based on the traffic situation or 1 experience with a teacher. I get the feeling that those parents simply got mad and used this website to vent. I am a parent of a student at Wilder and I am THRILLED that the CITY finally changed the traffic situation to make it safer for the students. The request came from parents and was supported by the city, so why is the school getting the blame? How would you expect a school to safely release over 800 kids at dismissal when most of them are picked up in a car. It is going to take time, especially when many parents don't play by the rules or follow the procedures set. Student safety is obviously their main concern, so I encourage other parents to take those complaints with a grain of salt. They are not seeing the big picture. Student safety should NEVER be sacrificed to save a parent a few minutes. In addition, I think that the teachers at Wilder care about their students and put their education first. The curriculum and teaching is challenging, engaging, and effective- just as it should be! They have the test scores to prove it!
—Submitted by a parent

High hopes turn to disappointment. Most of my daily frustrations are a direct result of this school. In order to avoid the long lines at drop-off and keep them from being tardy we have to leave the house by 7:30 (we live 1.5 miles away). You can easily spend 30 minutes after school in the pick up line. Traffic near start/stop of school is horrible and dangerous. But worst of all I find their tone with parents to be inappropriate. I recently received a letter from the school threatening me with legal action and fines and a summons to meet with the vice principal. My children had missed 6 days in 5 months. At least 30 other parents were summoned to the meeting, and what I took away from it was 1) the office/teaches/staff don't know what they are doing or who does what 2) they are more concerned with making sure they get their funding than the are with teaching, and 3) they think they know what is better for my child than I do as their parent. They would rather children miss school to attend a funeral or be in the hospital (excused) than making memories with living people (unexcused) they may never see again. I find their policy unsupportive of families. We won't be returning.
—Submitted by a parent

Horrible parking situation! It's a extremely small school with only one parking lot. But it's only for teachers and staff! And even though the lot is only half full at all times the parents have to park 3 football fields away from the school just to pick up or drop off the students. Also I visited my daughter for lunch today and was mortified at the food they served the kids! My daughter opened her sandwich and it was literally frozen with ice on the meat! I took her sandwich into the kitchen and asked for it to be heated up so it was edible and the staff had a horrible attitude and when I brought the heated sandwich back I noticed the entire class had not eaten their frozen sandwiches and they all threw them away! I think parents need to know what type of food this school thinks is okay to serve our kids. Laziness is the only reason I can think of that they wouldn't warm up the kids sandwiches. My daughter was still hungry after lunch! Horrible!
—Submitted by a parent

I really love this school. The principals and staff are great. The students are so happy to be there and you can tell that the teachers enjoy their jobs.
—Submitted by a parent

I see parents stating this is a great school if 39% of the teachers have less then a year of experience. My daughter is on 3rd grade goes to this school and every day she is sad and doesn't want to go to school anymore. I send message to the teacher she never follows up. I received a a list of sight words and started working with my daughter. Couple of days later I received her report showing that grade including the wight words. I wrote a note to the teacher for her to be kind and send me the list in advance so my daughter could practice. As a result, I never received a response. I've tried conference with the principal andnobody returned to my call.
—Submitted by a parent

This school has amazing staff and are very welcoming. I'm not sure what happened to the parents that submitted negative reviews. They could not be further from the truth. The teachers at Wilder are very friendly and accommodating to student needs. The climate is invigorating! The best part about this school is that they are NOT TAKS driven. Check out their commended percentages! That tells you more about a school than their rating.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter went to this school for 2 years & absolutely hated it. My son goes to the elementary school right down the street & you can see an immense difference in how the principals run the school, how the staff conduct themselves, & how the teachers communicate with the parents. The staff is rude @ Wilder, esp @ the front desk (the attendance official). It was a huge disappointment to see my daughter dreading to go to school everyday. She now goes to Corbett Jr. High & loves it.
—Submitted by a parent

I must say that I completely disagree with the last review....Wilder is extremely community oriented and so many parents are in the school daily volunteering and taking an active part in their students' education. We now have a second child at Wilder and feel that our children are receiving the best possible education around! The teachers go above and beyond to help their students excel, and Wilder does so much more than minimum requirements. Administration at this school is remarkable and very visible each and every day. In fact, you will probably see the Assistant Principal and/or Principal waving to cars in the morning, greeting students on a daily basis, and in and out of classrooms. A day doesn't go by that I haven't seen the office out and about within the school. Wilder also offers so many after school activities for students to participate in! We love Wilder!
—Submitted by a parent

Wilder is a terrible school. It is not a family or community oriented school. There are no opportunites to voluteer unless you want to do it through the PTO. Communication is lacking. We never have any idea what our children are doing in school. We have to schedule regular parent teacher conferences just to get updates on what our children are doing. The teachers are cold and uncaring and the principal seems to always be "hiding". She is not a visible presence in the school. Also, the students have to adhere to a very strict district mandated dress code, but the teachers and administrators do not dress professionally. It pains us to send our kids to a school that only seems to strive to meet the minimum requirements for academics. Every child should be pushed to excel and not just avoid being left behind. You won't get that from Wilder,
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter is doing well at Wilder. She loves to learn. However she is disappointed this year due to the replacement of her art teacher. I believe Art should be fun and tap into a child most creative senses. Since the replacement she no longer wakes up happy to have a day that includes art class. She dreads art due to the harsh and unfriendly spirit of the new teacher. We as parents have also noticed that bulling is not addresses on a regular basis. I think the wilder staff needs to educate and enforce a zero tolerance policy for children that bully. Parents should be notified and children with a tendency to bully should be separated until the behavior is redirected. The days of boys will be boys and kids will be kids are 'long gone. Children should be able to feel safe in their leaning environment.
—Submitted by a parent

As a former educator, I have been very impressed with Wilder Elementary School. The teachers and administrators are exceptional, and the school climate is that of happy students who are eager to learn. Wilder does a great job of offering extracurricular opportunities after school in addition to the art, music, and physical education programs that students participate in during the school day. Many parents are involved at Wilder by volunteering in the classrooms, participating in the PTO, etc. But most importantly, my child is happy there, so I am a happy parent!
—Submitted by a parent

The faculty is attentive to the student's needs and addresses parent's concerns in a professional and timely manner.
—Submitted by a parent

We transfered from Mary Marek to Wilder last school year. My kids grades have dropped drastically. Their reading level is lower. I have to do more teaching at home. I have enrolled my kids in a reading program this summer, because I was not satisfied with their low grades. My kids had to spend their summer learning what they didn't in the past school year. They went from high grade levels since kindergarten to average since we have been at Wilder. The school ratings are not making me feel any more comfortable about this school either.
—Submitted by a parent

This shool is great my 2 kids love this school I love it too.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is awesome , the principal is very good as well as the teachers . My son said , he learned so quick because his teachers are so supportive and very nice and that makes a successful learning environment . Im so glad, I found this school
—Submitted by a parent

Wow! Wilder had a great first year and we can't wait for year 2! The principals, teachers, and office are all so positive, welcoming, and enthusiastic. Administration is easy to talk to and really gets things done. We love that everything about the school is centered about the students learning and academics and not necessarily the tests, which is a huge plus these days! Thank you Wilder Elementary!
—Submitted by a parent

As a teacher myself, I can see the difference between old-fashioned book-and-worksheet teaching and authentic, research-based learning. Wilder staff seem to favor the authentic brand of teaching. I am excited about this school and its presence in Shadow Creek. Modern facility, modern thinking, authentic learning. This is a quality school. Being brand new, the staff has handled the issues of organizing the place as well as it could be done, and things seem to be running smoothly. Kudos to Wilder for taking on such a challenge. Keep up the good work!
—Submitted by a parent

My child is in kindergarten and for this grade level the bar seems to be set very low. The curriculum seems to cater to the lowest common denominator. There is no challenge. After the first nine weeks the children only have to be able to count to five and know nine letter sounds. Phonics, arithmetic and science have yet to be introduced. My son is very bright and has so much learning potential, but so far he has not been taught any new skills or subject matter. The school itself is modern, but that does not make up for the fact that the education is lacking. Also, the dismissal process is messy at best. There are no procedures in place that insure that the children get home safely. Based on our experiences so far I could not recommend this school.
—Submitted by a parent

I think considering the fact that the school has only been open a few months, they're doing a wonderful job. The school is beautiful, the teachers are not only nice but seem to be doing a great job of teaching to the levels the students are ready for rather than teaching down to district standards. I feel very lucky to be zoned to such a great school. We still have a long way to go, but it'll be fun getting there together with the other parents.
—Submitted by Sandy McQueen, a parent