Centre Ridge Elementary School

Could disagree more with the post submitted on September 4th, 2012! Centre Ridge is a great school - orientation was held in the library where the both the Principal and her assistants introduced themselves. My daughter is in the 2nd grade at Centre Ridge and has attended the school for two years. So far she has had great teachers and the staff is friendly and welcoming. Every orientation they were shirts that say Centre Ridge - the greatest school on earth - I believe that they live that creed through their dedication to the school and the children.
—Submitted by a parent

This is my daughter first year at Centre Ridge. She went a private school and Freedom Hill before. These are excellent schools. So we were very disappointed with orientation day and the first day of school at Centre Ridge. On Orientation Day it was a free for all. No presentation from the principal or teachers. I still dont know who the principal is!! Just a table set up to receive lunch numbers and something. people and kids walking around looking lost. It was a disaster and The first day of school was worse. This school lacks leadership. No planning ahead, organization and structure. I'm looking forward to moving to a better school.
—Submitted by a parent

The school has gone from good to bad in the past three years alone it seems.
—Submitted by a parent

Ms Brady is Awesome!!! Ms young has been retired but there is no match for her. My daughter had her in 4th grade and I wish if she could be there for her in 6th grade too. Ms Roeske 1st grade teacher.. Great teacher.. very loving and encouraging and she helped my daughter learning to read... My son has Ms Cruzan in kindergarten and he loves her.She makes kids involve in their work and do the best they can. New principal Mrs Dias-pareja is Awesome, she is so personally involved in children activities and visits classrooms more often.
—Submitted by a parent

My son goes to Centre Ridge. He's in 2nd Grade now. He loves this school. He was in Centreville last year. He hates that school. His teacher is Mrs.Brady! When I had a confrence with her she was kind,and helpful! Come to this school!
—Submitted by a parent

Centre Ridge is an excellent school with caring teachers, talented administrators, and fabulous staff. We have had nothing but excellent experiences with them, whether in the new student orientations, the student assessment and IEP process, or more informally at various events. They welcome parent participation and promote an educational climate that embraces all students and all their strengths.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is terrible. I am very displeased with the acadimics and plan on moving my children to a diferent school.
—Submitted by a parent

We have been at this school for 6 years, since kindergarten. While the lower grade teachers are excellent and exceed expectations I have to mention that there are a couple in one of the higher grades that leave you questioning disipline tactics, teaching styles and administrator involvement. This year has been the first for us to question the quality of teachers and advocacy for the students. With only one year left I hope to see changes in staff and improvement in the areas of communication with parents. Be warned that while the principal is very visible in the school and outside functions he is a very nonengaging in areas of concern and/or parent questions.
—Submitted by a parent

My son is in kindergarten at this school. We are absolutely thrilled with everything we have encountered. His teachers are fantastic(Ms. Arora/Ms. Cassara). We were apprehensive of putting him in public school because we feared he would land in a class with a poor teacher, but that hasn't even been close to the truth. His teachers are so kind, so warm, so engaging for him. Our son is ahead in most areas, so the teachers have found activities to supplement the regular curriculum and keep him interested. We have no complaints about the school itself. We have had minimal dealings with anyone outside of his classroom, but the GT teacher was very attentive, and the office staff has always been helpful. We had been planning on moving prior to our son entering 1st grade in the 2008-09 school year, but have decided against it based on this school.
—Submitted by a parent

My son attends kindergarten. I was at first apprehensive about him attending public school (he attended Montessori), but with all of the information, open houses, and meeting with his teacher (Ms. Cagle/Mr. Stallworth are fantastic) I felt comfortable with my decision. There is a feeling of success balanced with community and teamwork at this school. They are always rewarding good behavior (Ram program) and have many educational and fun events from holiday faculty revues, bingo, firefighter/police visits, Pocahontas, etc. What I also appreciate is that you are in the know. Newsletters are sent home weekly and offer what they learned that week, what to expect for homework, etc. I'm hands-on, & I like that I can arrange time to spend reading to the class or just having lunch with my boy. I only hope that this school will soon be part of the foreign language immersion program. Other than that--A+
—Submitted by a parent

This is our second year at Centre Ridge - both under the new principal. I have been extremely pleased with the talent, professionalism and availability of the teachers, especially our first grade teacher. We were given extra help in reading when I requested it. The office is staff is generally friendly, but a little distant as I am a working parent and not 'known' widely around the school outside of our teacher. I am pleased with the school wide respect program. For second grade we have 20 min of reading a night plus a weekly packet that for us works out to be about another 20-30 mins a night - more if we have a week night activity that prevents us from doing more than reading on that night. Homework is math worksheets, and spelling activities. Music, Art and PE in curriculum as well. I am pleased.
—Submitted by a parent

The teachers are wonderful and utilize various means to teach their subjects. Band is taught once a week and my son has really enjoyed learning to play an instrument. After school sports are provided by SYA, but many children participate so weekends can be very busy. Parents volunteer in many ways around the school and teachers are always happy for the extra help or the kind thought.
—Submitted by a parent

My son attended this school before our ove within Ffx County. If you are not a part of the 'click' your child will suffer. Also, if you are a working mother be prepared to feel excluded from updates, etc.
—Submitted by a parent

My son is finishing first grade at Centre Ridge. I find that their disciplinary tactics can be extreme and insensitive. Many times my son has complained that his class gets in trouble as a whole, when he has done nothing wrong. Another reviewer states something to the effect that 'You get in trouble no matter what you do.' So true. The bright side of this approach is that they don't seem to have the problem with bullies that other schools have; I respect them for taking bullying very seriously. Also, my son is a bright kid, and I feel that their curriculum is 'one size fits all' and that they don't do a lot of differentiation for kids with different abilities. There seems to be a real focus on worksheets, not so much on developmentally appropriate and engaging projects.
—Submitted by a parent

Centre Ridge is a safe, wonderful learning environment that set high academic and social expectations. I've had extremely positive interactions with the administration, office staff and teachers. I'm proud to be a part of such a wonderful learning community!
—Submitted by a parent

My daughters attended Centre Ridge '02-'03 and '03-'04 school year before moving out of state. Great teachers; Ms. Cruzan(K), Miss Mock(1st), Mrs. Brady(2nd) and Mrs. MatthewsWall(3rd). The only down side, SOL testing which is mandated by the state so it regulates the lesson plans from time to time. (Thank our President for that). The Administration is wonderful too. No complaints, except my girls didn't want to leave when we had to move to Austin, TX.
—Submitted by Tia Birt, a parent

My son is begining 2 grade,the principals and the teachers are great, especially in kindergarten. They have a great ideas and activities in the classroom. There are fun and great activities, and the parents and their families can share. I happy with the school.
—Submitted by a parent

I'm very unhappy with this school, the teachers and the principals. My 3rd grader comes home with 2 hours of homework a night, some of the homework is ridiculous, Economics, a little much. Recently my Son has been put in special ed, this was supposed to ease his schedule a little and help him, instead this is creating more work, he's being pulled out of his normal class during math and missing it, his teacher then makes him stay in for recess or miss other fun activities to make up what he's missed. He's very upset which is very understandable and really starting to hate school. My oldest child is in 6th grade, he's really learned a lot this year, he's learned that doing the right thing, such as telling on someone for hitting him and not hitting him back gets him in trouble anyway, he's also learned that there is no such thing as self defense, when someone one is beating you up and you defend yourself you get in trouble too. This school has really done a lot for my children and taught them so much, no matter what you do you get in trouble and when you're having problems and receive extra help you're punished for missing class and miss recess and other fun activities to make up the work. I rated parent involvement so high because the homework is so extreme you have to pretty much do it for your children. The teachers, principals and county should be ashamed of themselves. Be talking to you soon School Board.