Felida Elementary School

If you want your child to be told how to think, watch TV during school hours and be in a military-like environment, send them to Felida Elementary. How can you teach a child the importance of good eating habits when you only allow them 5-10 minutes to eat their lunch while listening to a teacher who yells in a microphone to "entertain" them! The principal is way too rigid and she showed me very little respect when I tried to address a few recurring problems I had with a teacher. I could go on with everything that I hated about that school but what really brought me to withdraw my children from Felida (after only 3 weeks of attendance!), was a security issue: my 1st grade daughter was missing one day when I went to pick her up at the curb as usual! It took 15 minutes to find her! The scariest part of it was that her teacher hadn't even noticed her absence until I went to ask her where my daughter was! Same thing happened with my 2nd grade daughter who ended up left alone waiting for me to pick her up at the curb after I had promptly left notices to both her teacher and the office to specify that she was going to an after-school activities that day. Enough said...
--Submitted by a parent

Last year I would have given this school 5 stars. This year they have a new principal that I feel is not their for ALL the kids. In my opinion she helps some, but just doesnt want to deal with others. I have a child with an issue this year, and instead of being on his team and get through the situation, she just cast him out to another school, for them to "deal" with him. Apparently if your child has a learning disability, do not attend Felida with this Principal. Other than that, most of the teachers are pretty good - some better than others.
--Submitted by a parent

I am a single parent. Luckily my ex and I communicate all of our childs activities to each other. I don't want him to miss out on anything. That said, I have found that the website is exceptional for keeping tabs on what is going on at the school. At least at this school they have someone web savvy enough to do so. The last school my child attended only updated their website yearly. You can also request to see your childs grade progress by asking for a login. Like one of the responses said, "it isn't the schools fault my daughter's parents couldn't live together anymore". Snobby? Possibly a little. And there is no room for that kind of attitude in a school. As far as I am concerned, as a taxpayer, they work for me and my child and their attitudes should be nothing more than helpful.
--Submitted by a parent

As I single parent, I have to sharply dispute the two 2008 reviews here. I'm sorry to hear of their experiences, but they do not at all agree with mine. Both I and my ex receive invitations to all events. The only hitch we run into is that many notifications come as part of a 'parent pack' on Fridays. Unfortunately, this can mean that whichever parent got her that Friday is the one that got the notice. The only way around this would be limiting notification to email (but not everyone has email) or USPS (and that gets very expensive). It is not the school's fault that my daughter's parents couldn't live together anymore, and, while I expect them to make *reasonable* accommodations, they only have just so much budget or time. I have not found any of my single parent or dual home hassles to be due to school attitude.
--Submitted by a parent

Thank you last parent for speaking out! I too, found this school to be non-compliant with a 2 house-hold family. I felt so left out as a father! It was sad when I saw my son, that I did not know of what was going on for his school did not supply 2 copies of the agenda. I would agree the staff is selective with whom they will speak with and why they would acknowledge them. I would research the schools in your area.
--Submitted by a parent

Felida is a very snobby school that the staff and teachers decide if they would like to relay info to you or not! My experience is very low of parent/teacher/principle interaction. Single parents beware of being accepted and recognized!
--Submitted by a parent

One of the nicest schools in Vancouver. Very active PTA and parents that really get involved!
--Submitted by a parent

Felida is a great school.
--Submitted by a parent

I'm a little confused by the one star rating for student/teacher ratio, my daughter is in the first grade and there are only 20 children in the class, that is a wonderful class size, so I'm not sure that this site has up to date and correct info, Felida is a wonderful school, with a lot of parental involvement, and a terrific principal. ''
--Submitted by melissa, a parent

I love Felida Elementary, the teachers teach the students so well. And they have fun as they teach. Even the students have fun learning because the teachers actually care about each and every student, even the ones that aren't in thier class.
--Submitted by a former student