Orchard View Elementary School

The school is pretty new and clean, but poorly designed. It's in the shape of a wheel, with each grade in a spoke. The grades are separated from each other and there is very little interaction between them. The library, art room, music room, etc… are in the middle of the wheel. The library is so small that students are only allowed access once a week, when the class is scheduled to go. They can't go there at any other time. The volume of books is too small because of the size of the library. The ridiculous thing is that each new elementary school they build has this same design. The music program is shameful. The students are uninspired and bored. The teacher is incompetent. He should have been fired long ago. The arts program is average. There is a gifted student program, but only for 1 hour a week. A couple of the gym teachers lean towards a bully mentality. I hear poor grammar more often than not from most of the ancillary staff, including those who answer the phone and greet people when they enter the school. There are some very good teachers and some terrible teachers, probably like most schools. But, the emphasis at this school is not academics. The emphasis is on following the rules. The leadership at this school has earned a reputation of being inflexible and unyielding – I have heard this from the staff at other schools, even from people who work in other school districts, as well as from other parents. There is some parent involvement, but I wouldn't call it parent-friendly. So if you are a parent who only thinks inside the box, who prefers strict adherance to rules and regulations, whose idea of educating is to teach children to conform, and who would never dream of questioning authority, then you will like Orchard View. However, if you set the bar a little higher, do yourself a favor and send your children elsewhere. I know I will next year.

As a former student of Orchard View, I feel that I can give a very accurate description of the way this school is run. I only went there for the second half of my 5th grade year, but that was enough for me to get a pretty clear picture. This place is all about control; whereas at the school I had gone to previously, I was able to go tell my brother in a different grade when I was going to stay after school, it was considered outrageous that I would even request to do such a thing at Orchard View. At my old school, I could ask to go the the library after I was done with an assignment, but here, it is restricted to once a week. Growth is not encouraged here- structure is. In art class at my old school, we used real clay and real art technniques from kindergarden on; here, even in the 5th grade, our supplies were so limited that I learned absolutely nothing new. We couldn't even use real clay- we used "Model Magic", a styrofoam-like molding medium made by Crayola. As a violin student from 5 years old, even I could tell that the music program was terrible. Even the academics were substanderd- I never studied once, and still got the highest grade on the math SOL. That should be saying something, seeing as how the curriculum is based almost solely on the SOLs. The mentality was if it's not likely to be on the SOL, then it's not worth learning. I think that is why they didn't emphasize the music and art programs. The school itself is new and clean, about as sterile and white and deviod of creativity as the curriculum. There were some terrible teachers and some very good teachers. My 5th grade teacher was very good; she seemed to find ways around the control. In spite of that, it was still hard for me to conform to their endless, pointless rules. The faculty is exceedingly unfriendly. I'm not allowed to go in and sign my little sister out after school. The level of control is unnecessary and it hold back creativity and growth. I was jsut glad when i got out of that place.

After what I have seen on here in the reviews from this school and what my family has endured........ It all makes sense now. This school is NOT a place we enjoy our children attending. They are rude in the office, they lack book keeping skills. There is NO communication with office or teachers! This school is ridculous! And petty!