Willow Drive Elementary-Sumter,SC (Dalzell, Oakland: home, transfer, neighborhood)

[missnatural01]

We recently moved to Sumter, SC and learned that our children are zoned for Willow Drive Elementary . Can someone give me opinions on that school? From what I have seen on the District 17 report cards page it doesn't look as if any of the schools here are doing very well. Willow looks to be near the bottom of that list too. So, please, I need to hear from people whose children, relatives, or acquaintances, attend/have attended Willow Drive. I would appreciate any insight greatly. My children would be attending 1st and 3rd grade.

Thanks

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

I knew people who attended Willow... but that was nearly a decade ago. At the time, it was one of the better schools in the district. Then again, things have apparently changed since then.

[missnatural01]

Originally Posted by CarolinaBredChicagoan

I knew people who attended Willow... but that was nearly a decade ago. At the time, it was one of the better schools in the district. Then again, things have apparently changed since then.

Thanks for your reply. After speaking with a few neighbors, I found that most of them put their children in Alice Drive. So, I contacted the district 17 office to try to find out about enroling my children in ADE. However, It seems since open enrollment was in March, they are unwilling to allow us to put him in Alice Drive. Hopefully, I can transfer him out next year if Willow is as bad as I have read online.

To be honest, I checked topix a few days ago and was terrified by what I read there regarding "raising children in Sumter." Our neighborhood seems nice and the people here are diverse and friendly.

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

Two things:

First, I always thought of Alice Drive as a good school, but it found its way onto the list of the 100 worst schools in the state (along with several schools in Sumter, though I don't remember if Willow was on that list...).

Second, I was raised in Sumter and went to some of the "bad" elementary schools, and got a good education there. Granted, that was a while ago (I'm in my mid-late 20s now), but I had some fantastic teachers and (more importantly) supportive parents.

[Ceezer]

Let me just say that I think the school situation around Sumter may be blown a little out of proportion. I was nervous about putting my daughter in public schools due to the rumors I had heard, but at the time I was putting my wife through school and couldn't afford the private schools in the area. Gritting my teeth, we pulled the trigger and enrolled her at Oakland Primary (in Dalzell/Oakland).

We were **pleasantly** suprised at the quality and effort they put forth at that school. They were very adamant about getting parents involved by hosting programs regularly, had an after-school excelled program, and more. I loved it there. OPS is K/1, and now that my daughter is in 2nd grade she's attending Shaw Heights on base (which isn't quite the standards that OPS was, but it's not bad).

The thing is, school is what you make of it. If you leave it entirely up to the school to educate your son or daughter, then no, they're not going to receive an education to it's fullest because the teacher/school can only go as fast as the slowest child. But if you're working with your child at home to supplement that education (I've found it really doesn't take but a few minutes a day to go over things), and build that work ethic to push them to excel at school, then they'll be ok.

Like CBC said above me, it's possible to get a good education at a "bad" school.

[missnatural01]

After having an extensive email conversation with a member of the district 17 office, I scheduled a tour of Willow Drive Elementary. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe because I had such low expectations...I don't know. I was very impressed with the level of attention and effort the teachers put in with their students. I was shown the end of school report card and told that I can compare it to other schools in the area on the district 17 website. It seems that Miller is the only one that is really rated well. Alice Drive and Willow are pretty much equal. Which is something that I was very shocked to see. I had heard constantly that Alice Drive was the best school in Sumter, but the scores showed otherwise. Willow isn't perfect. It could use some upgrades and I'm looking into supplemental programs for my children as well. I also see that Sumter district 17 offers several optional programs that begin at grade 1 including a science connections magnet school, magnet school for the fine arts and technology, school of inquiry, and others.

I just thought I would update for the benefit of anyone who may have concerns about this school.