Preferred elementary school near Rhodes campus?

[emp6t]

I visited Idelwild recently, it was a sad sight. The children were left unnatended in several of the classes we visited that morning. The one teacher that stayed in her classroom had the kids doing silent reading, while she was on the phone with a friend. She did not interrupt her call until one child spoke to another, and firmly asked him to "shut up". The child was asking one of her friends the definition of a word he did not know. When I expressed my amazement to the Counselor that was showing us around, she shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

For the sake of those children, I just hope that was a unique day at that school!

ps: I am an educator myself.

[salyn]

I am an educator and believe that the following statistics will truely help you. The government issues a list of low income schools that teachers can teach at to get a major poriton of their student loans repaid and the following are listed for 2006: Idlewild: 61.2% (low income), Snowden 62.1%, Ridgeway 65.4%, and White Station 53.9%. There are many listed at over 80% low income, and these demographics usually speak volumes about what a school is like. Go to the Memphis City Schools website and click on the school directory. Then, click on the school profiles of the schools you want to check out and get the FACTS about important things such as testing results.

[Pearlbob]

Idlewild is a city public school. Enough said. It's one of the better ones too.
After working with teachers here, at UM, in the schools, etc and knowing many teachers in the school system here, I would never send my kids to public school. I have seen too many very bad, bad teachers who seem as intelligent as a paper bag. I'm sorry to say, but growing up elsewhere, going to college elsewhere, working with teachers in other states, then coming here...it's very sad. Not every teacher of course, but a lot.

[Streetchie]

Just a short piece about Idlewild from the Gates of Memphis blog:

<<<Truth in Spamming: my son attends Idlewild.

In 1st grade, he has learned about schemas, deciduous trees and Van Gogh, begun preparing for geometry and for algebra, and completed 6 reports which included oral presentations. Although Idlewild is an optional school, there is no separation of optional classes. Everyone in 1st grade learned and did these things.

Nothing makes me as proud of Memphis as Idlewild does.>>>>>

Ok, discredit and discourage at will!!!...........

[Pearlbob]

emp6t: I have seen things like this many times. I have been inside one particular special ed school, and was disgusted by how the children were treated. I am well aware of the extreme difficulties in "teaching" autistic children, but they were made to lay on the floor, face down, when behaving badly. That is not only inhumane, but an extreme health hazzard. It was disturbing. The teachers there were also very unwilling to work with me, and it was pulling teeth to get them to return calls; I eventually had to more or less "tattle" on them to the Principal to get them to call me.

I have heard many, many talk radio shows where teachers call in to talk about school issues and the teachers themselves are on the radio saying, "We ain't got no problems...." How ironic, eh? It's disturbing to think people who talk like this are teaching children.

Again, I'm positive there are some good teachers in Memphis, but unfortunately the majority of whom I have worked with, met in passing, had classes with, and heard on the radio/news, are just....not good. Disgrace to the profession if you will.

I think this is why you will find so many people who are adament about how bad the city public schools really are. When you have worked and taught elsewhere, and then come into this....jeesh. It's sad.

[jplay]

I realize this is an old thread, but it still comes up on search engines. so, I want to add a link [url=http://www.idlewildpto.org]IdlewildPTO.org Home[/url] and my two cents. Yes, white people do choose to attend public schools and yes, we do walk to them. My kids attend Idlewild and they are doing very well.

[Petlover1971]

Snowden is an academic optional school. The qualifications to get in the optional are 70 percentile. Of course, they also have neighborhood kids and open enrollment kids. It may be some kids are bussed in, I am not sure. The kids who are there in the optional program be they black or white are bright kids with good conduct. Till this year, the principal, Ms. Battle was one of the finest, who had won principal of the year. The new principal Randy Thompson is highly qualified. Make no mistake this is a fine school. Idlewild is also a good school. It is not an academic optional school. The qualifications are quite different to attend there but it is a fine school. Further out is Grahamwood. It is an exceptional school and the requirements for the optional program are the highest in the city. I believe it is 85. All of this info is online. The optional office is very helpful and will explain all of this to you. The number is 416 5338. Another good school is Richland. You need to apply there under the open enrollment program. None of the schools have optional kindergarten. Please visit these schools and see for yourself. There are plenty of "wealthy" Memphians who send their kids to public school. You just have to search out the school that fits your child.

[susano]

Snowden is a wonderful neighborhood school. All 3 of my children attended Snowden 1st thru 8th grade. My youngest is in 9th grade now and I can say that I really miss being a Snowden parent. The school has a small school feel and is very nurturing. Parents are very involved and always made to feel welcome by the staff. Rhodes is an "adopter" of Snowden which means that the college helps with different programs. Rhodes students also volunteer as mentors and tutors. Check out other parent reviews at:
Parent Reviews of Snowden School - Memphis, Tennessee - TN
Good luck with your move and welcome to Memphis.

[Petlover1971]

I am a retired city school educator. I am currently involved in volunteer work at some of the schools. I witness first hand some of the problems, city parents and teachers encounter. I also know the teachers have a very difficult job. No one has any idea unless, they have been a teacher in this system, what the day to day requirements are. This said, I also know there are many educators who are not prepared either academically or professionally for the jobs they are assigned. If you have complaints, please do not just verbalize and journalize. Email the principal, school board representative, superintendant or area superintendant. Describe objectively what you witnessed. You will need to identify the faculty member and school. Please do not make general statements as the teacher next door may be excellent..or you may have caught this teacher on a bad day. Who knows? I worked for months with a critically ill family member. I spent every evening at the hospital and went into work the next day because I did not want to take a leave and shirk my responsibilities. Teachers are humans too. The new superintendant and his assistant have some very ambitious requirements of principals and teachers. Teachers have very little planning time. It is being used for meetings. In addition, they are assigned all types of duty ie traffic, car, bus etc. The teacher assistants are being assigned to decorate bulletin boards and other non essential jobs. They also have lunch duty and groups to tutor. This leaves no time to assist the teacher with regular classroom tasks. Also, volunteer to help in these schools. You could do the bulletin boards, shelve books, assist in the lunchroom and tutor. Just ask. Don't become part of the problem, help solve the problem.

[thefineprint]

Vollentine Elementary is right down the street from Snowden...but don't send your kids there! You will find kids with behavior problems, lackluster staff, gang violence in the area and poor academic performance. I worked there for a year and was very disappointed. Just because it is in close proximity to Evergreen doesn't make it a good school.