My son was a kindergartner at Woodrow this past year, and I have filed an administrative complaint against the principal JOANNA O'BRIEN and am in the process of transferring him to a new school for first grade. I didn't know what to expect for the first year that my son is in school, but I have had an awful and truly unacceptable experience at Woodrow. I saw one review claiming that Woodrow doesn't notify parents when their child is hurt at school, and I can corroborate that claim with my own experiences. One day, my son came home and told me that another child had choked him at recess. I know that adults were present and aware of what happened because my son told me that an adult talked to the child who choked him afterward; but I was never notified about it. Another day, my son came home with a black eye after another child had accidentally kicked him in the face at recess (he was walking too close to the swing set); and again, I was never notified about it. I was only told what happened when I took my son into the office and wanted answers. My son could have been seriously hurt in both of these situations, and not only was I not notified about them; but my son didn't receive any medical attention! Unfortunately, this is not the worst of my experience with Woodrow. One day, I received a phone call from Woodrow that my son had had an accident and was in the office. I went to the school, and when I got there; I asked my son what happened. He told me that he had asked his teacher to use the bathroom, and she asked him if he could "hold it". He told her that he couldn't; and she said, "I think you can," and then he wet his pants. My son was embarrassed and upset. I complained to a woman in the office, and she said that she would "let someone know". It was obvious that she had no intention of doing that, however; considering that she didn't even bother to ask who had denied my son the right to use the bathroom, even after he had told his teacher that he couldn't "hold it". I asked her, "Don't you want to know the teacher's name?" and she said, "Oh yeah," as if it was an after thought. Her indifference and lack of action made it VERY clear that Woodrow does NOTHING to keep students safe or to hold staff members accountable for incompetence or misconduct. Again, it gets WORSE! For context - Parents can drop off afternoon kindergartners as early as 10:20 am, but the bell doesn't ring until 10:27 am; so drop off time for afternoon kindergartners is between 10:20 am and 10:27 am. For the first half of the school year, I dropped my son off at 10:20 every day. One day, I had to be at work early; so I dropped my son off at 10:19, and I instructed him to sit in the office until 10:20. There were other kindergartners and their parents gathered outside the school, and I saw my son's teacher walking toward them to unlock the gate for them and let them in. I waited until my son was inside the office, and I left. After school when I picked up my son, I was reprimanded by his teacher for dropping him off 60 SECONDS early. I was told that I left him "unsupervised", despite the fact that there were kindergartners, their parents, and office staff (who he was directly supervised by for the entirety of the 60 seconds that he waited) present. After that day, I changed my work availability so that I had more time in between dropping my son off at school and work; and I started dropping him off by 10:27 every day. Unfortunately, dropping my son off by 10:27 also seemed to be a problem for his teacher, who regularly passive-aggressively projected her frustrations onto my six year old. My son told me that his teacher (the same teacher who reprimanded me for dropping him off early) made MULTIPLE statements to him over the course of the second half of the school year along the lines of, "You need to tell your mom to be on time," etc. To clarify, 10:27 IS ON TIME; and regardless, talking badly to a six year old about his parent(s) is inappropriate and unacceptable. What's even more inappropriate and unacceptable, however; is that on April 1st, my son came home and told me that his teacher had given everyone in his class "pop it" bracelets except him. When he asked his teacher, "What about me?" she responded that the bracelets "are for kids who are on time," THIS IS NOT OKAY! This behavior indicates low emotional intelligence at the LEAST and is very concerning. Dysfunctional adults are in no position to be in the presence of, much less to be responsible for children. That being said, I'll move on to the straw that broke the camel's back. I'll post the rest of my experience in pictures since I've exceeded the text limit. read more

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Woodrow is a very inviting and wonderful school. Teachers and staff are very helpful. Dr. O'Brien does an exceptional job as principal and school leader. read more

This school is not a good school. My daughter was physically abused by the principal and called the R word and she told me "I don't want an R word kid going to my school" she actually used the word! She tried to deny my transfer to get my kid in another school until I threatened to go to the police. My daughter is autistic and can't control her emotions and stuff so she has fits sometimes. The principal is the major problem. Something needs to be done about her. read more

My sister was bullied, me included, sister by students, and me by staff and nothing was ever done. My sister comes home crying every day after school complaining of students trying OR actually breaking her glasses lenses, and she can barely see without them. When I was at the school, the principal yelled at me for something I didn't even do, though I was involved, and made accusations on how I was the person who did it, and they had security cameras they could easily access, but didn't before hand and went straight to yelling and berating me to the point of tears. Something needs to be done IMMEDIATELY with the principal and campus supervisors. read more

I wish this would do great deal but it won't ! But I am just going to leave a review anyways because what I have experienced is beyond crazy and not okay! The principal Ms. O' Brian is off the walls I went in to give them a paper to start a sst meeting for my son to get him a iep and we'll when I walked in I saw the principal getting highly aggressive with two emotional distress students and she was grabbing them hard and handling the situation very rough. And my kids had only been in school for two weeks at this point. We transferred and are new to the district. I have expressed to them to call me for my son cause he is not mentally there and they know that and seen that but they refuse to give my son a iep ! Well my son has been having many episodes and they do not call me at all! Mr. O' Brian told all staff including teachers to not call ! I had to make 5 complaints with hr at Sylvan school district! And non had been addressed until I called the police because Ms. O'Brien put her hands on my mental distress son while he had a episode! And there was two hr women who showed up from the district and just i dont know covered things up ! Now I was recording the whole time because ms. O'Brien has been known even while recording to say she didn't say anything or twisted it around and says you said something when you didn't. She definitely controls her staff not against their will ! But they definitely entertain her behavior and cover up for her and does not speak up to what she does to the students. Do not send your kids here it's unsafe ! Especially if their special needs! I made a police report and paper trialing everything because you can not trust a word these people say ! Not the mental health clinician not the counselors not the vise principals nobody not even the teachers. If your kids do go here please express to your kids to speak up if their being treated a certain way ! And definitely send them with a phone ! If we did not have a sibling or relative have a phone we wouldn't know nothing until the day was over ! Don't trust nothing these people say they will say your child is defiant or not listening! It's not the case ! Always trust your gut! read more

Don't expect a call from them when your child has an accident at school. Went to pick up my daughter to find her top lip and nose all scrapped and when I went to ask why I wasn't informed they said no one saw her! Yet my daughter tells me that one of her teachers saw she was bleeding and let her use the restroom to clean up herself! Like wth!!! Why couldn't she send her to the office with the nurse!? read more

Excellent teachers and a supportive principal make this elementary school stand out. The facilities are outdated but I heard they were going to remodel soon. The neighborhood kids walk home wearing their school pride. Excited my child will be starting next year. read more