Locke Hill Elementary School

"I went to this school for 5th grade. Came from Venezuela to howsman Elementary and then changed to this one. Let me tell you That I have great memories of the staff and the Kids. The School is Just amazing. I'm 20 years old now and I still look back at this school where everyone accepted me no matter where I Came from (unlike howsman Elementary). And BTW I was in Miss Oneal's class, one of the BEST teachers I ever had, she helped me so much learning English as I Came not knowing anything."

"Amazing staff and amazing teachers. They always seem very caring and strive for the best with all the kids."

"I registered my children mid-year & received so much help from the front office staff. They were professional and caring in their interactions with students and parents and I was shocked how they knew so many by name! We were welcomed with open arms! It smells exactly like my childhood elementary school & gives that warm feeling. The teachers my children have are great, the counselor has little group meetings that has helped my kindergartner adjust to school and the principal greets everyone every morning. Oh and their Spring carnival was amazing!"

"I am a parent of 3 children that have gone through Locke Hill Elementary. I have found it to be an inviting and welcoming environment. All of the teachers that all 3 of my children have had have been professional, knowledgeable, and extremely qualified. I am writing to express my extreme gratitude and praise for my son's 1st and 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Downs. I was fortunate enough to have her teach my son for 2 incredible years! The first thing that she did, back in 1st grade, was to identify and make me aware that she thought my son was not seeing well. She was right! My son needed glasses. Thank God she was so observant and notified me right away. She made my son feel welcome, cared for, and challenged, all at the same time. She was extremely organized and I always knew what was expected of my son. She gave a weekly detailed newsletter that kept me informed of everything that was going on both in the classroom and school wide. Third grade rolled around and I was ecstatic that he was going to have Ms. Downs again as she had moved up to the 3rd grade. Third grade proved to be a tremendous year of growth, under Ms. Down's guidance and teaching expertise. She is very adept at determining how much to challenge each student while still allowing them to be successful, which in turn builds their confidence and independence. My son learned how to become a critical thinker and persevere when new concepts were challenging for him. I can never express my gratitude for all that Ms. Downs did for my son. That caliber of teacher does not come along often and we were blessed to have had her for 2 years. Thank you for all you do for your students Ms. Downs!"

"My husband's job causes us to relocate frequently. He does private security and is prior military so we have seen our fair share of school systems. Lockhille Elementary is the WORST elementary school our child has EVER attended. I love that the school is education geared and that they push their students academically at such an early age but the harshness and coldness and rudeness we have experience while communicating with staff at this school has been ridiculous. First, while enrolling we had such a terrible time with the vice principal. She was a little obnoxious and invaded our space on multiple occasions. She was offensive in her assumption that we were living in poverty. She treated us as if we were lost and needy when the truth of the matter was were recent victims of a house fire where we lost everything. We let the matter rest as the second day meeting with her was much better. Our daughter is in Ms. Downs' class. She is a young teacher who seems to not keep herself up very well and pushes a little too hard to be teaching 8year olds. It's almost as if she is trying to prove a point. She sent home a passage that was confusing to my daughter because it was about Brahma so I sent in a letter saying that I would like my daughter to be excused from the passage because she was too young to read about something that interfered with her religious beliefs. The teachers response was beyond me. She said that the passage was not meant to sway beliefs- I never said that it was, I simply said I felt uncomfortable with her reading it. She said TEKS requires them to read myths- that's fine but this is not a myth and there are other myths that could have easily substituted this one. She also added that my daughter gave her the reading journal too late on Monday for her to prepare it- MIND YOU I ASKED THIS TEACHER TWO MONTHS AFTER ENROLLING MY CHILD, ABOUT THIS SAME JOURNAL THAT SHE ADMITTED SHE KEPT "FORGETTING'but my daughter brings it in 8hrs too late and she felt the need to bring that to my attention, stating that because of my kids decision to turn in journal late, unlike the other students my kid would only have time to complete 2 journal entries instead of 3! The teacher has said things to me in the conference that we had that were a little disturbing as well; like the fact that she would ask a child does she want her to throw away their work into the trash because they are turning it into her rather than the completion bin. They are 8 YEARS OLD!!! Lastly, I sent in a note that the teacher received from a red folder that I accidently placed my daughters spelling words into. Now this particular red folder doesn't come back home until Friday. My concern is why would this teacher NOT remove the spelling words when she noticed them, in time for my kid to study for Friday's test! She is unorganized, rude and extremely strict for such a young aged group of children. Maybe this is OK for some parents but my daughter has always performed well in school, excelling even through multiple relocations, with teachers that cared a little more and tried a little more tenderness. We don't ask for handouts and we are very active in our daughters studies. We just expect a little more from an elementary school teacher."