Normal Heights Elementary School

Posted: April 30, 2026

I sent my son here for the preschool program and completely fell in love with this school. Our home school doesn’t offer preschool, which is how we first found it, and I’m so grateful we did.

First, the campus is amazing. It was built in the early 2000s, so it still has that newer school feel, but it has also been around long enough for the trees and landscaping to fully mature. The grounds are beautiful, and parts of it genuinely feel more like a private club than a public school. It is such a welcoming and pleasant environment to be in.

The parent community is another huge reason we love it. The families here are warm, down-to-earth, and the kind of people you truly want in your community. It feels easy to connect with other parents, and there is a real sense of belonging.

Truthfully, though, my favorite part of this school is its inclusivity and support for children with disabilities. This school truly knows how to do inclusion well. They have an incredibly strong special education and social-emotional support team. The special education teachers are highly trained, many with advanced degrees and specialized expertise, and that level of knowledge and care absolutely carries over into the general education environment as well. You can feel that the entire school culture is built around supporting all children and helping them thrive.

Another thing that stands out is the office staff. They are warm, kind, and genuinely welcoming, which can honestly be hard to find at a school. It is so refreshing to walk into the front office and be greeted with friendliness and care.

The principal is also fantastic. He clearly values parent engagement, is open to ideas, and truly welcomes collaboration from families. It feels like parents are seen as partners, which makes such a difference.

Overall, this is a warm, inclusive, and beautifully run school community, and we have had such a positive experience here.

Posted: April 30, 2026

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Posted: April 26, 2026

I love this school and the larger community of families! We transferred in from another school and were so grateful for the welcoming staff, the commitment of all educators to know and support our children and even the way families are included in activities monthly. Also, the facilities are gorgeous with numerous outdoor spaces for play and learning, and classrooms with beautiful spaces for indoor learning. I strongly recommend this school and couldn’t be happier that my children have this opportunity. Thank you to everyone who makes NHE so special!

Posted: April 26, 2026

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Posted: April 15, 2026

We've had the best experience. My kiddo loves his teachers and when there's been an occasional issue with other students they have great procedures on how to work through the problems together. The school is tucked back into Normal Heights and has a great outdoor green space for play, a new educational school garden that is coming together with the help of the PTA and the teachers, and their primetime program is wonderful. We started in TK and are now in second and can't believe we're half way through our journey at this school because the experience just keeps getting better. Highly recommend you come down and take a tour!

Posted: April 15, 2026

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Posted: April 15, 2026

Normal Heights Elementary is amazing. The campus is gorgeous and the teaching staff is lovely and deeply experienced. Our kids feel a strong sense of belonging here, and so do we! My kids LOVE their teachers. The classrooms have a peaceful, welcoming feel which has made such a big difference for our kids’ learning. I love that they have a full library, multiple play grounds, a school garden, so many trees and an amazing school counselor. NHE truly is a hidden gem.

Posted: April 15, 2026

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Posted: November 29, 2025

They need to do better at supporting children with problems! My son went to normal heights for about two months until I decided to take him out of the school due to parents coming up to me to complain about my son and to put him down on class dojo by referring and calling him a bully my son is 5 and we’ve recently found out he has ADHD & despite trying to get support everytime I went and spoke to the principal Mr Aguilar we always ended up walking out not feeling any better he told me he would disable the chat after another students parent spoke badly about my son he ended up not disabling it until the next day in which then parents were still allowed to make comments as they continued to do it so I went a second time about the same thing & his excuse was that he thought he had disabled the chat ridiculous! No parent should ever feel comfortable name calling a 5 year old student and bullying him on a class dojo app

Posted: November 29, 2025

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Posted: March 1, 2024

Normal Heights Elementary definitely comes off as a viable option for your child. In the years that my child has attended this establishment, I've taken note of a few things.
(1) LACK OF COMMUNICATION; Teachers are slow, if not, borderline negligent when notifying parents of planned class projects, or simply providing updates that deviates from a class' normal schedule. This isn't limited to the Teachers. Even with the aid of an app called "Class Dojo", I still have not received a response from the Principal regarding an inquiry.
(2) THE RECRUITER ; Although, a very nice and polite individual, the Principal comes off as a recruiter, rather than a "Principal". Whether it is casual small talk, or in auditorium, if you have another child younger than 4 years of age, be prepared for conversation to deviate and expect to be asked about the child's age, attending TK4, and whether or not your toddler would possibly qualify for enrollment, even if you have no inquiries, or concerns about the topic. I understand that there's funding in numbers, however, sometimes an individuals demeanor breaks through a little too much, and bit uncomfortable at times. Yes, it has happened more than once.
(3) IDEOLOGICAL FARCE; "Community", "Consideration", and "Child Well-Being", are a few things that all will agree with. Personal experience has given me the privilege of encountering Teacher(s) with a "power-trip" mentality. There are Teachers who will "shift blame" about "forcing to make a scene" when a Parent is attempting to console their crying child. Most logical, and sympathetic individuals would allow a Parent to help calm, and comfort their own child. However, I don't know if it was discrimation, bias stance or simply an unknow reason for retaliatialion by Teachers, nevertheless, Teachers or any other Staff Member that exhibit this sort of behavior are not about "Community", "Consideration" or a "Child's Well-Being", moreover, it unequivocally unacceptable. I've forgiven the Teacher's outburst, and dismissed incident as a "mismanaged situation", but it seems as though some Teachers like to hold grudges. Very sad situation.
(4) TAKE AWAY; Pay close attention to the Staff and the conversations you have. New Parents shouldn't be discouraged. Schools are like businesses. If a particular company doesn't serve you and your child's best interest, look for another company. The key is School Tranparency, and respect for a Parents sacrifice, responsibilty, and obligation.

Posted: March 1, 2024

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Posted: July 18, 2019

Posted: July 18, 2019

Posted: July 18, 2019

Every month/day my daughter tells me about their character focus for the month.

Posted: July 18, 2019

Posted: July 18, 2019

Posted: July 18, 2019

Posted: July 18, 2019

From the day I had a tour with the School Counselor till now, myself and my daughter have had a great experience. From being greeted once on campus everyday, my daughter on the daily, excited to tell me what she learned from her teacher and to walking around campus and seeing all the art around campus... it’s been a great experience.

Posted: July 17, 2019

Posted: July 17, 2019

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Posted: July 17, 2019

Posted: July 17, 2019

Posted: July 17, 2019

Very passionate teachers. They care about their students being the best than can be.

Posted: July 17, 2019

Consistent and appropriate amount. Doesn't drown kids in homework like other schools.

Posted: July 17, 2019

Very involved and straight foward. Teachers deal with students accordingly and always appropriately.

Posted: July 17, 2019

Awards given very often for good student behavior.

Posted: July 17, 2019

All staff is very committed to the students.

Posted: July 17, 2019

Staff works one on one with kids requiring assistance.

Posted: July 17, 2019

Matters taken care of on the spot.

Posted: July 17, 2019

Love this school. Highly recommend. Wouldn't go elsewhere.

Posted: February 20, 2019

This school was a failure to our bright boy who went in loving learning, loving reading and math, loving to share information, loving to discover. They shot it all down with a series of negative critical harsh interactions, treating him as bad instead of needing supports, treating him as a problem instead of finding a solution. They don't respect the children at the school, so how are they supposed to learn and respect? They don't care or show compassion towards emotion at this school, so how should social emotional skills be built and supported? They aren't here. I am still very upset they did so much damage in only two months at this school, when they could've supported, differentiated, connected, and cared for our student. Our student deserved more, and they all deserve more at Normal Heights Elementary School. The school admin, school psych and TK/kindergarten teacher should be ashamed of themselves for treating their children and the families so negatively daily. I 100% do NOT recommend you sending your child to this school if you need kindness, compassion, quality instruction, differentiation, supports, strong leadership or thoughtful follow through. NHEM does NOT have any of those traits essential to an elementary school!

Posted: February 20, 2019

My child attended this school in TK and was FORCED to write before he was even taught how. He was given a giant black INCOMPLETE on his first homework assignments because he could not yet complete it. How is that supposed to inspire him to love learning and practice his work? They wanted a 4 year old to write 1-100 before they even knew how to write at all! The homework at this school was not developmentally appropriate and their rigidness regarding completion did not support the child at their level. 4 year olds should not be given homework at all other than reading with their families, but this was an over the top ridiculous amount of homework.

Posted: February 20, 2019

The kindergarten teacher at this school was not effective in teaching despite her years there. She was combative and negative. She did not inspire a love of learning. She was harsh and critical. She was not warm, caring or helpful. She did rote lessons on an overhead and barked orders. She did not connect with the children. She cared more about punitive discipline and was not what most would want from a kindergarten teacher. She did not enjoy her students or the subjects she taught. She ridiculed my child when he had difficult emotional days, acting out his upsets in front of everyone at pickup. She did not care to seek solutions or show empathy towards children who do not fit in her box. She told me to take all his toys away and that she was "spanked and turned out fine," which led me to believe she was telling me to hit my child. No, just no. This is not at all the kindergarten environment most want for their children. 100% do not recommend.

Posted: February 20, 2019

The kindergarten teacher was focused more on her usual punishment heavy discipline and ridicule than she was at instilling any kind of compassion, respect or integrity. Forget teaching the kids social and emotional skills. She was very conceited and rigid and thought she was the best and it was her way or the highway. There was no warmth or understanding passed on to these kids. There was no respect to the kids, so how would they learn to respect anyone if they aren't respected in the first place at Normal Heights Elementary?

Posted: February 20, 2019

The leadership at this school leaves a lot to be desired. Those in administrative roles were passively letting the teacher dictate any problems instead of helping solve classroom struggles. There was no solid authority that the teacher cared about so she got away with what she wanted to do and say even if remarkably off base and upsetting. The admin did not help when there were disagreements and did not brainstorm or reach out enough in a compassionate understanding way. Because of the lack of leadership at this school and the teacher's inability to care for her children we left this horrible school after a two months. It was two months too many. The school psychologist was in on the previous conversation with the teacher and both agreed "after being spanked they turned out fine." NO YOU DIDN'T! Neither of you did! You both have serious problems that need attention.

Posted: February 20, 2019

Absolutely not! This is my number one. This school does not support kids who don't fit inside their box. The kids who are outliers. Mine was quite asynchronous but he LOVED learning. He picked up information so quickly and we have since found out that he is profoundly gifted. This is not a brag because there's a lot of big emotions and asynchroncity that goes on with that. This school could absolutely not figure a way out how to support my child. He was already reading chapter books when he attended TK here but as I mentioned earlier would not write. Him not writing was a BIG problem and caused daily upset which the teacher could not and would not support. She treated him as bad instead. She treated a child with learning differences as BAD and was supported by her passive admin and school psych. I asked for help to guide him in the classroom but was rejected multiple times. There was no reason to hit my child's self-esteem with harsh words and actions and treating him as bad. What does that do to a child who loves to learn going in, day in and day out being treated so nasty? They stop loving school. They stop loving learning. It is evident the environment at this school was toxic for my child. I could no longer trust them after they started talking about hitting children. Especially because they knew his academic skills. They knew these are normal traits of gifted kids. They had to have seen this before because it is absolutely common that gifted kids get bored in school and can act out when they're not differentiated. They offered my son a step up in books, but even that was much, much too easy and boring. They offered NO.... ZERO... NOTHING for his fine motor skills other than big fat black INCOMPLETES across work which led him to hate school and hate learning. They did this and they should be ashamed! I had a LOT of undoing to do after we left this school.

Posted: February 20, 2019

I would not trust this school with knowing how to deal with bullies or emotionally charged situations. They mocked my child's emotions daily. They regularly sought to "break him down" so that they'd have control. No, I don't feel this school would help in any type of situation where my child was being bullied or was the bully. The school psych is a mess and I wouldn't trust her to be able to know how to support or the admin to be assertive in getting anything accomplished regarding bullying.

Posted: November 7, 2018

We love this school. The teachers all care for the students and work together to find ways to bring more experiences to the classroom.

Posted: November 7, 2018

All three of our children have had an appropriate amount of homework with an emphasis on reading (both reading to our children and by our children). The teachers are all very willing listen to parent comments and answer questions.

Posted: November 7, 2018

This school is like a family. All the teachers have been teaching here a long time and it is obvious that they care for their students.

Posted: November 7, 2018

We have regular assemblies and discussion about character. The kids all know that they have an opportunity to shine and there are various ways kids can be acknowledged for their own behavior and good choices.

Posted: November 7, 2018

Posted: November 7, 2018

One of my children is special needs and the school treat has worked together to address this needs and find solutions to assist us.

Posted: November 7, 2018

Posted: June 3, 2012

My son is only in preschool here, but so far I have been very happy with the quality of education he is receiving. The teachers and the principal are all really trying to engage the parents--there are "Family Fridays" every last Friday of the month where parents come to visit their children's classrooms and read to them for 1/2 hour. There is also a meeting where the principal explains new developments in the school. The campus itself is bright and clean, and his preschool teacher and the aides are friendly and seem very invested in their students doing well. Sometimes they are a bit disorganized (we receive notifications about meetings sort of last minute), but what hard-working teacher isn't overworked and frazzled these days? Overall, so far I am very pleased with this school.