Desert Hills Elementary School

Posted: December 17, 2019

Our experience has been poor. We are looking into moving out of the area.

Posted: December 17, 2019

Posted: December 17, 2019

With nearly 700 students enrolled at Desert Hills, teachers are overwhelmed with managing behaviors rather than ensuring that students are properly learning. Students with special needs are particularly left by the wayside as bullies are allowed to continue unimpeded.

Posted: December 17, 2019

Bullying is an ongoing problem, and the administration's approach is to interview the bully and the bullied students separately and then apply a band aid to the situation, thereby kicking the can down the road and allowing for these issues to crop up again and again.

Posted: December 17, 2019

The principal is all but missing in action. She is rarely present, and, when she is, you are lucky to get a few minutes of face time with her. Most of the heavy lifting is offloaded to the assistant principal, who is still relatively inexperienced.

Posted: December 17, 2019

Again, this school is overwhelmed with the sheer number of students enrolled. The teachers who do care aren't able to properly address everyone's needs, and understandably so. Even though Desert Hills is located in a "nicer" part of town, this has no bearing on the resources it has available for special needs students.

Posted: December 17, 2019

If you read some of the older reviews of this school, you can see a pattern of bullying that has continued irrespective of the administration present. The administration will tell you that bullying is not tolerated; however, the fact is that it continues to persist here.

Posted: March 1, 2015

The women that work in the front office are deplorable, rude and lazy. You feel handcuffed if you need to get an important message to your child ! They simply transfer you to the teacher's voice-mail. What's wrong with reassuring a concerned parent that they will make sure your child gets the message, oh but would be going above and beyond in their eyes which is really only common courtesy and genuine concern for students! C'mon Ladies parents pay your pay checks ! Communication is the the biggest problem at this school!! I am glad my daughter will no longer attend when this year ends.

Posted: June 15, 2014

I absolutely hate this school ... we moved here in the middle of the school year and nobody is friendly in the office they just push you threw like cattle. The principal wouldn't meet with us to make us feel comfortable because she was apparently too busy, and the security at this school is a joke, anybody can walk in here at anytime I do not feel safe leaving my daughter here. The bullying issue is ridiculous my daughter is in first grade and had the biggest brats of classmates I have ever met . They are all trying to tear each other down rather than build each other up and all the teacher can say is " I try to let the kids work things out themselves" I know the training with manors starts at home but why is the staff outing up with these kids being so disrespectful .. we are trying to change schools ASAP because I will homeschool before I out my kid back here.

Posted: December 15, 2013

Very poor administration. Open door policy is a joke and nonexistent. Bullying is a huge problem at this school and forget having administration deal with this seriously. Unfortunately when talking to other parents with the same issues, they all say that they had to end up moving schools. What a shame that we as parents have to search out a good school for our kids instead of the school trying to work with us and find solutions for our kids. The person suffering the most from this school is my child and it breaks my heart to see it.

Posted: December 15, 2013

Teachers are great. Some seem to be overwhelmed at times. But overall they put the students first. Administration is poor. Landscaping around the building and playgrounds is abysmal.

Posted: October 23, 2013

We have been parents at Desert Hills Elementary school for 6 years, and it has been great experience. They have had great teachers every year, and thanks to them, they get high scores on their tests. My kids also enjoy school very much, which is icing on the cake. The only problem that I have are some parents who aggravate any displeasure they have and unfortunately can foster and exacerbate an environment of discontent and mistrust. Those parents should work with the admin rather than working against them.

Posted: September 16, 2013

This school's teaching staff is very good and very supportive of children. Parents appear to be involved and also very supportive. Underfunding in certain is evident: technology, integration of technology and instruction, music, playground equipment and playground areas, parking, and textbooks and workbooks. The chief limitation, and it is a big one, is the poor leadership. The school's principal is highly incompetent, lacking in people and communication skills, and not interested in the opinion and concerns of parents and teachers. My several encounters with her have been unproductive and often have bordered on heated argument. She is hostile to parents, unresponsive to kids, and downright rude and intimidating in demeanor toward teachers. Parents have communicated these issues to the superintendent with no success. She needs to be terminated.

Posted: February 14, 2013

When my child started Kindergarten here, her academic "scores" on the tests to see where she is, were below the average. Now in the second grade, she is above average on reading and where she needs to be in math. I credit this to the teachers and the "response to intervention" (RTI) that they use at Desert Hills. It has worked wonderfully for her. And she enjoys going to school every day on top of that!

Posted: November 18, 2012

Sure it's easy to give the school a 5 star rating if your kid performs well academically. But if you have a child with special educational needs, then I absolutely cannot and will not recommend this school. We have waited for years to have my child evaluated. The teachers have been supportive and done their part to help, but the administration is completely useless. And if your child has been the victim of one of the many Desert Hills Bullies, then I wish you all the best with getting that resolved. I have had to go in personally to take care of the bullies. I'm tired of promises and complacency on the part of the Desert Hills staff in regards to my child's education and needs. I'm headed into the LCPS Superintendant's office tomorrow. And I should have done this a long long time ago!

Posted: February 22, 2012

I agree with many of the posts regarding Desert Hills. I too specifically moved into this school district so that my son could attend Desert Hills. I absolutely give the teachers the kudos in this school....and a major thumbs down to the administration. The teachers work hard with the resources that they are given...which is not much. The principal is more concerned with the "A" rating recently given to the school by the state (which is not saying much considering)....and pays little or no attention to the parents and kids who are actually having issues with Bullying at the school. The parents are NOT encouraged to voice their opinions to the administration....and are actually discouraged from meeting with the principal all together. Although the principal claims that the school has an anti bullying policy, from the issues I have seen, the kids are simply dismissed and labeled as "bad kids." This is such an unfortunate situation, as these kids are young and so impressionable, who need guidance and and support, especially from school. The principal needs to reevaluate her priorities and begin dealing with the issues that are affecting the students on a daily basis.

Posted: December 10, 2011

Very disappointed in our experience with this school. I agree with other reviewers that discipline is very poor and there is a lack of willingness to address real problems with behavior that borders on unsafe. Front office and the administration were really very unwelcoming and unpleasant. All this fosters a tense relationship with parents and is a disservice to the community that these public employees serve. As well staff is negative, label children easily and demonstrate few skills or willingness to solve basic and common problems encountered in elementary education. We moved out of the district for this reason and have been so happy and appreciative of our current public school, where we have encountered an environment that inspires and is caring. Desert Hills is an institution in need of help.

Posted: June 27, 2010

We had a very disappointing experience at this school. There are some very good teachers. But we believe leadership is subpar at this school. After rounds of problems and contacting district administrators we transferred our kids out.

Posted: June 26, 2010

Moved to our current neighborhood based on the rating Desert Hills received. A HUGE disappointment to say the least. No structure, very little organization at the kinder level. The office staff is not helpful or pleasant to deal with. We found out our child was taking the two week long State exams the Tuesday after they started rather than being notified weeks prior to help our child study and be prepared. The teacher of our child had very clear 'favorites' in the class....our child was not one of them. Teachers and assistants are not properly trained/educated in how to discipline; whenever we queried about the circumstances of an incident, we could not get any explanation of what the teacher actually saw...or if they even saw said incident. Looking into private schools around the area. I do not recommend this school to newcomers.

Posted: May 24, 2010

Moved into the area and saw that this school rated as one of the best in the area and we moved to our neighborhood to be in the school district. The teachers & administration have been below average. The office is never pleasant to deal with. My daughters reading level dropped after the first 6 months at this school. We are switching schools after this school year is over to see if we can find a better environment with better leadership.

Posted: November 27, 2006