Richard T. Yates Elementary School

Posted: May 15, 2026

Our first year experience at Yates Elementary School was not ideal for a new kindergartener ( 2025-2026) , my son’s kindergarten teacher was switched 3x over the course of his first year, no consistency in teaching staff, no communication to parents, very unhappy overall , I do not recommend sending your child to kindergarten at this school.

Posted: May 15, 2026

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Posted: November 13, 2024

Parents, these reviews are written by employees connected to the school. The poor reviews were removed. Yates principal does not follow Virginia law,ie She is supposed to report to the superintendent bullying. We wrote a student up in 2024 and the principal ignored a dangerous situation within the classroom. Instead of referring with the superintendent, she never recalled the IAs and substitutes who wrote the report.

Posted: November 13, 2024

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Posted: March 16, 2024

Teachers genuinely care. Parents are involved. Kids are well cared for, well educated, and have fun!

Posted: March 16, 2024

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Posted: October 2, 2023

Yates is an amazing school. The staff is awesome and treat us more like family. My daughter has certain issues and they have been amazing how they treat her and all kids. I strongly recommend this school to all parents. They are all extremely sweet and friendly.

Posted: October 2, 2023

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Posted: August 21, 2017

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Posted: August 21, 2017

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Posted: August 21, 2017

Posted: August 21, 2017

Horrid experience with staff's minimal expertise. Nice folks, but dangerously unqualified for education in the 21st c.

Posted: November 4, 2016

The staff was very effective in encouraging students to be friendly towards each other. My child had a concern with one of his classmates because he played rough but once I addressed the issue to his teacher the issue was dealt with and the child became one of my child's bestfriend. The school should not be blamed for children playing rough because I witnessed the staff speak to a child about hitting and called the child's parents for assistance. Parents have to educate, speak to or discipline their children if need be. The school or teachers cannot do that job for them especially with no parental support.

Posted: November 4, 2016

I do not have any experience with this question but my children's teachers were very understanding of medical concerns. My children were reminded daily to take their asthma inhaler prior to recess so I would imagine that they would give children with learning differences the care and attention required.

Posted: November 4, 2016

The staff were very helpful and answered questions in a professional manner. Staff is very knowledgeable, I never had to speak to the principal because my questions were always answered.

Posted: November 4, 2016

Students are encouraged to be respectful to others.

Posted: November 4, 2016

My children's teachers replied to my emails and communicated with me about different school activities, and were available to answer questions.

Posted: November 4, 2016

Families are encouraged to assist children in doing their homework at home and the teachers reinforced what was learned in school.

Posted: November 4, 2016

Yates elementary school is a very good school. The administrative staff and teachers are wonderful. My children attended the school for one year and made lots of friends prior to our family relocating to the Northern Virginia area (moved to be closer to work, DC). My children currently attend Westridge elementary (rated 8 and above) located in Woodbridge VA which is also near Lake ridge community but I can honestly say that the current rating that Yates elementary receive is unfair because of the care and attention that my children received when they attended the school.

Mrs. Woods and Mrs. Werthermeir are outstanding teachers. My only issue was the PTA committee, the women there were "click-ish" and "standoff-ish". If you were not in the click, they would tell you that you can just pay to join but you wont have to do anything or attend meetings (really!!! smh).

Testing- my 4th grader (now, in 5th grade) passed and scored very high on the Virginia state exams, thanks to the instructions that the class was given by his teacher- in fact most of the students in class did very well. According to my son the handful of children who didn't pass had to leave the class to take the exam again.

Overall, the school is a very good school and I would definitely recommend yates elementary to other parents.

Posted: February 9, 2016

Yates is an excellent school. The teachers are wonderful. They care about the students, and are more like family members. I considered sending my daughter to a local Christian school, but she was happy and had excellent grades and friends at Yates. The state of Virginia is failing this school based on SoL (Standards of Learning) scores. Very unfair and misleading. These scores are skewed based on the failing scores of bused students from poorer areas of Newport News. Other nearby schools score better, because they don't have students bused to their schools.

Posted: February 9, 2016

Yates has wonderful teachers. My daughter spent six years at Yates. She loved five of her teachers, and only had one that she really didn't love, but she respected.

Posted: February 9, 2016

There is generally too much homework given in schools today - this isn't strictly within Yates. Work should be done in class, with a short assignment on some nights to reinforce the lessons.

Posted: February 9, 2016

The students are treated fairly. The teachers work with students to help them develop these character traits.

Posted: July 18, 2013

I love this school. Many of the teachers have worked here throughout their teaching careers. It's a small school so everyone knows everyone. The school will have a new principal this year. I am looking forward to meeting him.

Posted: February 28, 2013

I have recently moved from Yates Elementary to Florida. Naturally, I am researching schools on great schools. I don't understand how Yates is a 2 with 70-80% of students passing the SOLs in reading while the schools I am looking at in Florida are 7s and above with only 40-50% of their students passing reading on the FCAT. Parents look to this website to help them make the extremely important decision of what school is best. I am very skeptical as to whether great schools is ranking schools accurately.

Posted: February 20, 2012

I am surprised that Yates has only a 4. My granddaughter has attended for two years after being at a school in NoVA. She has blossomed under the tutelage of Ms. Wood, Ms. Zappia, and Ms. Bryant. All of the teachers are very into their jobs. They work with the children at all the levels depending on need of the child. They have many clubs for the children, as well as a wonderful library filled with challenging books for all levels. Ms. Johnson, the principle, is very friendly and strives to challenge the children to do their best. I volunteer 2-3 days a week so I have first hand knowledge of the overall picture of the school and its' employees/teachers. They have many evening programs to recognize the children who prosper. I am glad we have a couple of more years before my granddaughter has to go to middle school.

Posted: May 31, 2011

I love Yates. I am extremely surprised at it's low rating. I would highly recommend Yates to any parent. My children have been going to Yates since 2004, and I would not have them go anywhere else. There is a very involved PTA there. The teachers are fabulous, and it's good teachers make a good school.