Lafayette Elementary School

I think this school has a great reading program and I'm impressed with how early my child started reading.  I have seen the homework my child brings home for math and I like the techniques that are used to move from addition to multiplication.  I am happy that the counselor is being used more at this school to teach children about empathy.

As a criticism, I do not agree with the school district about how it handles student absenteeism at this school.  The school's principal told me that all forms of absenteeism are unexcusable.  I thought if a doctor's note was provided to the school when the child was ill, the absence would be considered excusable, but then I was told that no days were excusable and if the child was absent more than 15 days, the school would send someone to the child's house and the parent would have to appear before a judge to explain the absences (and possibly be fined).  This seems really rediculous for a good student who has a legitimate excuse for being out.  {The school could even call the doctor's office to confirm the child's excuse, if necessary.}  This type of policy can cause good parents and students to seek a school with more realistic policies elsewhere, which in turn would cause this school to lose the good students it wants to keep.  for this reason, we've considered homeschooling our child.  

This school needs to hire more reliable lunch/recess aides and enforce a strict policy that states that these aides are not to congregate together on the playgrounds and chit chat, but rather, actually walk around and observe the children and control any bullying situations or rough play.  Many times there are incidences which are not even acknowledged by the aides because they simply don't pay attention to the children.  The children suffer when this happens.