Samuel Staples Elementary School

Posted June 12, 2009

I am the parent of a gifted student and I had a very unsatisfactory experience with the school. They not only fail to develop these children in the classroom, they seem unequipped to handle them in socially appropriate ways. The teachers and administration not only lack the desire to address these kids academically (even in the most minimal sense), they don't seem to know how to handle them without making them a spectacle to the other children. They are not open to much discussion about this issue, let alone finding creative ways to develop these children that would challenge and stimulate them. I got the sense that having children who are bored most of the day is entirely acceptable, as long as they don't misbehave of course. It would have been nice to benefit from the high taxes we pay, but we had to opt for private school.
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Posted June 10, 2009

I have mixed feelings about the school but feel like my kids have been pretty well served there, in particular because of some excellent teachers and in particular the great music teachers and wonderful facility. However, I agree that the administration is weak, the principal is a very poor communicator, and that the school offers almost nothing to gifted, or even above average, students. There is a huge focus on special needs and learning-challenged kids and the size of the faculty in this area is astonishing when compared to the number of regular classroom teachers. I think that is fine, but frustrating when the school offers nothing to more advanced kids. The principal says the teachers are good at differentiating within the classroom (teaching at different levels) but in my experience this is not the case. We've had a few wonderful, amazing teachers and a couple of duds.
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Posted April 30, 2009

Given that SSES does NOT have a T.A.G. program, this school is really only for the middle to lower tier students. They have plenty of aids and programming for the lower tier and special needs school, but nothing for the kds on the other end of the spectrum. As a result, many of these kids are going to private schools or elsewhere.
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Posted April 23, 2009

The quality of the school administration is questionable... SSES does not acknowledge gifted and talented students, other than meeting the CT DOE requirement of identifying G&T students. This is archaic in this day and age. These bright children and their parents can only hope that they receive a teacher who has received professional development in this area, or are astute enough to handle these children. Other schools in the nearby area have TAG and other challenging programs, that enable all children to be challenged at their level.
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