Warner Elementary

These are just a few of the things that I wished I would have known before making a school choice as we moved here from out of state. I have 3 children attending Warner this year in first, third, and fifth grades. First of all, the number of children enrolled for 2018-2019 was about 1450. In fact, the school was at max capacity for enrollment per Texas state laws. So they rezoned the kids in the Black Horse ranch subdivision (which attended Warner up until 2019). They will go to Pope Elementary in 2019-2020. But this still only transfers about 200 kids out of Warner. It is an excessively large school.
The actual ratio of students to teachers is in the range of 22-25 per teacher. Every inch of this school is full. They have had to use storage rooms as make shift classrooms. They have taken away the computer lab to turn it into a classroom. I could go on.
This school (as do all Cy Fair schools) uses portable buildings as classrooms. What I wish someone had told me before moving here is that all CY Fair elementary schools are built using the “Open Concept” classrooms. That means there are NO doors, and only partitions between classrooms not walls. So the “walls” between rooms do not even go up to the ceiling. I could see how this would be problematic if your kid has attention issues. There is a lot of noise as you can hear everything going on in the classes on either side. Also, in this day and age, it is a total concern for safety issues when there is not a door a teacher can close to protect students in an emergency. And, anyone can walk up to the portables outside without even having to go through the main school entrance.
Because this school is so large, students are treated like cattle. It is really sink or swim here. There are no field trips or grade level school music programs due to the size of the school. The few extracurricular activities offered here are treated like a lottery system. So, only certain grades can apply to be in the sign language club. From those who submit an application, only 20 are chosen to get to be in the club. There are no franchised extracurricular programs such as Marathon kids, Kids Keys, or Kids Chess, etc. only after school care is offered. Car pick up lines are long and parents usually wait minimum 45 minutes (more like an hour) in the pick line before school even lets out.
A couple of other things… my child was in the Gifted and Talented program at previous schools. In other schools, the GT program included development of critical thinking, creativity, and activities outside the normal core curriculum. Not here. There is really nothing to the GT program here but the title. While my kid is grouped with the GT students, there is no difference in curriculum, no class pull-out programs to work on GT development, nothing different. Except, they get additional work piled on like book reports to write. I really don’t know why they even have a GT label here. It is only because it is state mandated, there is no actual GT programming.
Back to the curriculum…. This school is uber-focused on STAAR testing. I have had “homework” come home for my first grader to practice filling in bubbles. Every paper and assessment only focuses on STAAR test skills and STAAR test type questions. Every paper that comes home has “Property of Cy Fair” written on it. Each teacher must teach these specific school district written papers at the same time, the same way. There is no room for teachers to deviate from this micromanaged district provided curriculum. They only teach STAAR test information. They constantly talk about the STAAR test. They also have what they call DPMs: District Progress Monitoring. They are tests which are administered in every subject and just about every other week. Yet, the DPMs are “confidential” so as a parent, you cannot see the test that was given or what your child missed. You only get their score. I have never been in a school district so obsessed with standardized testing. I’m sure it is done in order to keep their school ratings high.
Also,before moving here I wish I had known that Texas rates its schools based on its own state developed ratings. So if you are comparing a school on the east coast which follows federal standards (as do 42 of the 50 states) and you compare their ratings to Texas, you are comparing apples to oranges
Finally, Cy Fair has an institutional culture of putting up barriers to kids getting accommodations and special education services. The way Texas treats special education and learning disorders is the worst I have seen. One of my kids came into this school with a diagnosis of dyslexia. The school wanted him re-tested by the district. I am still waiting for them to act. They have repeatedly tried to talk us out of his diagnosis because his grades are passing. Yes, he is passing because he gets outside tutoring at our expense. Nothing from the school.

Wonderful teachers, wonderful staff, great area!