Hollydale Elementary School

Do yourself and your family a favor, DO NOT enroll your kids at this school.

We never felt welcomed or comfortable at Hollydale so we got involved by volunteering and attending after school events, thinking it was because we were new to the school. Boy I was wrong. About 2 months into the school year, I was told by my son’s kinder teacher that he wasn’t conforming like the other kids in class. And that she's NEVER seen a child like him before and that he is smart but shows signs of being special. As you could imagine, I was concerned and started to volunteer bi-weekly rather than monthly. And the more I tried to be involved, the more Hollydale wasn’t so helpful. I’ve been hung up on several times by the office and pre-judged several times. Not to mention, when I called to ask follow-up questions to an incident that took place, I was told that they had already spoken to the “child’s father” and don’t have time to answer any other questions and that, they didn’t know I didn’t live with my child (which isn’t the case). When I brought my concerns to the principal, she completely dismissed me and would make condescending comments to me after we meet. So I reached out to the Executive Director of Elementary Education at Gresham Barlow School District, seeking guidance on how to better communicate with a principal who I thought didn’t support good communications between teachers and parents and a teacher that says she’s intimidated by a parent. I was told by the Executive Director of Elementary Education that she would be personally coaching the principal on how to better communicate with parents. Needless to say, the rest of the school year was not fun. The kinder teacher would make comments about my son that were not only condescending, but clear indications of micro aggressions whether intentional or not. I can go on and on but to sum it up Hollydale's principal and staff bully parents.

I transferred my son to East Gresham and he is doing AMAZING!! East Gresham is a breath of fresh air compared to Hollydale and the staff at East Gresham is so welcoming and inclusive. I cant thank East Gresham enough for supporting not only my son's education, but my husband and I as caring parents.