Ashland Elementary

The teachers, students and parents of Ashland are great! The principal is the absolute worst!!!! One day, the truth about Jacks will get out. He is not a person of character!

I currently have 2 kids that attend ashland. The principal is fun, energetic and the kids all adore him. The teachers are wonderful and my kids are both thriving. We love the sense of community and have made many lifelong friendships!

I was a student at Ashland Elementary who attended there for 4th and 5th grade. I have learning disabilities (manly in math) which had landed me in the special ed program along with an IEP. I would be sent down to the special ed classroom when my regular class would start to do math. The Special Ed teacher told us at the beginning of the year that we would go back and review 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade math so we would be "caught up" with the regular kids.
I also had a different special ed teacher come into the regular classroom and help us during the reading and writing portion of class. That lady never let me do anything on my own. She spelled all words without me asking how to, she made all my stories shaped the way she liked it, she basically controlled me. She treated me like I had no control over my actions and that I could not function like a normal human being. (as in, grabbing my hand so I wouldn't bite my nails, taking me into the bathroom and telling me I smelt bad and made me wash myself ((she told me this the first day I met her)), she told the class that I was special and different from all them (which caused more bulling then I already received for having learning disabilities and being in special ed) she also put me in some type of anger counseling during lunch (I'm not really sure what the exact name for it was) for being disrespectful to her. Yes, I will admit, I was. Probably because she treated me like I was brain dead and had no idea how to do anything. This went on for 2 years.
I am a student now attending Forest Park High School and let me just tell you, they did not catch me up. I struggled all through middle school (Benton) because they never taught me the things they learned in 4th and 5th grade. All they did was teach us material from the earlier grades. I had no idea what they were talking all 3 years. Plus they placed me in a regular class, but either way, I would of still had trouble since it was the same in the special ed classes. I feel as if the Special education system is way too different then the ones in middle school which causes you to have a lot of problems adjusting to all of the changes, not only within ourselves (puberty), but with having to switch classes, be on time, find your way around a huge school, and for kids like me, be suddenly exposed to something and expect to just automatically get it.
With also having a learning disability, being bullied, being sectioned out, being treated differently, not learning proper material, no one listening to me because they all thought I made it up, has resulted in me having very poor grades and failing every math sol since I went to Ashland. If you have a child in special ed, please, I'm begging you, don't let them go here. I am now in therapy and developed depression and severe anxiety because of the horrible experiences I had there. I am 16 years old, and in the 10th grade. I am not writing this for pity, or to just make Ashland look bad because I didn't like it, I'm writing this because no child should ever have to go through what I went through. It has emotional scared me for life, and I don't want anyone to come home crying every night like I did for years because of this.
Thanks for reading.