Canyon Elementary School Current Families
Hello,
I am in the process of looking for schools and one of the schools I’m looking into and have been accepted into is Canyon Elementary School in Canyon, CA.
At first I was thrilled as this school has an excellent reputation. They have a beautiful outdoor space, a chef who cooks homemade food and mixed grade classes.
But, my experience with the principal has me a bit concerned. First, she does not respond to questions about the program in a timely manner (as in months have gone by since I sent her the email). Second, she recently let me know that they have not yet hired teachers for the 2024-25 school year (3 out of their 4 teachers quit at the very end of last year). The afterschool program director said that they also are not yet staffed, and being a working mom... I believe we have just a few weeks left before school starts, so this concerns me. Principal Julie tells me that there is nothing to worry about, but when I pressed further, I was told that they have only 2 applicants. For the many job openings.
I would love to hear from parents who are there right now. Is this just how Canyon rolls? Are you planning on staying? Would you recommend I accept the spot?
Desperate mom
Parent Replies
Hi, I am an alumnae and have 2 kids attending Canyon since K, one entering 4th and another entering 8th. I 100% understand your concerns and hope to address them here.
First of all, communication via email is not Principal Julie's strongest trait but she is a really awesome human being and really cares about the community and the kids, she has a focus on social emotional learning and supporting the individual talents of the kids. Sometimes she might need a reminder to respond or a phone call/personal conversation. Since our school is so small, our Superintendent and Principal are both part time. She has tons of experience and has inherited a big job since covid shut things down and she gets pulled in a lot of different directions. We (parents and staff) are still building everything back up including staffing/volunteerism/giving. Unfortunately again due to our small school and district, the staff/teacher pay is not as high as neighboring districts which is part of our teacher retention issue. The board and other parent organizations have been working together to creatively find ways to increase compensation for staff-we are providing a small raise, hiring bonus, free lunch and aftercare for staff and will continue to work at raises for staff. The jobs are being posted in more places and I do trust that Julie has it under control.
The current K-2 teacher is great, she started last year, comes with lots of experience and has a kid in the 678 class, she is committed to the school and we are lucky to have her. The 3-5 teacher has just been hired and there is some plans in place if the 6-8 teacher is not in place by the start of the school year (An experienced community member and retired teacher will step in/mentor etc). Aftercare will be happening for sure and there are a lot of really fun enrichment programs that are getting lined up. They are still looking for some staffing but the director will step in until fully staffed. The director is a community member and preschool teacher with young children, one in the K-2 class and is fully invested in the school and making the after school program lots of fun.
I am the incoming CATSS (like PTA) president and we be focusing a lot this year on building community and supporting staff. I am hoping to find meaningful ways for parents and community members to get involved with the school and tapping into the collective gifts and talents that makes the community great.
I say YES- Try Canyon for K, it is such a magical place-you mentioned the forest, mixed aged classes and food...all amazing.
A few other things that I appreciate about Canyon:
-Tons of enrichment, field trips almost 1x month, music/art/capoeira on Wednesdays, class camping trips, 8th graders go to Costa Rica, cheap after school dance/tinkering/archery/movie making etc.
-Performances-A winter and spring performance plus presentations for Women's history night-my kids are becoming more comfortable standing in front of an audience.
-Project Based learning and lots of beautiful traditions
-Lots of carpools which makes transportation easier
I hope that helps, happy to chat more or connect you with another parent who has a kid who just completed K. We do have a work day on Saturday 9:30 to 2PM, if you are free, stop by and talk to the folks who are there-might give you a better sense of things and give you peace of mind about whatever decision you make.
Jenn Parker