Wicklow Elementary School, Sanford | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

Do NOT send your student to wicklow unless that literally is your only option, private school or a charter school is significantly better. They have a few good teachers but the majority of their staff is terrible and don’t care about their students education. This is a long review but it summarizes some of our experience at this school.

My kid has ADHD so he is quite hyper and can be a challenge to keep on task. Last year we got him a 504 plan to help him in class and make it easier on the teacher. His first teacher in kindergarten followed the plan and he did great however that teacher went on maternity leave about halfway through the school. The sub that came in was provided his 504 to review and follow but surprise she didn’t and he started to not do so well anymore.

We went in to get his plan updated to better help him in class and the teacher. Surprise again the faculty said that’s not possible because we only do that every 2 years, we don’t have the time this year, and we don’t have the funding for any accommodations. The main thing we asked for was a fidget chair which is basically a ball in a crate that allows for some movement. We know this can be done but they don’t want to so they made up excuses and lied to us.

Beginning of this year he started 1st grade and immediately we started to have the same problems again. So we went back to the school and asked to updated his 504, they basically said no. Only after going to county office and complained about the treatment we were receiving to the super attendants office did anything start happening. We had a meeting with someone from county office there to discuss what we could do and it was productive. Afterward we came back in to update his 504 plan and they said no again because we have to wait till after testing, there is no documentation saying he needs any additional accommodations beside the bare basics already in place, they again mentioned there was no funding for any of the things we asked for like a fidget chair and because he isn’t receiving services in school like PT or OT, and then they said we could pay for the special things ourselves and give it to the school to use. Yes they lied to our faces again because they didn’t want to do it.

Right off the bat starting in 1st grade his teacher was very rude, unprofessional, and refused to communicate or cooperate with us. His teacher who shall remain nameless refused to follow his 504 plan from day 1. She told us she has her own plan for handling kids in her class and that’s what she will follow. So when we offered advice to help she ignored us and basically told us to shut up and keep it to ourselves. She also bullied our son in front of class and publicly reprimanded him which got the other students to bully him as well and try to get him in trouble. Obviously nothing was done about it even when we confronted the school administration about it.

The problems got to the point that our son stopped asking to use the restroom and began wetting himself in class. Just how bad does things have to get to cause such behavior that our child starts wetting himself in class and begs not to go to school anymore. Needless to say we had enough of the lies, faculty refusing to work with us on my child’s educational needs, and the unprofessional behavior of his teacher we withdrew him and moved him to UCP.

Today we went back to pick up his school supplies and the teacher kept most of them. She instead gave us her own cheap spares and kept his much nicer supplies for herself. We know that because well we know what we bought and we put his name on his folders and notebooks.

There are other little things such as not being notified when my son hurts himself at school or gets into an altercation with another student that contributed to us withdrawing him. Edit: we requested testing and they clearly faked the official report, too many inconsistencies and clearly false scores. AVOID WICKLOW AT ALL COSTS!

I had to withdraw my child from this school due to how he was being treated. They wouldn’t follow his 504. My son was being bullied by other students. I brought it to their attention. They did nothing. They refused to give him an IEP stating that he was on track with his peers, yet his testing came back a full grade below where he should be. I tried over and over again to speak with his teacher about his behavior and things that work at home. Her exact response was ‘I have my own behavior plan I use’ well, it’s obvious it isn’t working. How hard is it to remind my son that he will lose DS time at home if he has behavior issues? It isn’t hard. His DS is a reward and if he is naughty at school he won’t get rewarded. He needs frequent reminders. I also asked them if I could send tea or coffee to school for my son to drink at lunch because he has ADHD and his medicine isn’t working. Yes. We are trying different meds, but if I can send in some tea with caffeine it can help to settle him down until we figure out a med that does work. They told me absolutely no. They would not allow that at school. Ok. I will get a prescription. They refused to give me a medicine form so our doctor could prescribe tea for him during lunch. I asked for a handbook and mentioned that there was nothing in the handbook about caffeine at school. They still didn’t care.

My son got punched in the stomach at school. He was playing karate with a friend and another student stepped in thinking that they were fighting. My son was punched twice in the stomach. I did not receive a phone call. I called the dean to ask him why and he said “It’s not my job to call you” so I asked him why the teacher didn’t call me and his exact words were “She must have been too busy teaching her class to call you” that’s not a good excuse.

During a 504 meeting we had I asked his teacher for an extra 2 days to do his homework. I wanted to be able to do it over the weekend. His medicine works really well in the morning, but it was wearing off really bad in the afternoon and I wasn’t able to get him to sit and do his homework. So I wanted the weekend mornings to be able to do it. Again, her exact words were “Well, I can’t grade his homework anyways. If he doesn’t want to do it then don’t make him” excuse me! The homework may not be graded, but he still needs to be held accountable. That wouldn’t be acceptable in middle school. He still needs to be held accountable. And if I get the extra 2 days added to his 504 now, then it won’t be a problem when he gets older and homework IS graded.

I withdrew my son from this school. They told me he was withdrawn. I went in because I kept getting phone calls. They INSISTED he was withdrawn. His new school was trying to enroll him was having difficulties. They said their system was telling them that he was enrolled in another school. Ok. Fine. Enough. I got a person from county office to accompany me to Wicklow to uninroll my son. They told me that they weren’t able to withdraw him before because then his testing scores would have been erased and they would lose them (which is a blatant lie. His new school said that Wicklow wouldn’t be able to access them, but they would still be in the system. Why would they need to continue to access my son’s testing scores after he was already attending another school. Was it for funding purposes??? If so that’s fraud since he had been attending another school).

These are just a few problems I had with this school. I think they need shut down. They only care about money. Their teachers don’t care about their students. Their staff is horrendous. Especially the secretary in the office. I’ve been told “that’s just the way she is” well , screaming and yelling at children and glaring at their parents is never acceptable in any circumstance.

Don’t take your kid here. Find ANY other place to take your kids.

Wicklow is the worst school to take your child to, the staff are very disrespectful,they never call if your child has been in an altercation of any sort only when paper work is needed and they give no spare time on it and ready to withdraw your child from school. Most of the staff that work there really give Wicklow a bad name and truly does not represent the school at all nor handle the kids with care