Barling Elementary School

1400 D Street

School District

Fort Smith
Grade

PK, K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:18
Type

public

School Map for Fort Smith School District

GreatSchools Rating

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on August 18, 2022

best school in the town with awesome teachers
Submitted by parent on December 04, 2018

The teachers are ok, not the best or the worst. The schools office staff is generally not helpful and can be quite rude. The first graders watch a lot of movies that have nothing to do with education, which is strange to me but then again they have had a substitute teacher more than a few times. The social policies seem ridiculous at all of the elementary schools in the Fort Smith school district. Apparently they discourage talking during lunch, so I'm not sure when exactly they are supposed to hone their social skills... Maybe between turns on the Chrome Books and getting bullied at the playground?
Submitted by parent on August 21, 2014

The prinicple is absolutley awesome, caring, understanding and great with the kids, most of the teachers are awesome. I have had issues with kindergarden teachers and one employee in the office who is very rude and in my opinion, gossips too much and unwilling to do her job properly.
Submitted by parent on March 15, 2014

My issue is with the K teachers. The teachers take the students out for dismissal at 2:45 and the end of the day is 3:05. The twenty minutes daily adds up to almost two hours of lost instruction per week. If you stick around you will see that the reason for this early dismissal is so the teachers can get rid of the students and then leave early themselves. In addition to dismissing class early daily, the K teachers also watch movies EVERY afternoon. In many schools, the most experienced, and educated, (advanced college degree), teachers are teaching Kindergarten, but not at Barling. Not one teacher has an advanced degree and only two of the four have more at least one year of K experience. The K teachers also lack classroom management and procedures in the classroom and halls. The students who left K last year were unprepared for first grade this year, and the same is true for this years' K class. My K child last year has had difficulty learning this year due to the lack of teaching in the K class last year. My Pre-K student will not attend Barling for K, unless there is a change in the K teaching staff.
Submitted by other on January 16, 2014

The school is great is your from the area, originally. But if you move in, even from two towns away, you and your child are treated as outcasts. The PTA reminds me of when the movie mean girls, and if you don't belong to there clique, your not allowed to be involved in any of your child's extra school things (field trips, etc). The children at the school are rude to each other and show little to no respect to the teachers that I have seen (and I have worked there), and I couldn't wait for my child to get the heck out of there!
Submitted by parent on April 20, 2011

my child was bullied in Barling, and made out to be the bully. The principle witnessed the name calling of my child and did nothing. It got so bad that I ended up transfering my child to another school. Maybe the experience would have been better had we been in the school from.the very begining instead of starting.the first semester of 5th grade.
Submitted by other on November 08, 2010

At Barling, the Principal, teachers, and staff love the children, and treat them with dignity and respect. Teachers go out of their way to teach the subject matter in interesting ways that motivate and reach all levels of academic ability.