Foothills Elementary School

15808 North 63rd Avenue

School District

Peoria Unified
Grade

PK, K-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:16
Type

public

School Map for Peoria Unified School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on February 29, 2024

My adult children attended k-8 and now my 6 yr old attends this school, which has become a fine arts academy.Wonderful staff, nurturing environment, perfectly paced academics. This school will allow your children to blossom in all areas for various personalites.
Submitted by parent on September 22, 2019

Great so far my son is new to the school but super excited about being there.
Submitted by parent on January 18, 2019

This is simple the worst school my son has ever attended . I moved him schools his homework is down , teachers are willing to spend time teaching, he is on honor roll, teachers communicate with parents . I guess that's what you get Foothills Elementary was just voted a C school and my sons new school Hillcrest was voted an A
Submitted by parent on October 21, 2018

I have had great experiences with the school and staff.
Submitted by parent on June 23, 2018

Phenomenal! I have three children who’ve all attended from Kindergarten onward. My oldest just graduated Cactus in top 5% and is going to attend UA in Honors College for Chemistry. Foothills has 5 or the 15 students in top 5% at Cactus. This is the culmination of many years of excellent schooling starting at Foothills and stretching over to Cactus High School as well. Thank you Foothills!
Submitted by parent on April 29, 2015

This school is fantastic because it offers an amazing leg up for kids by integrating arts into learning every day. By allowing them to express themselves artistically, I've found all three of my children's grades have gone up not only because they can express these abilities but all the teachers find ways for them to integrate these abilities into their learning experiences. Starting in 5th grade students can add dance/drama/band/choir to their regular classes and get a leg up for high school as well as life if they want to do any of those for a living. I've not found any school other than this one that teaches beginning dance. I've taken dance. This class is almost identical to my high school dance class which introduced me to jazz, ballet, tap. This school not only allows for these in depth arts classes but also exceeds expectations for my children's grades. I love this school and highly recommend this rating go up. People deserve to know what this school offers for our future generation.
Submitted by parent on April 29, 2015

I love foothills! My daughter is in there developmental preschool class and she loves it!! She loves Ms Miriam and her team!! My daughters needs can be hard to meet and I try hard to find the best for her. I have been pleasantly surprised at how great this school is and how great of a year my daughter has had. Thank you so much foothills!!
Submitted by parent on March 20, 2015

My daughter loves this school. She loves the fact that she has peers that share the same performing art interests. Dr. Benson has been out and welcoming at EVERY after-school and extra event the school holds. Keep in mind that these are on top of the full "regular" day he puts in beforehand. To the parents complaining about bullying.....what is it that you expect a school to reasonably be able to do? This is a k-8 school that cannot "kick" kids out. The best they can try and do is reform a child's behavior. I also suggest you teach your own child how to be assertive and respond in an appropriate way. Seems to me everyone wants to point the finger at the school and administration when basically the options to deal with student discipline are determined by the district and state. If they could "fix" the bad child rearing of other parents they would be miracle workers not teachers. Before you slam them consider that.
Submitted by other on November 02, 2014

I went to foothills from 2005-2013. I watched it go downhill along with test scores and teaching methods. For an arts school, the teachers need to push a little harder and help the students more! Being in high school now i have more privileges and help from teachers if needed. The teachers at foothills need to prepare students for high school more and give them a better education.
Submitted by parent on May 16, 2014

I am really disappointed in how far this school has fallen. I've had several children attend here and we may actually move them. I had hopes a new principal would revive the staff and bring a non bias view; however it has since fallen even faster. The new principle is very nice. He's just not a good leader and a coward. There are several teachers that need to be retired. They no longer like working with kids and there tends to be some singling out of students. I've had several conversations with other foothills parent concerned about teachers who bully. I have see multiple incidents of teachers bullying kids this year. I guess there's good and bad teachers at every school. There are a few great teachers here. The problem is the bad ones are allowed to do anything they want without consequence. Also adding Fine Arts to the name of a school may sound fancy, but it does not increase the quality of the program teachers or classes. Unless you are "mom friends" with an arts teacher...forget about ur kid getting in. If ur kid decides they want to try another "art program" they will be black listed for their remaining years. So sad because we used to live it here. It's a joke now!
Submitted by other on April 26, 2014

This school is a very bad school I would not recommend sending your child here. Im a seventh grader who has gone to foothills since kindergarten and ive been bullied since, my parents and I have had complaints many times and they say they will gain control but they dont. I hate this school and I know alot of other people do to. Teachers read the students messages on there phone (invading personal privacy) and as I said before ive been bullied since 1st grade now in seventh and they dont do anything but once someone says I bully them when i dont i get suspended like is that necessary so finally standing up for myself i punched a boy in the face of course I got suspended! But still I DO NOT recommend your child coming to foothills the teachers are disrespectful and students are mean.
Submitted by parent on April 17, 2014

My son went here 2 years for preschool with Ms. Donna and is now in kindergarten with Ms. Eilliams. I have no issues with the teachers and the new principal us awesome. I see him all over the place so I know he's working hard. My one and only complaint is that went mentioned I was thinking about holding my son back in kindergarten I met with the vice principal and his teacher. They said they were going to put an action plan together and I never heard anything back about an action plan. I'm a very active so I didn't think anything of it. Overall I have no real complaints. Hopefully I won't in the future.
Submitted by parent on April 16, 2014

Good luck to the new principal. I have had children attend this school for the past 15 years and have seen the school decline. Bullying is a theme at this school. Dress codes are unobserved. There are only a handful of teachers that really do their job, many are unprepared for class, to provide work if a student will be absent, or at conferences. It is sad to see such a decline in student and teacher morale as well. The new principal certainly has his work cut out for him.
Submitted by parent on March 08, 2014

I have to post in response to the negative comments below. My kids have been at Foothills for three years. I have never seen HS kids all over campus, kinder kids alone, or complete lack of supervision. I am on campus multiple times each week at varying times of day. There are always teachers on the playgrounds and in the cafeteria during hours children are there and there are two seperate playgrounds for younger and older kids. They have begun locking the gates during school hours this year, which has made me very happy. Improvements have occurred with the new principal. There is definitely some room to grow, but this new principal seems to have his work cut out for him after this school has seen dropping scores the previous two years and other details. It is getting better. Foothills certainly encourages parent involvement.
Submitted by parent on August 20, 2013

This school has had one of the best community caring environments that I have been in. While there are issues with students' discipline, I hope the new prinicipal will address these areas of concern. This school is making great strides in the areas of reading and is working hard to address the new common core frameworks. For anyone to say that the staff/teachers do not care about student success is ludicrous. Parents need to take an active role in their children's lives and follow through with consequenses when behavior warrants it. Student, Parents, and Teachers should be a team. This school has alot of wonderful attributes, and if everyone works together, it will continue to improve.
Submitted by other on August 15, 2013

My school is.. Pretty good.. I wanted to go to pioneer though, because last year when I was in 6th grade they didn't do anything when I was getting bullied.. then I almost got suspended cause of the bullies.. But this tear im hoping its different cause theres a new principle, Im not a huge fan of the choir teacher Mrs.Burnett.. But who knows.. Maybe ill learn to like her..
Submitted by teacher on February 05, 2013

This school is okay, and that parent who said there is zero security, a whole lot a other schools in the PUSD have no security, Marshall Ranch Elementary (near ironwood) is worst, a bridge goes from on side of the canal into the school. Anyway, Cactus High is right next to the school, and the only place I see the high schoolers go on campus is either home, picking up a sibling, or talking to one of their 7/8 grade friends. The offic, principal, and school organization is pretty bad though, and this school is cheap. My sons school in LA Unified (one of the poorest in the U.S) could afford more than this school. Something happened to this school, my son said the principal said this school used to have 1100 students. You can send your kids to this school, only thing to worry about is your kids personality, since the kids here are "semi-friendly", and if your kid has a bad personality they will be bullied, which is rare at this school, so is fights, but both have been growing in the junior high areas after this one 8th grade girl came, which I think her parents wrote the review below, and all the kids say she started drama that literally spread as far as 5th grade.
Submitted by parent on January 18, 2013

This is by far the worst school our child has ever attended. For starters, there is ZERO security, no monitoring of visitors, no staff whatsoever before or after school. There are up to eighth graders mixed in with as young as second graders with no supervision before or after school. ANYONE can walk on campus and pick up your kid. Then there are high schoolers walking all over the campus right after school. We have witnessed older kids bullying little ones, a kid left at the kindergarten playground alone after the bell rang with the gardening staff (no teacher in sight), and much more. We walk our child to the classroom door in the am and walk in to pick her up after school and pray that she is safe in between. We addressed our concerns with the VP, and saw more staff for a few weeks, then things went back to "normal". We also placed a call to the Admin staff with another concern, and never received a call back from the principal as we were promised. We are working on getting our child placed elsewhere. Do not send your kids here.
Submitted by parent on October 17, 2012

awful principal & most teachers are very mean to the kids. My kids went there for 5 years 4 of those years had zero problems then the principal came. its been a while since we left & Im so so glad we did I know people who still go there but will not for long.
Submitted by parent on October 16, 2012

This is an excellent school. Because this is the "performing arts" school in the district, the junior high has the opportunity to be involved in real dance instruction, choreography & performance. The dance teacher is one of those utterly amazing women on this Earth who changes lives. My daughters get dance as a regular class during the day & are graded on such things as their performance etiquette & whether they spot when doing triple pirouettes! But its not just that. The office staff are friendly and knowledgeable, the principal is actively involved and upbeat. They have plenty of ways to get involved and support their community. The 6th - 8th grade teachers are excellent. Creative, ambitious, understanding, thoughtful, and so many of them are like those amazing teachers we have had once in awhile & will always remember! Sad that the great tech teacher left this year and no so impressed with the replacement, hopefully the staff will rub off on him. I feel so very blessed that I found this school and now am looking to move into the neighborhood so we will be in district. -- a very concerned and involved mother of 4 girls.