Dower Elementary School

7817 John Dower Road West

School District

Clover Park
Grade

PK, K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:14
Type

public

School Map for Clover Park 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 October 30, 2023

Principal, counselor, teachers can’t be bothered to help resolve issues with bullies pushing and punching your child. They do not return your calls. Principal emailed us stating the counselor would call us. No call ever came. They just pass it off to the next person with no resolution. This is not a safe place for your child to attend school. Wish I could give a negative star review, if any school deserves it, it’s this one
Submitted by parent on February 01, 2018

My son just started at Dower this year. My experience with them has been very "fake it till you make it". They put o a great charade for the community . They always have events and fun activities going on. But the staff that I have dealt with have all been bitter and unpleasant. His teacher is a first year teacher who has no clue how to handle kids. She only communicates with me now because I have complained about her not doing so and she is extremely resistant to any feedback I've offered her on bettering my kids issues in her class. I can NOT STAND this school and I can not wait to transfer my kid to a place where they will actually take an interest in how the kids are doing and where they will work alongside the parents no a regular basis. Not just parent teacher conferences .
Submitted by teacher on November 18, 2013

Dower Elementary is a Kids at Hope school. We believe that all students are talented, smart, and capable of success. I'm sorry for those who have had negative experiences in the past. Our staff works hard to engage kids in meaningful learning in a respectful, responsible and safe learning enviornment. We invite families to join us in our family activities and in volunteer opportunities.
Submitted by parent on July 26, 2013

Great teachers, awful principal. My children were happy, and the teachers always made sure, that as parents we were involved. The buildings were fairly updated and facilities clean. I was not impressed with the principal. We called CPS on a separate set of parents because of some things they had done to my son, and I called the principal asking to discuss this with her. I called back several days later, and then a third time a few days after that. Not only did she not ONCE return my calls, when I asked her if she'd heard my messages, she brushed me off. I found out a while later that this parent had not only been a chaperone for 2 field trips, but had been allowed to get my son away from the other students and teachers. Fortunately nothing bad happened, but we changed schools IMMEDIATELY. Mrs Dawson doesn't take the child's safety seriously enough. She should be ashamed.
Submitted by parent on March 14, 2013

UNHELPFULL! Not only was the lady extremely rude but was extremely unhelpful in answering my questions. I called about enrolling my daughter into all day kindergarden and she acted like it was sooo hard to give me information to basic questions. If thats the kind of atmosphere my daughter will be around i want nothing to do with it.
Submitted by parent on August 29, 2011

My son went to Kindergarten here 2 years ago, and loved it. We never had a problem and my son got lots of attention because of the small classes. Very understanding to military sitiuations such as helping my son deal with deployments and missing school when daddy was on leave or coming home. No complaints once so ever! Oh and I also loved how they got parents involved with the classrooms, I also took a free parenting class which included free dinner and child care.
Submitted by parent on December 20, 2010

I was new to the area and thought this was the only school in our district. I would not suggest this school to anyone. Within the first few days, my son would come home crying and upset saying that he "wasn't learning anything" . So my husband decided to sit in class with him for 2 days to see what was being taught. Upon entering the class, my husband was approached by 2 little boys asking was he "packing a gun". On the 2nd day, the teacher was not able to have story time because she couldn't control the class. At that moment, my son was disenrolled & put into a different district. In a matter of two weeks, he was reading, writing better, and spelling.