Riley Upper Elementary School

15555 Henry Ruff Road

School District

Livonia Public Schools
Grade

5-6
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:19
Type

public

School Map for Livonia Public Schools 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 April 16, 2019

A+, in 6 months my daughter will be in Middle School. There is a completely different dynamic in Middle School, I think the slow 2 year immersion in learning different ways of interacting with students will prepare my daughter. The 5 to 6 Upper Elementary is a great way to prep our kids as to what the world will be like. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, but it's not all bullies and buttheads oh, they have been taught to recognize the differences and to speak up when in equality, cruelty, bullying arise. I love Riley, and any imperfections that show up are just like the imperfections that I deal with and everyone deals with in life. We try to do our best.
Submitted by student on April 08, 2016

2 teachers I would like to discuss. Stephanie Pinta and Shanna Ramsey. These are 2 teachers that your child would like. I am a student at Riley and Ms. Pinta is AWESOME!! She never yells, barely even raises her voice! She helps kids with homework fluently, and is always smiling and nice. The Riley staff is a great bunch and Riley is a great school!
Submitted by parent on December 16, 2015

Teachers have been great with what they are able to do within state guidelines, thanks Snyder. Buses are a nightmare though. Usually people write reviews when they are angry because they need an outlet, happy people usually just go on with their own business forgetting to do reviews because well they are happy. I believe that is why the "stars" are not higher.
Submitted by other on July 03, 2015

I attended Riley this year and the school is terrible. The cooks are mean and they under cook meat. The teachers don't solve bullying and don't answer questions. The classes are out of control and teachers don't do anything. The building looks like it will collapse. My parents are considering private school because it's so bad. Lastly, teachers will be sexists and talk about God.
Submitted by other on March 24, 2015

I am currently attending Riley, this year will be my last year before I leave to go to Middle School. I wish to say that these rumors and reviews are not true! There is a teacher Ms. Trapp that helps others when bulling happens! She resolves the problem! Trust me, been there done that! the teachers are also very nice! Yes they do teach old methods of math but they do new ones too! Overall Riley is a great school.
Submitted by parent on June 17, 2014

I was just sitting down to write a letter to the principle of Riley when I saw this link come up with reviews of the school. I was intrigued by recent reviews and was not surprised to see the terrible things said from just this closing school year! My child was in 5th grade and I feel as though this was a waste of a year for her, we are even considering tutoring through the summer and private school next year to both catch up and not fall even further behind before heading into middle school. Our teacher was awful at communicating with us, right down to not replying to emails and not giving response in the planner she tells us to write her in. The last day of school 3 notebooks for supplemental work for Math, Science and English came home 3/4 of the way empty. I was furious and thought my daughter hadn't been keeping up only to learn from other kids and parents that they were forgotten about after the first few weeks and science had a few sections covered then nothing! Assignments were often not graded, papers towards the end of the year got a "Good Job" with no grade, feedback or rubric....it was a joke. What a shame when Livonia is known for its excellent public school system!
Submitted by parent on June 12, 2014

This school is a nightmare!!!! Very snobbish office staff, a principal you will never get a call back from unless you mention calling the superintendent. Teachers can careless about the students, social worker tries but is stuck in a time warp. Bullying is a big problem and is swept under the rug and when your child does tell a staff member nothing is done. I have never dealt with such immaturity and a gross lack of professionalism ever. I would almost bet that any Detroit Public School operates on a better level than this god awful building.
Submitted by parent on June 19, 2013

All of the rumors I heard are true. I contacted the principal twice with no response and found the teacher difficult to work with. Fighting was acceptable and teaching methods from the 90's were general practice. My overall experience was not pleasant!!! Coming from a very good elementary school I was hoping for great things from Riley. I was very disappointed! Livonia Public Schools has a big problem at Riley and need to address safety and academic concerns!
Submitted by parent on June 11, 2013

I think the experience you get from this school depends on who you deal with. The office can't take notice of everyone, from their responses. As a parent that was only visible on occasions I never felt that welcomed. We had two different teachers when my child was there. One was fantastic and brought lots of new ideas, the other was past her prime and my child couldn't relate. Your best bet is to work with the teachers directly since your stay at Riley is short. The kids learn a lot but it's not the warm and fuzzy environment that lower elementary was.
Submitted by parent on May 31, 2012

Very disappointed with Riley. My daughter is in their learning center program and she has never hated school the way she does now. My husband and I always worked with staff since she was in pre-school and accept that she does have faults and need a firm hand to handle, but we have always work through tough times as long as the teachers guide her in the right direction. Well its been a full year and only two weeks left, and she has been coming up crying every other day because of kids harassing her. She doesn't trust any of the teachers when she has problems because she feels they don't do anything anyway. She has been disciplined more than once (by the way their zero tolerance is a bit severe) and yet stress the zero tolerance, but what about the staff? Is there zero tolerance when another child harass or misbehave and a student is asking for help and instead of handling it, they tell her to ignore it.. no wonder my daughter lashes out! Ridiculous!
Submitted by other on November 16, 2011

I am currently at Riley , this is my second year. From the day i arrived there were no problems or anything and i in a wheelchair too. But anyways , it has been a great experience learning and fun. The teachers are just so amazing! The kids are nice. The staff as i said are great! They encourage me to do the best i can. My first year was great! So how dare you say these things about my school! And when me and my parent walk into the office we are ALWAYS greeted with respect even when i walk in there to run an errand for the teacher they are happy to help! So how dare you say that the staff is bad! Maybe it isn't the staff!