Valley Park Elementary School

12301 Lamar Ave.

School District

Blue Valley (Overland Park)
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:18
Type

public

School Map for Blue Valley School District (Overland Park)

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 other on January 15, 2025

I believe that Valley Park is an amazing place with caring teachers and support staff, a wonderful PTO, and many great students. Unfortunately, the current administrators have made it a very uncomfortable place for all stakeholders. Teachers and support staff are disappearing at a high rate. Substitute teachers are being brought in to lead classes that had experienced, caring, dedicated teachers. This is highly disruptive for students. It not only effects their learning, but effects them emotionally. Next to their parents, children spend the vast majority of their days with their teachers. I hope that the district soon realizes how the culture of VPE is changing and not in a good way. I am scared that soon all the good, experienced teachers/staff will leave in order to work in buildings/districts that value them. It is an unfortunate consequence of the atmosphere. The minute you walk in the building, you can sense how on edge people are, that staff is scared to say or do the wrong thing, that students don't feel like they can trust admintrators to care or value them for who they are, and it is not the fun, caring environment it used to be.
Submitted by parent on November 01, 2023

This was the worst school in the entire world. They lost my daughter on her second day of kindergarten. They lost her again about a month later. The bullying problem at the school is unreal. And in KINDERGARTEN. like kids holding eachother down and punching kicking eachother ect. The teachers really don't do much and the principal didn't either. The vice principal didn't know what time school started and told me the wrong time. I could go on and on about how terrible the school was but those are just the highlights. I moved out of the district because of this school.
Submitted by parent on October 16, 2023

I have a child at VPE and more who will be there soon. I was so surprised (and concerned) to see a 4/10 rating (currently fall 2023) as that does not reflect my experiences with VPE whatsoever. My child has had wonderful, engaged teachers who work hard and keep parents informed, the PTO is very active, and the parent community is engaged (every single classroom has 2 volunteer room parents this year, for example). I think Great Schools has a rating algorithm that does not tell the whole story. I dug further into the ratings, and many of them are based on 2019 > 2022 data, which is just after schools returned to an in-person learning model post-Covid, and kids nationwide had a rough time with standardized testing. When looking at standardized test scores from initial 2023 assessments, which is the only way I can think to objectively evaluate all Kansas schools, VPE is 72/660, which is in the ~89th percentile. BVSD, SMSD and Olathe schools all float around within the top 100, changing places up or down a bit each year. If you zoom out and look at Blue Valley North (which is where VPE students go for high school), you will see that the students who start at VPE and a few other elementary schools are all doing wonderfully in terms of college prep, academic achievement, etc..so why the 4/10? It looks to me like Great Schools has a very outsized weighting on "equity" and "academic progress" which, while important, are not a neutral indicator of overall performance of the entire school. The school community is made up of parents who are very involved in their children's lives, which is a major indicator of academic success.If you made it this far, thanks for reading - I felt compelled to defend our school after a neighbor recently noticed this 4/10 on Zillow and mentioned it to me. I encourage parents considering schools to look at standardized test score performance, not rely on aggregated algorithms with murky weighting practices when deciding where to buy a home. Blue Valley schools remain some of the very best in the state, and VPE is a great place for kids, mine included.
Submitted by parent on February 19, 2016

Excellent school. My child has seen lot of growth in both Mathematics and Reading Comprehension
Submitted by parent on April 06, 2015

I love this school! Mr. Lange is an amazing principal who is very involved. The teachers are really caring and know their kids. We like that the school is pretty diverse as well. Overall, great school!
Submitted by parent on August 08, 2013

Reading some posts that say VPE doesn't focus enough on gifted children. I've had a completely different experience. I'm amazed by the things the school has done for our gifted child. Frankly, we're blown away by our experience with the regular AND gifted program. Look at the overall test scores for the school. High 90's percentiles don't lie. Teacher involvement, parent involvement, staff involvement all GREAT at tho school. I've seen treachers at evening parent activities. That level of engagement is pretty dang cool. For the most part, the teachers are highly engaged. We're incredibly pleased.
Submitted by parent on February 09, 2012

Teachers are biased based on ethnicity. Too much racial discrimination. Gifted kids don't get all the tools they need. They think they are an excellent school, that's why they don't improve in some areas.