Highland Park Central

2717 Southeast Illinois Avenue

School District

Topeka Public Schools
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:10
Type

public

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 16, 2024

HPC is full of staff that cares about kids! The teachers, admin, and support staff (counselors, paras, social worker, SLP, librarian, nurse, office staff, and more) go above and beyond to make sure students needs are being met. They strive to make sure every child is comfortable, feels loved, and has what they need to be successful in school.
Submitted by other on January 11, 2024

Caring staff with strong family support. Staff go out of their way to ensure basic needs are met for their students (food, clothing, financial support, after school care, mental health, etc).
Submitted by other on January 11, 2024

Highland Park Central is a small neighborhood school that is working hard to meet the needs of its students. The school’s administration, staff, and families work together to offer a sense of community within the school. Parents are encouraged to volunteer and partner with staff. Love the HPC Scotties!
Submitted by parent on January 11, 2024

I see the student drop off issue hasn't changed since at.least back in 2015. It is DANGEROUS. Drop off is exactly as explained in the previous review. No enforcement, no respect. There is just one sole employee out there every morning holding the door open without any help or strength in numbers. It is cowboy country drop off. Many other schools have set a good example of how easy and organized drop off can be. Ross Elementary (right down the street) does a really good job! Pick up is also a terrible accident waiting to happen. There is a line of cars for pick up and it follows a parade on three connecting streets. Scoot and Ross Elementary have a designated route for pick up and drop off that do not block heavy traffic. HPC blocks heavy traffic coming from the Noth and South on Indiana Street. It is VERY unsafe. The parents parked to picked their kids up get blocked in the parking lot by the line of traffic. The apartment complex across the street puts cones in their parking lot to keep parents that don't want to be blocked in from parking there and regular traffic causes a traffic jam passing the line of cars that is parked at the stop sign. It goes around the cars to go through the stop sign so there are two lines of traffic going north and one going south on a two lane street that kids and parents are running across!!! This school doesn't mention honor roll when they transition to Middle School, have Holiday Performances or concerts or any type of family fundraiser, school fair or activity besides bingo once a year, muffins with moms and donuts with dudes. There seems to be a lot of parent involvement and representation when there is anything at the school. A lot of guardians show up which seemingly leaves the school staff surprised. One of my kids went there for two years and never went on a field trip, had a concert or was offered any activity for all of 4th and 5th grade. Being that nobody there cares enough to have an organized and safe drop off and pick up for their students you can't really expect much else. The school scores below average on testing and the administration scores below average in student safety, willingness to motivate students and respect for others in general too in my opinion. They do not lead by example. The teachers are not reaching out to parents or trying to communicate any learning delays or ways to possibly help the children learn. I was hoping to get more from a smaller neighborhood school.
Submitted by other on August 11, 2018

The staff at HPC are devoted to the students.
Submitted by teacher on August 11, 2018

So far, the staff has been welcoming and very supportive. I look forward to learning from new students, staff, and administration this school year.
Submitted by teacher on August 08, 2018

Highland Park Central staff cares about students. This is a great school!
Submitted by parent on August 31, 2015

We work with what we have. We homeschooled for a year and our children missed their friends, so we enrolled them this year back at HPC. My biggest complaint is the drop off and pick up. Parents double parking, or parking on the wrong side of the street because they think they're more important than anyone else and don't have to follow the rules/laws. The poor social worker who's forced to done the orange vest and 'direct' traffic is not authoritative enough for some of these 'rebel' parents. Now, the school in general isn't as bad as the 1/10 rating implies; the staff is caring and does the best job they can with what they have to work with. I gave this 3 stars because while it's not a 'good' school, certainly not where I'd send my children if money weren't a thing, it's not 'bad'. It is really what is it... Average. It does everything you expect from an elementary school and nothing you don't (good or bad). To the review that says he wouldn't live in Highland Park because of 'some guy he works with', psh, call me when you grow up and have kids. I don't necessarily like my kids going to HPC (I'd much rather them go to Seamen, Shawnee Heights, or Auburn), but I don't think any other 501 school is any better.