Manzanita School

3000 East Manzanita Avenue

School District

Catalina Foothills Unified District
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:15
Type

public

School Map for Catalina Foothills Unified 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 September 16, 2024

We have had nothing but great experiences with this school and district. Every teacher we have had has been just great and excited to teach. There have been a couple teacher we have heard in the past that have not been great but they tend to move out pretty quickly. The principles have been wonderful. There has been little to no issues w bullying. There is a great amount of safety as well.There is a lot of family engagement activities through out the year.The organization and competency of the the staff alone make this school outstanding.
Submitted by parent on October 09, 2022

Improvement in parent-school relationships needed. Parents don't always feel welcome. Academics are fine, but not outstanding. The school is busy and crowded. I may reconsider enrollment next year and seek out a school nearer to my home. It doesn't seem worth it to drive here. My child is in lower grade so it would be an easier adjustment.
Submitted by parent on December 17, 2021

The school was ok until the 4th grade but the 5th grade experience was total nightmare from teachers' quality and learning experience. I was already warned that how unqualified the 5th grade teachers were by mouths of former parents but I didn't know until I experienced it personally. One particular teacher was very biased and cater to whoever she felt needed. She communicated with such a condescending and derogatory manner as if parents are her students; e.g. her emails regarding missing homework were very rude and other communications were horrible as if parents were not doing the proper job. In general, the school only meets low standard of education. They do not promote students who can excel or outshine to be noticed because they care about other students' feeling. A temporary sub teacher who were pulled from FFO was very authoritative and unqualified. Everything was a mediocre and nothing seemed organized. Property tax I paid was not worth it for the school.
Submitted by parent on October 27, 2021

Love the school and the staff, it is very inclusive. The facility has great installations. They assigned teachers to facilitate whatever kids are struggling with (math, reading or writing)Great enrichment lessons for after school and more!
Submitted by parent on August 22, 2021

The worst elementary school in the district. My child was almost choked in the classroom by another student. Teacher never even told me as I learned about it and saw the marks from my child! Dishonest staff members and incompetent leadership who is highly deceitful and lack integrity.
Submitted by parent on March 05, 2021

Dishonest staff and administration. School isn’t worth 5 cents nor are their educators. School staff is deceitful, lack integrity, and I wouldn’t recommend any contributions for this school.
Submitted by parent on April 12, 2019

Our experience at Manzanita on the whole has been very positive. The teachers are amazing. However, I would change two things. First, I would make the class sizes smaller. Our child's class is much above the 1 to 19 ratio that another parent mentioned in another review. I wonder if this has something to do with open enrollment. I have no problems with open enrollment, and think that it is great that families that live outside of the district have the opportunity to attend the school. However, I do feel that with open enrollment there should be the same number of kids per class as there were before the policy was implemented. My second concern is the time the children have to eat at lunch. It would be great if the children had more time to sit down and enjoy their meals.
Submitted by parent on January 11, 2019

I feel so fortunate to be able to send my children to Manzanita! After being underwhelmed by the offerings and climate of another elementary school, we landed at Manzanita and have been here a total of 5 years now. I have no doubt that my children are receiving a first class education here. Not only do they learn the curriculum, but they are learning how to be independent learners that can be responsible for their own education AND how to be mindful members of a community that care for each other. This school has so many offerings, a dedicated and creative staff, and a generous and supportive parent community. Manzanita proves that schools can manage to teach the demanding curriculum of today's world while keeping school fun and kid friendly. Thank you Manzanita!
Submitted by parent on December 14, 2018

Excellent. Manzanita is a wonderful community of students, teachers, administration, and parents. We feel very fortunate to be a part of the school.
Submitted by parent on November 15, 2018

For years administration @ Manzanita Elementary was superb. Past 4 years has been quite concerning, a great disappointment, particularly those of us parents in FFO. Many have learned teachers, particularly "old school" feel extremely frustrated w/school administration. For instance a a fine teacher remarked more than once how "tired of walking on eggshells" office has become. Finally, student ratio to teacher has been approx 27 ea classroom, not 19 (as w/most schools in this district). An extremely devoted certified teaching personnel.
Submitted by parent on February 07, 2018

Great experience with both my children. Love the staff and enjoyed our time there so far!
Submitted by other on March 23, 2017

I concur with all the other negative reviews. My child was subjected to interrogation by police officer's without my knowledge. The administration at the school is abominable and not to be trusted.
Submitted by parent on December 06, 2016

Similar to some other poor reviews, our son has experienced borderline abusive, at best negligent, behavior from some of his past teachers in this school. His first-grade teacher, for example, berated him regularly, made sarcastic, personal remarks to him frequently, and catastrophized minor behavioral incidents. She also displayed retaliatory behavior by not allowing him to go to the restroom in response to our complaints that he had been physically bullied when going to the restroom unattended. He wet his pants in class due to her not letting him use the restroom all day. The larger concern is that administration is entirely non-responsive when complaints are filed. I have seen this sort of good-ol-boy, protect-our-own mentality run rampant before. I recognize it immediately as a problem at this school. They have a facade to uphold in order to protect their image above all else, regardless of the impact on the students and their well-being.It is hit-and-miss at best with teachers. The administration, however, is out of touch and frighteningly unconcerned with valid, serious complaints against their staff. They are quick to deflect blame, and take zero accountability or ownership of what goes on in their school.
Submitted by parent on December 06, 2016

Having come from a background in education, I am deeply concerned with what I have seen in this school over the past few years. The administration is more concerned with upholding a certain image than they are improving the quality of their education and staff. In the most recent example of administrative incompetence, the police were called on my 7-year-old without us being notified. He was interrogated until he was crying without us present. According to one of the school's administrators, they had been having problems over the past few days with him "pinching kids' butts" and rough-housing. We were not notified of this, although we were in consistent email communication with that administrator throughout this time period. Without notifying us, the decision was made to file an incident report and have an officer come to 'make an impression'. Now my 7-year-old son is on record with the Sherrif's department for the above. This is an example of the Manzanita adminstration's idea of "parent-teacher partnership". Not only was this traumatic, it was also retaliatory - The administration was retaliating, I believe, because over several days leading up to this I had been voicing my concerns regarding members of their staff, as well as administration's failure to handle situations appropriately. Our child goofs off from time to time, like most little boys, but this school has succeeded in potentially criminalizing a 7-year-old for horseplay, as well is doing real damage to his self-image through the teachers' and administrations' belittling, neglect and failure to appropriately handle valid concerns with their policy, procedure, and staff.
Submitted by other on July 18, 2016

I can not say enough good things about this school. I have a child with medical needs and everyone on staff has been open to learning how best to take care of my child in an emergency situation. My other children have been very happy students as well. Teachers care about them. Issues are handled quickly and fairly. If there is a learning hiccup it is quick to be identified, and therefore remedied. There is a reason this school has been nationally recognized. I'm proud to send my children to this wonderful public school.
Submitted by parent on July 20, 2015

Ms. Pawloski is a wonderful kindergarten teacher. My son had a great year and our family is looking forward to his continuing education at Manzanita.