Deer Valley Unified School District No 97

My review is for Copper Creek Elementary School located in the Deer Valley Unified School District at the following address: 7071 West Hillcrest Blvd, Glendale AZ 85310. Website: http://coppercreek.dvusd.org

I have two children with special needs issues. I came into the school with documentation for both from developmental preschools nearby that had either worked with them and had them tested by state representation or they had previously qualified for the Deer Valley School District's developmental delay preschool. This had no effect on them entering Kindergarden. And what I mean by this is that the school didn't do anything with the documentation, they certainly didn't implement any protocols or testing from the get go. I wish they had. They had to do their own assessment that took at times FOREVER to do. But policy is policy. I'd rather a more proactive approach. (Per AZ state law you can expedite this process, I did not, I wish I had for both children.)

That being said, although the few frustrations I had with that, which were purely procedural, my time at the school was outstanding. The staff and teachers are amazing! (Mary, the front office secretary is on the ball! I hope she is still there with them!) Especially for the special needs department. I heard good things going in and I was not disappointed. I was with the school for 7 years. Some teachers are fantastic, (many of them have been at the school for years!) others were so so, but I'm generalizing over 7 years. The school switched Principals the end of 2013. I was not fond of the replacement Principal, however she was only there for the last end of the school year. Replacement was remedied with Mrs. McNeill in 2014-15 school year. She's fantastic. I have only good things to say about her leadership.

In all, every public school is going to be reactionary instead of proactive. If you have a child with some behavior issues, I highly recommend this school because the staff here are in my opinion, fantastic. I felt respected as a member of the IEP team, they listened to my concerns and we all worked to help my children be the most successful. And THEY did go far, and I'm absolutely certain it was because of everyone's hard work.

This location is land locked. So the school boundaries make the attendance in the class rooms reasonably sized. I lived out of the school zone and attended under a variance the full 7 years my children attended there. Never had a problem with getting the variance. I can't see that anyone else would if they applied for one. (It's pretty easy, the spring before the school year you are having your child attend, contact the office and they will help get you the paperwork.) The down side of this is that your child will not ride the bus. We left the school this school year 2016-17 because we moved to another location still in the same district but closer to Las Brisas, which from what I've been told is very much like Copper Creek. I'm sure at some point I'll be reviewing that one too. Some teachers from Copper Creek moved to Las Brisas, but that's not why we moved. After 7 years picking kids up, we decided to have them go to the new school they were zoned for and have them ride the bus. So far they are doing well at the new school. But I miss the relationships I had at Copper Creek.

Around the corner from Copper Creek Elementary, is Hillcrest Middle School. Students who attend the Elementary school K-6 then attend Hillcrest. And then attend Mountain Ridge High School after that. All the schools are within the same block of each other. But they have the release times staggered so there usually isn't too much overlap. Its a pretty sweet setup if you ask me. Middle school aged kids, can literally walk down the street and pick up their Elementary aged siblings. Wish I lived closer, would have loved to have taken advantage of that.

In all, my experience there was a VERY positive one. Will miss Copper Creek dearly!