The Westwood School — Local services in Farmers Branch

I am writing this review after much thought to, hopefully, help other children from having the devastating experience our child had at Westwood in the upper elementary. After the departure of a key administrator in 2019, the UE (grades 4-6) seemed to completely fall apart. Our child was disparaged, demeaned, and punished for minor offenses, sometimes, on a daily basis. The classroom teacher swore at our child while banging her fist on a desk. Complete chaos from students such as swearing, throwing each other against the wall and bullying went, largely, unaddressed. Attempts to speak directly with teachers or administrators escalated the problems. The teachers were highly authoritarian and did not seem to understand or have the desire to work with this age. Additionally, we were consistently given false information about our child’s academic progress. The head of school was very passive and ineffectual in dealing with our issues and ended up making the situation almost unbearable. No child should be treated the way our child was, particularly in an environment that claims to be the opposite. There are a few bright lights at Westwood. The young, enthusiastic language teacher was a refuge for our child; the music teacher is fabulous and the admissions director is a kind and compassionate person. The facility is beautiful. However, no physical structure can make up for harmful treatment and lack of compassion, understanding...

We had high hopes for this school, and academically they were ok. However, my child in 4th grade experienced bullying when she didn't have to wear a mask, and even her teacher tried to help her be "compassionate" about "wearing a mask for the flu"... totalitarian concepts are definitely taught and the head of the school, Heather, did point out to me that Montessori was developed from socialism, and her main priority is "what's important for the community", not protecting individual freedoms. She also was against CRT being taught yet couldn't discuss any of their tenets, and was unfamiliar with the 1619 Project- CRT ideas are definitely being discussed in the classrooms. This was, unfortunately, a large disappointment. Beware- you will get NO REFUNDS if they unilaterally change their policy (which now is mandating masks WITHOUT legal requirement and ZERO parental input) in any way. I strongly recommend looking into Acton Academies, if you are looking for a great...

I was a former student here, and I can say from the 9 years I attended this school it is an excellent place to learn. The staff here were incredibly friendly and supportive of me through my time there as a student. I personally also have some learning differences, and despite this Westwood provided all the needed accommodations for me to do my best, and succeed. Westwood was also very thorough in teaching like skills, proper manners, as well as social skills. As for the teachers, from kindergarten-8th grade every teacher I got was incredible, I did have one incident in 3rd grade with a teacher named Mrs Chen though, where she publicly shamed a project I didn't do as well as the other students, when my learning differences were the culprit of that, but that never happened again, and I truly do believe that is a one off, and there is no need to worry about that. I highly recommend Westwood, and I cannot thank the staff enough for all the skills...