Challenger School - Silverado

As a parent of a student at Challenger(Silverado Campus), I feel very disappointed with the way the school staff communicates and treats me. For a long time, I stayed quiet, but I now see that the problems only became worse with the years. My emails and requests are ignored. When I ask for a teacher to call me back, I never receive a call. The front desk always writes my number down on a post it notes as if they don’t know me, but still no one contacts me. I am not told when my son gets injured at school I only find out when I see the bruises or cuts myself. Important changes about my son, like moving him to another classroom or questioning him, are made without my knowledge or approval. He has even been separated from his friends without any explanation to me. At the same time, I see that all communication is done with my ex-husband, while my requests and emails are ignored as if I do not exist. This hurts me very much as a parent. I wish I had spoken up earlier, because I hoped that being quiet would avoid conflict. Instead, it has only caused more confusion and more silence from the school. I believe many other parents, especially those who share custody or come from immigrant backgrounds, may face the same issues. I truly hope the school will listen and work to improve communication and respect towards all parents.

We love Challenger. Our son started preschool here as soon as he turned 3, and it's been nothing but fantastic. No woke agenda, and they really live up to their name, challenging the kids. At the end of pre-school, he was already doing simple writing, addition and subtraction, and reading at a second grade level. He's now nearing the end of kindergarten and he's reading 4th grade books like they are nothing at all! Whenever we talk to anyone about Challenger, they are known to have a reputation for academic excellence. The only negative things I've ever heard is that kids who aren't really bright may find it too hard and... well... Challenging! (It's in the name, folks!) We also like that they integrate singing and music and art and performance into the curriculum, keeping it very well rounded. As a final cherry on the sundae, we love that Challenger teaches kids about *actual* American history. They know about the founding fathers, the constitution, the importance of competition and hard work... and they pledge allegiance to the flag and sing songs about America. Imagine that, a school that teaches kids to actually love their own country! Kudos to challenger. It's schools like this that are why we left California.

My child has been enrolled in PreK at this Challenger campus for a short period now. I don’t have a single complaint or concern about the teachers, administration or curriculum so far. Coming from a strip mall day care, I’m ecstatic with the organization and structure of the class room. When I was shopping for PreK’s I was concerned that Challenger would be too academic oriented with not enough fun or social engagement. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Yes, the focus is always learning, but so far the delivery method of the material is social and fun. Every day when I pick her up I watch through the class window as the entire class participates in ORGANIZED singing and dancing. I stress the word organized here as it’s not a free for all where an unruly child is free to bounce off the walls. She’s learning through the story in the songs and she is learning how to have fun in a socially appropriate way. At home she is singing the songs without being prompted to do so. That alone tells me she is enjoying herself. Simply put, she is noticeably happier being at Challenger than where we were prior and so am I.

This review was based on an appoitment we made to tour the facility for our 2 year old. The campus was clean and bright, outdoor play looked fun although I would have expected some equipment to play with. We observed a small class of students around 5 that were able to demonstrate some lessons they learned about vowels and their sounds. When we reviewed the curriculum our 2 year old would be exposed to I was surprised on some of the advaced exposure to reading, however this was a plus. The staff that walked us through answering our questions, Kristin I believe, had very high energy and knew all the students that randomly came through during our tour. Everything looked great, again, we only received a tour. For the price associated with tuition, I would expect a little nicer of a facility, and a play yard that had more space for playing ball, this area was to accommodate all ages and visually speaking seemed to lack something. We are still shopping schools at this time to find a happy medium between curriculum and cost, this school has not been ruled out for us yet.

I have my 2 kids here since kindergarten and now my older is in 6th grade still going to challenger. The Algebra I she is doing here will not be done by most students in Nevada in 8th, 9th or 10th grade. Its not just the number of topics but also the in depth understanding. My kids do not whine at doing 15 - 20 math problems every night and that is because they grew in that atmosphere since kindergarten where they have to do what they have to do. Its all about being self reliant, confidant and managing work load. It definitely is expensive and of course I can go on a shopping spree every month if I do not have my kids here. But for me education is far more important than anything else. So if you have long term goals for your kids in life. Stick with the school as long as possible. Reading, spelling, language... its useless to tell you that I haven't encountered a single challenger student starting from 1st grade and up having any difficulty in reading, writing and spelling. They are at least 2 grade level above their peers.