San Lorenzo Valley High School

Unfortunately I must say my experiences in the community and school have been extremely disappointing. While I had high hopes and expectations, the reality is that the school and community do not want to make the adjustments needed to improve student performance and to change attitudes towards diversity and equity. The school supports discriminatory practices such as tracking, which harms students. It does not support special needs learners effectively. Changes are needed at the leadership of the school .

I personally had a positive experience at SLV. I made friends easily, I was involved in athletics, and I took my academics seriously. The school is quaint, unique, and it contains so much character (in fact the reason our mascot is a Cougar is because Fall Creek is actually a cougar sanctuary). SLV is tucked away in the redwoods, yet the campus is fairly new. There are clear advantages to going to a small school such as this one. The instructors were always willing to help, there was an academic emphasis on technology (these are skills students need in order to be successful in college), and there are scaffolds that allow students to be successful and learn to be accountable. My experience mirrored my effort. I was successful, I took risks, and I can say that I grew in positive ways before entering college. My biggest piece of advice, for anyone, is to be involved.

We have drama, music, arts and a brand new performing arts center! Lots of AP classes and partnerships for vocational training. Something for everyone. We have challenges with drugs that just reflects the issues in our community at large. I don't think it is unique to our school and the community seems engaged in constantly improving and staying on top of things. We could use more resources for security.

San Lorenzo Valley High School gets one star only because, like all other schools, there are some awesome kids and a few good teachers here. But, the school's most glaring disadvantage is a lack of leadership. Administration is unable to correct problems when they arise - bullying, bad teachers, academically struggling students. Admin appears to be primarily focused on standardized testing and brushing major problems under the rug to an extent that the students, for the most part, are unable to reach their potential. If you are college-bound there are better public schools nearby in other districts. If this school is the only option, then sort through which are the good teachers and insist on those teachers. There are some AP courses, but no IB. My experience is that there is not a strong push to get kids onto an academically challenging path, but rather to just push them through the system as if on an assembly line. The school could improve with stronger leadership and authentically addressing its horrific social problems.