Santa Monica Boulevard Community Charter School

I am very disappointed with this charter school. First and foremost there is just too many students and not enough staff. They have the ability to limit the amount of students but still put the cap at 950 students. With the problems they have with controlling the students/violence you would think they would hire more staff to keep an eye out on them. Lets face it, KNOW BODY is watching the students outside on the grounds during lunch, recess, or at morning drop off. I feel scared dropping my children off when they then have to wait in a huge outdoor space with NO supervision and violent acts happening. But they still won't even allow us parents to walk our children to class (which I find very weird, especially with all the child molestation scandals in schools that have gone on is LA lately.) They have a "No Parents On Campus" policy. Being a charter school they have the ability to limit the amount of students if the can not afford to hire more staff but they choose not to because they are just in it for the money. More students, less staff = more money for them. A very sad place.

The teachers are great so far but otherwise this school is not so good. I really have a problem with the pushing I have seen between students. They have the attitude of boys will be boys. They allow the students to push each other down on the pavement with no consequences which I don't understand. There needs to be staff watching and controlling this behavior. I also agree that the office staff is unprofessional and rude.

This school is great...if you like clean bathrooms and kids walking like soldiers on painted lines. However, if you want academic rigor and a culture of high expectations this is definitely not the place for your child. Teachers on this website are boasting about an upcoming computer lab when other schools have a 1:1 laptop ratio. They talk about how high their API score is. There are schools in much more difficult neighborhoods with much more challenging populations like Boyle Heights and Inglewood who can boast API in the 890s or 920s. For a school with such high ADA they are certainly not spending their money on training for teachers or on materials for their students if students are not achieving at higher levels. Other schools offer dance, yoga, meditation, visual arts, after school clubs run by truly dedicated teachers. With so many options, why settle for such a mediocre place?

...I am a former teacher from Santa Monica Boulevard Community Charter School. I left because of the way that the school is being ran. In the last two years, over 32% of teachers and/or staff have left most of them being highly experienced teachers. There are many reasons for my departure, but here a few. The biggest problem at this school is that the teachers don't have a voice. Fenton MAKES you be part of committees where all you need to do is be present and not speak up, if you make the mistake of voicing your views and/or ideas, then you are penalized for not being, "Fentonized." There have been many changes that have occured in the last two years and in none have teacher opinions been taken into account. These changes have also not been in the best interest of our students or our community. The Fenton Schools also ...