Loma Prieta Elementary School

My child was called names and bullied incessantly from the Kindergarten through fourth grade. The children would actively exclude him from activities. His Kindergarten teacher once told him to “deal with it” when he told her that some of the kids were being mean by not letting him play and calling him disparaging names. 5 year olds don’t have the means to “deal with it.” This was brought up repeatedly to both teachers and administrators to no avail. This was a major problem that led to fear of going to Elementary School! In fourth grade the assaults became physical. The school did not bother to contact us as parents, rather we would see the bruises and question where they were coming from. My son saw the pediatrician repeatedly for stomach aches which were from stress and anxiety about going to school. It was Covid that drove us to another school district and what a blessing that was for him and our family. What we have learned is that the school is terrified of being sued (as they have been before) by parents of students who need to their bad behavior addressed. There is also an unfortunate loss of good, seasoned teachers to retirement, who can spot bullying and stop it, with brand new teachers who are simply too inexperienced to notice and too unsure of themselves as to how to address bad behavior. The school itself says it has an anti-bullying policy but in practice these children know no consequences for anti social behavior. Many times the child complaining is the one sent to the principal’s office. I told my child no worries - get sent to the office every day if you have to and I’ll back you up every time. But don’t back down. The school never had my child’s well being in mind. The only time I was ever called about a physical incident, which there were many, was when he was kicked in the head and knocked out in the 3rd Grade. I had to advocate strongly for him every single time he would tell me of another incident. Now we go to a school with a strong, written anti bullying policy and his experience couldn’t be better. The children are taught character development from an early age and any form of bullying including name calling is dealt with swiftly and efficiently. My child is free to learn without fear. This school has lost over 40 kids this year to transfers out of district. Our transfer was due to virtual schooling as we prefer in person. In hindsight, I wish we had made the move many years earlier.

Overall, the school is satisfactory. However, I would not recommend this school at all for gifted or high-achieving students that want to move beyond the required standards, want to make connections across curriculum or want a more immersive hands-on project-based learning experience.

We love the fact that Loma is a small mountain school where the staff and administration know the families. The class sizes range from 22-30 (from what I have observed). The Teachers are very dedicated and care about the children greatly. They know the kids by name. The setting is beautiful and inspiring. However, we found that the school is not set up to meet the needs of gifted children. The teaching style and curriculum is very typical of a public school in the US. In my opinion, as a former K-12 Teacher, the students are tracked within the classroom. There are little hands-on projects and inter-disciplinary learning where students can make meaningful connections across subjects or topics. In our experience, science is only taught 1x per week in the lower K-5 grades. I do not feel that deep learning is happening at this school. However, it does a great job teaching the average or mainstream child. Children that require special services or remediation can excel here. If your child is very bright or gifted, I would recommend a different school.My children also experienced problems with bullying or mean-spirited children, especially on the playground. Rocks are thrown at other children on the playground with little consequences given by the playground or office staff. My child has had her milk purposefully spilled, snacks stolen on purpose in a mean way, been pushed off of the slide, hit, things thrown at her (soft & hard objects) and teased. One of my children felt that there was a strong need for conformity and if the child is different, the other children would not accept them. My child gave up her above-level classwork for remediated work in order to fit in and not be teased or told that she is different. My other child observed similar behavior and just felt to rise above it instead. In my personal opinion, the administration needs to consider integrating a Social-Emotional Learning program right away where everybody can be accepted, whether it be their IQ, the clothes that they wear, their points of view, their beliefs, what they read or just being a good citizen. My children are no longer attending this school and we are considering moving out of the district in order to find a different school. Loma is a great school for many. For us, it just was not a good match.

We moved our daughter from a well known private school in downtown Los Gatos to Loma two years ago. Honestly, we were a little worried at first. But the truth is she's doing better here, by far, than she was doing there. I firmly believe she's learning more, and at a faster rate! I couldn't be happier! The teachers here are fantastic, and the administration actually (gasp) knows what they're doing. How refreshing!