Theodore Judah Elementary School

Things have been great. We have been at the school for 4 years now. The principal is always at the front door to greet you in the morning. Our third grade teacher was new to the school from another school and we a challenge but all the other teachers have been great. We love this school community.

Excellent school. Wonderful compassionate administration. We won’t move so we can continue to send our kids here.

This school has been through a lot over the years, from being one of the oldest continuously operated schools in the district to almost being shuttered about 10 years ago. One of the things that makes it great is the families that commit to its success. It isn't a perfect school, no school is. It has its challenges with many of the things said in previous reviews but what it also has is an amazingly diverse student body with kids and families from all over Sacramento attending. We have great teachers and a new principal who is fully committed to seeing the school succeed. We have programs that are funded by parents who year after year keep stepping up to the plate fully realizing that every child will get art, music, garden and science above and beyond what they already experience in class. It is really inspiring to see how far our school has come over the years. The community is support for Theodore Judah is fantastic. We are very fortunate to have such a great neighborhood school and I know that our kids benefit from their experiences being Judah Bears.

My daughter attended this school from kindergarten through 5th grade. I volunteered at the school and served on the PTA for 2 years. After 6 years there I pulled her from the school for the following reasons: 1. The parents are too involved in the school. This may sound odd, but they are always protesting something and creating drama, like making their kids bring political pins to the classroom, posting inappropriate comments about teachers on Facebook, or starting arguments with other parents on school grounds. One parent tried to have my daughter's 4th grade teacher fired for giving out too much homework. Many parents, not all, have a sense of entitlement. It is probably only about 10%, but those people are very vocal and create problems. This school is rare in that you have families from many socioeconomic levels so you have parents that are more affluent with the sense of entitlement and you have the parents that are less affluent who are always complaining about the "Haves and Have Nots." When one controversy is resolved someone creates another one. It never ends and it is exhausting. 2. You can get very mixed results depending on your child's teacher. The Kindergarten- Second grade teachers have all been great. By third grade you are rolling the dice and it does not improve at the higher grade levels. There are still some great teachers but you have no control over who you get. For 3rd - 6th there are great teachers and terrible ones, and not much in between. As a risk averse person, that does not sit well with me. 3. Some of the spending priorities do not make sense. Money was spent to paint murals on a temporary building and the hand ball wall, however there is trash all over the campus, the field is either filled with mud in the Winter or tall weeds in the Spring. Bathrooms often go uncleaned for days and it is rare for there to be soap, toilet paper, or feminine hygiene products in the bathrooms. 4. The school district bankruptcy. Again, spending priorities are out of line. After reading about other school district bankruptcies and the lingering aftermath, all of the problems that existed before will only get worse.