99 out of 10GreatSchools

Kearny Digital Media & Design School

San Diego, CA
  • Public
  • |
  • Grades 9-12
  • |
  • Enrollment: 384

Overview

Kearny Digital Media & Design School
1954 Komet Way
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 496-8370
Kearny Digital Media & Design School is located in San Diego, CA and serves grades 9-12.It received a GreatSchool rating of 9 out of 10
This information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Student Diversity

Race

Percentage

Native American
1%
Pacific Islander
1%
Filipino
4%
Two or more races
7%
Asian
10%
Black
10%
White
12%
Hispanic
53%
Other
2%

Reviews4 Reviews

2.5
parent
Horrible. It offers two honors classes, so students applying to good colleges can't compete unless they have a super high SAT score, because of the lack of rigor. When you complain or file a legitimate grievance, they blacklist you and take it out on your child including not nominating them for scholarships, not completing forms for college applications, etc. They are absolutely horrible. The teachers are decent. The principal is the worst I've ever seen. She cares more about herself and how she looks than the students. I had a student with a 4.0 that was denied admission by several colleges just because the school never submitted the documents needed, in spite of being request months in advance. If you want your child to go to college, don't go here. The student that said they had a 4.5 - that is a lie - with only the 2 honors courses, a 4.5 GPA is absolutely impossible.
parent
Kearny, with it's focused "schools" might make a good charter school, but it's not a charter school. We moved into the area in summer and were told this was the school she MUST attend if not using school choice (which closed in April, so we really had no choice) From the GreatSchools info, we thought this would be a good school. Then we moved here. You see, when one moves here right before senior year (this being a school with military housing in its district) and the first thing one gets told is "You likely won't graduate since you haven't been here for the full four years." it gets a little disheartening. Not graduate because your military family moved from out of state? When we asked if she could take a math class offered at the "Internation Business" school, we were told that "That's not really done." Then, my daughter sat for about a month in front of a blank computer waiting for the password for an iHigh class. When she finally got on, it was 11th grade English, which she already had credit for! We gave up by October, actually broke our lease and moved to get our daughter out of that school, as the district pretty much left that (or not graduate?) as our only option.
other
Let's be honest! The fact of the matter is that this is a bottom tier school district. It is easy to win awards and be recognized when even an average performance in most school districts is top performing in this one. This is a perfect example of how schools across the country are lowering their standards and requirements for graduation in order to accomodate those students who have no personal drive to succeed, boost grad rates, and mislead state and national agencies as to their actual progress. Stellar "4.5" students are graduating w/o being able to spell a simple word like PRINCIPAL...a word that most students here should be very familiar with. Should have kept the "2.0" at least it was more realistic. There is a reason that greatschools is not posting ACT and SAT scores and the state test scores it does post shows an 8% rating in subjects like geometry even when the state average is an embarassing 14%, well below the national average. CA consistently ranks 30 out of 50 states in education with little fluctuation and that is taking into account the more affluent districts that exist in Cali.
parent
I'm surprised to see any poor ratings for the school of Digital Media and Design. This is an excellent school and it has won all kinds of awards. The staff cares so much about the students, far more than any of the schools I went to as a child. This school is a model for how to fix our public schools; it has gone from being a program improvement school to one of the best public schools in San Diego. DMD is a caring environment with rigorous, demanding courses that I think really prepares kids for college.