Rancho Elementary School

I think the school is decent. It has gone through 2 principals now since the main mean one left. I think the no celebrating a birthday in class is ridiculous. I think the teachers that teach a higher grade should it teach first grade... my daughters teacher has no patience for kids. My first impression was she doesn’t like kids. When I’m reality, she taught 3rd grade last year and now first grade, it’s a transition. They are remodeling the school next year so the kids will be disbursed into 2 other schools....

Excellent teachers. Great principle. Excellent parent participitation

My family has been going to Rancho since 2009. Most of the teachers are wonderful, some are okay. My kids are in the top of their class and generally happy. I have never cared much for the principal, Ms. May, but since my kids are generally well behave I have not had to interact with her. Fast forward five years and a serious issue arises with my 5th grader. The principal dismissed and did not address my concerns. Instead she responded with political rhetoric. When my son tried to defend himself he was bullied and intimidated by Ms May. Now she had begun representing my son as a bad kid. Ms. May is not interested in learning about or dealing with any problems at her school. She will distract, cover and resolve nothing. He is not perfect but he is a good kid. He gets straight A's, has a college reading level and has scored in the top 1% of STAR tests in past years. He is not the type of student who should be having problems with his principal. I have decided to pull my 4 kids because it has become painfully clear to me that the kids well being is not a top priority for Ms May. The API is not worth the frustration you will encounter if you do have a problem you need help with.

After having my son here for 3 years now, I have to say I'm not too thrilled about this school. I thought moving to Temecula Unified meant great opportunities, but for the past few years it has been nothing but disappointment. This year my sons' teacher is ok, but the others were clearly just doing their job. We moved here from a San Diego IB school, and the quality of education are world's apart between the two. The classes are crowded, so expect the teachers to be overwhelmed. The principal puts up a friendly front, but if you email her she will generally forward the inquiry to someone else rather than respond to you directly. If your child is a GATE student, forget about any sort of enrichment opportunities. All they do is gather for 2 field trips on non-school days twice a year. Teacher's are supposed to give GATE students more "challenging work" but we have not had a single teacher who has attempted to do this. Maybe they're overwhelmed. It's such a shame that there is no pull out program in place or similar. On the bright side, the staff is fantastic. Catherine Alm is nothing short of amazing. PTA is great. Wish they would use social media to keep us informed more though.