Charles Helmers Elementary School

We moved to Santa Clarita six years ago. At their old school science fair and spelling bees were mandatory. There was even a social studies fair. Homework was given every night, and reviewed with the students every day. Nice teachers, but some don't want to do the work. Also, the front office staff are very unfriendly. School needs a strong principal, who will implement a stronger academic environment.

My child was a student for many years at Helmers. In that time the school saw 4 principals. The front office staff is not helpful, or friendly. There is no security measures enforced to ensure students safety, and the front office staff pays little to no attention to who walks through. As for the bullying, they speak of “no tolerance” but they do not effectively combat the bullying that goes on incessantly. Regarding the teachers, I would say 50% are good and 50% are average or lower. I’m not sure where all the fundraiser money goes that is asked for from parents nonstop. The PTA runs the school. It’s all politics and the only people who get a say in anything are the PTA. I STRONGLY feel the school is more concerned with what benefits them than what benefits our kids.

I am disappointed about the academic aspect. I do not feel like my children are academically-challenged at all. Why are there no Spelling Bees? Even the Science Fair is optional. H.W. is a joke. There is hardly any H.W. to reinforce what's being learned at school. I am searching for options this summer to supplement what I feel was lost in academic learning this school year. I second what someone said earlier about field trips. As much as the PTA is involved, I am surprised about the lack of educational field trips outside of "Trader Joes" and "In-N-Out"!! There are also TOO many days off and/or early-release dates.

Our first year at Helmers was amazing. We loved the principal Mrs. Missione. The school was organized and wonderful. Ever since she left, school is going down. Students don't have outside field trip. The only few outside field trips that I remembered were In-N-Out field trip, Went to Ralphs and Starbucks field trip. My kid personally said what kind of field trip are these. We need to go to museums, university, or any places that has so much educational information. Some teachers are nice and wonderful educators, some teachers are very busy with their "other" job with the district or they just don't have passion as teacher anymore to teach these kids.The front office staffs were not friendly at all, specially the nurse. My son told me Ms. Kelsey is rude.PTA is wonderful. They did a lot to this school. As a parent who has to work and can't involve a lot to school, appreciate what those ladies did. But, there are few things that bothers me. It looks like, if you're very active in PTA, your kids most likely will get the best teacher. On a few competitions, the ones who will get first or second places are most likely the students whose parents very involve in PTA. I think it's not fair to other students or parents. I wish I could be stay at home and volunteer as much as I can to help the school, but I'm not that fortunate.