this school treats their students unfair. not getting into all the details, today i had a final…read morecall advocating for my brother that goes here. I simply asked if this could not be used against him in the sense that they are annoyed i called on his behalf. I believe it was the vice principle i spoke to do not remember her name, who said you cannot tell me what to do and hung up the phone. really shows their maturity and willingness to help in a situation. I wonder how they use their power as staff when dealing with the kids. assured me there is no target for being Hispanic because her kids are Mexican and so are the principals. as if someone is going to point the finger at their kids because of their job titles. Very disheartening.

The English department has some remarkable caring teachers. The choir teacher who's also the drama…read moreand band teacher has a lot of heart and I can tell he loves his job. Amazing choir program and wonderful choir concerts. My 4.0 student took AP and honors classes here, but still wasn't fully prepared for the MJC beginning Calculus classes. One of my girls has a medical condition and most of the teachers did a great job communicating and accomodating her accept for one who I caught altering her grade because of my complaint. I believe however that larger districts are better equipped to accomodate students with medical conditions. The Ripon High School faculty as a whole is spirited, hard working and does an incredible job considering that the classes probably get larger every year. Some of the coaches have a lot of heart and use their time and resources to make the teams great. The school as a whole works out well for students that are highly academic, played on sports leagues growing up and are highly spirited. I don't think it works out well for the other students that don't fit into these categories. Which is why I transferred two of my kids out. It's a small high school and a very conservative small town environment. Some of these Ripon District schools seem to be more about negative reinforcement instead of positive reinforcement. For example, if a student is failing their classes for what ever reason including a medical condition they can't attend dances if they don't maintain a certain gpa. Students are punished instead of guided for not making the cut. In the elementary schools students had to sit outside in the heat or the freezing cold without a jacket if they forgot to have a parent sign a report card envelope, etc. Gregori in Modesto uses positive reinforcement. They give rewards like fairs and entry to special rallies for students that make a certain GPA. Also from what I saw at Gregori their math was more advanced. Gregori has cameras everywhere in the hallways. It's incredible. No one can get away with anything there because of hallway cameras. It's awesome. Ripon High doesn't have hallways. It's mostly outdoor. There aren't any hallway lockers so students have to carry around a heavy backpack. Which also makes it possible for troubled or retaliating students to slip things in or out of the backpacks. Backpacks should have a lock and phones should be password locked. Ripon High resides in a small town where damaging and sometimes traumatizing rumors, gossip and retaliation seem to be the norm and sometimes Ripon PD might be called in to investigate which might not always be in a victims favor. So know your rights if they ask or take your phone and screen copy your social media and text messages. Bullying seems to be a big issue here and a lot of times the bully wins because of lack of proof or lack of policies or laws to protect you. Especially when the bully is a district teacher, faculty member or a favored student. Especially when they go on social media to bully and harass me because of my complaint. Yes some personel will and have done that. I have seen a lot of parents take their kids out of this district into larger districts and into better environments because of the bullying. As far as drugs, Ripon PD was doing raids and according to my girls they saw kids throwing drugs into trees. Drugs were also being offered to other students and kids were coming back from break high. As far as the district as a whole, bullying and retaliation can come from students or teachers. Yes, believe it or not a few teachers will lie and can and sometimes do alter grades. If you have to make a complaint about a teacher watch for grade alterations. The high school principal was alway professional, always responded to my concerns, and was highly spirted. My regret with him is that my 4.0 athletic student that gave everything she had for this school every waking moment worrying and working to succeed and showing a tremendous loyalty to this school and this district was never congraduated by her principal during their drive though graduation. He passed up our car which made it a little disappointing and a little awkward. I'm still not sure why that happened. He was standing there and then walked away from us to the next car. However one of the board members congradulated her and he was wonderful.

I attended this school for six years, and while there were some positives, my overall experience…read morewas far from ideal. The positives first: there were a handful of teachers who genuinely cared about their students and went above and beyond to provide a meaningful education. Their classes were engaging, and in those rare rooms, you felt like your effort mattered. Unfortunately, they were the exception rather than the rule. The main issues: the environment was rigid and stifling, with a greater focus on enforcing a narrow interpretation of faith than on nurturing students as individuals. As a Christian myself, I expected a Christ-centered education rooted in grace, empathy, and truth. Instead, I often found myself pressured into assignments where I had to argue against my own beliefs in order to receive a good grade. If you do not belong to the Reformed denomination, be prepared to compromise your convictions and align with their doctrine just to succeed academically. I was even marked down on assignments for raising honest questions or making comments that didn't align closely enough with their views. On top of this, students struggling with mental health were rarely met with understanding. Instead of empathy or real support, they were often patronized and treated like children. Speaking up about personal struggles typically resulted in Bible verses being handed down without compassion or meaningful help. While Scripture is powerful, when it's used as a substitute for genuine care, it feels more like a weapon than a source of comfort. If you are considering this school, think carefully about the kind of environment you need. If you thrive in a strict, reformed framework, it may be a fit. But if you value empathy, critical thinking, and an atmosphere of authentic Christian love, this is NOT the right place for you. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that my time at this school was the worst time in my life. Even with (some) amazing teachers that I had, my overall experience was not at all good. From being treated like a child whenever I made a slight mistake instead of being met with forgiveness to the "hollier than thou" mindset of a lot of the teachers, I wouldn't recommend this school to anyone.

Amazing school my boys attended since preschool most of the teachers are great some need to learn…read morelittle more on how to improve , only have a few issues but so far is been good .

I go to the school and it's great every teacher there is very sweet and nice. If u ever need help…read morethey're there. I definitely do think it's one of the better schools in the district maybe the best. The lunch's are not bad so thats good too. Also we are really good at sports very athletic school and parents are very involved as well. We do have a newer principal, Mr. Ramirez and he's very good.

Most the time the food was expired and tasted bad. Which caused most the boys to start mixing it…read morewith chocolate milk and everything they had on their tray. Than usually they would dare one another to drink it or eat it for $5. Sometimes the teachers favorite one gender more than the other which causes thee other gender to get mad. Sometimes the teachers will get you in trouble even if you had nothing to do with the situation. Honestly I didn't enjoy it as much. Only reason it's not one star is cause I mad some good friends there.

My middle child, a 4.0 gpa student, took honors and AP classes and when basketball didn't work out…read moreshe joined track. However, she was required for an assignment to attend a very serious, extremely emotional and heartbreaking Ripon District Board meeting regarding the cell tower and how Weston High students were diagnosed with cancer. After the meeting she wrote a letter that I presented to the district in an email. The email stated it wasn't just about facts being presented and whether those parties agreed or disagreed, it was about parents not feeling comfortable with the cell tower. Ripon came together that day at that board meeting and the board removed the cell tower citing that they want Ripon parents to feel comfortable. My daughter left the cell tower board meeting traumatized by the horrifying testimony that Ripon's children have endured. This triggered OCD symptoms that never went away. It worsened during Covid. She barely made it through her senior year. She was a 4.0 student athlete who could barely function in her last year of high school. My youngest left Parkview Elementary with an injured jaw and a continuing concussion. The soccer ball that a boy kicked at high velocity at my daughter while she was walking to line up for class slammed into the side of her head causing her to hit the ground unconscious. She never fully recovered from that head injury. I then transferred her to Ripon Elementary. You ever watch those movies of small town folks not being what you expected and the end turning out to be some sick sacrificial lottery or the church people end up doing the witch hunt and burning someone at the stake? Ripon Elementary reminded me a lot of those people. When a school has this much power the sky is their limit and one parent's complaint can trigger retaliation like no one could imagine along with an everlasting traumatic experience that could last a student's lifetime. And it has. It's against the law to retaliate out of a complaint, but this school got away with it for so long and it all continued out in the open. Through emails, and testimony to the district. Faculty gossiping to parents across the street about students as those same students watched. It all became one huge nightmare of an experience and they retaliated and harassed my daughter all year and used policies to keep her out of dances and followed her around with a whistle not allowing her to talk or communicate with anyone. I had heard about this from other parents, but it's hard to fathom until you experience it. Her grades dropped from a 3.0 gpa to all Fs. My only choice was to home school her. No other district would take a student with Fs. She was still recovering from her concussion and now from the trauma this school was causing. She endured accusation after accusation and had to spend up to an hour being interrogated by the principal, investigators because she was accused of holding a boy's hand under the cafeteria table where no hands could be seen on this overcrowded bench and later by police called in for her "safety" and had all of her friends interrogated like it was a murder investigation all because faculty made up a rumor that a student touched her chest. Principal Phelps called it in saying she was in danger of having intercourse and screen shot all her friends phones. I had finally caught on to them however and kept my daughter's phone at home. My daughter was later diagnosed with Von Willebrand disease that was triggered that day at Ripon Elementary and years later we are still dealing with this nightmare. Fatigue, paleness, and worry all remind us of Ripon Elementary. So to get back to Ripon Elementary teachers. If a teacher is going to send an email to a parent and testify to the District that a student was trying to cheat in her class and in other classes THAT DAY they should probably make up an imaginary date that the whole grade wasn't on a field trip on. Also if a boy likes your daughter and a teacher's daughter likes that same boy that is a recipe for disaster. Nothing like a student coming back from medical leave and seeing the boy, that she was accused of holding hands with and interrogated for for almost an hour by a hired investigator, cuddling and holding hands with the Ripon High Principal's daughter in the Ripon Elementary school yard. Last but most important, don't ever leave your backpack alone anywhere. Anything can slip in or out of your backpack. By retaliating students and some retaliating teachers. All bad. I transferred two of my girls to another district.

i went there years ago. it was so bad i was only there for 2 years. my 2nd grade teacher had told…read morestories about students poisioning their teachers coffee which you could imagine at such young age scared me. my 3rd grade teacher had cause me to heatstroke because she would not let me take off my jackect in the middle of may because she said my tank top straps were two small even though it met the 2 finger wide rule. other than that its was just a bunch of snobby rich kids.

I absolutely love this school . My children have gone from pre-school till high school. The school…read morehas gone through some changes but that's ok. I never thought that I would send my kids to a private school because of the stigma of them. My children have excelled academically and spiritually. They have built long lasting friendships . Mc may not be for everyone but it sure has been good for us. I was once told by someone why do you want your kids to be sheltered , I said I'm not sheltering them but I'm simply protecting them . Look out into our world and see how much are children are up against . Come and give MC a try .

This school was amazing. All of the teachers are so helpful and nice. I learned exactly what I…read moreneeded so quickly. There isn't too much people so it isn't super crowded. Everything about this school when I went here was amazing. I graduated from here and I will always remember this school.