CdM is a great school with great amenities, courses, clubs, teachers, and amazing students. I have been here since 7th grade for 3 years and the school has far exceeded my expectations, and I enjoy every day I'm here. There are some bad things about it, but it's overall a decent school. The problems have become much less significant over time, and are over-exaggerated and drummed up by the media to grab people's attention and get more views, but these stereotypes hold little actual ground. It's impulsive for us to just slap a label on a place or group of people, but it isn't as simple as black and white. It's important to recognize that stereotypes are often exploited by people who've had no experience in a place to just assume everyone's a certain way, without trying to understand and empathize. At CdM, there is little prejudice and is usually subtle and unintended. The academic environment can be stressful, but you have the choice of taking more advanced classes. If parents are forcing their kids to get really good grades and take challenging courses, that's a parental issue. If a teacher is unhelpful, others are always willing to help. Many of the negative reviews stem from misunderstanding, as parents are prone to just taking their kid's word when they have a complaint rather than assessing the full situation, and this lack of understanding leads to further escalation of the situations. For a new student, there will always be potential friends. Many kids at CdM were negatively influenced, but that's because they didn't choose good friends. While there are many entitled and troublesome kids, the overwhelming majority are kind, humble, and respectful; it's just about avoiding the minority of bad students. For most of my time at CdM, I was shy and never had much of a friend group; yet other kids have always made to effort to be kind to me when they could have stayed comfortable with their own friends. Most students have been quick to forgive me and move on after I changed for the better even if I had done something bad in the past. Most kids won't peer pressure you if you say no to something. Your school experience is what you make it and how you perceive things, and you can make good choices. The problem is that a lot of people get dissatisfied even because of minor things. THIS is the entitlement in CdM people complain about: the ones who can't take any shit and who have no gratitude. It's the ones who care about CdM and try to make it a better place that love CdM because the other students respect and appreciate them. If you come into CdM with an open mind, a kind personality, and a drive to succeed and make friends, the rest will already be taken care of. You know the negative reviews are due to entitlement because it's always the parents that are doing the dirty work for their kids when as students, they should take control of their academic experience. It doesn't make you look good as a parent to be the one bailing out your kid by contacting a teacher. It's the inconsiderate students that want to leave CdM. These people are troublemakers. They are surrounded by their ego and have no idea that they're pissing everyone off, and their parents who only see one side of the story assume that CdM is a horrible school after hearing their kid nonstop complain and they move their kid to another school to cause more trouble. I was once one of these obnoxious kids, but I recognized that my actions were unappreciated by others and have changed since then. Kids who I once annoyed now respect me, a testament to the forgiveness of CdM students. The school has issues with parent cliques, and the administration does have some issues with inefficiency and management, just like any other school, but as a student, the most important thing is to be able to go to school every day and just be yourself and to be surrounded by respectful students and teachers, not whether the school decides how often the bathrooms are cleaned. Your main interactions with the administration will be regarding attendance or course changes, which it's really efficient at. Why wouldn't you give CdM a chance? In the small chance you don't like it, there's little risk in transferring. People move from CdM to other local private schools or vice versa all the time, and they can still keep their friends because they live in the same area; but if you do like it, you'll save a ton on tuition, and that money can be better used on other things to further develop your child's interest and to ensure future success, or even just for enjoyment. I kept this review brief to address the general issues. If you want to know something more specific about CdM, you can email me at wynneyoung555@yahoo.com or text me at (949)375-0086, but don't call me because I don't take calls from unknown numbers.Here's why many of the points made in other reviews are wrong: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DxEqbhM7_oP2kjPJT8EhDTro5y5afy0m9LM7c4KwO-4/edit?usp=sharing read more

Vicki Gilmore the principals assistant refused to help my daughter who was taking the initiative to proactively plan a strategic move on her own wanted to schedule appointment. Wow this lady was incredibly rude. I cannot believe it. We left with no appointment made and my daughter FEELING that Vicki Gilmore will never HELP her. I will file a formal complaint against HER ABUSE OF POWER. read more

CDM has gone downhill and our experience, with our second child, from 2017-2018 was a "complete 180" from our previous. Our eldest was on the cusp of the era where social media was woven into everything she and her peers did, which was a blessing. She was in the class with the cheating scandal, prom dance "dating pool" and with peers who regularly (half-jokingly) called themselves "the one percent" in effort to show how they were better than others in the world. What I've realized since our first experience at CDM is that it's a highly competitive yet sheltered school with resources for those to take advantage of whom would, quite frankly, will be successful WHEREVER they are. However, for the kids who don't possess that grit, it's a place where their entitled little beings can be pacified with not-the-best sports, endless social activities and mediocre academics. Most teachers and staff seem bothered annoyed by the majority of the student body - I've heard some just don't care and others make it impossible to pass classes as a "teaching" or "life skill" method. At the end of the day, it's not how middle and high school should be operated. If your child is a 4.0+ student with an impressive social calendar, is a star athlete, has all of the material possessions that are enviable as a teen, is beautiful and popular - he/she will be fine. However, if such is not the case CDM is not the place for you kid. CDM is a place where the voices of students aren't heard unless they fit into the paradigm noted above, which is a horrible reality any teen should have to experience. It's a place where staff does nothing when students cry-out for help and safety is the last thing they consider. My daughter was physical and verbally assaulted by a boy and the faculty did nothing about it. In fact, my daughter was blamed. BLAMED! I wasn't going to sit back and let my child's voice be minimized and abused, so we pulled her out. Taking her out of CDM was THE BEST thing we could have her did for her. Her depression and self-esteem issues slowly lifted and she is now thriving at Harbor. I would NEVER recommend CDM to families who want their child/ren to be in an environment that cares about the "whole person" and the social and emotional health of students. CDM will truly live-up to every bad story you've ever heard about it and has very little to offer students with even the slightest amount of depth as a person. read more

Worst school and district ever. The entire office is full of people who refuse to answer a simple question about the class they stuck my son in which has no teacher and if it's a year long or semester and how to even start! I've asked at least 6 different people and the website and course offerings don't even mention the class! My son needs 1/4 credit to graduate and it looks like they stuck him somewhere a year long, gave him zero options to choose anything else. So I got the head district bauermeister to look into it. He does not he just listened to what they been saying. How dumb do you have to be to not know when someone is seeking assistance from the supervisors, the supervisor is not supposed to just go listen to the smoke the employees are blowing because they won't do thier job! No one can do their job which is serve the students correctly. The counselor said it's perfectly normal to have to come back after graduation to finish a class and it's obvious why. Now they say he's on track to graduate but only has 55 credits and needs 62.5! Simple math, easy...but they won't even recheck. I been pulling teeth asking for help 3 weeks now from 5 different relevant people. Vickie Gilmore flat out lies and says all classes are worth 10 credits and a year long. Principal Michelle Stevens lied and said the same thing. Turns out psychology is 1 semester which my son has been interested in. read more

Is the grass greener on the other side (of the bay)? You decide. Nice big fields for football and lacrosse practice. Parking on the residential side so you might have a hard time finding a spot during busy times. read more

Corona Del Mar High School - Big field. - Middle Schools & High Schools Near Me - Newport Beach, California

Terrible school, no Morals or values are taught. I actually don't know if anything is taught. My child is extremely smart, world traveled and speaks 2 languages, yet is failing most classes here. The teachers DO NOT care. Especially Mrs Bloomfield. She has caused so much pain and stress to my child. It saddens me that because of CDM, my child now hates school. Bullying is accepted here and nobody does anything about it. I was so excited to buy a home in Newport so my son would have an amazing school to attend. Now I am taking him far away from CDM. Do whatever you can to not place your children here. read more

This school is great. JeezLaweez. So much whining & gripping from entitled bratty parents & children. Perhaps their self righteous attitudes trickledown to their progeny & the teachers & administrators DONT WANT TO bend over backwards for brats! Sure it's not perfect, BUT there is FAR more great than not @ CDM. My biggest gripe with the school is the socal aspect, namely extremely spoiled kids with their parents money, confusing their lifestyle as reality. That being said there are loads of wonderful kids who are empathetic, funny & smart. In 3 years my son had 1 teacher he didn't care for, yet will always follow it with 'but i did learn alot in her class'. And as an involved parent that is pretty awesome. So thankfully this is a Free Country, & you hatres can pick up go to another district (why don't you give Santa Ana a try?) or private school (oh, they probably wont put up with bad behavior) or home school, though that would require actual personal investment. That being said I am SO GRATEFUL my son is a student at CDMHS read more

They have a really clean, heated, saline pool that is open for use by the public. There is a pass that you can purchase to use the pool and you don't even have to live in the city. read more

Horrible place for families and children. Unsafe and harmful to the wellbeing of a child. The only way to enjoy Cdm in today's day is to have a team of back up coaches and tutors supporting your child in every area so they don't care at all about what is happening at the school. No support and dishonest manipulative bully administrator will cause serious harm to a child with no regard. read more

Our daughter is in 10th grade - attended CDM since 7th. Pros: Very nice facility. Plenty of sports facilities, science resources, amazing PTA support. Middle school is brand new. Attracts some great teachers. They have a good advanced math & science program (albeit: they could stand to recognize and encourage them more). Very good parent communication tools. Cons: - In English, the district forces them to read one depressing book after another. Lord of the Flys, several Holocaust books, others centered on murder and death. Like that's what a teenage girl needs added to puberty and social acceptance problems! - About half their teachers seem entirely insensitive to the pressure. I'm surprised they don't have more teen suicides and dropouts. For example; getting a Zero for stapling a paper on the wrong side, expecting assignments to be turned in the day after a 3 day absence for high fever, despite the online assignment posting being inadequate. - We called a principle conference and she did NOTHING despite a clear case of unfair (and even impossible) grading! The principle has no control over her teachers. They're more interested in political protections than rewarding student effort and achievement. There are thankfully many exceptions, but there's a TON of room for improvement! - Unconsolidated homework assignment tools. Some classes have had up to 4 websites they need to search to figure out what's needed. Our genius child struggles sometimes and for sure her special talents are squandered and left uninspired; I just cannot imagine how kids with average intelligence make it there. In some ways, they seem designed for failure. They say it's to "prepare them for the big world". Grrr. read more

Corona Del Mar was living hell and still is for a lot of students but administrations always turned a blind eye to the problems students were/are having. They just saw "troubled" kids and gave up on us! The best day of my life was when I was removed from this hell by leaving for a different school. I was told in 7th grade by a teacher that I was going no where in life and I should just give up, a few years later I was placed in this teachers class again and he asked for me to be removed from his class cause he didn't want his passing average to go down. But when I confronted the school about this they lied and protected this teacher. One teacher also completely ignored the rules set in place in my IEP, by doing so I was humiliated in front of the whole class. The best part is when I looked to this teacher for help he was laughing along with them!! This school says they have a zero tolerance for bulling but this is a lie! I brought up the fact that I was bullied and I showed proof (including a 7 page front and back hate letter signed by the people who wrote it) but they said there was nothing to be done. Later to find out that the parents of the individuals donate money to the school and they didn't want to upset them so they swept it under the rug. These are just a few examples of what happened to me personally!! Just imagine what else goes on behind those walls. read more

academically AMAZING. I think too many students have lost some good values, but that's pretty much every high school. I prefer a Christian school, but CdM is excellent!! Great for sports as well. read more

Communication and discipline are very bad. If your child is sick, and misses school, they are docked points for participation, which lowers their grades substantially. The IEP program is the best, but not happy with the rest of the school. I'm pulling my daughter out of this school at the end of the year (maybe sooner). read more

Amazing School! Surpassed all expectations. Superior academic and athletic program.

Academically it is very good. Communication is good. Politically, it is not good. It is clear that parent cliques run the school, have very strong influence in most sports, and many clubs, particularly ASB. Socially for children, it is not desirable. Sense of entitlement is a strong element here. There are many student cliques and a lot of bullying goes on. Your child must have thick skin to thrive, or meet the physical and socio economic profile. This is particularly difficult for girls. Upholding morals and values is not evident in this school. This is very much a party school. Faculty is similar to other public schools. There are some great teachers and some not so great teachers. Your child can easily fall through the cracks if you are not on top of things. There is no reaching out. CDM has great school potential, but a lot of things need to change. This is probably not happen soon as the school has been the same for years, going back to the days when many of the same parents attended the school. read more

Great Football team. Bunch of good-looking, strong, fit, funny, smart football players that play under an amazing coaching staff. They won a state championship this year. WOW, just amazing stuff. read more