As a STEAM and VAPA teacher at Hale Charter Academy I take pride to call this my home school. Students strive to exceed in all of our programs and teachers here support those student goals. Our after school enrichment programs, VAPA gala, STEAM science fair, innovative field trips, upcoming Fall Fest just to name a few of our opportunities/events we provide to our student population. I have been as this school for 17 years and absolutely cherish it. read more

See all

I went here from 2004 - 2006 and I was bullied quite a bit. The fact that I came to look at this page and see reviews of people talking about their kids getting bullied even to this day breaks my heart. I see that it hasn't gotten any better. I had some good times too and all, some of my teachers were really cool, but still. read more

The school is just so ghetto. There are so many incidents of bullying and the staff just simply ignores it. There were girls mocking an autistic kid and nothing was done about it. The adults at the school simply don't try to protect other kids, and it's just upsetting. There'a also a teacher that bullies her students and the first time she was reported nothing happened. read more

the worst school in the valley - my son was bullied by other kids and beat by 10 boys in the bathroom; school did nothing - after my son was choked by his PE Teacher- don't send your children to This school. Even with SAFETY PLAN, IEP ETC - the principal and school staff failed him and had a very hard time after this entire debacle read more

Did not help me when I had a leg sprain, had to limp off of the field with no help. Also the mile run requirements were just absurd! I bequeth thy school with mine utmost disrespect and HATRED! read more

I am currently a student and their Steam program is the best Ms.Castanga and Ms. green are the best teachers and their school over all is the best read more

Hale is a great and beautiful school and i think all the teachers go out of their way to help all students and fellow staff.

My daughter attended the steam magnet and loved it She made good friends , was involved with multiple activities and liked all the options offered. It's a big school with lots of kids and programs. The magnet was a good experience for my child read more

This is our third year at Hale charter academy. The first year there were so many fights to the point that my husband and I I were considering pulling my daughter from this school. Then last year they made big changes and split it into two lunches. So now 8th grade students have their own lunch which my daughter is excited about. Since then it's been a smooth sailing experience and no issues. She also loves her Farm elective and enjoys being with the animals. It's all she talks about when I pick her up!! read more

This school is horrible. I was a former student at Hale Charter Academy and let me tell the school is horrible. There were fights every day at the school and lots of bulling in the school. Also, I have NEVER seen a security guard at this school and it needs one. The school needs more staff and most of the teachers are not strict enough, there needs to be more discipline in the school. I know every middle school is not the best experience but there needs to be lots of major improvements in the school. This may look nice but is a living hell. People may say your other local schools are ghetto but let me assure you it is nothing compared to this peace of garbage. read more

My kid went here before transferring. He had difficulties learning and the teachers were not supporting him at all. None of the kids were friendly towards him and he struggled greatly. His grades were poor and received no help. The teachers do not seem to support students and the staff do not like the environment they are working in. I would advise against sending your children here. read more

Just no. This school doesn't employ educators who give a single shit about your child nor how they fare. I've had 4 kids go through Hale. One had an IED. Two were in the gifted program. One was a typical learner. Hale did nothing for my kids who struggled. No tutoring, no referrals, no return emails, nothing. It felt like my kids went into a void everyday, and 3/4 of my kids' grades steadily declined from all A's in elementary school to steady Cs and Ds by end of 6th grade. (The 1/4? His grades stayed at Cs and Ds.) Nobody. Cared. Not counselors, not teachers...and ready? SOON MY KIDS DIDNT CARE EITHER. Thanks, Hale. And the only thing that makes the Hale Affect worse is when they get dumped into El Camino right after. If Hale is a void, ElCo is a MASSIVE BLACK HOLE. For the smart, the challenged and everyone in between. We have finally pulled all 4 of our kids out of the trash fire of education LAUSD calls Hale and ElCo. They are in different private schools now because each one needs specific help to get their grades up, so they can graduate & maybe get into decent colleges. Maybe. All of them are behind in understanding math. And history. And science. Pomelo was outstanding!!!!! But that's as far as we should have taken our kids through these public schools. There's a reason private schools are so sought after in LA. It's up to you how far down you'll let your child tumble before you realize this same thing: LAUSD is not an educational system rigged towards helping your kids learn- it's a churning churning factory- get the kids in the class so we get money from the govt, and then move them out so we can get more kids and more money. It's horrifying - and I wouldn't doubt if the average IQ of Americans plummets because public schools are not what they used to be. Head towards the Waldorf schools if you wanna know the truth- that's where we shoulda been all along. read more

I give it a two. Classes are over crowded. Not enough security. Too May fights and not enough staff to support the teachers and kids. There is some amazing teachers though. read more

This school is amazing I just came 2 months ago I came from porter ranch community charter terrible school porter ranch has the worst electives but this school had every elective you have read more

This is the best school ever I don't know what all the haters are talking about this school is great I recommend it for your child!! !@#$ U haters read more

My daughter went here and she was getting bullied, we told the counselor and did nothing about it, she also said that a lot of people forced her into vaping, a lot of fights. read more

Horrible first impression!!!! I just called into the school to do a tour not knowing most schools in California do not do private tours. I call politely asking if I can do a tour the staff members response .. "NO"!! It wasn't "I'm sorry ma'am unfortunately we do not do private tours and we did our last open house at 8am". Instead I got a very nasty NO response telling me to bad I missed it and I should've been there starting October. Well news flash where I am from open house doesn't start until after school and close to the end of the school year. I see why so many people have negative things to say about this school. Professionalism should be outstanding in this high priced area but it is not a priority for the school systems. read more

I'm going to be completely honest. This is going to be a very in depth review,, so scroll to overview if you don't wanna read it all. To start, the kids are terrible. I nearly got pulled out of this hell hole multiple times. I'm talking I could never/can't really be myself. Slurs daily. One time,, I got called over 50 in a SINGLE day. So much intollerence for people who are different from said person. Staff is pretty terrible to be honest. There are a few outstanding ones per year,, but majority are terrible. They don't really care about our success,, and they dont stand up for us at all. I've gotten literally assaulted multiple times near staff and they never do anything. I'm in the STEAM magnet,, and there is WAY too much homework. I'm saying 3pm-9pm daily, w/o breaks. I don't have free time anymore. The school advertises the steam magnet to be so much better,, but it isn't. All it does is push us to our absolute limits. We don't really even get to do any cool stuff. Th best thing we've done is dissect a sheep heart,, and man,, that was sick,, but everything else is really basic and not so special. There is too much of a workload as well- most subjects are quite advanced and hard to understand;; majority of the teachers are barely present in the classrooms. There is way too much pressure on us students-- during my time here my mental health has gotten really bad. Not just because of my peers, but because of the workload. I have to push myself until I break EVERY SINGLE DAY. I cannot tell you how many times I have tried to off myself because of this goddamn school. There is much more I could add but I'm tired,, so yeah. OVERVIEW: Terrible, unaccepting kids. Slurs, and lots of them. Terrible staff that don't care at all. Too much of a work load that doesn't make sense. 5+ hours of homework in STEAM. read more

I never see bulling or vaping, though that is only from my perspective and there are some bad teachers but there are also good teachers. In my opinion this school decent. read more

I think the school is amazing and gives the students many opportunities. The school provides for the students and has amazing teachers! They serve a great education and I think they are doing amazing with the VAPA program. read more

Hale sucks, has a terrible staff, and the rules are crazy. My child use to attended the school but after one semester I pulled him out. Kids would be racist to him and he would tell the dean and the kids wouldn't get in trouble. read more

Very good school my child goes there they have fun activity's and fun things to do the staff in the office are so nice and the principal is cool I will recommend this school for your growing kid. read more

I attended this school approx back in 1984- 1988. I am very grateful and thankful for the education that this school provided has provided me. But now I am an adult now and thinking back. I've wasted about 2 years wasting time here learning math. As a child immigrant from Taiwan, our math skills is advanced (About 2-3 years ahead) compared to the one here in USA . I already took ESL in elementary school and can communicate in English when going to this Hale Junior High. I pretty much remembered I was always the first one turning the quiz/test in and getting close to 100% most of the time. The math teachers should have recommended me to advance to a higher math level right away. I was just wasting 2 years there not advancing my math level. I was still a kid and need to respect the teacher and let them do their job. How can a kid challenge a teacher. Maybe my mom should have came to the school and tell them to advance me. Bottom line, the math teacher need to recognize the student's potential and not hold them back. Another issue is that this school didn't have a basketball program/league when I attended. I was a bit disappointed when I found out other schools had it. I think some inner school systems have it. I hope I will find the time to call the school/principal and let them know that this happened to me, now that I am an adult now.. read more

My first impression of this school is not good. The first thing they did was lie to my wife. It was not a big lie, but still a lie. And when you meet someone or some company the first impression is important. Hopefully they will tell the truth in the future. But for now I can only assume they will always lie to parents maybe the students, because it is the easier option. Only time will tell read more

I would give a zero star if I could. I so happened to be in a store, when Mr. Chong came in and started causing a seen when customers are shopping with their children. The kind of language and raciest comments coming out of his mouth were horrible at best. Someone who has to be asked to leave a store by police should not be around children. read more

This school sucks and it will always stay like that. Staff and teachers are rude and always accuse you of things. Staff are always on their phones, acting too busy to help other students, they give dirty looks. Students never get in trouble for anything the least they do is give detention and call your parents. You can skip detention so easily, they wouldn't even notice. Constant police cars, and police do to all the students that have drugs, as well as constant fights and bullying. During lunch there are staff near the lockers so if you forget your money for lunch you aren't allowed to go back to your locker. There's so much drug use, fights, bullying, classes are huge with 42 students in each class, students being inappropriate, teaches even cuss in class, and many more. Do not come to hale it sucks and no one does anything about it. You will regret it and regret sending your child here. read more

Good school especially if you have the "right" ethnicity. If you don't fit their preferred race or religion, no matter how well your child does, they will not be recognized. read more

Ok look, whether you're a parent considering letting ur kid go here, or a kid looking at reviews for there future school, or ur just on here to see what other student have said about ur school, I think you'll find this useful. I know people expect a quick, to the point answer to whether or not this is a good school, but shit... ur gonna be here for 3 years straight, so wipe that expectation away cus I guarantee this school will throw ur expectations in the trash the first chance it gets. I wouldn't say this school is "hell", but the urge to get up in the morning to get there at 7:50 am and spend 7 hours there, then go home and do 4 hours of homework is not very strong...to say the least. Sub 1: The teachers are a hit or miss really, there are no average teachers, there either lit and awesome to be around, or total assholes that seem like their soul purpose in life is to make u want to slap them in the face. AKA-Ms. FUCKING VALERIE RENSLOW. Out of every horrible teacher/PERSON I've ever met IN MY ENTIRE 14 YEARS OF EXISTENCE, this woman was in the top 3 for damn sure. If u get her...god help u. Sub 2: curriculum is only hard if u make it. Regular classes are too easy, AP classes are too hard, in my experience doing less is really doing more, save urself the emotional breakdowns and depression and just take a regular class. Honestly, from personal experience, and multiple of my friends, regular classes are easier on ur mental health and put MUCH less stress on kids. Why do high school level work in middle school. Now, I get "challenging urself" and everything, but it's really not worth it. Take it easy and enjoy ur middle school years without stress cus once it's over, its over, and ur in high school and there's no turning back, and if u just spent the last 3 years stressed and tired, high schools gonna be a literal shit show for u, and ur gonna miss out on an easy childhood time for new and exciting experiences. (TRUST) Sub 3: students and what they are. U can't make a statement on general kids, there's way to many! There are mean people in the world and there are nice ones, take what u get, make friends, and DONT be that one annoying kid or wanna b class clown. Chill out and be urself, if someone's hating, ignore them, give em the finger, or put a tak on there chair and let em know it was u so they never fuck wit u again. For the most part, the kids are all different and don't really start shit with u for no reason, so if u find urself in the middle of drama, ur probably the one who put urself there in the first place. + bullying is NOT an issue for the school and there is pretty much no bullying so, that's one thing this school did right. Also staff EVERYWHERE in a good and bad way. With that said, good luck, have fun, and take it easy cus ur just a kid and its just a school. And if ur looking for a final conformation, I made a lot of great memories there, and I hope u can too, cus I recommend u go to this school. I know what ur thinking, "wtf? She just wrote that entire paragraph saying how this schools shit?!" But even with allll of its flaws, whether or not u like this school is up to u and what u experience hear, so as long as u HAVE FUN and enjoy it, itle be great. Remember, u go to school to get an education and a job and make money so u can live life, and life isn't worth living if it's not making u happy. So, be happy boo. read more

I have been so impressed with the extra mile that the teachers take to make sure their students are successful and safe. I am also thankful that in this economy the diversified programs available for the students variety of interests. read more