My 4 year old daughter is in the Head Start / Preschool program at Everett and I am extremely…read morepleased with their care for my daughter. She comes home every day from school telling me all the new things that she learned including her alphabet, counting, sing-along songs, writing skills etc. She is always excited to go to school, and is well monitored while there with multiple teachers supervising in the classroom at all times. You can tell the teachers have a passion for children and genuinely love their job. They have flexible hours that you can adjust to fit your work or school schedule. They offer full day school and extended hours which is difficult to find for toddlers. There IS a waiting list, but it is well worth the wait! I highly recommend the program

My nephews go to this school its right around the corner from us and so far its been good.(3years…read moreand counting) We are enrolling our daughter this year and I'm excited for her. We had an option to enroll her at GVA with her other cousins but so far my sis- in - law has had some issues with them nothing major but enough for me not to feel comfortable with. When my nephews first got here (Everett elementary)they were behind in school due to my sister not taking them in Lodi, that's when we became legal guardians and enrolled them here, right away the teachers were very helpful and did everything they could to help one of my nephews catch up they split him in k/1st grade it was a lot for him but the teachers worked very hard for him. I now have two happy healthy boys and I thank the twins Ms. Vaughn and Ms. Vaughn for helping my nephew get through this rough patch.

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.

My 4 children have been at GVA Modesto since 2019. We have been incredibly happy attending here. I…read morelove that GVA represents subject mastery before moving students on to the next part of the curriculum. GVA has an incredible emphasis on character building and kindness. This creates a favorable school community and growing children that will be positive influences in society. A few of my children have needed extra resources with reading and speech and those supports were given ASAP. I also have 1 student that has needed a 504 plan and over time it has been suggested to move him into an IEP. I love that GVA has a private school feel and size, yet is public and receives the state funding for providing these supports to families and students. The school offers many after school clubs and enrichment programs during the school day. I am extremely grateful that my children are learning Spanish at a young age. The school offers before and after school program, as well as summer school when needed and summer care for working parents. We look forward to our children being at GVA another 7 years. Our family is extremely happy with our experience at GVA Modesto.

I recognize this will probably be brushed aside as another concerned parent, over reaching to be…read moreheard. But I feel my recent experience isn't an isolated case. In Modesto, educational options are limited. You often have to choose between overcrowded public classrooms or high-tuition private schools. On the surface, GVA (Great Valley Academy) seems like the perfect middle ground: a non-tuition public school with smaller classes and a focus on 'the whole child.' I attended the orientations and understood their pillars, but I was never informed that my child would be graded on her character on a numerical scale. There is a massive disconnect between encouraging 'character development' and issuing a formal report card that scrutinizes who a child is as a person. It is heartbreaking to receive a document that feels more like a subjective pronouncement on my child's personality than an academic evaluation. While I am thankful my child is too young to understand this level of scrutiny, the precedent it sets is alarming. Furthermore, the front administration's response to parental concerns is disappointing. If you disagree with a policy or wish to opt your child out of an assessment you feel is detrimental, the standard response is effectively, 'You can go to a different school.' While technically true, this 'take it or leave it' attitude is a failure of leadership. It treats parents as obstacles rather than partners. In the real world, performance is measured by output, reliability, and conduct. It is never measured by a superior's personal interpretation of your 'spirit'--especially when that superior isn't held to the same standard. Parents deserve a choice in how their children are evaluated without being told to simply leave if they ask for professional transparency.

My son was a kindergartner at Woodrow this past year, and I have filed an administrative complaint…read moreagainst the principal JOANNA O'BRIEN and am in the process of transferring him to a new school for first grade. I didn't know what to expect for the first year that my son is in school, but I have had an awful and truly unacceptable experience at Woodrow. I saw one review claiming that Woodrow doesn't notify parents when their child is hurt at school, and I can corroborate that claim with my own experiences. One day, my son came home and told me that another child had choked him at recess. I know that adults were present and aware of what happened because my son told me that an adult talked to the child who choked him afterward; but I was never notified about it. Another day, my son came home with a black eye after another child had accidentally kicked him in the face at recess (he was walking too close to the swing set); and again, I was never notified about it. I was only told what happened when I took my son into the office and wanted answers. My son could have been seriously hurt in both of these situations, and not only was I not notified about them; but my son didn't receive any medical attention! Unfortunately, this is not the worst of my experience with Woodrow. One day, I received a phone call from Woodrow that my son had had an accident and was in the office. I went to the school, and when I got there; I asked my son what happened. He told me that he had asked his teacher to use the bathroom, and she asked him if he could "hold it". He told her that he couldn't; and she said, "I think you can," and then he wet his pants. My son was embarrassed and upset. I complained to a woman in the office, and she said that she would "let someone know". It was obvious that she had no intention of doing that, however; considering that she didn't even bother to ask who had denied my son the right to use the bathroom, even after he had told his teacher that he couldn't "hold it". I asked her, "Don't you want to know the teacher's name?" and she said, "Oh yeah," as if it was an after thought. Her indifference and lack of action made it VERY clear that Woodrow does NOTHING to keep students safe or to hold staff members accountable for incompetence or misconduct. Again, it gets WORSE! For context - Parents can drop off afternoon kindergartners as early as 10:20 am, but the bell doesn't ring until 10:27 am; so drop off time for afternoon kindergartners is between 10:20 am and 10:27 am. For the first half of the school year, I dropped my son off at 10:20 every day. One day, I had to be at work early; so I dropped my son off at 10:19, and I instructed him to sit in the office until 10:20. There were other kindergartners and their parents gathered outside the school, and I saw my son's teacher walking toward them to unlock the gate for them and let them in. I waited until my son was inside the office, and I left. After school when I picked up my son, I was reprimanded by his teacher for dropping him off 60 SECONDS early. I was told that I left him "unsupervised", despite the fact that there were kindergartners, their parents, and office staff (who he was directly supervised by for the entirety of the 60 seconds that he waited) present. After that day, I changed my work availability so that I had more time in between dropping my son off at school and work; and I started dropping him off by 10:27 every day. Unfortunately, dropping my son off by 10:27 also seemed to be a problem for his teacher, who regularly passive-aggressively projected her frustrations onto my six year old. My son told me that his teacher (the same teacher who reprimanded me for dropping him off early) made MULTIPLE statements to him over the course of the second half of the school year along the lines of, "You need to tell your mom to be on time," etc. To clarify, 10:27 IS ON TIME; and regardless, talking badly to a six year old about his parent(s) is inappropriate and unacceptable. What's even more inappropriate and unacceptable, however; is that on April 1st, my son came home and told me that his teacher had given everyone in his class "pop it" bracelets except him. When he asked his teacher, "What about me?" she responded that the bracelets "are for kids who are on time," THIS IS NOT OKAY! This behavior indicates low emotional intelligence at the LEAST and is very concerning. Dysfunctional adults are in no position to be in the presence of, much less to be responsible for children. That being said, I'll move on to the straw that broke the camel's back. I'll post the rest of my experience in pictures since I've exceeded the text limit.

Woodrow is a very inviting and wonderful school. Teachers and staff are very helpful. Dr. O'Brien…read moredoes an exceptional job as principal and school leader.

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.

Absolute garbage school, from the scheduling to the staff, to the curriculum. The teachers for the…read moremost part are uninterested in doing their actual jobs of teaching, the staff is more interested in earning brownie points with the district and the only one who seems to do their job well is the janitor.

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.