I am a former student now in high school, but I still wish I went to Elysian Heights…read more I had a really good time at this little arts magnet! When I was in kindergarten about a decade ago, this school was small, and I mean SMALL. The magnet program was just starting, so I was lucky to have arrived when I did. I believe that art is the number one thing that should be inputted into a student's curriculum, and Elysian is the perfect place for that. If you're planning to send your kid there, expect them to come home with art projects and wanting to be lead of the school's annual play. Expect attending every event the school has: the harvest festival, multicultural fest (if that still happens), holiday shows, spring shows, arts fest...etc! I'm not surprised that Elysian has become a competitive school recently...it's a really great place!! I still go to the harvest and arts festivals every year, and I'm still close friends with people I've known since kinder. Hear this from a former student: this is a really good little arts magnet.

best charter school in LA Best staff…read moreBest parents Lucky to be a part of it -please check out the After School Program called Prime Time ! It is now a summer sports camp that kids love

I came here for a volleyball game with my daughter, and I was impressed. The school has very nice…read morefacilities and a welcoming atmosphere. Everyone we met staff, parents, and students was friendly and respectful. The gym was clean, bright, and well maintained, which made for a good experience all around. It's always nice when schools take pride in their space. Great environment and a positive visit.

We have been part of the Westside Neighborhood School community for the past 10 years, and it has…read morebeen an incredibly positive experience for our family. Three of our four children have attended WNS, and our youngest is now an 8th grader preparing to matriculate out. What stands out most about WNS is the strong sense of community and the school's genuine commitment to diversity in the student population, administration, and faculty/staff. Our children have been surrounded by classmates and educators from a wide range of backgrounds, which has enriched their learning experience and helped them develop empathy, curiosity, and confidence. The teachers are deeply dedicated and truly know their students, balancing academic rigor with emotional and social growth. Communication with families is excellent, and we've always felt supported and included in our children's educational journey. After a decade at WNS, we can confidently say it has provided our kids with an exceptional foundation both academically and personally. We're so grateful for the warm, inclusive environment and the lifelong friendships our family has built here. If you're considering WNS, we can't recommend it highly enough! It's a wonderful place for children to learn, grow, and thrive.

Amazing leadership, amazing students and parents! Beautiful community filled with kindness,…read morerespect, safety, and responsibility! Go star scholars! shine bright!

My children both went to melrose, it was an amazing school! With first class teaching the teachers…read moreare really sweet to their students. I would highly recommend this school.

This school is great for parents looking for a diverse educational setting!…read more My child has enjoyed her time here and each teacher and faculty member cares deeply about the learning and productivity of each child.

No issue. My child is happy and calm when he's at school. When he has his upsets they quickly…read moredissolve his problems and able to go about his day.

Our son recently started preschool at LILA. We were drawn to the school for it's international…read moredemographic and the French immersion - which has all been fabulous - but what we've also gotten are teachers and staff who care deeply about our son adjusting to school and succeeding both interpersonally, developmentally and educationally. There are about 12-13 kids in his class and somehow each drop off and pick up feels personal to us. The teachers are so focused on each child's individual needs and we feel very supported as a new family at LILA.

As a parent of a 1st grader who started last year in Kinder at the LF campus, we could not be…read morehappier with LILA and my daughter's experience. It was our first choice, and the last few months of her enrollment have only reinforced our decision to enroll her. I was familiar with the rigors of the French academic system as well as the IB program, and this was something we really wanted for our child. It's a very different and richer experience than most American schools. "Diversity" has become narrowly defined. But the international diversity of the students' families is unmatched at other SoCal schools. Yes, many French and Western European family's, as might be expected. But we have families in our class from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, for example. My five year old is already correcting my French (which is admittedly terrible!) and she loves the school and it's the emphasis on language and expression. The teachers are patient and supportive and providing a good balance between structure and flexibility.

This school has been amazing for my kids. We stumbled upon it post pandemic, my son starting TK…read morehardly able to hold a pencil, and I was so blown away by how much he learned in such a short amount of time. The arts programs instantly brought out his passion for all things drawing. Most importantly, he has always been happy there. Five years later and neither of my kids have ever said "I don't want to go to school today". Besides the arts programs, which include music, dance and physical arts, they also have a garden program ran by California Climate action fellows. The social emotional education has been invaluable to both of my children as well. Absolutely love the diversity the school offers and the strong parent community. Volunteers are welcomed and encouraged and I always feel at home there. While we absolutely love it here, individual experiences will always vary, even in the absolute best schools. The school as a whole has wonderful teachers and a great philosophy. It works so well for so many kids, especially if you're invested in your kids education and supporting them from home. Definitely worth a tour if you're just starting off with schooling or in search of a new fit for your kid!

Our family has been part of this school since 2020. Over the years, we watched many families leave…read moreand often thought, "It's not that bad." For our children, it wasn't--until this year. The school year began in complete disarray, with inadequate supervision, students without assigned teachers or classrooms, and widespread confusion. Unfortunately, conditions only deteriorated from there. Throughout the year, students experienced repeated injuries, classroom evacuations, student elopements, frequent fire alarm disruptions, and recurring lice outbreaks that were not consistently communicated to families. One particularly troubling incident involved a substitute teacher who told a student with autism that autism "isn't real" and threatened to "call the cops" on a group of elementary students. Despite repeated efforts to raise concerns with school leadership, the board, and LAUSD, there was no accountability or communication with the affected families. LAUSD has already voted to close the middle school, and the elementary school's renewal will be reviewed during the 2026-2027 school year. I regret not taking other parents' concerns more seriously. We have decided to enroll our three children elsewhere next year. Our focus now is helping them recover academically and emotionally from a school environment where chaos often felt normalized and leadership seemed unresponsive. Parents should understand that this independent charter school operates under highly centralized leadership, with limited transparency or accountability. Many families, including ours, ultimately leave only after feeling they have exhausted every other option. I am genuinely glad for families whose children had positive experiences. However, those experiences do not erase the injuries, trauma, learning loss, and challenges many other students faced. Please consider a school with proven curriculum, healthy leadership and above all - safety.

My son went to school at MWE, and he had a great positive experience. Not sure about all the lower…read moreratings, but I found the teachers to be awesome, and the atmosphere pleasant. In fact, I believe the school is in fact one of the draws of living in the area if you have elementary aged children. All in all, I am happy my son went to MWE, and he loved his experience there with his teachers and friends he met there. We never had any big issues there while we were there.

My son has been at MWE since TK. He's had some amazing teachers and some just average teachers. But…read moreoverall I can honestly say that this is a truly exceptional school. The parents are involved and they truly care - they volunteer at events, donate to the annual fundraiser (which pays for all the extras at this school that help make it so wonderful). There is a genuine sense of community here that goes a long way, and the kids can feel it too. Academically I'd say it's average, not too much homework but not soft on academics by any means. Most learning is done in classroom with light homework (mostly reviewing the days lesson) in upper grades. We've never had a bullying problem or anything that some other reviews mention. I've never doubted my son's safety at this school. He's made many wonderful friends here. We're sad to be moving on to middle school next year. We will miss you MWE!! Go Wolves!

Your child will get a private school education for a public school price at this school. The…read moreteachers actually care about the kids learning and improvement. If you are lucky enough to get into Open School, take it up. It's really worth it. We are sad to leave this year, we've been there over 7 years with sibling years. We know that we had an amazing experience there. My middle schooler has thrived after going to Open. I wasn't sure how she would do since Open is constructivist and doesn't subscribe to traditional schools, she did amazingly well. She has learned to be a "thinker" at Open. thanks!

Although my son just started this year, my husband and I are extremely grateful and appreciative of…read morethis incredible school, teachers, and principal. The community has been extremely friendly and welcoming. Besides a free public education, he also has private drum lessons from the amazing music teacher. We could't be happier.

Third Street is an incredible school. There are negative reviews on here from people with a sense…read moreof entitlement that they try to project on the school. It's one of the highest academically achieving public elementary schools in the city and those lucky enough to have it as their home school are truly fortunate. Getting in via a waiver is understandably difficult as a result, but possible as I can personally attest to. Fundraising is absolutely part of the culture at the school, but no specific amount is ever required. That's illegal at a public school. The school does ask for a donation of any amount that is "meaningful to your family," but that could be $5 if that's your situation. The school is in an affluent neighborhood so the largest share of donations are coming from people who can well afford it. All the cuts to public schools; art teachers, science teachers, physical education - that doesn't exist here because third street parents pay for them via donations. Teacher quality is high. There is a great sense of community and it's a diverse one at that. Every family has a different experience and I'm certain some didn't like their time at Third Street. As a whole however, it's unfortunate that there aren't more schools like Third Street, because a lot more kids should be able to benefit similarly to what the majority experience here. Ignore the reviews from the non-attending families. It comes across as nothing more than sour grapes.

My kids attended 3rd Street Elementary, and I agree with many of the reviews here…read more One thing I noticed was that the principal and assistant principal seemed much friendlier and more welcoming to families who donated a lot of money to the school. My kids attended through the PALS program, and afterward they were supposed to return to their home school. I noticed that some students were allowed to stay, and from what I saw, many of those families were active donors. One of my children really wanted to stay. She was well-behaved, did well in school, and had no behavioral issues, but she wasn't given the opportunity. I never really understood why. I also felt that if you appeared wealthy, the staff--including the administration--treated you differently. They were never outright rude, but they often came across as dismissive if you didn't look like you had money. Many of the staff also seemed conceited and superficial, and it often felt like appearances and financial contributions mattered more than anything else. That was my personal experience. That said, there were definitely positives. The teachers were kind to my kids, and the campus is very clean and well maintained. The school offers more enrichment programs than many other public schools, has an active PTA, and provides a lot of opportunities for students. There are also many open enrollment spots, likely because many families in the neighborhood choose private schools instead. Since it's a Korean Dual Language school, I did notice that many of the open enrollment spots seemed to go to Korean families, which makes sense given the program. If your child has an IEP, I had a positive experience with the special education program through second grade. The support my children received was good. My only complaint was that the IEP administration changed every year, so we often had to start over with new administrators who weren't familiar with my child's needs. Overall, I think it's a good school with a lot to offer. My biggest criticism is that it often felt like families who donated, volunteered heavily, or appeared more affluent received more attention and opportunities than others. While my children had kind teachers and a positive experience in many ways, I didn't always feel that all families were treated equally.

Our two girls have been in city kids for four years and we are so thrilled with the school and…read morecommunity. Having a school that goes till 6pm is so helpful for us as a family with two working parents. We also really appreciate the bilingual education the school provides. We've seen such tremendous strides in our kids comprehension and use of Spanish over the last few years in this program. The teachers at city kids really really care about our girls and we have had lasting relationships with them over the years. They are passionate, hard working, and so dedicated. We have personally had incidents where our kids have needed special considerations, such as dietary restrictions or sleep and nap schedule changes and we have been so touched by the way the school did their absolute best to accommodate those concerns and issues to the best of their ability. They consulted a sleep specialist to find the best solution for one daughter who needed to end naps earlier than usual, and worked with the other daughter's changing dietary restrictions gracefully when we were trying to find out which foods were causing her problems. We have also seen numerous sensitive issues over the years handled with a measured and deft response that secured our confidence in the priorities , abilities, and mission of the school. In parent teacher conferences, we get a thorough written evaluation and ILP ( individualized learning plan) for our child's performance in both Spanish and English programs and can see in detail where our kids are thriving or could use additional assistance. It includes specific recommendations on things to work on for them, such as which numbers they skip in counting , or reverse in writing, or social emotional issues the teachers see while watching the kids play. We are so grateful that the school has such an incredible level of attention to each child's needs. As a family we consider ourselves so lucky to have found this school and couldn't be happier.

Our daughter has attended Argo preschool for the last two years and it has been an incredible…read moreexperience for her and our family. The preschool director and the teachers are incredible, they love the kids so deeply and get to know all the families so well. The kids are challenged academically and it's been incredible to see how much our 4 year old has learned. They go on fun and exciting field trips, have access to extracurriculars and have a nice rotation of activities depending on the season (water play in summer, areal class in the fall etc). The hours are great for working parents and the kids are fed very healthy and interesting foods, helping to expand their palates. Each month they focus on a different global destination and they also learn about social issues in an age-appropriate way. I can't imagine a better preschool experience for our daughter and I'm so thankful for everything she has learned in such a short period of time!