My grandchildren attended this school and like it a lot !! They have learned and lot and the staff is amazing!

I was a fuerza staff and was bullied by admin to not want to unionize, we even received an email from our CEO telling us that if we were trying to unionize or distributing union material to remember that we were at Will employees! Can you believe that! not to mention the principal at the time was very rude to myself and to other staff including parents! and I had to get my attorney involved! she than quickly shut-up and ignored me. But I think what I want to review the most is that other teachers are still scared to speak up about things. I was an rsed teacher at 3 of their San Jose schools, now I am a public school district employee and I belong to cta (california teachers association) and the benefits from my public school district are for more superior than anything that i had while working as a rocketship teacher. and by unionizing you can have more rights as public employees, because we all want the best. And the biggest benefit of belonging to a union is *tenure and job security. Just remember you cannot be fired for wanting to unionize. And this school and other San Jose RSED schools were threatening my freedom to speak and voice my concerns. anyhow while i was a teacher for rsed we were all sent an email from our ceo! about how *"unionizing prevents being able to accomplish our rocketship mission statement". i know now thats not true! what i was really being told was that the higher-ups didnt want me having a middle-man to protect me. its as simple as that. please know that i support what rocketship does for our children and their families! teaching at rsed were some of the best years of my teaching career. I fully support education but we are only human and we are all teachers who deserve protection, we all have the same goal and want only the best. but at the same time its important to think about our rights as public employees. read more

I pulled my daughter out after one semester. She was continually bullied by the same kids over and over for standing up to peers when the continuously disrespectful kids acted against others. The small school forces the kids to have lunch, breaks all with their class only so she had no way to make friends in other classes or get away from her bullies. Oh fid I mention, the after school program is an extension of the same kids. She had good teachers there, unfortunately their hands are tied when it comes to bullies. She was physically hurt on a few occasions by these kids that we kept being told "oh the parents don't care!" And that is all we get. So while parents who choose not to parent their kids have a safe option that does not allow for suspensions/expulsions for their ratings for funding, good students have to put up with it. My 8 year old started hating school, giving attitude, calling me to pick her up because "she was sick!". I finally had it when I was called at 5:02 pm to ask if someone had called me to tell me my 8 year old was in the office because they cancelled the after school program unexpectedly. She had a minimum day and got out early. Nobody even knew she was there until they called me. No notifications were sent about my kid needing to be picked up. The whole time I was thinking my kid was safe! What a joke! My daughter quietly waited while staff for hours saw her sitting there because they were busy trying to figure out school issues. That was unacceptable. This was the last straw. I signed her up at a different school the following week after my daughter was more than happy to leave. She is in the public school down the street now and she loves it! She is more happy, loves school/after school program and kids actually have consequences. I am so glad i moved her. Not to mention, i posted about my daughter's experience on my instagram and a lot of people commented that they too moved their kids for the exact same reasons! They had good students too! So this is a ROCKETSHIP issue not a Fuerza issue. When the people who pride themselves on children's growth are the ones responsible for keeping their kids unhappy, unsafe and depressed, there is a problem! So glad my daughter is happy now and I hope this school reevaluates their values. Because the kids should be their priority, not the funds! Such a joke. Oh and the lady at the front desk wouldn't even acknowledge us when we would walk into the front desk until I said "hello!" Very unprofessional, specially with their poor planning. Messaging at 3 pm for a "mandatory meeting at 5 pm is very poor management. Specially for a school that "values" respect and responsibility and expects that from their kids. No lleven a sus niños aquí, no hacen nada por el bullying. read more

Note my kids are no longer at this school. They attended the school for maybe 4 months. I got a new job opportunity in NorCal area. I had the option to keep them in until winter break, but when I weighed out the pros and cons, I did not like this school so I transferred my kids out middle of November 2018. When my kids were selected for this school I honestly thought they were lucky because they sell themselves as a school that really cares about their students. My kids were at a Private school nearby and we did not want to send them to their districted public school. So we thought perfect!They sell themselves as a school that is very innovated. They made it seem like the kids were going to be in small classes and the teachers were going to be there to really support them. But from start to finish I was wrong. First, they never tell you anything in advance. They are all about teaching our kids to be professional, but then they plan mandatory things that the parent needs to attend last minute, expecting us to be able to take time off work at the drop of a hat. That is not a very professional work ethic. This school focuses on one ethnic group. At first I thought it was me. My main interaction was at the beginning of the school year. So I thought people are busy, they are short. But my mom went to visit and speak to the secretary and she got the same vibe. I talked with my husband about this for days, but he said give the school a shot. The kids had to raffle to get in. So it had to be great. Then the "orientation" happened. The principal focused his whole presentation only on one community. Talking about how we need to push them and work with them to go to college and make them successful, which I think is great. College is important. But to disregard the other ethnic group is not okay. His slide show had a bar graph of how many students would be eligible to apply to college based on their ethnic group. He only highlighted one. There were other groups with numbers that could have been higher too. But he said their goal was to bring that one bar higher. That is not okay. All students should be pushed and wanted to succeed. Then as the days went on. I would ask my kids how school was. They had a Spanish teacher at their old school, so I asked since this school talked about electives, did they have one here. My daughter, said no. However she said the teacher does teach in Spanish. I did clarify with her whether it was just small parts to a specific group. She said no it was the whole lesson to everyone. So I asked my kid what she did during this time. She said she waited until she was able to ask her questions. I was not a fan of that answer. My son had an even worse experience there. He was being bullied, and when he finally defended himself, guess who got in trouble? My son. So he got so scared to get in trouble, he did nothing when he got bullied. My breaking point was when I was at work and I got a call from the teacher. She said she was busy and not paying attention to the kids and somehow my son was hit in the nose to the point where it bled. When I called to follow up, nobody knew what was going on. There was no punishment. The kid did not have to stay after. And they swore they cleaned him up, but my kids got picked up by a local after school program and the program teacher told me that day, my son arrived with a crusty blood dirty face. I was done. They blew up my phone with text after text, some in a language I do not even understand, wanting me to rally with them for recertification. And it blows my mind that they got the recertification. I talked to parents who also pulled their kids from this school and they do not get it either. read more

Rocketship Fuerza Community Prep is an amazing school. Curriculum, teaching style and the overall quality of education is on par with many top rated public schools. They also provide free food (both breakfast and lunch) of good quality. Almost all the school supplies that the students need through out their academic year are provided by school. The only downside of this school is school drop and pickup which takes lot of time waiting in the queue itself even though staff try their best to streamline the traffic and efficiently manage drop and pickup process. I would still highly recommend this school despite the only issue with drop and pickup. read more

I love this school for my daughter at a young age till now in 3rd grade she has learned so much through out the years addition subtraction multiplication and division and reading and writing. read more

Rocketship Fuerza - Rocketship Fuerza science fair - Elementary Schools Near Me - San Jose, California

As a parent, I feel blessed that my kids go to such a wonderful facility filled with the same educational goals that I expect of them. i would recommend this facility to any parent that is committed to making a difference in their child's education. The staff is amazing (literally everyone) office, principal, teachers, lunch staff, ect.) everyone comes in and treats you like you are part of a larger family and really look out for one another. read more

The old post office has been transformed into a modern chic urban public elementary school showing the best of East Side. Incredibly strong core values, safe, enthusiastic and fiercely dedicated staff to the vision of closing the achievement gap. The enrichment of Folklorico, music, Spanish, and PE expand the contours of of the rigorous academic goals they've set for the students, teachers, and parents. A community of politically empowered parents demanding that low socioeconomic status does not equal a trajectory of low expectations. The coaching and professional development for teachers surpasses any traditional public school and the results are consistent teacher expectations and student behavior in every class. Visit the school at 7:45am for their daily inspirational launch and then see how that energy is carried out in the classes until dismissal at 4pm. Unlike other public schools where visiting a classroom is a bureaucratic process where teachers have to pre-approve an observing parent, Rocketship's transparency speaks volumes to what they are doing to the education paradigm. Be prepared- joining Rocketship is joining a movement to challenge the educational system and politicians who see charters as the 'third rail' of their campaign. Rocketship is serving low income students of color better than any of their traditional counterparts and that threatens the status quo of Alum Rock school districts 'we're doing great' motto. I truly felt when my twins application was chosen through the lottery process that I really won the lottery. It's been an incredible year of growth and when asked, it's not 'if' they will go to college but which one. Go visit a Rocketship near you and see which enrichment program (they all have a different focus) will best fit your child. Ganas, Persistence, Responsibility, Empathy and Results. read more