When I went there, some of the teachers were really mean and not supportive. The principal even accuse me of doing something I didn't do but some of the teachers are very nice read more

Sad to see a couple bad reviews here, that seemingly have ulterior motives.... Parents and kids love Santiago! Mr Johnston recently got promoted to another larger school, and was honorable, excellent and very hard-working in all areas. We've had a new principal for a while, and she has a great relationship with teachers and staff which is evident in the school spirit and supportive learning environment. The school and PTA have worked very hard in the last couple years to develop a learning agricultural garden and charming nature paths. Even better, the students respect and take care of their school and each other. The school has some awesome events like the PTA supported Fall Festival with great community-based STEAM related games. It's also nice that the school is tucked away off of Jeronimo, which results in a bit more traffic but an amazing cozy campus. Parents and kids love Santiago! read more

Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School - Have a good day Partner! - Elementary Schools Near Me - Lake Forest, California

My kids went to this STEAM school before the pandemic, and then one year into it as well online during the transition. This school was terrible. It was so bad that I had to start sending my kids to school with a lock on their backpack's because kids were stealing their snacks and the teachers were doing nothing about it. My son was bullied by a group of kids by calling him names in Spanish, and when I went to the principal about it he berated me as if my son was the problem for not knowing Spanish. My son was telling me the names he was being called and I had to inform him of the horrible words they were saying. I said to the principal after his refusal to see the the deplorable nature of the situation, well if this is acceptable behavior then I will make sure my son knows his father's native language (German) and calls them names using German. I didn't follow through with that because I am not low class, but the rationale behind the comment was it didn't matter the language, it was the vulgarity that was acceptable to the principal that was discriminatory towards English speaking children. It sounds outrageous, right, in a country that all cultures must learn to properly assimilate. Outrageous, but true-- and sad. When my kids went online, I saw and heard a teacher being aggressive towards my son for knowing more than her. Then, during a parent teacher conference she said 'when he goes to middle school this behavior will not be tolerated by the teachers-- he is combative.' To be clear, the 'combative' behavior she was referring to was him having an extensive knowledge on a subject, and her having to look it up to see if he was correct. Using the word 'combative' towards a non-White child is an attack especially at a time when Black men were being murdered daily in the news during the pandemic. In that moment, I broke down and cried during the conference call. The imagine of my son being one of the people in the news broke me, and she didn't understand she plays a role in the story of white supremacy and the breaking of non-white minds to be less than what they truly are. She wanted him to 'not give information beyond the information she gave' -- and she said that to me and my husband. Side note, my son was presenting correct fact based information-- she was simply less intelligent than him in regards to this topic she was teaching. Brick and mortar schools have become so restrictive, and this is not one I would ever send my child to if you care about their emotional, intellectual, and social development. Several other parents were having many issues with the school, and their management of situations as well. They hide behind the STEAM appeal, but has a LONG way to go to be a premiere school. Yes, there are probably some good teachers and staff as well here, but if the leadership is poor that will always run down hill. 'An environment that is not safe to disagree in is not an environment focused on growth-- it is an environment focused on control.' The behavior of most of the staff clearly highlights this school is focused on control, not growth. If they could be disrespectful of an adult and disregard their concerns and cry for help, Lord only knows what is going on behind closed doors when the kids are having to engage with them. You ask, why did you wait until your kids were no longer going here to post this review?? My answer, out of fear and avoidance of retaliation against my kids. I wanted to make sure my kids were not in danger, and this staff could not harm them in any way. read more

i would not recommend going to this school as there has been many issues thought the time I have been here and think that the staff at the front office are not very nice. the teachers are very nice though read more

I'm very grateful that I transferred my son to this school. Last year he cried every morning and put up a huge fight trying to get him over to Glen Yermo. This year he is eager to get to school as quickly as possible. He loves all the staff and has fun stories about school every day at pick up. The teacher posts pictures showing what the children are doing in class every day so I feel a part of my son's learning process. The focus that this school puts on helping the environment is very impressive. They are even doing a candy wrapper recycle program for Halloween candy to help reduce landfill waste. The principal is wonderful. He does weekly updates and is always out front of the school at drop off and pick up greeting everyone. I find him to be very approachable and friendly. My son loves saying hello to him. Trying to get a hold of the principal at Glen yermo was almost impossible. Mr. Johnston puts in a lot of work to be an active part of the school and the students lives. I completely disagree with the other reviews and wish we had more schools like this one! read more

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The Principal and dedicated teachers at this school are amazing! We are in our third year at Santiago and love the project based learning. I'm leaving a review because the current rating just doesn't reflect how great this school is. read more

I went to this school around 3 years ago, In my time at this school, there was at least 2 fights every week. I had encounters with racist teachers. After my mom went to the office to complain about the staff not doing much...the office ladies began to treat me horribly. I remember whenever the principal would enter our classroom, all the kids would get scared and nervous. This school used to be great back in 2015-2016, but after 2018 everything went downhill. I witnessed multiple kids robbing the lunch cookies and fighting and absolutely nothing was done. The soccer fields were suspended multiple times because of fights. On top of that, there was kids hopping fences and not getting into any trouble but the kids who were simply swinging backwards were gotten in trouble. All of the good things of this school were taken away, from the big buddy-little buddy system, to the talent show, even the seasonal festivities like gingerbread cookies were gone. This definitely isn't the worst school ever but it still sucks. read more

This school sucks the principal is super mean and the staff makes fun of you if u do something wrong. And a lot of kids there have no manners the traffic sucks and people do not know how to drive there. read more

My child attends this school and she loves it! Ever since kinder garden she learned how to spell and read as fast as a snap! She only spoke a lil English but right after 2 months she spoke fluent! Now she's in 5th grade! She has made soo many friends! Recommend this school! read more

I have two kids attending Santiago for a few years now. Traffic in the morning can get heavy at 810am and seems to compound with the traffic from Serrano but if I drop my kids off at 8 there's no traffic. I count three crossing guards plus two teachers at the main drop off for added safety. Principal attends all school functions and seems to really care about education. School has funding to provide students with tools not all schools can offer (Online tools and educational software). The curriculum appears adaptive and modern, I'm surprised at how quickly my kids are learning things I don't teach them. Class rooms aren't packed, one year a class was split into two to prevent overcrowding just before the first day. The extra curricular activities are fun and my kids don't hate school. They've made great friends who they play with outside of school. I attend PTC and find teachers are dedicated to the kids learning. My daughter broke her arm at the play ground at her own fault but I was grateful the school nurse urged for X-rays and contacted me immediately. I do think that more mulch could be added to the kindergarten playground and that the mulch gets raked and dispersed regularly for safety. I feel as though my kids are plenty challenged and get to experience a diverse public school preparing them for their future. I have no problem with my other two kids attending Santiago. read more

Principal Johnston should not be in the position of a Role Model to our children. He went against my consent and angrily interrogated my 7 year old for 2 hours! He also allowed staff to bully, Discriminate, Harass and worse segregate my daughter without giving me any notice of traumatic events that my daughter was being submitted to. The District will cover up all wrong doing even if it means breaking a child down to pieces. I would like to see more parents speak up on any abuse their children might have experience at Santiago Steam Magnet or SVUSD but I do understand why so many parents have shared with me similar abuse from principal and staff at this school but will not speak up afraid of retaliation against their children. I cannot blame them because my daughter was constantly Bullied by staff retaliating for me reporting. Even school psychologist failed to report and protect my daughter. They should all be investigated by a government agency that cares about our Children read more