My 3 years here were a blur. The time between being 11 and 14 were rough. I probably went through…read morethe most change in my life. In terms of Sequoia Middle School, the epitome of a public school, I learned a lot and took some good things out of this school. I can't really say much about this place since it's been more than 8 years (I am a college graduate now). However, this place did have good resources. Additionally, in a good way, there were tough teachers. The music teacher Ms. George was good. The history teacher Mr. Molina was intense, but you'll learn a lot. I don't know if these people are here anymore, but they were good teachers. I remember pizza bread during breaks. I remember cheese bread and cheese zombies at lunch. I remember some good Round Table Pizza during lunch. Lunchtime was the best. I didn't play much sports, but everyone played basketball. Just like a regular school, there were a good amount of fights. But they were "clean" fights if that means anything. You can't really avoid fights at any school, I believe. In the bathroom, where there were three urinals in a row, no one would use the middle one for some reason. Funny. I turned out OK coming from this school. I went to College Park High School after and then went straight to UC Davis. I can't say there's a direct connection, but I felt I was well prepared for high school. One big thing for me was that the place was pretty diverse. That's always a good thing since it exposed me to a lot of things. The only drawback I can think of is the parking and traffic after school, it can get nuts. Good thing I had a relative to lived closed by so we just walked home. Oh middle school, good times.

Mt. Diablo elementary & high schools range from great to terrible. Middle schools, Sequoia is the…read moreonly good one. Sequoia gets students from the elementary school next door and from Monte Gardens. So the girl kept the friends she made at Monte Gardens, and made new friends. Academics is not as high as Monte Gardens. The girl was struggling with math. Now she's nearly at grade level, and her vocabulary and ability to communicate verbally has increased, thanks to her time at Sequoia. Teachers include those who want the students to learn a lot and are effective, to those who are holding down a long-time job, to those who, let's just say they have this '60s mindset of wanting to change the world. Administration invites parents to be involved; a group of us met with the principal once a month, and these were valuable times. A full range of programs were available: scholastic, music, languages, theater arts. I wrote "were available" on purpose. Things changed a lot when the girl was halfway through, and not for the better. Remember 2020, when the govt goons shut down society, using an easily-treated bug as an excuse? Schools were hit harder than most. And while private schools worked to get back to normal, Mt. Diablo school kids were not in a classroom for13 full months. And when they could go back, it was for only 4 hours/week, they were required to wear oxygen blockers, and they were ordered to stay away from their classmates. No wonder depression is so high among kids in this area. The girl did learn things, but the normal well-rounded school experience teaches life lessons that staring at a computer screen cannot teach. From all I can see, the school district's social experiments will continue for years and years, and I expect more shutdowns. Sequoia's strengths were shut down for 1-1/2 years, and I don't see them coming back any time soon. One result is that the girl will be going to a different high school. I'm writing this during our move to a different state. California in general, and specifically the Bay Area, has become an unacceptable place to raise kids. It's not that I don't recommend Sequoia; I can't recommend *any* schools in the Land of Fruits and Nuts. If it wasn't for the collapse of the school system, Sequoia would be a good school, as long as you're involved in your kid's education. Not anymore.

We are 13 days in to the school year and my sons first year at Gregory Gardens! He is a…read morekindergartener. We live close by and are able to walk to school which is great! It is clear the staff at Gregory Gardens cares about their students. My husband and I love how they put an emphasis on inclusion and kindness! The energy is undeniable(pop music in the morning during drop off) and fun! The volunteer program for parents is great! My son is thriving and comes home everyday to show us what he's learned!! He has Mrs. Conneely as his teacher and she is so gentle and sweet and we've heard from other parents she's the best at teaching kids how to read! We are excited to continue the school year at Gregory Gardens!

Did you ever wonder how the streets of Gregory Gardens got their names? The Developer who built…read morethis area used the naming rights as a way to reward his best workers. He ran an employee of the month contest and the winner was allowed to pick the name of the street. The only condition was that it had to be a woman's name. The workers usually picked their wife's, daughter's, or mother's name. And that's why the streets have names like Belva, Marta, Luella, and Doray that were popular back in the 1950s.

Great school! The staff including the cross guards and staff assisting drop off are all amazing! I…read morewish parents were better at following the traffic laws and didn't block the crosswalks, park in red zones and make illegal left turns.

The principal, Ms Pappas has been a total disaster for Valhalla. How does she not get fired? She…read moreran the school almost to the ground. Valhalla used to be rated 9/10. Under Pappas it went down to 6/10. Most of the best experienced teacher left the school. Class sizes skyrocketed under Pappas. It's time for her to get fired.

I'm a student there and the teachers are nice, I'm doing great in school and there are a lot of…read moredifferent classes like music, science, and art.

I'm a student at strandwood and it's shit. How the fuck are you supposed to be able to play shit or…read morehigh five when you arent supposed to touch anyone? like all the staff pretty much need to be replaced expect Ferrari, the adies, Mrs doll, and Mrs Maeder. Mrs Maeder is the best even if she makes her students write a ton, The aides are the best because they're sweet and give out stickers and help with work, Mrs Ferrari is helpful, sweet and more and Mrs doll is the sweetest. The school would be better off with Dr. Scripter because she was making us students do this and that but they don't realize is that she was doing the reality of life. Now we have the not reality and its fucking horrible! This school was the school that made me hate going to public schools and now when I graduate ill go to a private school. I will never ever send my kids to this school in the future and I'd rather pay the 80K or smth for private schoo.

Hi my name is Mary I used to go here it is the best school ever all the teachers are nice and care…read moreabout you learning out side time is fun to there is lots of fun things to do like stem garden lab pe and other things I recommend this school

When it was time for my son to go to Kindergarten, we thought we'd be in the Walnut Creek School…read moreDistrict -- we live in Walnut Creek, after all. What do you know, we're NOT. We belong to the Mt. Diablo School District. Yes, I know, we should have found that out before we bought our home. Actually, our real estate agent did tell us about school districts, but somehow we didn't really focus on it since he was 3 at the time and it seemed so far far away. Anyway, back to the story, we were diappointed. THEN, when we went to the enrollment day, which they call "All-in-One" day, we found out that the school has involved parents, good teachers, and even a foundation. AND, this sounds crazy, EVEN A COMPUTER LAB FOR KINDERGARTENERS -- yeah, they go once a week. The downsides of the school are the same that any school has: fundraisers that are optional (but not really), budget issues (this upcoming 08-09 year will be even tougher), and turnover of principals (we had three principals for the 07-08 school year). But the school really does its best to make new families feel welcome - giving plenty of opportunities for volunteerism that involve little time to once a week (probably more). And the parent involvement and the dreaded fundraising help fill the gap of the funding from the government. We feel very lucky that our kids go to this school.

A below average elementary school. School has decent teachers, but this school has a terrible…read morerecord of having hired unacceptable school administration staff.

Even though this is a Title 1 school and it is only rated 2/10 on Greatschools.org, there are a lot…read moreof wonderful, dedicated staff people here and there is also a lot of parent involvement. The kids are really sweet too. Walking around campus, the parents and kids smile and say "hello" to you when you pass. There is an After School Program. The After School Program has a garden on campus. I think this is a great school that serves the Monument corridor.

My granddaughter attends this school. Our whole family feels welcome here. The quality of…read moreeducation and their encouraging involvement in creating a loving community in the neighborhood is so appreciated .

We completed the full application process with Sonder Creek Academy, including paying the $100…read moreapplication fee. Because we applied a bit late, we were placed on the waitlist, which we completely understood. What was disappointing was the total lack of follow-up after that point. Despite reaching out directly to the admissions officer to inquire about our waitlist status, we never received a response -- not even a simple notification that a spot was no longer available. When a family pays a $100 application fee, there is a reasonable expectation of communication and transparency throughout the process. To add to the frustration, we continued to receive marketing emails about summer programs despite never hearing back about our child's application. The disconnect between their marketing outreach and their admissions communication was striking. We can't speak to the school itself, but based solely on the application experience, the lack of follow-through left a poor impression.

Sonder Creek has absolutely been the best school for my child. We were looking at a wide variety of…read moreschools (public, non religious private, and religious private) to see what would be the best fit and I can tell you from the moment we reached out with interest, to the tour, to our child having his first 1/2 day visit there, we knew this was his school.  Staff is knowledgeable and knows my child to a depth that truly sets him up for success. It also makes me feel comfortable that they are doing everything in their power to help my child succeed and thrive. I love that they allow him to excel academically (even past his grade level) as well as support him with challenging subjects (teachers stay current with where he's at and are skilled at providing support very quickly if the child needs it while also keeping parents in the loop so we can help when needed too) while allowing him to stay with his grade level of peers so he's not only being cultivated in the classroom, but also learning to be social amongst peers his age. A big concern of mine was coming out of covid, my child wanted to so desperately make friends, but I know sometimes kids show no mercy. At Sonder Creek, overall it's been way over my expectations. Very involved parents, attentive staff that keeps you in the loop, and students who are open to connecting to one another.  My child has loved the STEM programs at school (especially the after school robotics class) as well as learning both Mandrin and Spanish (coming from an English speaking household, it's been amazing seeing him now speak another language which we will continue to encourage moving forward). He also is asking to do the after school Art program and this is coming from a child who started off barely wanting to hold a pencil correctly.  The community here is so special and you get to see that when everyone comes together. This was our first year we participated in Trunk or Treat with his school and it was such a blast; we will be doing it again next year. The international potluck is a family favorite to attend (combo of incredible foods from all over as well as mini performances from the language programs with the students is so darn adorable) and the Christmas Concert is absolutely precious. Sonder Creek is our child's school and we cannot recommend it enough.