Dahlia Heights Elementary

I'll start by saying that we were very excited to be at this school and had every reason to believe that this would be the perfect school for our child, but it quickly became evident that we were not in the right place. Even though I really liked their slogans of peace and anti-bullying campaigns, the school does little to nothing to truly enforce or promote this anti-bullying policy within the school. I was beyond shocked at the amount of physical bullying displayed, mainly from one of the white kids beating up on minorities, with little to no consequences at this school.

The staff and administration when confronted by the parents in this kinder class, took no responsibility for the chaos in the classrooms and remained defensive when pressed for answers. I should also mention that they do not communicate with parents when asked for direct feedback on their child. I would have to ask multiple times for answers or wait weeks before hearing simple yes or no answers to something of concern with my child -- and I was one the less aggressive of the parents’ asking questions.

Sadly, I have to also mention that our teacher had no answer for us when we asked her what level our child was performing at (she told us that she had no idea) -- and this was at our mid-year parent-teacher conference where she should have been prepared for in advance of our asking.

Our experience with our teacher was that she was mostly concerned with promoting herself to advance her own career and seemed to lack any connection or concern for the children. What we did like about the school were its after-hours social events, the strong PTA, and its enrichment programs. It's possible that life gets better hereafter kindergarten, but we did not stick around to find out. It wasn't worth the anxiety it was causing our child with witnessing the daily bullying, nor the academic regression he was experiencing from complete lack of attention and low-performance teaching methods. Classroom management training needs to be a priority here, at least for this particular teaching. Her methods are not “progressive,” they are utter laziness and apathy.

Dahlia Heights is a small school with many outstanding teachers and involved parents. The PTA works hard to raise money to support the school and advocate on behalf of children. Dahlia is a School for Advanced Studies, which means that students who live outside of its boundaries may apply to attend Dahlia Heights (see details on LAUSD or Dahlia's website). It is a creative place dedicated to the arts and environmental studies. Kids participate in special programs with professional arts groups like L.A. Opera, 24th Street Theater, Story Pirates, etc. Students also participate in a gardening program, recycling program, and Earth Day. Students get many opportunities to polish their speaking skills and to develop leadership abilities. My kid has learned how to be a good student and has improved her leadership skills over the years.