Plan 2 in Elara at Gavilan Ridge by Del Webb
Rancho Mission Viejo, CA 92694

I have genuinely never hated a place more in my life. My high school experience here has been nothing short of horrible, and I cannot wait to leave. Although the teachers are generally nice people, most are not particularly effective at teaching. I often felt like I had to teach myself, and many lessons lacked clarity and structure. However, my biggest issue was not with the teachers, but with the rest of the staff. Aside from teachers, most of the staff members I interacted with were rude, unhelpful, and gave off the impression that they did not want to be there. Getting any effective help requires you to go far out of your way to advocate for yourself because assistance was rarely offered voluntarily.To make matters worse, the school has implemented new policies that only make the experience harder. These changes are unnecessary and seem to serve no real purpose other than to make attending school more difficult and frustrating. A new grading system, which my math class piloted this year, also set many students back. Instead of supporting learning, it confused students and made it harder to succeed. I felt that it directly impacted my understanding of the material and hurt overall performance in the class.Socially, the environment is just as disappointing. The student body is largely made up of wealthy, entitled individuals, many of whom are openly discriminatory. The administration does little to address or combat this behavior. As a student of color in a predominantly white school, I never felt truly supported. There were very few resources available for minority students, and at times, the school’s actions made things worse. For example, they shut down the Black Student Union (BSU) claiming it was “excluding other students.” Although the club eventually reopened, it now includes mostly non-Black members. While I don’t necessarily have a problem with that, it is strange that this was only an issue for the BSU, while other clubs do not seem to face the same scrutiny or restrictions.I could honestly go on and on about my negative experiences here. From the administration’s failure to support students to the toxic social environment, my time at this school has been unpleasant and exhausting. I would not recommend sending your children here, especially if they are minorities. There are better, more inclusive schools out there where students can thrive without feeling isolated, unsupported, or undervalued.

Extreme overcrowding and grotesquely few resources, which is particularly shocking given the wealth in the area. Astonishingly poor facilities, large class sizes and uncaring administration are reminiscent of the worst inner city schools. The relatively good testing scores here derive from a pedagogy focused exclusively on teaching to testing standards while simultaneously pushing out "underperforming" students rather than supporting them.

I have two students at this school and I volunteer with various aspects of the school to do what I can. The teachers are all wonderful, hard working, and engaged, however, the main problem with this school is that it is too small for the massive development of Rancho Mission Viejo. This was poor planning on behalf of the Capistrano Unified School district and RMV.Students from Sendero, Escencia, and the newer village of Rienda all are funneled into this school, which is too small even for the Escencia development. The school itself has no baseball or soccer field (there is one adjacent but it is outside of the school's boundary and is not used by students), and the school being impacted is having all of it's green space usurped by portables. There is a YMCA/court on the corner of the school, but students do not use the facility for recess and are confined to the upper basketball courts and the lower grass field (when staffing permits). This school has virtually no shade except a small shade over the common outside eating area so it gets extremely hot in the early summer and especially in the fall with the Santa Ana winds. This also means that when it rains the students have to stay inside their classrooms and watch TV during recess.Next year another 7 portables are being planned, taking away the lower basketball area, and class sizes are increasing again by 2 students. This school does not have a gymnasium, performance center, or common "assembly room" like most schools. Instead if has a small "multi-purpose center", which serves as a library one minute and a music practice room the next. A new school was planned for some years in the future, but it was delayed indefinitely by Capistrano Unified School district, which does not want to spend the money.I would love to rate this school higher because I'm invested in the community but it simply does not have the resources it needs. Drop off is also crazy by CUSD does not provide a bus service, even to Sendero or Rienda which are a couple of miles away.To end on a positive note, there is a lot of parental engagement and the parents value education. I grew up in a school where most parents were absent so this is refreshing to see!