Olive Plan in Willow at Winding Creek by Beazer Homes
Roseville, CA 95747

Our experience with Cooley has been anything but spectacular. My daughter started there last year and we’ve had consistent issues with bullying, safety concerns, and threats of sexual assault from other students. The administration either does not take things seriously and dismisses concerns, is too incompetent to do anything about it, or cannot manage the students that attend that school. Schools in our former district had a fraction of the issues that we’ve experienced at Cooley. It’s been a very frustrating experience - we’ve had 2 threats of violence with a weapon in less than a week and no reassuring actions have been taken from the school to ensure our students safety. The office often chastises parents and struggles with a superiority complex - all the while students run that campus however they choose.

As a parent with 2 students who attended West Park for all 4 years, we have all been consistently disappointed over and over in many ways. Everything I write in this review is gathered from my own experience listening to 4 years of stories from my children, their friends, and other parents. I have personally met with admin several times to address my concerns and although they seemed interested in my feedback, nothing ever changed. As a teacher myself, I have taught my children to value their education and work hard, so they are good students earning a GPA of 4.0 and 3.7. BUT this is more because of family values and a work-hard ethic, not driven by admin, teachers, or support staff at West Park. First, there is NO school culture. Teachers do not build relationships with students or help foster that between students. They got rid of the ONE thing that was supposed to do that, the advisory program, which was not run well anyway. No wonder staff and students voted to get rid of it. IF is was designed and implemented the way it should be, it would have a huge positive impact. Second, most teachers do not use effective teaching strategies. Many teachers have poor methods of teaching and do not use effective engagement strategies required for 90 min classes. I doubt there has been staff training for this because this has been my children's #1 complaint. Teachers are boring, lecture more than engage students in conversations and learning, and don't enfold passion into their practice. This is especially true in the Math and PE departments, which have the most student and parent complaints. Out of all the teachers and classes my kids attended during their high years, I only heard excitement for FIVE "good" teachers. This is HORRIBLE considering they had over 60 teachers between the 2 of them. Third, there are major issues with several coaches in at least 3 sports programs. The coaches are demeaning, rude to players and parents, and definitely do not uphold their athletic mission. Unfortunarely, the atheltic director does not follow through either and finds excuses to keep coaches onboard despite player and parent complaints. Last, I am appalled at the dress code acceptance, despite the dress code policy. It is shocking what is allowed at school. Overall, the lack of leaderhip from the school principal shows up with poor school culture and poor teacher efficacy. If given the chance to do it all over again, I would send my children elsewhere.