The Bay

Welcoming school with a diverse student body. Amazing opportunities for students to pursue the arts

My child attends this school. She just started 11th grade. She was selected to participate in a STEM program held at UCSF Mission bay hospital. She is excited and enthusiastic about her future. While this school doesn’t excel in the statistics it is what you make it. She is in AP classes and thriving.

I had a really fun time at Lincoln. I dropped out during Covid but I made a lot of cool connections and saw a lot of interesting things. It was a very fun time and I enjoyed every second of it. Off campus lunch means students can go down to taraval and enjoy some of the food. It also means its very easy to leave school at any time because none of the doors are locked! Which is awesome if you don't care about school. I had a lot of cool and caring teachers/staff here, big shoutout to Aaron Yang, Mark Ruffalo, Omar Campos, Joel Balzer, and Lance Tagamori. The staff here cares about their students and wants them to succeed, they understand the variety of adversities that students face and are willing to help anyone succeed. I highly recommend Lincoln to anyone who wants to have a somewhat challenging school experience that fosters growth and life skills. The school is great. If you apply yourself here you will succeed and grow, I did the opposite but still learned a lot about life. I have very fond memories of my time here and wouldn't trade it for anything. Only reason it gets a three for safety is cause it's easy to leave and I knew a lot of kids who brought weapons to school, but these weren't dangerous or malicious people and only people who wanted to stay safe because of the neighborhood they live in and it is likely 97% of students were unaware to this fact, so don't worry.

It's great that it's considered a small school and all, but the school lacks diversity. The school administration staff seems to care about the reputation of the school, but doesn't handle internal conflict well. Resulting in not being fully supportive with student needs to remedy the underlying issues. As a parent, it felt cold like with corporate jargons trying to come to a middle ground with some of the staff members, especially with the principal and assistant principal.A handful of their teachers and Beacon After School program + staff is the best part of what this school offers.

Great school! My kids enjoy coming to school everyday and that says a lot. They have a great Chinese Immersion Program. Teachers here do an excellent job teaching the kids. The class sizes are not too big so all the kids know each other. Parents and teachers work closely together. It is on top of a pretty steep hill but its worth the hike up. Beautiful view of the city and Coit Tower!

We have two kids at "Wash" and they are both thriving in their unique ways. One is requiring additional educational support which has been fostered by the teachers and the amazing counselors, and the other is more self-motivated and is able to take advantage of the advanced classes offered in the subjects they enjoy. Additionally, each area of the school, whether it is the arts or athletics has teachers that are encouraging and will motivate kids to try something new. Finally, we have found that the core curriculum classes have teachers that will work with your child to actually learn the topic, so they are prepared for college or just a lifetime of learning. The best way I can describe it is that it is a classic traditional high school that has the kids interests at heart.

Three decades later, I’ve come to appreciate the safe haven (for sf) that Lowell provided for me. Stressful? Check ..safe? Check ….. challenging/competitive? Check …. Camaraderie among students and lasting relationships? Check, but you do need to go outside your comfort zone and find your tribe - May take a year(s) … teacher quality? Average….. this school literally saved me and my siblings from having to attend our dangerous neighborhood high school in the city. We were definitely not the brightest, but we put in quite a bit of effort. And that’s all you need. From there, it’s a high probability that you can go to a UC bc Lowell’s reputation does carry a lot of weight. One caution is if your child is overly anxious or does not deal with stress well in terms of academics or testing or a highly competitive academic environment , then I think Lowell may not be the best for a student for his/her mental health. And that’s perfectly fine bc grades are just that and perhaps just a subjective judgment of knowledge or competency in a subject at a particular point in time as compared to the pool of students in one or two classes. And it’s not the end of the world if you don’t go to the best academic public high school in sf.

HORRID AND NIT GOOD VERY LOW RATING

First of all, this school requires 100 hours of community service and does not allow free periods even if you have finished all your required credits. So with the 7 classes across SFUSD, that's about a year of 5 unnecessary classes. You will also learn very little at this school, if you're looking for a extremely easy school you can play video games 65% of the day at, go here. But if you want a education avoid this school at all costs! Getting an A in a class is little to no effort, except for test heavy classes, which was 2 out of the 7. However, I realize I am not every single human on earth, so my experience may be different. My relative coursework is around 2 assignments a day maximum, tests are never difficult by material, just teachers not being clear what's on it. Although that does depend on the teacher, they have 1 office hours per week on wednesday, and that might be a good time to clear what's going to be on the test if they didn't give a study guide or weren't clear. But overall, if you plan on going to college this school will not prepare you at all!

The education here is very terrible as the teachers are severely underpaid and are not motivated to make sure the students have the best education. Teachers and staff also are known for being involved and taking sides with teens during drama and conflict and often take favoritism. many problems about this school include the bathroom policies where they don't allow students to use the bathroom for a little less than half a period (20 mins). Teachers and staff treat using the bathroom like it's a special privilege and fail to emphasize with students. Burton only allows a handful of students to use the bathroom and only one 1 of the 3 bathrooms is usually opened, leading to a chaotic transition period between classes where you have to pick whether to hold in your juices or risk your attendance absent. The principal of the school is also super unprofessional as she lets her own biases and political agendas influence her decision-making. For example, the JROTIC and other military branches were removed and blacklisted from this school, as she wants to pump up the numbers of students who attend college, in turn making the school statistically look better than it really is. (and that's putting it lightly)The lunch policies are also the worst, as they serve an inadequate amount of food, with an inadequate amount of nutritional value per meal. Often, I have to go through the day with an empty and my bladder full. Overall this is not the place for you if a great education is what you are looking for.