10015 NE 123rd St #GD
Kirkland, WA 98034

We have had mixed experiences at Bell. The first few years the school was going through high staff turnover and my child had some very inexperienced and ill-equipped teachers. The classrooms were in constant chaos and minimal learning was happening. It was stressful for my child and efforts to work with the administration to improve things went nowhere. Thankfully, things have improved the past few years. My child has had better, more tenured teachers and as a result has made more progress academically and is happier at school. That being said, even the best teachers can't overcome some of the institutional problems - too many kids per classroom and not enough staff support to offer true differentiation for individual abilities. If you have a child who is above grade level, be prepared that they will spend a lot of time reading silently or using quasi-educational apps on the computer. I believe this is a problem at many LWSD elementary schools and not unique to Bell. They seem to do a better job helping struggling learners rise up than they do helping advanced learners progress. One thing that Bell does well is social/emotional learning. They have a fantastic school counselor and lots of programs to foster overall student well-being. This is so important and very appreciated, especially post-pandemic.Bell also has a strong PTSA and lots of community involvement, which has a positive impact on all of the kids. There are many fun school-wide events and lots of extra-curricular activities to choose from. Overall, I think Bell is a good school that is getting better, but it's hit or miss depending on the teacher, and there is still a lot of room for improvement.

No headache. Great so far. No complaints.

JHS and its faculty have seemingly turned a blind eye on a major issue being same-sex harassment. In my freshman year I was repeatedly, albeit on the lower end (but still uncomfortably) touched by the same student almost every day, along with constant gaslighting by other peers that I wasn't resisting. For a period of 3 months my mental health was down the drain and I was too afraid to do or say anything. Teachers and coaches at JHS couldn't have missed it, especially when it occurred in an open gym, and during the few times it was noticed, little to no repercussions were given. What kind of school allows somethings of this caliber to slide? Was 3 months of out loud, spoken and visual harassment not firing any signals? Despite moving on, I am still reminded of these events today. The school is average at best, having little expectation of its students but the least they can do is keep their students safe.