1097 Willson Rd
El Cajon, CA 92019

This school used to be a small family friendly community school that was welcoming, and inviting. Everyone knew everyone. Current administrators (principal Peterson and superintendent Johnson) have now made it anything but that. Dehesa students are now overshadowed by this "sports academy". No accountability or proper responses from the principal. She is never direct and fails to answer questions and concerns from community members and parents. You go in circles with her with no resolve. Leadership is not what it once was . The test scores are terrible and not climbing much. Teacher turnover is terrible. All classes are now combo classes. I've had friends who've moved their children to new schools and they were very behind and had a hard time catching up to grade level. Particularly in reading, ELA, and math. The last principal we had was the absolute best and was making changes for the positive. Seems now that she's not there it's taken a dramatic downturn. Looking for some better options but for now we're stuck. Don't make the mistake of enrolling your kids here unless the adminstration has a massive overhaul.

I see a lot of comments talking about the bad teachers and it only applies if you take standard classes. I’m a senior right now and I’ve taken standard classes in freshmen and sophomore years and I’ve taken AP and honors classes in junior and senior years and it’s a way better experience as the teachers have way more experience teaching and they are overall well equipped for teaching. My AP and honors class teachers have been amazing as they make the classes that would’ve been otherwise boring fun and interesting and make taking higher level classes worth it. If your a parent I would strongly recommend you encourage (or just force) your kids to take honors/AP classes because they really aren’t that hard unless your taking like 3+ of them and they help kids make friends in the right groups since most people who take standard classes make friends who don’t care about school or getting good opportunities for colleges and they end up not caring themselves. Also although I just wrote about how amazing AP and honors classes are, I would recommend not taking AP lit(or any branch of English) with any other class that has a lot of homework since I heard that it has quite a bit of homework and essays.