29254 Deep Shadow Dr, Oak Park, CA 91301

My child attended Willow for one year, and went from being an outgoing, excited, and happy person to be around to regressing to the opposite in all of these areas. Having seen the education system work in three different states, our experience in California and at Willow was a definite low point in my child’s elementary education experience. There is unchecked exclusion by other students that is deemed as ‘deserved’ and presented as a learning experience by the adults you entrust to protect your children. The teachers and staff are, at a minimum, complicit in bullying behavior by allowing students to dictate a social hierarchy and social punishments at the ages of six and seven years old. The environment is cliquey for the students and parents, and if your child is the child of staff or someone involved on the PTA board, they are protected at the expense of a perceived less important child. The teacher had nothing good to say about my child in conferences and was not receptive to attempts at communication, though was noted to be communicative with parents who were previously known and beloved members of the school community. We were told my child was behind in math and just ‘not understanding’ the material. This was surprising to us because we knew that they were very good with numbers and math and it just didn’t make sense. My child is now operating a year ahead in mathematics and the district we are in can accommodate for different learning speeds and styles in a way that Willow was just not equipped to do. If I did it all over again, we would have homeschooled or attended Sumac for the year we lived in the area.