357 Mandolin Dr
San Jose, CA 95134

My son attended Kindergarten at George Mayne last year. We were assigned to this school because our zoned school had no available spots in Kindergarten. At the time, we had just moved to the US and my son didn’t speak any English. I asked the office if we could meet the teacher before the first day, and they agreed. That small step made the transition much easier and less stressful for both of us.Learning Experience: The academic program was excellent. The kids were active in class, worked on interesting projects, used Chromebooks, read books from the school library, and had weekly homework. Now that my son is in 1st grade at a different school, I can say I appreciated the learning program at George Mayne even more.Onboarding & School Facility: The beginning of the year was a little challenging for us, mostly because everything was new. But by the second half of the year, everything went smoothly. The school building is older, but it is clean and totally acceptable — just a regular school, nothing fancy.Safety & Administration: We had concerns about the morning drop-off process for Kindergarten. We scheduled a meeting with the Principal. She listened carefully, took notes, and the very next morning I saw her personally monitoring the drop-off area. Within a week, the process was improved completely. That responsiveness made a strong impression.After-School Programs: The school offers two programs: Boys & Girls Club (starting from age 6) and Extended Learning. My son attended Extended Learning and it was truly excellent — teachers, communication, activities, safety, projects — everything was done at a very high level. He was very happy there.Teacher: My son was in Mrs. Bartlett’s class. She is an outstanding teacher — very involved, attentive to both academics and behavior, and really cared about the atmosphere in the classroom. My son still misses her.Even though my son is now attending a different school, I would be happy to have him return to George Mayne. The atmosphere was warm, the staff was professional, and the overall experience was very positive. I truly recommend this school.

The current environment at Dolores Huerta Middle School is unacceptable due to a lack of firm discipline. I am deeply concerned with the handling of bullying, extortion, and student behavior.The school must adopt a zero-tolerance, "super-strict" approach to eradicate these issues. Specifically:Behavior: Meaningless warnings aren't working; we need real consequences for those disrupting the environment.Phones: These are being used to coordinate fights and record bullying—a total ban is necessary.Security: With fights spilling into local parks, the lack of security and oversight is failing our children.Academics don't matter if the students aren't safe. The administration needs to step up, be strict, and prioritize safety over leniency.

This is, by far, the worst high school I have observed. Students who earn 50% in their classes are consistently awarded C letter grades. B's are meted out to students who earn anywhere from the mid-60% to low 70 percentages. I don't know who administrators think they are assisting when they routinely do not hold students accountable for learning core concepts. High school is meant to prepare learners for post-secondary education. Promoting students who clearly do not understand math, science, and ELA concepts to more advanced classes does not benefit them.