5259 Strohm
Toluca Lake, CA 91601

With two daughters at Reed at the same time, I have two perspectives. Both my girls are in SAS academies; one is a superachiever, the other gets mostly "As" but struggles with math, as well as anxiety.First, the good: SAS courses are rigorous and almost every teacher is engaged and excited to be there, which of course makes the students engaged and excited to be there. I've been particularly impressed with Humanities English -- there's a real focus on writing and reading full-length novels that I appreciate. History teachers in both Humanities and MAT are sharp and passionate. The MAT course included a unit on identifying reliable sources both in news coverage and in history research that I though was invaluable. And my superachiever has become a fan of math and algebra thanks to her teachers. And the music -- oh, the music! Reed has a phenomenal music program where students can learn how to play an instrument of their choice (their own voice, if they like) and progress to solos and competitions. Both my girls now play multiple instruments... and are actually GOOD. Listening to them practice doesn't hurt anymore! Neither of my daughters has been bullied or harassed, each has a solid friend group and good relations with teachers and counselors.Now the bad. Middle school has been tough for my less confident daughter, who struggled so much with anxiety she stayed home from a good portion of sixth and seventh grade. Counselors were slow to address the issue... I suspect, particularly in sixth grade, that they were overwhelmed with fighting and other behavioral problems elsewhere on campus as students reaccustomed to being in school following the pandemic. Still, my general feeling is that if your kid is quiet, a decent student overall, and doesn't act up but is struggling with school in some way, you'll have to advocate loudly to make sure he or she is noticed and doesn't fall through the cracks. They won't do the noticing for you.And to address the issue of fighting and school safety: it's much better now than it was a few years ago, and even then, it didn't really seem to affect SAS at all. Overall, my daughters feel safe at school.

My husband and I feel so grateful to be Toluca Lake parents. We weren't expecting to start our family in this neighborhood but when we were zoned for this school and accidentally landed in the most wonderful community, the thought of leaving is gone. The entire staff, beginning with the absolute BEST principal in Mr. Daniel, have been so wonderful to our kids. The parent involvement and after-school engagement helps make it feel like a family. The kids love learning! The enrichment programs, especially the music program and the super cool garden (!!) center, make going to school fun! Being a public school kid myself, I cannot say enough about how wonderful and special this school is.

One of the staff racially profiled me and assumed i was gonna use my accessories as weapons even tho ive been wearing them for a while now until he saw me with them and he wouldnt stop harassing me about my bracelets and i dont think any of the other staff cared because they usually saw me with them on and didnt tell me they were dangerous or take them off but because of one staff member harassing me to take off my bracelets i got in trouble even tho nobody else had a problem with them so do not recommend school is racist and the staff is honestly just horrible and not very smart and theres more problems then i can write