5340 Barrett Ave, El Cerrito, CA 94530

I am a former, long-time student of Mira Vista who attended grades K-8. I have seen the school evolve over the years and am very familiar with the area.While this school is generally very safe for children, I believe the biggest issue with the school are the teachers and staff. There are multiple occasions I have seen a total lack of care and responsibility taken by the teachers. There are also a few teachers who's actions have bordered on emotionally abusive, the main one being a 2nd grade teacher no longer at the school. Small issues like accidentally shutting down a computer instead of logging off got you yelled at. Bullying was an issue for me as a minority student, and I found that when you'd go to a teacher, they'd sometimes dismiss your claims because of student favoritism. Sometimes girls were not allowed to go to the bathrooms and one of my friends even had an accident because of this. My parents often had to get involved in order to make staff take action. Even then, I've had middle school teachers here tell my class we will "never make it to high school/college" and be brought to intense fits of despair over small things.I have also had multiple interactions with the Special Ed classes. Everytime I would see the teachers, they would be aggressively yelling at the students and calling them unkind names. It doesn't seem very safe for them, in my opinion.I hope the school has changed a bit since then. I grew up there and I do have some fond memories. I personally just wouldn't recommend this school for any other student. I certainly wouldn't want to relive my time there.