560 9th St
Santa Monica, CA 90402

The community handbook, which all families are required to read and sign, lacks any concrete action plans regarding discipline, tiered consequences, dress code violations, or bullying. It's as if a bright-eyed naive grad student wrote it with all their ideals of what education can be (we're a community! there's no bullying because we're all kind!). This might sound fine, but it means there's zero accountability among students, teachers, or staff. When I've volunteered on campus, I've heard students yell the F word without reprimand, students blatantly skipping class, and the older girls are dressed like a Victoria's Secret PINK ad, with midriffs exposed and butt cheeks hanging out (but hey, you can't see their underwear, which is the "rule," only because they obviously aren't wearing any!). There is academic testing, but results do not impact curriculum in any way. My child tested beyond the kindergarten standards in September, but the school never discussed differentiated learning or accommodations to prevent boredom. When I requested a digital copy of these test scores for private school applications, I waited weeks before receiving a response. Admin and specialist teachers absolutely hope you just "forget" they didn't reply to your email.Halloween.... the biggest red flag that made me question our school choice! The school has written costume policies distributed to all families, yet the schoolwide Halloween parade was shocking. Weapons (guns, machetes, knives, etc.) and gore (lots of fake blood) were permitted, and multiple students (including a teacher!) wore extremely graphic masks, wore the nametags of serial killers, and entire groups of 5th grade girls dressed as Playboy bunnies. Administration did nothing during the parade, and when I emailed Dr. O directly that afternoon, I never received a response. My final straw was during the parent picnic, in which a child dropped their lunch tray and began to sob. Multiple children helped clean up and get new food, but our teacher came to me and said, "wow, your child really works up those crocodile tears." I was flabbergasted. Not only was that the least empathetic comment, but that wasn't even my child. I thus learned that the teacher who had spent months with my child couldn't tell the students apart. You will be pressured to donate a min. $900 to the district, $400 to PTA, and at least $100 to your classroom fund, which is for mostly teacher gifts and staff gift pools.