748 Via Somonte
Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274

In my experience with 1 child currently here and 1 who graduated from here, PVIS has been disappointing. I have a 3rd child who went to a different middle school so we have that experience for comparison. The office really needs to get cleaned up and organized. It is cluttered and outdated. The students should be allowed to bring backpacks into classrooms, but they are forced to use old disgusting lockers and no backpacks are allowed in class. The teachers do not help outside of the classroom. The teachers use different platforms for posting assignments; there is no consistency from one to the next. The culture is to push your child to excel with the assistance of a personal tutor. The culture is academically competitive and that is why the test scores are so high. There are teachers at this school who will disrespect your child. There are a lot of students here who disrespect the teachers. It is a culture problem and I have only seen the kids disciplined, not the teachers. They need to weed out the bad teachers, have staff meetings about consistent kindness and discipline, get rid of the lockers, implement Google classroom, have consistent office hours for teachers assisting beyond the classroom, use student teachers for grading instead of teaching, and get the student body involved in a movement towards better campus culture.

Our school is overcrowded, but the district has found a way to work around that. Kids take attendance in one class and then go to another class for all the core subjects. Parents' complaints have fallen on deaf ears. Our test scores are getting worse by the year. If you want your child to do well in middle and high school, get a tutor in 3rd or 4th grade to make up for all the gaps in their education.

While the school is academically elite, the culture is driven purely by the students and not the faculty and staff. Some teachers are amazing and actually want to see you succeed, while others almost take pleasure in seeing students fail. A difference in teachers in the same exact course can be a difference of over 15% in your grade based purely on their inability to teach or how they chose to approach the material. School spirit is extremely low and attendance drops year by year for good reason. As a Senior, while I have excelled academically with a 4.8 gpa that will give me good chances for top colleges, I do not feel I have really learned much, as classes are so fixated on grades that students focus on loopholes and copying to get assignments done quickly rather than learning the material. Additionally, despite what many teachers and staff repeat, PVHS’s ability to get you into a good college is equal to Pen if not better, due to decreased competition in admissions. I would have had an infinitely better experience at PVHS, with more school spirit, friendlier kids, more caring teachers, and ultimately an environment that would allow me to learn and actually appreciate the information I was learning. Send your kids to PVHS.

Pros:School spirit, activities on campus, block schedule, sports teams, clubs, communication, dual enrollment, independent study PE, administration, college & career center, option to take online classes not offered on campusCons:Cold and foggy, no culinary classes, poorly taught and equipped art department, over the top and overly expensive dances in downtown LA, no team vans or buses, not enough student parking, dark and disgusting bathrooms that smell like urine, limited food options on and off campus, outdated campus and learning platforms, teachers who curse in classA comment towards the review saying if you aren't white and rich, you won't get respect. There is some truth to this. A couple teachers have disrespected my child repeatedly and then kissed up after they found out who our family is.