Richards
San Francisco, CA 94124

Ruth Asawa School of the Arts (RASOTA) is a gem of a high school for teens who have artistic or musical interests where they can hone their craft with others who thrive on creativity and often push themselves academically. The school has an amazing array of 14 art disciplines, where the students take their academic classes in the AM, enjoy a healthy free lunch (yes, that’s right), then have 2 periods each day, that’s 10-hours a week, of their art discipline. As a result, students are able to really dive in and exceed at their focus, which is so apparent in all of the performances & arts showcases in the year. Imagine musicals, full orchestra-style concerts, an in-house Mariachi group, guitar dept, spoken arts, creative writing, plus world music & dance, the list goes on. In Visual Arts, there are 4 showcases (gallery-style openings for each grade) & this year an off-site gallery show with music & dance collabs. Not only amazing art, but also RASOTA has strong academics as well. Incredible experience overall! Also, the students who come out of RASOTA do extremely well in terms of college choices, even getting into UC Berkeley & UCLA at rates higher than Lowell & other pricey private schools. In addition, RASOTA students win city-wide Mock Trial competitions, year after year. Personally, our family has witnessed 2 teens graduate from RASOTA primed for both medical school as well as professional athlete career paths. What is the common thread, you may wonder? We have seen firsthand how the school especially fosters discipline & commitment that can be applied to anything the students put their minds to, whether that is to continue their art focus, or pivot to something else. With this, we opted to send our teen to RASOTA over other private school offerings & have not regretted the decision. As a public school, with the district providing less than is needed to excel, RASOTA has a robust parent community which raises funds & builds community to ensure that the kids & teachers have what they deserve to thrive. Come be a part of that special gem in our incredible city!

My child attends this school. She just started 11th grade. She was selected to participate in a STEM program held at UCSF Mission bay hospital. She is excited and enthusiastic about her future. While this school doesn’t excel in the statistics it is what you make it. She is in AP classes and thriving.

Our child graduated from Lincoln last year. Overall, our child's experience with teachers was good to excellent. He had a special few teachers he connected with deeply, something any parent wants to see happen. One history teacher really inspired him, and now he might want to be a teacher one day in the future. We had an absolutely amazing experience with our child's counselor, who was responsive, helpful, warm, and organized. He enjoyed the large and diverse student body that included all types of people. It will be exciting to see how the school transforms under its new leadership. We hope the new administration modernizes the school's approach to communication with parents. Overall, our child had a great time at Lincoln and is doing well in college!

We love Aptos! The teachers, administrators and all staff are so committed to having our kids succeed. My daughter is thriving there. She loves her classes and feels very connected to and supported by the teachers. She has really found her community there. And the sports are top notch!

The teachers are fine, but the bathrooms always have this one toilet where it's clogged, or dislocated. Once, the toilet water started spewing out and flooded the whole bathroom and there were toilet paper everywhere.

Very much bullying, everyones rude and hateful about anything and everyone.

Three decades later, I’ve come to appreciate the safe haven (for sf) that Lowell provided for me. Stressful? Check ..safe? Check ….. challenging/competitive? Check …. Camaraderie among students and lasting relationships? Check, but you do need to go outside your comfort zone and find your tribe - May take a year(s) … teacher quality? Average….. this school literally saved me and my siblings from having to attend our dangerous neighborhood high school in the city. We were definitely not the brightest, but we put in quite a bit of effort. And that’s all you need. From there, it’s a high probability that you can go to a UC bc Lowell’s reputation does carry a lot of weight. One caution is if your child is overly anxious or does not deal with stress well in terms of academics or testing or a highly competitive academic environment , then I think Lowell may not be the best for a student for his/her mental health. And that’s perfectly fine bc grades are just that and perhaps just a subjective judgment of knowledge or competency in a subject at a particular point in time as compared to the pool of students in one or two classes. And it’s not the end of the world if you don’t go to the best academic public high school in sf.

I’m back again! Mission didn’t change its name and Mission has better statistics than Lowell for getting into Uc Berkeley and for UCs in general!

I am a student at Raoul Wallenberg High School and I am giving this High School a review for these reasons:I would say that learning is not something everyone will be 100% excited about but students show that they are ready to come to class on time and show active engagement in learning. Teachers tell students to try their best and also encourage them to work at their best. Some challenges may come with learning depending on how the student is feeling but teachers make sure students can have a space where they are ready to learn.Teachers at this High School want to make sure that students are ready to go to college but can also create a learning space where it will not be so hard. That means that teachers will make sure students can get a check in to see how they are doing personally and see how they can help them. The teachers want to make sure it is a supportive space where you don't just get mountains of work and you can not get a check in to see how you are doing.Students will need social emotional support and teachers, staff members, and admin will be there to provide that. There will be days where students need a break or need to have a check in to see how they are doing emotionally. There will be a space for students to not hide emotions inside and pretend that everything is fine when it really is not. Considerations on this standard will be provided below.Special Education services are important for students who need it and Wallenberg High School will be a space for students to be able to feel normal and not judged just because of what services they may need. If you have a student who needs Special Education services and will need a supportive space, consider this to be it. Students, if you would like a supportive space, please consider looking into this school and see how others like it as well.Safety is something that will relate to family engagement. Safety is something that students value so if you would like to have a safe space where you can engage with others, this would be a good space. Other High Schools are packed and do not have the admin to watch over so if you would like to have an adult watched space as well, consider this to be a good school. For families, ig anything happens, admin or staff will reach out to tell you what is going on and what can happen next.I would say that Wallenberg High School is a small and safe space, so if that is what you want, please look into it for more. Thank you for reading!

The education here is very terrible as the teachers are severely underpaid and are not motivated to make sure the students have the best education. Teachers and staff also are known for being involved and taking sides with teens during drama and conflict and often take favoritism. many problems about this school include the bathroom policies where they don't allow students to use the bathroom for a little less than half a period (20 mins). Teachers and staff treat using the bathroom like it's a special privilege and fail to emphasize with students. Burton only allows a handful of students to use the bathroom and only one 1 of the 3 bathrooms is usually opened, leading to a chaotic transition period between classes where you have to pick whether to hold in your juices or risk your attendance absent. The principal of the school is also super unprofessional as she lets her own biases and political agendas influence her decision-making. For example, the JROTIC and other military branches were removed and blacklisted from this school, as she wants to pump up the numbers of students who attend college, in turn making the school statistically look better than it really is. (and that's putting it lightly)The lunch policies are also the worst, as they serve an inadequate amount of food, with an inadequate amount of nutritional value per meal. Often, I have to go through the day with an empty and my bladder full. Overall this is not the place for you if a great education is what you are looking for.