Ryan Way
Indio, CA 92203

This school is large enough to have something for everybody: academics, sports, clubs, music, and career tracts. All three of my children have attended with great results. Our priorities are academic, social, clubs, art, sports, music, career tract, in that order. They transferred from private to public and still made friends. PDHS had 23 AP courses when my oldest started, which was more than the local, private high school. This metric was one of our main deciding points. The AP Capstone program is now available and its Seminar and Research components really prepare students for the critical thinking and writing required by top colleges. There is an array of clubs and the opportunity for students to form their own club. In some ways PDHS has become a magnet school to draw in families from the surrounding region Another factor that became more important with Covid was the dual - enrollment program with College of the Desert, a top CA community college down the street. Palm Desert High School students can take many types of courses there, for free, and receive college credit. High school students can take some courses at PDHS and many more online or in person at College of the Desert's campus. On average, COD's courses were about as difficult as AP classes, and it is entirely possible for a student to complete high school with one year of college already earned. And if this is the route your student decides to take, transfer students from CA community colleges are more likely to be admitted to a top UC.

This is in response to the "school's" reply to my review (the most recent), as I can't reply to their AI generated response. As you can see, this institution cares more about touting its' accomplishments than trying to rectifying its' poor outlook on education.I truly believed this was the view of the previous Principal but a response like this make it painfully obvious that this is the view of the administration as a whole. My child no longer attends James Monroe, despite the unsubstantiated claim that they do. If you can't trust a school administration to be honest on a reputable school reviewing platform, how sure are you that you can trust them with your child's education?

LOVED THIS SCHOOL. I LOVED MR POWERS CLASS EVERY DAY. you should go to this school 10000000000000/10