Via Doble
Concord, CA 94521

Overall, we have had a very positive experience at CPHS. My two kids have worked hard, enjoyed many sport experiences and extra curricular. The teachers have been great. All high schools have problems, nothing is perfect. How we choose to react and learn, is the key to success.

This school is horrible. Principal Julene Mckinnon has used racial slurs infront of other black students and defends only white kids. The Pe teachers are horrible too. This school does not care about your kids wellbeing at all. Theres so much more worse stuff about this school I cant even name them all, its a whole list.

Highlands has been great for my child who will be graduating this year. He has great friends and teachers.

I love this school, just came there and Im an freshman. Rgeardless people are going to say this is a bad school. IT IS NOT. They are very welcoming and nice. They have JROCT, cooking, Public speaking or Debate team/class and more. MUptiple luages classes like French, Spanish and Mandorian chinnise. Tons of sports Football, basketball, tenniss and volleyball track too! The techers are pretty nice they tey to help out as much as they can just ask them. The food her is AWSOME. For kids who have food issues they let anyone and everyone get as much as they need/want they should know the limits. Bring your kid here its awsome!!!

I won't be able to describe everything that's wrong with this school in just 2500 characters.The administration is beyond garbage. Even between the Principal and 2 VPs, there is an extreme amount of favoritism (and quite frankly, nepotism). There's a running joke (that has been going for several years) that as long as you're friends with one of Admin's children, you're set for the next 4 years.Outside of their own children, VPs and the Principal ONLY favor the extremely lazy, rule-breaking children (a large percentage of them being their children's friends), the athletic students (who actually break records/win trophies), and *maybe* the top 5 academic students (if they're lucky). Do you fall outside any of those categories? Good luck, you will be practically invisible for your 4 years here at Northgate.Counselors are useless. They can't give you any real answers because they have to double check everything with the Principal (who then proceeds to give the Counselors wrong information).This leads me to my next point: 90% of all staff members (particularly counselors) hate Admin. If you're in a room with a staff member during lunch/passing period, and they get an email from Admin during that time, they will literally roll their eyes and tell students about how annoyed they are by Admin. I found this incredibly funny, but kind of sad because no one really has the courage to stick up to Admin.Now, let's talk about teachers. Some are incredible, most are mediocre, and ~25% are complete (uneducated) trash. I will say, the English department seemed to have the best teachers (excluding one particular teacher who retired this year- congrats to future grades who will be spared). The social studies department was a hit or miss- some teachers actually prepare you for AP exams (making it easy for students to earn a 5), meanwhile others, like my senior year Government/Econ teacher wasted class time NEARLY EVERYDAY- NO JOKE- by talking about his deceased spouse (as well his dating life with his current partner), while also making inappropriate jokes. Despite a plethora of complaints to Admin (just from my grade- and I know for a fact that he's gotten complaints for the last few years as well- he has tenure and will be retiring soon, and will never face any consequences.I will be attending a highly ranked university in the fall. I attribute my success to my parents who ensured that I had outside-of-school tutoring/exam prep/support during all 4 years.

My son had a nightmare experience at this school. Throughout 6th grader he was bullied. I was in consistent contact with the principal to try to help remedy the situation. I really did not want to move my son to a new school. After 6 months of no resolution, I had to take my child out of this school due to lack of action from the administration. I could get into the details of what my son endured, but there aren't enough characters available. It was a nightmare. The school staff and administration is a joke.

Our daughter attended YVHS all four years of high school, graduated in 2020 and is now attending UC Berkeley. Our son is a junior at YV on the Engineering pathway. Both have had excellent teachers, made friends and experienced cultural diversity. YV is a big family, working together for student success. 10/10 is our rating.