401 Alan Rd
Santa Barbara, CA 93109

Monroe School has an amazing Spirit program that provides each child a word of praise. Teachers choose about six students each of four times. By the end of the year all the students have received praise. The children are wonderful. I am volunteering in a second grade class. The teacher is exceptional and has the children working on cooperative learning in science, takes pictures of their work and has the class in complete control. It is a pleasure to be in her classroom.

The Core Knowledge program here is unquestionably the best public junior high school experience available in Santa Barbara. Passionate teachers offer an academically challenging, content-rich curriculum. But even better---the school as a whole, in and out of the Core Knowledge program, has a wonderful sense of community. Physically, the cleanest school in all of SB--the floors sparkle!

In three days, my son will graduate from this school and it couldn't be sooner. Yes, some students do thrive here, but most fall through the cracks. There is no sense of community and the parents who run the school explain what it means to be a "Royal." What a joke of a school and our other child chose DP after witnessing the dysfunction of SMHS. Stay away!