Ironwood Ridge High School

We've had 3 kids go through Ironwood. Each child is unique. Each has taken a wide range of classes, 1 played several sports, 1 took AP classes, 1 was involved in many clubs, 2 had various special needs/accommodations. None of the 3 kids would report bad experiences. Each of proud to be a Nighthawk. Sure, lots of social and other challenges/distractions are found at Ironwood. But you find those exact or related issues at any school in Tucson. The opportunities at Ironwood are enormous. All the staff, teachers, and administrators strive for excellence. Strive for inclusion and helping each child achieve his/her best, regardless of background. We've seen this many times.The kids will largely get out of HS what they put in. Just as kids did in the 80s and 90s when I was in K-12 elsewhere in AZ. I went to at tiny AZ high school that was awful compared to Ironwood and all other area public and charter schools. Several commenters in this thread recommend other Tucson schools are just awesome, and seem to (falsely, in my view) suggest Ironwood is uniquely a mess and worse with failing teachers and administrators. This isn't the case. Each school -- whether that be BASIS, CDO, Foothills, Tucson High -- has its own issues: student related, teacher related, and administrative. Each school has many awesome teachers. Each has some that are less awesome. No school has a monopoly on talent. Nor a monopoly on caring, nurturing.Ironwood HS will continue growing and pressing forward. Newer homes and developments -- some of the last available plots in Oro Valley -- are being built now near the Ironwood campus. Other schools in the Amphi districts are much older (Amphi: 1939, CDO: 1964). Ironwood's enrollment is bigger (~1700 kids) than Amphi (~1200 kids) and CDO (~1550 kids), and with that comes a larger on average class size. That number will drop over time as more teachers are hired, and campus expands to meet the larger numbers of students.I have no doubt that the Amphi district and Ironwood administrators will guide the growth at IRHS well into the future. Other district schools will likely not experience the same growth nor face the same opportunities. In 10-20 years another new high school will likely pop up around Dove Mountain or somewhere in Marana. If parents wanna drive all over Tucson to educate their kids, they have that right. For us, an awesome school, IRHS -- though not perfect (no school is) -- is blocks away.

Don't forget to add gas mask to the back-to-school shopping list. Smoking and vaping times are at recess and during lunch at the restrooms. Students, check your class schedule. Monitors know what’s going on and avoid being in the area or even make an attempt to check the restrooms. At least “fake it” like you are monitoring the area so perhaps the students will put it away. This is not a anti-smoking, vaping, or anti drugs statement. This should not be going on in school with under age kids. Like the SRO, the monitors don’t want to work. It’s more comfortable to sit in an AC office. Don’t let the two police cars parked outside the school make you think they are on it. They are not.

TOP notch education -- especially if your student is going to college and taking AP courses.

Overall positive experience I had going to school there. Again, everyone has a different experience but I personally grew as a person there. IRHS also prepared me to be successful at a 4 year out of state university and have seen many of my peers also find success. With anything in life, you get what you put into to it. Too many people blame teachers for their grades when YOU ultimately have the power to succeed. In regards to bullying and racial tension, I am a Mexican-American male that never ever got picked on for my race and made friends of all different backgrounds. Yes, we did have some incidents, but those 1-2 kids didn't define who we were as a school. It is crazy to me seeing comments from other people bashing IRHS and labeling it as a "terrible" school. Yes, it isn't perfect but I would definitely recommend going as it is one of the overall best public schools in the Tucson metro.

Ironwood Ridge has a culture of bullying and hate. Bullying is not dealt with and student suicides are pushed under the rug. I had to leave before my senior year in 2015 due to a threat of being destroyed socially for no reason. Open enroll your kids at CDO.