Monte Vista High School

We have been so impressed with this school! The teachers are experienced, intentional and kind. All the classmates and families we’ve met are friendly and engaged in the school.

We're very happy with Baldwin. The principal, Mr Romanga, is taking great care of the kids, keeps strong teachers and helps any family who needs assistance. We have three kids at the school right now and it is our third year with the school. We're happy we're sending our kids here.

Awesome experience at Montair with multiple children, excellent dedicated teachers, kids are excelling socially and in academics.

If academics and head knowledge are your primary focus, rest assured this school is solid. Your kid will crush high school after going here from K-8. Ours did. The head of the school is a wonderful woman who cares deeply about the school and the students. Unfortunately, underneath her, there are more than a few teachers who seem burned out and often make rude or snarky comments to students. To be sure, there are some really good administrators and teachers who are probably Christian. But, do not expect that to translate into the classroom. Definitely do not expect teachers to form a meaningful relationship with your student or to take a personal interest in your student or make them feel loved or important. That only happened with one teacher out of dozens. The rest act just like entitled public school teachers who aren't joyful and assume the worst about kids. E-mail communication between parents and teachers is pretty lousy. One many occasions, I sent e-mails that were completely ignored by the teacher. I know that sounds unbelievable, but it's true. Overall, I would say the culture is cold. There are lunch room monitors and helpers who roam around and are often harsh with kids. It's not a warm environment at all.This school has so much potential to help kids with their faith and to strengthen them spiritually. Unfortunately, because of the staffing with crusty teachers who don't really care about kids, I don't think much, if any, spiritual formation happens here. It's mostly a place where affluent families who are academically oriented send their kids for K-8. And, because their parents are working so hard to afford their Range Rovers and gigantic luxury SUVs, they seem neglect their children who often come to school feeling unloved and act accordingly. It's unlikely you will encounter any kind of real community among other parents. It's not cliquey at all. No one really seems to be friends with anyone else. You will notice lots of parents who are struggling, disconnected, and hyper-focused on their jobs. As a result, many kids lack discipline and often act out and mistreat each other. Sadly, you can probably expect the same kind of behavior at SRVCA as you would a public school, but maybe even worse. And, in fact, most students choose to continue on to public high school after SRVCA and public university. Ask about it. You'll see.

We applied to have our son attend elementary school at SI last year. We knew many schools were not accepting new students because they were at capacity but when we called SI they claimed they had openings for the upcoming year. We paid the fee, went through the testing process (which was strange) and then our son wasn’t accepted due to the maximum capacity of students being reached. We asked friends who have kids at SI and they all said they were required to sign a two year contract, thus capacity was reached well before we applied. This process didn’t sit right with us. It’s unethical and unchristian to take application money, and more importantly give the false hope to a young man, when they KNEW space wasn’t available. We also heard from many SI parents about the incessant bullying which goes unnoticed by administration, and many parents told us they pulled their children out after only a year. Glad our son is elsewhere, but we’re disappointed they weren’t honest with us. Seems to be all about the money. They certainly live up to their bad reputation in the area.