Brentwood Science School

The most recent review describing this persons experience at Brentwood Science School was written by a teacher. I would not let this disgruntled employee influence your decision to attend this school. However, I would ask the reviewer why if they see things that could improve, they are choosing to sabotage the good work that has been done and not trying to find solutions to what they perceive as problems. Some of the notable improvements at Brentwood are, school wide behavior is under control leading to a better learning environment, this school has the highest academic growth rate on the westside, majority of teachers came on optional days to plan and prepare for the upcoming school year showing that their number one priority is a great experience for the attending students and... the administrative staff is always present, helpful and supportive of all students and family members. We should be honoring our teachers and administrative staff for their hard work. This is an under appreciated profession, but one of the most important and as a fellow teacher at this school, you should be a part of the solution. Constructive feedback is a gift with the right delivery, in the right environment. I would highly recommend this school!

This school is slowing dying. It's enrollment was 1250 now it is 241. My children attended this school and had numerous problems. Here are some of the issues we had.Food: My son has a severe peanut allergy and was given peanut candy for both Halloween and Valentine's Day. Both children were fed food by teacher despite our request that they not feed them. One child even had her teacher buy her a school lunch with our money even though we had packed her a lunch. No apology or repayment. Academics: There was little to no graded work from our children teachers last year despite repeated requests for graded work. The school tried to combined my child's Kinder class with a special day class. We fought against this and won but should not have been but in that position.There were whole subject areas that were not taught. For example, social studies which has a text book and curriculum was turned into "we talk about social justice issues while we walk around the track" in one class and not taught at all as far as I know in the other. My child who was identified GATE received no differentiation and the GATE program at the school seems to be non existent. We were given little to no feedback on what we needed to work on with our children to help them improve. So without graded work or feedback from the teachers we had little idea what was happening in the classroom. Bullying: My child was threatened by her teacher that she would get a "zero" if she didn't get her work signed by a parent. This was very upsetting for my daughter. I notified the principal and he didn't do anything about it. He said the teacher would apologize but they never did. Instead they blamed my daughter and said she got it wrong. Treatment of parents: I had a teacher refuse to meet with me for a parent conference. The was truly unbelievable. This was clearly wrong and she was forced to have the meeting eventually by my principal's director. We are at a new school and the difference is amazing. It is student centered in the best way. They have an extra recess in the afternoon. There are enrichment opportunities after school. Brentwood has the students stop playing with 5 minutes left of their recess so they can line up. And there are no enrichment opportunities to speak of outside of STAR. So don't let the labs and nice campus fool you this is not a school headed in the right direction. The results are the enrollment keeps declining and the test scores are what they are.

This schools dying. It was 1250 students and now is 241. My children had numerous problems while attending this school. Here are a few of the issues we had: My child with a severe peanut allergy was given peanut candy for both Halloween and Valentines day luckily he didn't eat it. My children were repeatedly fed food by their teachers against our wishes. On returning from Covid closure they tried to combine my child's k/tk class with a special day class. A teacher bought my child lunch even though we had packed a lunch, with my money against my wishes and didn't apologize or repay us. Another teacher threatened my child that she would get a zero if I didn't sign her work. Academically last year neither teacher taught whole subject areas. Social Studies which has a text and curriculum just wasn't taught at all or turned into "we talk about social justice while we walk around the track". There was almost no graded work that was returned by either teacher despite repeated request for it. The principal says homework should not be part of the grade yet homework was a large part of my child's grade. There was little to no feedback from the teachers on what we need to work with our children on to improve. I had a teacher refuse to have a parent conference with me until she was forced to by my principal's director. My child who was identified as GATE received no added instruction or experiences. There doesn't appear to be a GATE program at the school at all.We have moved on to a different school and are so much happier. The new school actually cares about the student experience. There is an extra recess in the afternoon so the children get more play time. There are a lot of enrichment opportunities. While at Brentwood they take away 5 minutes of the 20 minute recess to line the students up and have them use the restroom. There are almost no enrichment opportunities. It was not all bad we did have a great experience with the music teacher, Ms. Edwards. Ms. Garcia was also great. But bottom line don't let the campus and the labs fool you this is not a school heading in the right direction and the Principal seems incapable or uninterested in getting the school headed in the right direction. He is likable but the results are what they are. Enrollment goes down every year. He makes decisions he says are not in the best interest of the school and blames the teachers union. He himself says that he is not sure what the school does well.

All my son’s teachers are very supportive and enthusiastic. They are always available for me(mom) to discuss my concerns and updates/progress in person/phone/email/zoom. My son has made a lot of progress attending this school. I feel the good and positive atmosphere on the campus. I have good communications with my son’s classmate parents as well. I feel the parents take their time and effort to improve kids academic progress. I appreciate the occasional zoom meeting with teachers/staff and parents to know what’s going on on the campus. My son’s teacher is good at making the students learning more interesting by using the tech/digital tools in addition to the traditional teaching methods. My son is getting a lot of points/rewards for excellent behaviors and learning.

Best School, my kids teachers go beyond all expectations. My first child started 1st grade in that school & is now in 4th grade. That is why I enrolled my other two kids in the same school.