Ben Painter Elementary School

A great school for children. They teach anti bullying and there's a lot of parent involvement.

My son has had a fantastic experience at the school, and the arts programs have been fantastic. He started off in TK hating to color and draw and now in first grade he loves making books in his spare time and he always comes home with wonderful and thoughtful freehand seasonal art projects. He's singing and dancing all of the time and sharing things he's learned in musical theater class. He has grown so much academically and he looks forward to school on a regular basis. All of his teachers have been so supportive of his growth and are always available whenever I reach out with questions or concerns.

Mr. Fienne was laid off prior to the start of the 2025–2006 school year, which was a significant loss for the school community. He was known for his dedication and was often the last to leave campus each day. Since then, under the leadership of Principal Linda Diaz, several changes have taken place.Some of these changes have raised concerns among parents. Families are no longer able to request class placements for their children, and budget cuts have reduced opportunities such as student field trips.Additionally, the current reward system appears to prioritize lower-performing students for program selection—such as spring and summer activities—while higher-achieving students are given later access and may miss out due to limited availability. This has been a source of frustration for some families.Overall, there is a growing sense among parts of the parent community that the school is heading in the wrong direction. McCollam was once considered one of the top elementary schools in the Alum Rock Union School District, but it now appears to be losing that distinction.

While teachers were as effective as they could be, administrator, safety, and protocol are severely lacking. There is no security and people can come and go as they please. The administrator is focused on scores rather that social emotional well-being of student which also includes instruction. Taking things personally means there is no equity or fair contribution to the students. Without having a background in actual classroom management, both principal and coordinator are ill-equipped to run a school. In fact, coordinator with no credentials or teaching certificate which was in classrooms unsupervised without a Certificate of Clearance (COC) for over a year was with students without teacher supervision. In fact, they only have a certificate of clearance and should not be in a coordinator position to begin with and sometimes acts as acting administrator without any certifiable credentials. Unsafe on many levels.

I am an alumni, with many generations that graduated from SJV so I leave this review with a heavy heart. This school went DOWN hill. We changed principals many times in the last couple of years. The principal now, is married to a teacher, which is already weird. I wont even go into the details of this dynamic but it is not good and make reporting behaviors of her husband awkward. Due to this, now Im not receiving the support Im supposed to receive from this principal. The girls here are MEAN. One reoccuring issue with a girl has gone on way too much. 1st incident she tried fighting at a dance. 2nd incident- she threw a pen at a student back in class, now 3rd incident she is calling student 'Morons' and the R-word. This was mentioned to the principal and she didnt want to get involve unless a teacher told her to. So basically, parents have no relationship with her. I also learned, the teachers are not too fond of her as well. Try another school with a stronger disciplinary background. This school shows no support for troubled students and they are learning to keep quite as they feel there voice makes no difference. I also hear SJV is mocked by other parents from other schools. Theres no surprise that SJV is having trouble finding a good leader. Dont let your kid be the guinea pig foro SJVs bulling program. Try other schools like St. Chris or St. Leo.

The school used to be good, especially in the earlier grades. Kindergarten through 1st grade felt warm, fun, and safe. But as I got older, I noticed how strict and unbalanced things became. The leadership completely fell apart after the current principal, who i will not name, took over. She is out of touch with students, staff, and what education should look like.She fired two of the best teachers in the school maybe the best I've had my whole life. One had taught there for decades and was loved by students for being fun, kind, and a fantastic educator. The other had been teaching for 7.5 years and was an incredible support for students struggling with their mental and emotional health. Want to know why she got fired? The principal told her, “One of the reasons is you sit down while teaching.” She has a documented disability (uterine fibroids) but was let go anyway. Why? Because they stood up for their students and themselves.Meanwhile, the school keeps bad teachers even after students tried to petition for one to be removed. They didn’t listen to us at all. But they fire the ones who actually made a difference? It makes no sense.Another big issue was “Silent Time.” This occurred during snack and lunch, and it was ridiculous. The last 20 minutes of lunch had to be in complete silence. You might think, “Maybe they just want you to lower your voices,” but no say even one word, and you lose five minutes of your recess. It didn't matter if you were finished eating or not. We weren’t even allowed to play silent games. We tried playing things like rock-paper-scissors or other non-verbal games just to pass the time, but even that would get us in trouble. If we interacted at all socially, even without talking, we still “owed” five minutes. It felt like we were being punished just for being kids. Our school day ran from 8 AM to 3:10 PM longer than most schools and we only got two breaks. We were bored out of our minds,The actual teaching? Terrible. Most of our time was spent reading packets and worksheets over and over again. And science was the worst. We barely learned any real science. When I got to middle school, I was way behind in science compared to other students. That’s how unprepared I was because of this school’s weak curriculum.In the end, this school has some good teachers, but no one you can trust the same way we trusted those they got rid of. The staff doesn't listen to students, and the principal makes unreasonable decisions.