Temple City High School

We may complain a lot about TC, but it really isn't that bad. Here is an overview of my personal opinions on everything the school has to offer:CAMPUS: generally clean. The new buildings are well designed and very neat. Older bathrooms usually smell and the sinks don't work. Drainage needs to be improved; it rains and the place becomes one giant puddle. There are no storm drains on Lemon Ave so the water has nowhere to go. Old building science classrooms have a lot of graffiti on the countertops that include hate speech and racial slurs, it's become a game among students to find the most interesting pieces of graffiti. The record right now is three swastikas on one desk. This is not good!! But I have to say, the foliage is on point. Very nice bushes. TEACHERS: a lot of them are alumni, or have kids in the district. It's a mixed bag, some are the best teachers you will ever have and some are straight up awful. There are some who are way too good to be teaching us and we are very grateful for them. COLLEGE PREP: TC offers pretty much all the important APs, and in general the quality is above average. They host college presentations all the time. Counselors are also a mixed bag, you just gotta get lucky. Personally I think the resources are pretty good. SAFETY: we've had some fights on campus and some students got busted for drug possession. Every so often someone vapes in the bathroom and sets off the fire alarm. Once an actual trash can in the restroom caught on fire and that was the one time the fire alarm didn't go off. There were some creepy dudes hanging around bus stops trying to pick up high school girls. In general, I'd say it's not that different from many other schools in the US. MENTAL HEALTH: there's a student led committee for it which is pretty much a joke; they just put post-its with positive affirmations in the hallways for suicide prevention and call it a day. Some counselors will help you and others will report you. They opened a new mental health center.STUDENT BODY: pretty average ngl. Once in a while we get a really smart kid or a really sporty kid, but in general everyone's mid. Very clique-ish though. On average we send one kid to the ivies every year. EXTRACURRICULARS: there's lots of clubs and electives and teams to get involved in. We have a yearly musical, a marching band, sports teams, science bowl, pretty much everything. OVERALL: for a public school in America, TC is not bad at all. You get out what you put in.

I am a current student at this school, and I don't enjoy it. The pressure to achieve B or higher is intense , and for the ones that do have excellent grades, no one cares anything about us except our grades. My main complaint is regarding the Algebra 2 teachers. This is a vital course that will show up in great loads later in even higher level math courses, and yet is being taught by computer science teachers who have no clue what they are doing, and the school has no intention of hiring ones that can actually teach. This causes many students to resort to cheating to even pass the class, further pushing them away from actually learning these math concepts. Even during office hours, they hardly let us learn anything, and only when we are close to failing do they even just tell us to get our grades up.Students here can be disruptive, disrespectful, and judgmental, and a lot of students succumb to peer pressure and indulge in dangerous acts, so it is important to discern whether or not your friend group is healthy to stay in.Overall: TCHS is a relatively safe school that could use a lot of work in hiring more capable teachers, and need to acknowledge the opinions and thoughts of the student body.

I am a high school parent. This school is one of the best schools. The teachers are professional and care for all students. Additionally, the students are kind, calm, and respectful.

I currently am a student at this school. While this school does VERY well at academic performance, and is relatively safe, I would not say my experience here is pleasant at all. This school entirely focuses on the academic performance of the students— if you have a B or higher in your classes, no one cares for your well-being. And if you have lower than a B, you're seen as a failure, and rather than being offered emotional support and questioning as to why you are struggling, they just say— get your grades up (it looks bad). The teachers here have definitely decreased in performance after quarantine. The teachers who have been here for years teach much, MUCH better than the newer teachers. The entirety of the Algebra 2 courses, a vital course for students to be well-versed in are taught by Computer Science teachers who do NOT know what they are doing. Honestly, the entire course is self taught because you get shamed if you have a C or lower. Even at office hours, these teachers do not know how to teach. Instead of making up for the lack of math teachers by using Compsci teachers, they should put some of the schools budget to actually hiring capable math teachers rather than Computer Science teachers who were blindly thrown math courses.The students at this school have a very interesting dynamic. It is rare to see physical bullying (there are still a handful physical fights, however) out in broad daylight, but rather, students ADORE forming cliques. They love to gossip and cyberbully here, and it is extremely classist and racist. It is not uncommon at ALL to see kids casually joking about racism, ableism, etc. Based on what i have seen, the special ED program doesn’t seem supportive at all. I often see kids in the program frustrated, however, the teachers dont do anything to make them feel better and overlook their emotions. I often see people outside of special ED program laughing at the special ED kids, no matter if people tell them to stop or not. The ASB and other school programs aren’t as “We want to make the school better!” as they seem, and are just filled with students trying to make their resume look great. The school program kids are actually just bullies (the clique kind) in disguise. But, if youre smart and hang out with the right crowd, are lucky and score good teachers, and somehow get emotional support outside of the school, it makes TCHS a very fun and enjoyable, memorable experience!

This is a safe school that requires improvement in many areas.