Meyler Street Elementary School

I have very mixed feelings about Van Deene Elementary. Many of the teachers my child had were wonderful. They genuinely cared about their students, went above and beyond to help them succeed, and were responsive when concerns were brought to their attention. I will always be grateful for those educators and the education that my child received at Van Deene Elementary. Unfortunately, my experience with the school's administration was very different. During my child's time at Van Deene, my child experienced repeated bullying, physical aggression, and racist comments from other students. These incidents occurred over multiple school years and were reported to teachers, after-school staff, the principal, and district administration. While the teachers often responded with care, I did not feel the administration took sufficient action to stop the pattern or ensure my child's long-term safety. Watching my child change was heartbreaking. A child who once enjoyed learning gradually began to hate going to school. My child was hit, threatened, mocked, ridiculed, and called racial slurs by other students. Despite repeated reports, I often felt our concerns were minimized rather than meaningfully addressed. I also spoke with other parents whose children attended Van Deene, and several shared similar experiences. They told me their children had also been bullied and that they felt dismissed after reporting it. One parent told me they were asked not to return to the school office regarding their concerns. Another shared that they left the office in tears after feeling nothing meaningful would be done to protect their child. While I can only speak for my own family, hearing similar stories made me feel our experience was not isolated. As an African American parent, I believe it's important to share our experience so other families can make informed decisions. I encourage parents to ask detailed questions about how bullying, harassment, and racial incidents are investigated and addressed before enrolling their children. Finally, while my child had many excellent teachers at Van Deene, there was one kindergarten teacher whose interactions with our child and family left us feeling deeply uncomfortable, unheard, and unwelcome. Every child deserves to feel safe, respected, and protected at school. I sincerely hope Van Deene strengthens its response to bullying and student safety so no other family has to endure what ours did.

My overall experience with Torrance Elementary School has been very negative. I did not feel that my concerns were taken seriously, especially when they involved my child’s safety and well-being. As a parent, that was extremely disappointing and stressful.The worst part of my experience was feeling that communication lacked transparency and that my concerns were not handled in a way that made me feel my child was being protected. I left feeling unheard and unsupported.Unfortunately, I cannot point to any positive part of my experience because it did not meet my expectations for a safe and supportive school environment.I would like to see the school place a much stronger emphasis on student safety, honest and transparent communication with families, and greater accountability when parents raise serious concerns. Every child deserves to feel safe at school, and every parent deserves to know that their concerns will be treated with respect and urgency.

Great community school! It may not be the best school, but my kids feel safe and always excited to go. They are encouraged to go to school everyday and taught to be responsible, safe and good citizens. Since it's not a big school, it's easy to connect with the teachers and they are more focused.It's a plus that my kids are in the gifted program.

I had a horrible experience with the principal and my son’s kindergarten teacher. He was bullied by both because he would poop his pants. The teacher would not allow him to use the restroom forcing him to pee his pants many times. When I confronted the teacher she mad excuses I escalate the situation to the principal and he took the teachers side. My child would come home crying. One day my child asked the principal if he could help him peel his orange the principal threw his orange on the trash can and said No! I got upset and called him out on it and he denied it at first but then said well it was time to return to class anyways. I had to go to the district and demand for my children to be remove from the school. Horrible experience horrible school!

The school has a few friendly staff and teachers. However in my experience there is extreme favoritism. Teachers are not held accountable for how they treat their students. This school is known for special needs programs but I’ve personally seen staff really yell at some of the special needs kids. You can be frustrated but in no way should they be yelled at as if they are delinquent kids.The parent center is not at all welcoming. The PTA IS 75% staff and will outvote any parent trying to make a change. They also hide their finances and don’t share expense reports. They required that a president be bilingual but then voted in an only Spanish speaking staff member. They requested donations of candy’s to make leis for grad season but then the staff started making leis to sell at other schools for their own profit. There is no holiday, school or cultural spirit ! The only event was their Halloween event and it required a lot of donations and they used cardboards to make games . Very cheap but keep all the funds with no report on showing how it’s spent. They don’t celebrate any cultural. There’s no student counsel for the kids to participate. The kids only went on one field trip and a month before school ended they tried to fit in multiple field trips. HOWEVER it was only open to certain kids. They also only held it on Saturdays. Why offer a field trip but then limit it ? Lastly, to be a volunteer to go on field trips you have to go to every coffee with the principal…. But only if the parent teacher center coordinator doesn’t like you, because there were a lot of parents who went on the Catalina trip and they didn’t go through the background checks and requirements. There is also never a schedule for volunteers and they never notify parents when they can volunteer but then end up complaining no parents help or volunteer. STAY AWAY FROM THIS SCHOOL