Northern High

I think the rating should be higher. I don’t believe racial makeup should be counted. It should be denoted but no one can make people of a certain ethnicity move into a school district due to redlining and other factors that are not considered in Great Schools data. When you look at the ability to succeed and improvement from one year to next and keeping class size small these are features that matter. This school should have a rating of at least 7/10 or higher.

Our family has had an outstanding experience at Holt the past 6 years with our oldest two children. We hope to be at Holt for the next 8 years until our younger two children have completed each grade. The leadership, Donya Jones and the assistant principals, are all outstanding and responsive. They are on top of issues as much as they can be and keep things positive. There is a huge range of where students are academically, but the school does a lot of differentiating so that kids get AIG services, ESL services, and remediation all within the school day.

We have two daughters who attend Little River. One is receiving speech services there (and has since she became eligible at 3). We looked at all of the different school options before starting there and actually got into one of the magnet schools. However, we decided to stay with our "neighborhood school," and we are so glad we did. Our experience has been extremely positive, from the quality of staff and teachers to logistics and communication. We also wanted an environment that brought together all different kinds of students and families, and Little River really does. Our girls are very different and each one is being well served academically and both are definitely being cared for -- it is truly a supportive and caring environment. The assistant principal and his daughter even started a fun and thoughtful Youtube show to keep the students engaged during the pandemic (and we are so happy it is continuing). The staff and teachers always seem to go above and beyond their call of duty. We feel that there are many great options in DPS, and Little River is definitely one of them!