I went to brockton from 2nd - 5th grade. I continued to frequent visits to Brockton up until my high school years. (About 4years ago) Brockton was a great school when I went to it, there were a lot more teachers. All of the teachers which that I would have recommended, with the exception of Ms. Shneider, Mr. Carvarlez, and Ms. Feldman no longer work here, because they were either laid off, or because they found other work.
I will start by again saying I enjoyed the school when I went there, however there are a number of things I later -- now, realize were not feats of this school but bigger concerns.
The school is located by University High, a not so bad school in terms of LAUSD public schools, but they do have lots of kids in gangs, when I was attending Brockton, I did witness a gang fight, and as far as I can remember the school had closed on lock down twice due to high school / teenage gang related fights. If you look at sex offender websites, there are too many in the surrounding area on westgate, and on brockton ave. which is highly concerning. Because the school has a lack of funding, and a lack of personel, they have large portions of the school closed down, areas that are unsafe to children. Underground empty classrooms, restrooms, offices. The building that houses some of the kindergarten/ Special needs classrooms was closed at one point due to asbestos about 6-7 years ago.
They tore down all playground equipment at this school during the time I went there, which was around 2002-2006, They built equipment for the pre-school and kindergarteners, however no play equipment was built for the 1st - 5th graders.
The school is very old and is built on a pretty alarmingly big fault, Around 2005/2006 they had to build support beams that run along the south wall of the school (The lower playground) as "preventative maintenance" just so the place wont collapse in the event of an earthquake.
With that said, I had some wonderful teachers while I went to school there. For 2nd grade I had ms Schneider, I learned the most culturally diverse topics while I had her as a teacher, it felt like almost every month we learned about a different culture and would even have potlucks to try the different food from around the world, and we even practiced some of the things that children at that age learn in other countries, such as making japanese shoes "Getas" , and even grinding corn with a mortar and pestal to learn how native americans did it a long time ago.
for 3rd grade, I had Ms Landon. I do not believe she works at brockton anymore. Ms landon (if you can find whatever school she works at now) was probably one of the best math teachers I had during elementary school, she was my advocate for the GATE program, and helped me get onto the student council. Ms landon was very invested in her students.
Fourth AND 5th grade, I had the best teacher I've ever had. Ms. Walker. I do not know if she teaches anymore, she stopped teacher at brockton around 2007-2009. I cant remember, but she always made sure that students knew that no matter what grade you got on state testing it was never a measure of what you knew, ms walker always encouraged students by reminding them that they were smart because she was the one who knew and taught us, and that state testing only showed how well we remembered our training for it, not how smart we were.
This attitude is wide spread among almost every single teacher at brockton. Ms. Feldmen, although I didnt personally have her as a teacher, was very close to our fourth and fifth grade class, because she too kept her fourth and fifth grade classes for two years as well. I did not have mr. carvarlez either, but he always had fun projects for the classes he taught, most of which were displayed out in the open for the other students to see.
In summary, brockton had its prime, and the school has nearly closed every year for the last 7+ years. They no longer have a drill team, and the after school program that they have now, really isnt that great. You'd be better off taking your children to the boys and girls club of santamonica or the new YMCA that will be at Uni high school. I support the teachers who work there, but encourage them to find work elsewhere, they are on a sinking ship, and as a last stitch effort are trying to get good reviews so parents would be more inclined to enroll their students at brockton. Support the teachers and help them find better opportunities elsewhere! But Im giving brockton 3 stars which I think is a fair review for a decent school that lost its revenue. read more
