Making Waves is not a school; it's a slow‑motion disaster wrapped in fake smiles and empty…read morepromises. The moment you step onto campus, you can practically feel your will to live clocking out. This place doesn't nurture students--it chews them up, spits them out, and then acts confused when everyone is miserable. The environment is unsafe, hostile, and emotionally suffocating, like being trapped in a building that feeds on stress and despair. And the deans? Absolutely useless. These people are supposedly authority figures, yet they operate with the urgency, awareness, and competence of broken office furniture. They don't help students--they dodge responsibility like it's their full‑time job. Bring them a serious issue and you'll get indifference, excuses, or silence. Their idea of "support" is doing nothing and hoping the problem magically disappears. It's honestly impressive how consistently they fail at the bare minimum. The entire school runs on neglect. Students feel ignored, disrespected, and completely unsafe, while the administration pretends everything is fine. Morale is nonexistent. Motivation is dead. Every single day drains you more than the last, until you're just existing, not learning. Making Waves doesn't prepare you for success--it prepares you for burnout. If this place were reviewed honestly, it wouldn't even deserve one star. It's a soul‑sucking joke of an institution that should be studied as an example of how badly a school can fail its students. And as if it wasn't bad enough, the school lets big people in the school.

As a parent, I am extremely disappointed in how Making Waves Academy handled a serious situation…read moreinvolving my child. After my child was attacked by another student, we were told by Dean Sarmiento that the other student would be moved to a different class to ensure safety. That never happened. Despite reaching out multiple times, Ms. Moore, the Director of Student Support Services, did not respond to my emails for several days and ultimately dismissed our concerns. Communication throughout this process was inconsistent and unprofessional, leaving our family without clear answers or reassurance that our child was safe. My child continued to feel uncomfortable at school and was even prevented from finishing a class project, which only added to their distress. At times, they were made to feel like the aggressor, which was both unfair and emotionally upsetting. As both a parent and a pediatric nurse, I believe student safety and well-being should always be a school's top priority. Unfortunately, the lack of accountability and responsiveness from the administration made this experience extremely discouraging. I hope the leadership at Making Waves Academy takes this as an opportunity to reflect and make meaningful changes to better support and protect all students.

Lincoln has a good reputation for being chill with a school body of high-achieving kids. It's a…read morelarge high school with over 2,200 students. We were lucky to have principal Shari Balisi Manalang who won Principal of the Year in 2024 and kept the ship steady. I'll miss her a lot. My son had a few incredible and dedicated teachers including Ms. Yu (Chinese); Mr. Yip (English and an alumnus of Lincoln); Mr. Glasser (American History); Mr. Goncalves (CompSci) and Mr. Ruelas (World History & Econ). We were fortunate to be assigned counselors Devin Walker and Ian Enriquez who make sure you have the A-G requirements to apply to UC and CSU schools and resolve issues as they come. While we had a couple of serious speed bumps during my son's tenure, they got resolved. My advice is to strongly advocate for your child. Overall, if you're proactive and involved, administration is appreciative and most teachers are enthusiastic when you ask, "What can my son be doing better and how can I help?" There's always a lot going on at Lincoln with lots of clubs and sports ("Go Mustangs!") as well as theater arts and dance. I know we'll miss this school. It's a jewel of the SFUSD. Fun fact: Harvard Constitutional Law Scholar Lawrence Tribe, BD Wong ("Law & Order SVU"); Barbara Eden ("I Dream of Jeannie") and sculptor Richard Serra are among notable alumni. If you're looking at high schools and want your child to have a well-rounded education and not just grind, put ALHS at the top of your list.

To update my recent review, I recently toured Lincoln for our younger child. The new principal and…read moreher new staff seem excellent -- very sharp, professional, experienced, and motivated. She told us they're attracting lots of interest in teaching positions and have no teacher vacancies. It was an inspiring tour. Good luck with your decisions! Other great schools we're considering are Lowell and Gateway High.

If you are still at BHS or just graduated you will be shocked to learn that my class is having…read moretheir 65th reunion next week. Yes, we graduated in 1960. It was one of the top schools in the US in those days. we won the Bellamy award in 1959. It saddens me to read these reviews with one star. Most of the content of the poor reviews seems to center around lack of organization and social problems. I hope the academic aspect of the school is still high.

This school has gone completely down hill. There is absolutely no safety or control in that school…read more The staff are only there for the paycheck! The dean of students is completely useless, they swear they are here for the students but they don't care at all. SAVE YOUR KIDS!!! DON'T SEND THEM TO THIS HORRIBLE SCHOOL

Orinda Academy has been a great fit for our family. The teachers and staff really get to know each…read morekid, and the students are kind and supportive of each other. It is college prep and the work is tailored to each students academic ability, so they are always being challenged to learn. It's a calm environment with great staff.

We moved to the East Bay from NYC during the pandemic to be close to grandparents. It was…read morechallenging for everyone, particularly our children, 16 and 12. We found Orinda Academy, the lovely and healing environment we needed. Our 16-year-old entered in 11th grade, made friends, and excelled academically. OA's combination of nurture and rigor was just what we needed! The parent community is open and supportive. We also value an environment where teachers, administrators, and the entire school community know and care about our children. Our daughter is now 18 and in college and our younger one, now 14, just entered 9th grade at OA. So far so good! They are making friends and love their teachers. Our second time around and we could not be happier!

I'll be honest - this place nearly drove me insane. It's not a happy place. I attended 2014-2018…read moreand I hated most of it. There were a few teachers I loved - but they are actually gone now (moved to different schools) such as Mr. O'Haire (math) and Mr. Seipel (PE - weights class) who moved to schools closer to where they live. The teachers, for the most part, were good and cared about the students to an extent. My issue lies with the other students. This place is infamous for the student community, which, in short, was not enjoyable, for the most part. While I did make some lifelong friendships, I do not miss 80% or more of the people I knew. As well as teachers, most administrators were okay. And DVHS has the best proms/balls in the bay area. Also, DVHS is academically superior. I was an average student at DVHS, with a GPA around 3.7, only a few Honors/AP courses. I had friends with over 4.5s, but also knew people with under 3.0s. I believe this place is a top 10 public high school in California, academically. The struggles I've had in high school made my time in college a breeze. College is so easy to me because DVHS was just so hard. I went from average at DVHS to (well) above average at my current school (which is certainly not prestigious like an Ivy League or UC school, but is a decent school indeed). If you plan on going to a small liberal arts college or a community college after graduating DVHS I think you will have a really easy time. I know many people currently (2020-2021 high schoolers) that transferred to Cal High or other schools because of how notoriously bad DVHS is. I actually switched to Venture Independent Study next to DVHS (public, part of SRVUSD) in the middle of my junior year and only took 2 classes at DVHS for the last 2 years (concurrent enrollment for AP calculus and a science class). My diploma is technically Venture and not Dougherty Valley. Of course I miss high school sometimes, but I am certainly glad to be done with that period of my life. Also, if you are 16-19 and know someone from DVHS, I would try to go to prom with them ;) My prom in May 2018 was memorable, definitely my most prominent (lol, no pun intended) memory of this place.

Former student here, would definetly recommend sending your child to a different school like cal…read morehigh instead. The staff is the biggest issue at this school. Teachers and counselors (apart from a select few) do not teach well and students end up having to basically self study whole courses. Staff also think students are beneath them and don't resolve issues that come up during the school year. The college and career counselor Mrs.Theobald, probably the most important person at that school because she manages internships and volunteering opportunities through the school, was the main reason I left this school. A mistake on her end (not telling me that the due date of an application was actually before the written date) made me lose an important internship opportunity, and when i went to turn in my application, she put the blame on me for not turning it in earlier (i turned it in 2 weeks before the date written). I even sent a long email to her about how i felt about the whole situation to which i got a one sentence response and no follow up or apology. That situation made me realize that i would never succeed academically if i stayed in dvhs. The school's staff has been kept based on seniority, not quality, so most of the teachers are bad, and counselors are very unhelpful and never actually try to solve problems that students have. The school might be rated high on a state level but it's because the students work so hard by themselves, so don't be fooled by the high ranking, this school has many issues.

My son comes to this school and got bullied because he was named after the school and was heavenly…read moreharassed for his clothes not that only that but he said that some kid name John Hernandez stuck his head down the toilet and that he also stole his lunch money and gave him wedgies, after that we decided to change schools and in his first day he was much better.

My daughter goes to the New Leaf Program in Vicente/Briones school its a great program and she…read moreenjoys it very much...she's doing a great job in the program, I can email or text her teachers WHENEVER I have a question or a concern ...fairly quick response for some of the teachers ,some...umm not so much ... But all in all I think she is progressing nicely....Reason for the 3 star is , it is a "continuation" type school in the rest of the school so it looks a bit " ghetto ". I guess you could say their is a lot of kids that just don't belong to the "normal" highschool across the street, my daughter is here for social issues she doesn't socialize with people...at all ...so I think it would be hard for her to be a loner in a big school like Alhambra High...

This isn't the best school. I've came here years ago and didn't have the best experience. Teachers…read morewere mean and I was brainwashed with Catholicism. I pulled out of this school and went to public school for my senior year. Best decision ever. I don't know what the school is like today but this was my experience.

Great school! Just walking around the beautiful and clean campus you see how happy the students are…read moreto be there. The teachers and administration are top notch.

As a former student, this school has been a good place for me, and the teachers were quite nice…read more They really helped me as a former student to get my life on a better path. However, in some situations, I wish the dean's office had been more supportive instead of gaslighting students who were facing vulnerable circumstances. Additionally, I observed that the school seemed to be more favorable toward Caucasian students compared to students of color, particularly in academic settings. For example, Caucasian students often received A+ grades, while students of color frequently ended up with B+ or lower, which I find highly unfair. All students of color deserve the same opportunity for excellent grades and education as their Caucasian peers. I hope that systemic injustices in our education system can be addressed.

The food is diabolically trash and must be improved. I'm not expecting 5 star food but like they…read morecould do better than undercooked bread and potatoes with dry chicken. On top of that most of the food is cold. Luckily there is a bunch of food spots around the area. But hey at least it's free for now.

The administration is awesome here, three generation of Rocha (current principal) makes this place…read morefeel like a family. The campus is showing its age and there's alot of unmaintained grassy areas, compared to Deer Valley High, this campus can look way better. Keep supporting this school, go Panthers!

Seriously? No one has reviewed this place? Out of the choices you have in Antioch, I'm glad I…read morewent to Antioch instead of Deer Valley. 1997! lol....

Thanks to this school they helped my son suceed and never gave up on him.On this day he became a…read morehighschool Graduate im so proud of him and this is a great school with a great success rate.