Our son was attending a large public high school when the COVID-19 pandemic started. This highly…read morerated public high school quickly transitioned to an online learning environment, but only provided one synchronous lecture per week for each class. As our son, and many of his classmates, fell further and further behind in their online classes, we repeatedly reached out to the school administration, including the principal, as did the parents of our son's school friends. However, the school's administration was uniformly unresponsive to our concerns. So, we decided to take our son out of the public school system, and place him in a private school. Our son transferred to Pacific Academy during his junior year of high school. I really can't say enough good things about our experience at Pacific Academy over the past almost two years. Everyone from the principal to the teachers and administrative staff have all been amazing. They are all very passionate about their mission to educate their students, as well as to help their students grow and develop into well-rounded young men and women. The small class sizes allow for a very personalized approach to teaching, and both the teachers and the principal are very interactive and collaborative with parents. The quality of teaching in all of our son's classes has been exceptional, and all of his teachers have welcomed engagement with us. (Unlike at the public high school our son previously attended.) I would especially like to recognize the principal at Pacific Academy, Keith Corpus, and the Director of Student Affairs, Jasmine Hsu. Their dedication, compassion, and empathy towards their students, and their families, has been extraordinary. They have both also been tremendously supportive as students, parents, and teachers have all worked together to manage the enormous (and ever-changing) impact of the pandemic. Honestly, we have come to view Mr. Corpus and Ms. Hsu as if they were part of our family, and we are so grateful to them for their dedication and commitment to their students, including our son. My only regret is that we did not transfer our son to Pacific Academy sooner. We love this school, and its faculty and staff, and we are so grateful that our son has been able to attend Pacific Academy!

This school hired unprofessional teachers like Ms Kuo in 4th grade who wasn't a certificated…read moreteacher and was very mean to kids. It is unacceptable that they allow their teachers to use language abuse on our kids! Principal didn't even care about the issue. Very disappointing.

Peaceful to come with myself and at times friends working out there. Place is nice even on the…read moretrack clean. Views are beautiful coming here.

I'm not happy with this school. My daughter went here during her Highschool years. They have the…read moreworst and uncaring teachers. I had to fight with them when my daughter was sick to get credit for her work. They think that treating kids like pest is good for them. The only redeeming person here was the counselor. If you have kids here, demand that they are treated well. Teachers will try to intimidate with their superiority complex. Check each of their rating b4 enrolling to their class.

We moved from new york city to irvine , have high schoolers and middle. We have not had problems…read morewith anyone so far. Must admit some folks around here are snoody and rude .. alternative hs Creekside has its issues with fighting and drug dealing.all the bad apples go there for various reasons inc credit deficiency. Uni tossed our kids out because of it. Thats how they keep thier stats up i guess. Southlake middle is exceptional for caring about students and parent concerns.the staff is always kind and respectful.i woukd have given 5 rating but the staff at creekside set thier graduation standards below average.. sad for the future of thier graduates.

I really wish reaching out to the district was worth it but sadly it isn't. They have zero interest…read morein what goes in their schools. The way some teachers treat students is alarming but since they aren't there to witness it there's nothing they will do. As a whole the leadership and district at these "prestigious" Irvine schools is very disappointing. You're lucky if you get a call back from someone here.

Good morning/afternoon/evening my good readers, Today we…read moreface the final review of well-known University High-school, which I know you have all been waiting for because of the significance of it. From the pristine art on the walls to the treacherous steep hills, there are many goods and bads to write about. To start, our arrival: "It's a school," one student explained to me, with not many strong feelings. Perhaps they didn't admire the money that went into creating this, what some people might call glorious, school? Or they had no idea of the danger ahead... We blew dandelions for a while, which were luckily in abundance. We hoped for good luck in our marching which we would perform in just an hour. Trees around the parking lot shaded us and added to the beautiful view, which was created with pink and blue contrasting colors and a tiny moon. This was especially cherished during the moment before we stepped onto the field, with a crow flying gracefully through the high sky. The most terrible element of our time at this school was the hill. This hill which brought immense struggle and buckets of sweat. With this addition to our problems the ending amount of stars could in no way be five or even four. Waiting for food was a different struggle, instead of something of the school fighting against us in our venture back to the buses (the hill), we were instead found with the pain of waiting. Signage was minimal and people were forced to yelling at others about where to go. "People aren't picking up their food," a person at a food stand told us. There also definitely should have been a sign towards the restrooms as well. Thank you for taking time out of your day to thoroughly read this review, ultimately making yourself more knowledgeable of the true marching band ways. Dearest, marching band pro performers

BTW, the teacher who angrily embarrassed me in front of the class and ruined my entire high school…read moreexperience was Mr. David Knight. There, I said it. My mom and I literally moved houses (she bought and sold her house) so I could go to Uni High because we had heard it was a better education. And you ruined that experience for me with no compassion. You jumped straight to conclusions instead of giving a student privacy, hearing them out, or giving them the benefit of the doubt. There was no emotional intelligence in the way you handled it. It was completely out of line. You went on a power trip. You're an employee, sir. He should have been more mature and considered how deeply his actions could affect a student, especially when that student did NOT blatantly cheat on purpose. I could always feel an ego on him, and honestly, I was kind of scared of him. He also gave me a little bit of a bully vibe rather than a nurturing or supportive one. That made being publicly embarrassed by him even more upsetting. Control your emotions, grow up, and set a better example. Age doesn't determine wisdom, maturity, or good judgment, and being a teacher doesn't automatically make someone an example of any of those things. And honestly, this made me notice what feels like a much bigger pattern among some AP and Honors teachers at Uni High: the feeling that because they teach the "smart" or "elite" classes, they can go on power trips, treat students however they want, and forget that they're still educators dealing with young people who deserve basic compassion, privacy, and respect. Adults sometimes don't realize how deeply these experiences can affect a teenager's self-esteem. You can be a smart, capable kid and still come out of an environment like Uni High feeling stupid or like you're not good enough. When you're in highly competitive classes where grades are based on a bell curve, you're essentially competing against the people around you. You can be genuinely great at something, but if someone else performs better, you can still receive a C. That doesn't necessarily mean you aren't capable or didn't understand the material. But when you're constantly being compared to other high-achieving students and rarely receive praise or encouragement, it can really distort how you see yourself. You can be highly capable and still grow up feeling like you're not smart enough because of the environment you were in and how certain teachers treated you. What happens to you during those formative years can become part of how you see yourself and who you become as an adult, even if you're not consciously aware of it. You remember what happened that one time, and years later, you might find yourself doubting yourself, feeling intimidated, or becoming afraid in a similar situation without even realizing where that feeling came from. Those experiences don't necessarily just disappear because you grew up. They can become part of how you see yourself and how you respond to the world. So, to the teachers at Uni High: please be gentler with all of your sweet, nice students. You can hold students to high standards without being unnecessarily harsh, critical, or intimidating. Sometimes it's not even what you say, but your attitude and the way you make a student feel. Please be more positive and encouraging. Being constantly negative or overly critical isn't necessarily going to prepare students better for the real world and is, in fact, quite toxic. In the workforce, being able to communicate positively, work well with others, give constructive feedback, and contribute to a healthy environment are valuable skills too. These are teenagers, not machines. They're still developing their confidence and figuring out who they are. A little more compassion, encouragement, and understanding can go a long way. You never know how something you say or do might stay with a student for years.

I come here for after-hours open-play pickleball…read more Likes: + After hours, the scene is quiet and peaceful. + Numerous pball courts. + Plenty of parking. + Other visitors come here for quiet, peaceful dog walks and private exercise. Non-likes: - The pickleball courts are terrible quality. Confusing kitchen lines, unsecure nets, nets set at incorrect heights, no boundaries to prevent ball-on interferences, if you lose the ball, you have to run all the way to the grass to get it.

Terrible school do not recommend. My son witnesses a lot of inappropriate behavior. He got his…read morephone taken away when he putting it away. Overall i am extremely dissatisfied.

My daughter has been struggling her whole life in school and we finally get her into Mardan School…read moreand she's having an amazing time. She's finally getting the support she needs and the education she deserves thank you to her teachers Mr. John and Mr. Zack thank you so much erin! You are so kind and helpful. Thank you Bonnie for everything thing you do thank you so much

I can't say enough about how amazing Mardan is. This school and the staff forever changed my sons…read morelife. Prior to coming here , he hated school , had a ton of behavioral issues and was so unhappy and school was just awful for him. We have been here for 4 years now. He loves school , he's thriving and it's absolutely remarkable to see how much he's changed and grown. The staff is amazing and I'll forever be grateful to have found this school. They truly do care about our children and they go above and beyond every day to make this environment a positive one for my son. I highly recommend Mardan if you're needing an alternative to public school , especially for children with special needs.

Most of the negative reviews reflect the chaos of school politics. It doesn't really reflect the…read moreteachers' hard work and students' lives in the past year. I don't really write Yelp reviews often, but I feel I need to share my point of view for my son's first year at this school. I don't want to see teachers' hard work and devotion to be erased by all these negative reviews. This new school does not have a lot of resources like Irvine Unified School District. The facilities at the campus are out of date and the campus is leased from IUSD. The faculty has been trying hard to maintain the school facilities, but it is very challenging. - 2 of 5 star I have been volunteering at my son's classes in the past two semesters, and both English and Mandarin teachers from the 2nd Grade are very passionate about teaching and helping our children. I have heard a similar compliment for all other teachers at different grades. The school only has one PE teacher, who is working hard and carrying a lot of responsibilities for all the kids at school- 4 of 5 star The communication channels between teachers and parents are very clear. Teachers will quickly respond and answer questions or concerns from the parents. - 5 of 5 star Before enrolling at IIA last year, my son has no knowledge about Chinese handwriting. As now, at the end of his 2nd semester, he can do both reading and writing more than 117 Chinese characters. For reference, attached are words he has learned so far. - 5 of 5 star Some parents have questions about the on-site after-school program. From my observation in the past two semesters, my son was able to complete his homework at school, attending enrichment class for music and art, and playing with his friends after school. My son always asked me to pick him up last so that he can spend more time at school. - 4 of 5 star To sum up, my wife and I feel very fortunate that our son has this opportunity to learn both English and Mandarin at the same time without sacrificing our weekend attending Chinese school. Everyday when we dropped our son to school, he always rolls his backpack with lightening speed and runs to the teacher. We can tell our son really enjoys his first year at IIA. This is a tuition free charter school, not a 5 star Private school. This school requires a lot of parents to involve and help. This is a new school starting with a bumpy start. We all hope one day the school board and parents can come to an agreement one day so the teachers/students in between will not be sacrificed.

Mastering the language is the best key to start learn a culture of country…read more We are so touched that the school and teachers have done so much to make our children happy every day.

i am student of venado as 7th grader, i say there are amazing teachers, they are not that strict…read morethe reason they get strict because students isnt behaving well, we got so many activity and field trips i love that school, they even got delicious lunch, every ball is there, PE is so fun you can enjoy there, infact the lunch is long and fun. The School IS AWESOME!!

The teacher this school is very good except for some of them,there are specific teachers that likes…read moreto make inappropriate jokes with students and race is still a problem in the school,I hope they could have done a better job on that.

Here, students always come first. The tutors are amazing, patient, and truly care about every…read morestudent's success. Highly recommend!

I paid one week SAT class, after the payment, I got an additional invoice from accounting saying I…read morehave to pay $60 to register which is never mentioned during the consultation and the payment link they send to me. They also changed the class schedule which means there is no SAT class during the week I want to attend, they told me they have SAT class every week then after paid they send me the real schedule which is every other week, when I want my refund they said they have to deduct $60 for the processing fee, so now I have to dispute with my credit company to get my money back, so never ever trust this company again

Director Jennifer Ahn and teachers at Jen's learning center teach children with love…read more And they are sooooo kind! My son has been studying here for almost two years. During Pandemic, He had online classes, and I was very satisfied with the new workbooks. I already recommended this center to my friends p.s. Thank you Hannah ! Joon enjoys studying with you very much.

My kids have been attending this learning center for the past 2 years and my wife and I love it…read more The center recently went through rebranding and enhanced their curriculum. It is definitely more advanced but my kids are loving the new challenge. I really appreciate all your help for my kids. Thank you!