I had a 6th grader and 8th grader (who also started 6th) attend this school. Given the demographics of the school, the education provided is absolutely horrendous.
If you have the opportunity, go tour private schools such as Stratford and Harker to see for yourself the major gaps in how they teach. The school and teachers can't even speak clearly about their curriculum, they will point you to the district website that is cut and past of CA Dept of Education guidelines rather than talk about how they execute the curriculum.
The best you can say is that there are some friendly teachers. However, being friendly does not equate to learning. You won't find grammar, sentence structure (parts of speech), expository writing taught, or full novels being read. For example, after reading a short story, there is never a discussion about why the author penned the title. This is a crucial question that develops critical thinking skills as authors pen titles after writing the story, it is special in nature because it is the title. The science curriculum is outdated, apparently, neither teachers, district, and admin staff could not make a decision in the last 3 years. In 8th grade, during COVID distance learning, my son was yelled at by the science teacher asking him a loaded question if she said something about an assignment (clearly if she did, he would be having this conversation) - it left him in tears and I had to and interject for this awful behavior. A math teacher, who was so lazy that he waited a week before the semester was going to end to speak about any issues he had with homework, not giving enough time to rectify items that were done weeks ago. When I asked my 6th grader's teachers and counselor about expectations on how to navigate google classroom, studentvue, and various other websites to ensure my child was doing the proper protocol, they could not give me the process even with intervention from the principal. The focus is not learning, but rather, here is a lot of stuff and you go figure it out.
If you have the means, please send your kids to private school. It is not worth the headache and heartache to see your child's interest and education decline. They don't teach, and the reason for the competitiveness is because parents are put in a difficult place of wanting their child to learn fundamentals that the school does not provide. Competitiveness is the perception because the standards are too low. The majority of parents are working professionals from all over the nation and world, what they see is an absolute travesty in comparison to the education they received in another state or country.
As for the district, they have much more power to change but don't exercise it. The CA board of education provides guidelines, but it is up to the district to execute. Don't be mistaken they don't have any agency, as it is very much up to the district to manage schools, teachers, and curriculum. They, ultimately, have a monopoly in the worse sense. Private schools, need to compete and they will be the first to openly talk about curriculum, culture, and expectations. The district speaks about how the enrollments are declining, yet somehow fail to recognize that private schools in the area are expanding.
To quote Peter Drucker, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." Meaning, no matter your plan to address gaps and to seek support, it will be held back because the school does share the same culture for foundational learning excellence. It is a waste of your time and your child's time. Again, I urge parents to visit private schools and look at their standard curriculum and culture compared to KMS. There was a time, decades ago, when public schools were coveted that wealthy families were willing to pass on private. Most importantly, you will see the difference in behavior - that in itself speaks volumes. Do you want to be in a welcoming environment where your questions get answered or be ignored? read more
