Hilldale is an absolute gem. We've been part of the community for nearly nine years and currently…read morehave children in 8th, 6th, and 4th grade. We're deeply grateful for how the school has supported, nurtured, and challenged each of them. The head of school is outstanding, and the teachers and staff are exceptional. We came for the academics and stayed for the school's commitment to developing thoughtful, self-aware, and engaged citizens. Hilldale's core habits of leadership, respect, and independent lifelong learning are woven into every aspect of the experience. The curriculum is well balanced, with strong emphasis not only on STEM, but also on humanities, arts, music, ethics, and global citizenship. Some of our favorite traditions include the Young Authors Project, the Harvest Feast, the Winter Music Concert, and the International Fair, which celebrates cultures from around the world. We've also appreciated how thoughtfully the school meets each child's individual needs. One of our children received early support and accommodations for a learning difference, even before a formal diagnosis, and is now thriving alongside his peers. Another was moved ahead in a subject to ensure he was adequately challenged. Throughout, communication with us as parents has been clear and collaborative. Our oldest is sad to say goodbye after starting in kindergarten, but she leaves well prepared for the transition to high school. We can't thank the Hilldale team enough for their dedication to our children's growth over the years.

Very unwelcoming school, one of the staff said that my child has dyslexia even though he doesn't,…read moredoes not feel like a school AT ALL.

Good school recomen the school my son love school thanks so much…read more‍‍‍‍really good and teacher is really nice

Thomas Edison school has been around forever. Good school faithful teachers. Great curriculum…read more Children are required to wear school uniforms which is a plus because you know if a child does not belong is not wearing the right attire.

Experience could be better... I graduated 10 years ago, so a lot of things have changed…read more From the get-go, no one wanted to be friends with me, which made me dread school. In kindergarten, I wanted to play with the building blocks, so I would hang out with the boys, but they would never include me and single me out, so I decided to hang out with the girls, and they would also make fun of me and would not want me to hang out with them because I was different. The PE instructor was mean to me as well and singled me out for a lot of things during first and second grade. On top of that, I was a victim of bullying, and a lot of people thought I was incompetent and worthless, even though I did nothing wrong. For the most part, the teachers were nice, and I know that some of you all had complaints about this one fourth-grade teacher (ifkyk), but in all honesty, a majority of your complaints are due to you enabling your kids too much. Yes, I do get that they were harsh at times, and they even singled me out for being disorganized, but it was a life lesson for me. I also witnessed them being harsh towards a student, but they were doing their work on a table that had a chair on it, and they were kneeling on the ground, resulting in their inability to concentrate properly, so in that case, they had a right to be harsh. Some of their biggest flaws were singling out students who were ahead or behind, which I was not a fan of. I remember one of my classmates transferred schools because they got singled out for being the "bad" student, which was messed up since if you were worried about their progress, it would be better to talk to the student's parents about it rather than humiliating them in front of the class. That being said, in most cases, they had a right to scold students since the students would be rather mean to the teacher (I witnessed this throughout my whole K-12 education), and they were the most stern about it, which led to parents and students not liking them. I have a feeling that maybe her reputation wouldn't have been so bad if parents didn't constantly enable their kids I also noticed that the school should do a better job with substitute teachers. During my fifth grade year, my teacher was on maternity leave, so we needed a sub and this led to the class getting out of control and my parents were having complaints about the students not learning and the children behaving badly (bullying, passing mean notes, talking over the teacher, having no regards for the rules, etc) and again, this could have been a result in parents enabling their kids too much. I was more grounded, and this led to me being bullied and singled out, so when graduation came, I felt empty towards everyone. There was this one yard member who would always come to my classroom and yell at everyone for no reason, which got on my nerves and was rather unpleasant to deal with at 8:30 am. I was also not a fan of the fact that some of my classmates were boy crazy in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade since I just wanted to live life. In all honesty, my experience could have been better, but the end of my fifth-grade year made my experience pretty bad, along with cliquey classmates and bullies.

I'm not going to say that I hated this school BECAUSE I DIDN'T. However, I have had a considerable…read moreamount of negative experiences at Tobias. These experiences were mainly pertaining to the staff of the school. To start, the P.E. teacher, Ms. Brown. She was very rude and it's very clear that she had favorites. She would yell at many students she deemed not athletic enough. It was incredibly humiliating for various students. I just feel like she could have dealt with this in a better way, due to comments she has made towards me specifically, I've started dealing with low self-esteem and insecurity. Another teacher that MANY of my friends and former classmates have reported having very unpleasant experiences with is Mrs. Harsono. I don't really need to use many words to describe how she acted towards me and many other students. She acted incredibly brutal with certain students, going as far as showing their work and criticizing every little thing about it without permission. Something that I noticed is that she would "pick on" students who had trouble participating and were behind when she could've put in the effort to help those students by simply being less harsh. Honestly, my fear of failure goes to her, the same with all my anxieties. I was so stressed AS A NINE YEAR OLD because of her. Although I had some bad experiences, there was also some good! Most of my positive memories come from third and fifth grade. I had made lots of good friends and made many memories during those times. During these years I had great and understanding teachers. All in all, this school was okay. I wouldn't say that it was great but it wasn't horrible either!

Ok so far..Faculty and staff are great & easy to reach. Some parents are nice, but a lot of them…read moreact like they can't be bothered/their shit don't stink, very high school mean girl energy. A community like this should be welcoming and not cliquey.

Not too many people on Sundays, which is nice. Priests stay…read moreoutside after mass ends to wish churchgoers goodbye.

It's actually my favorite school, I have been in this school for about 5 years. I am a forth grader…read moreat this school, You should enroll your kids to this school. This school has Peacemakers and Safety patrol, the Safety Patrol in the morning helps kindergartners to get to their lines and open car doors in the morning at Guadeloupe, The Peacemakers make peace and prevent arguments

The principal and teachers made me feel like my son was not welcome. No resources or help offered…read moreto fix the ongoing "behavioral issues" just point the finger and not really understand my child or the "why" I know my son is high energy and a bit stubborn at times. However, their are different ways to approach these issues rather than ongoing lists of what he's doing wrong. He's a 5y/o he's a very bright and very sweet unique little boy. John F. Kennedy was not a good fit for him. Not very compassionate or willing to help. They didn't even try, it's only October two months into the school year. They weren't exactly thrilled to have him. But that's ok. I love my son, and I understand him so we did what's best and are moving forward to another school with more helpful resources and patience.

Great school with great teachers. My kids had attended this school since kindergarten. Most of the…read morestrict teachers have retired. Every one of the teachers here at this school is amazing. They have security cameras in the school and the classroom doors remain locked throughout the day. The afterschool park and rec is on site which is a huge plus and super affordable compared to Ponderosa and other schools. The ratio is 24 students to every 1 teacher. It is a uniform dress code school which helps getting the kids dressed every morning a breeze. The only negative is dropping off the kids every morning. There's a white passenger drop off zone but some of the parents has zero disregards and would park their car there, making it hazardous for kids as parents would double park to drop off the kids. Too many close encounters of kids getting hit by cars. Other than that, it's a great school.

OK... so the previous reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt as many of the aforementioned…read morestaff members have retired/relocated as of the 2017-2018 school year. And besides, a school should not be judged on YELP of all places. So please, before you pass judgement and brush this school aside-- feel the culture of the school by walking around and getting to know the factors that make a school a school: the staff and its children/families. Of course for the safety and best interests of everyone, get clearance from the office first. Bottomline is: you cannot get a feeling for any school from YELP, greatschools.com, or scoring/rating system from a website, etc. --a supportive parent

This is the elementary school I used to go to back in the day. Now my oldest son goes here and I…read moreswear it's like a time warp. From what I remember it's a great school with teachers who are enthusiastic about teaching. You can tell the difference in how people teach at schools after you leave the district. I really enjoyed going to this school and according to my son he has fun here too.

My son has been in school since TK. He is now in 3rd grade. The community is very close and nice,…read moreeverybody is very polite and we kind of know each other. They principle is changed this year, but I think they are both incredible. The teachers are very experienced and the students are polite and fun. We love going to the potluck gathering. The school also offers the think together after school program at no cost. This school is simply amazing!

Yet another reason that this is the best CYO gym. Besides the great court, ample fan seating,…read moreavailable schoolyard and street parking, clean bathrooms, and nice family volunteer staff, holding an 8th grade night is awesome. Equivalent to a senior in high school senior night with life size photo banners on the gym wall, pregame announcement of players with their families, player sashes and flowers, photo boards of players in the stands, and even opponent candy leis, it made for a very festive and memorable night for these kids. Kudos STM. I wish all parishes did this.

We decided to stay. We saw how the staff lovingly handled distance learning during Covid with such…read moreheart and grace. It was obvious how much our child's teacher deeply cared about our child and the rest of her students. It showed through their interactions which we were able to witness on zoom and seesaw, and in their learning. She is an absolutely amazing teacher and we are truly blessed to have had her teach our child. We were so touched and wowed by our child's academic success and happiness that we had a change of heart.

ELA is truly a hidden gem -- I only wish I had found them sooner! Finding a preschool with caring…read moreteachers and a clean, nurturing environment is not easy, especially for my son who has speech delays. I'm so thankful for the director, Ms. Veronica. To be honest, I had some doubts at first when I spoke with her and thought it might be just another preschool, but after she gave me a tour, I immediately felt confident that this was the right place for my son. What really amazed me was how happy he was on his first day -- he ran right in without any tears! Now, he looks forward to going to school every day, and I no longer hear him cry, "No school!" Ms. Veronica has truly given me confidence that my son will be ready for kindergarten at their sister school, Hilldale. Thank you to all the wonderful teachers at ELA for creating such a positive and caring environment!

My son love this school and she enjoys reading and paying with the teacher look forward to going to…read moreschool and he now potty train too

I grew up in Daly City and attended public schools here -- the experience could have been better…read moreback in the 90s and 00s. I had my first experience in 2024 with JESD as a parent and decided to apply for a transfer for my child, first to another school in district and then to a school out of district. The JESD staff were all extremely kind and helpful. I was diligent in getting enrolled first in the assigned home school, being early to apply for transfer, meeting all deadlines and following all rules to ensure our child's best chance at acceptance. We received notice from JESD that our application to attend the specified school out of district was approved on this end and being forwarded to the other district. We (wrongly) understood that this was our application and all the paperwork was filed on time and that we would be notified if accepted to the school we listed on our application. This application was actually ONLY for the permit you need to attend out of district. None of our enrollment information at the home school was forwarded or used for application to the transfer. When it came time to hear about acceptance to the out of district school we thought we applied to, the other district had no record of us applying...because nowhere in any of the material or correspondence did JESD mention the critical information that in addition to the permit you need for your child to attend school out of district, you also have to apply separately to the district you want to attend... This is our first child attending grade K...you could argue user error, but the way the correspondence regarding the permit went, it misled us to think that in itself was us "applying" to the out of district school. We have now missed the early applications to the other district and are now attempting to squeeze into the third and fourth rounds of applications, but thought everything was taken care of...just a bit frustrated and disappointed. Hoping for the best. Hoping this feedback helps JESD and other parents, as the district could be much more clear about this on its website, in its mailed correspondences and communication from staff--simply say that the application for out of district transfer is a permit ONLY and that it is up to the parent to investigate application policies, deadlines, and apply separately to the other district to be considered for enrollment.

This school district is not the greatest but certainly not the worst. I believe every staff are…read moredoing their very best to give all the students the best education there is regardless of the limited budget. The diversity of the people in this district is amazing. My 2 older kids graduated in Oceana and I have a child that is still in Westlake Elementary. I am very happy with this school district and I commend the educators for a job well done as my children are thriving for excellence because of the school's support. If America can spend millions of dollars in buying ammunition, why can't it be spent on better education. Overall, I give this district a 5 star as it deserves it.