I just hate this school, their athletes are always being…read moremean, also it kinda of seems like they got some really bad lunches. Um, the government likes them more, because I can tell just by how much nicer.

I am not trying to be a hater by posting this review but trying to give parents who are moving into…read morethis state information regarding this school. Prairie High School is 10th-12th grade. If your child is academically focused and used to challenging honors or higher level classes, I would urge parents to avoid this school and this school district. We did extensive research on all the schools in the area including Iowa City and decided to move into the College Community School District because of its high score on Greatschools.org and praises from my husband's coworkers. Well, we were very disapointed and moved out of this school district after only one week of our daughter being enrolled. If you are not from Iowa but from the West or East coast and used to high standards of education, you will be disapointed. Iowa does not have honors classes for students. Not all high schools are created equal. Linn Marr and West High have advanced classes for English and Math but they are not called honors classes. Prairie HS does not have any advanced English classes! All students are expected to attend the same grade level of English classes even if your child was an honors student. This is a sports focused school. Teachers and students focus on the sports of the season and sometimes spend the entire class time discussing the previous game. Again, if your child is focused on sports, then this school is for you but if your child is academically focused and would like to be an engineer or medical doctor, avoid this school. I would recommend Linn Marr or West High. These are really the only two good high schools in this area. Another negativity is the dominance of cliques in this school. If your child did not grow up with this crowd, then it is very difficult to be accepted by the cliques unless you are an outstanding athlete. The teachers are mediocre and drive the focus on sports and homecoming. I received 5 emails about the homecoming in one week! Talk about overkill. We spent alot of monies renting a nice home and then had to break our contract because of the high school. I hope other parents don't make this mistake. We moved to Linn Marr which is much better. Linn Marr has more variety of classes and they have the advanced classes plus more choices for AP classes. Prairie has very few AP classes. They don't focus on academics at this high school. If you go to the school website, you will not find a high school course description or curricullum description which should have been a red flag for us. Linn Marr and West High have their school catologs and class descriptions online. Both schools are closed to students who are not in the boundaries so you have to move into the district. At Prairie, students are given a Mac laptop to take home and have to bring to EVERY class. Often, students are surfing the internet while teachers are lecturing. Teachers rarely give homework which requires the use of the laptop. It is a fancy gimmick. Most students in this district are from the subdivisions by the community college and in Shueyville. They are well to do and do not need a helping hand with laptops because they already have computers at home! Instead of spending school funds on laptops, the monies should have been spent for an improved academic curricullum. Yet, this is not the focus of this high school. Students are not allowed to wear backpacks, so students have to carry their books with them and their computers and stop at their lockers after each class to change books. Again, the school protcol is the laptops have to be present in every class just in case they need it for class which they don't. Pros: Offers German as a foreign language Laptops checked out for school and to take home Althletics; students do not have to try out but everyone is allowed on the team but less althletic students may not get to play during the games Althletically focused - a pro if your child is an athlete Homecoming is a BIG deal if that is your cup of tea - Reminds me of the movie "Carrie" Cons: No advanced or honors English classes offered in 10th grade Only a few AP classes are offered for 10th graders and not much more for 11th and 12th graders Few selection of classes Dominant cliques Not academically focused Laptops distract from class lectures Students who are smart and get outstanding grades are made fun of by the dominant cliques Few after school activities except for athletics If you grew up in this area, this review might be offensive. We moved here from the West Coast and are used to high standards in school, lots of after school clubs and activities, and rigorous/challenging classes which include Honors classes and lots of AP and IB classes which start at the Freshman level. Students are also academically competitive which drives other students to strive for higher attainment of academic goals.