This school was never very special to me. The only reason I tried was because of the praise I was given which eventually lead me to having a complex. Always telling me that because we learned a year ahead we were special. I never really learned until I left the reality of high school. It's so different from what I was prepared for, and I was never taught about it, so I was terrified. Even though I was never harassed in this school I always felt left out. No one really talked to me and that's kinda because the thought of grades always stuck to me and left me pretty anti-social. I was in gifted and was proud but now I'm just a burned out mess full of anxiety about little things because I was taught grades were worth more than my mental health. I'm mentally not stable anymore and people I know are the same. I'm ashamed that this school is the only thing I could ever have on my resume when I eventually get any job because I was just too focused on trying to put in so much effort that I didn't have time for anything else. Truth is, all that stress and effort got me B's at best, which made me feel absolutely useless. The lessons weren't even entertaining and I always felt like I was doing the same thing over and over again. Like a repeating process that I got sick off and wanted to leave from. This school never really stuck to me as "wow, this is a good school." It's like "oh, this is what screwed me up." Y'know? The fact that we had to wear uniforms is understandable but if I didn't have it I would get in trouble. We had to pay for wearing normal clothes as if it was a privilege and most of the time I couldn't afford it because my parents were BROKE. The only reason I got in at a young age was because of someone I knew and it's not something I'm proud of. I just don't like being put on a pedestal and gain all this pressure because of one school I went to. The only reason I got an A in my math class was because the teacher was chill about everything which made the kids go to havoc, making me feel like the only stable thing in there. You can look at Phuq's post for more things that happened in their time of going there, since I didn't have many memorable things when I went there. Kachow read more

Horrible school ! Do not send your kids here at all! They treated me like shit! Their was only a couple of good teachers was Mrs.Fala Mr.pierce Mr.Iyler and etc read more

hello i'm a former student that went to vista from the grades 2nd til 8th. i have waited a year to write this and i'm tired of the school getting praise when in reality it is a toxic learning situation for students of all ages. they pride themselves on making sure their students are safe and comfortable and cared for when in reality this is all wrong. they cared more about our hoodies having a logo and the rating of our school over our mental health. starting in 4th grade i started to suffer tremendously mentally and it took a toll because they were setting expectations too high and not focusing on their actual students well being. it because a contest on what school had a higher ranking and how trailsides lines were "sTraiGhtEr". there were several instances where the staff were completely unreliable with the very prominent issues on campus. they felt that a logo on a hoodie was more of an issue than female student being practically sexually harassed. we had an hour long assembly on hoodies during our learning time yet they couldn't assess the harassment issues. in 6th grade one of my friends got harassed for an outfit she wore yet there were no repercussions for the boys that chased her around at recess, she was a literal CHILD. yet they did nothing to the students that made her feel like an object. another example of the staff not doing anything was when the guys were throwing pencils at another one of my close friends while she was asleep because her lower back was showing. we took this to the office with complaints and they did absolutely nothing. they did stupid interviews but in the end the students doing it were not disciplined. this left her embarrassed because she had to walk around knowing that the whole 8th grade class heard about what happened. on the topic of sexual harassment, all of middle school girls had to deal with something called "slap ass friday". no matter who you were or what you told the boys they would slap your ass and the teachers and staff did absolutely NOTHING about it. the last issue that was blown out of proportions was towards the end of 8th grade year. my friends and i wanted physical memories so we brought a instax polaroid to take like 2 photos of our friend group during recess on our time which we were told was ok on the day before. when it go to the time for us to take the photos, a stuck up recess aid who had previously said it was ok decided to call the office on us and tried to take our camera. we had to have a huge conference (a group of 20+ students) with the principal and because of this we lost lunch time and because i'm pretty sure it's illegal to do that they cut into our learning time. they prioritized photos and hoodie logos over female students being harassed and treated unfairly while still treating us like objects in a game trying to get the highest ranking of schools. it's embarassing to say that i went there now after going through being taught there. if you have read this and are still sending your student there, knowing how they treat their students that they're supposed to protect and care for, then i am extremely disgusted and you should be ashamed to put your child through that because their curriculum isn't even as advanced as they suggest and it's a waste of mental exhaustion to send them there. i would 100% give this a 0 star rating if i could. update: almost 2 years later and i still stand by everything said, infact i should have said more. also i know this is being passed around now so hi, i see that nothing has changed. read more

Hello, I would like to come on here to discuss the horrible, and disappointing things going on at this school. As many know currently there has a been a recent occurrence of a super intendant choking a 10 year old boy until he was un-conscious!. The principal of the school also hid it and payed for them to keep it hidden for months, MONTHS! how irresponsible.. This school also forces these kids to try their best and some of these kids can feel as if they mean nothing because of all the stress this school puts on these kids. Also, many of these kids that are still at this school to this day have mental issues and send serious threats to these poor kids. And they are still at this school, how un believable! These kids condone in violence, 11 year olds bringing tasers to school and speaking of committing suicide and making such a joke out of it. And many of these kids are treated unfairly, the ones who have more "problems" don't have to try as hard as the ones who don't have issues, i went to this school and the kids in my class in 1st-2nd grade who were less "intelligent" than others were given privileges to be able to go on chromebooks while we were stuck learning and they would continue to misbehave. Also these teachers are very childish, the way they act is horrible! They talk about students to other students and they are very toxic to these poor kids. The recess aids are very very toxic, all they do is yell at these children and keep them waiting in this hot heat. There was also another occurrence when a student chased and choked another student, and another student said they wanted to shoot up the school!? This school tries to keep their reputation good but its horrible, kids are doing inappropriate things in bathrooms, skipping class and more. This school only seems to care about having a good look, not actually being well to these students. This school is horrible do not bring your kids here!! read more

If I could give this school a 0 I would. This school is absolutely disgusting. Some of the staff at Vista Del Sur are honestly unprofessional. This is a place where you shouldn't take your kids unless you wanna hear them complain about the unfairness of this school. My daughter and son have been doing to Vista for atleast 6 years until I unenrolled out the school last year. During the years my children were here, they would always come home and complain about how school is stressful with all the high expectations they give and to make matters worse, the staff were adding even more problems onto their plate. I know that you guys heard about the incident where a superintendent named "Kathy Davis" chocked 10 year old "D'el'jay". During this occurrence, it has been specified that Jessica Epacs saw Kathy Davis chocking D'el'jay but didn't do anything. This right here shows that your kids aren't safe. I know that Laveen parents want their kids to be safe at school and not have worry about wether or not their children are being treated like human beings or animals. As well, Jessica Epacs is a big liar. It was said that she payed the police to keep this incident a secret. How horrible of a person do you have to be to stoop that low. You call your students your "children" and that you're their "second mom" but yet when it incidents like these happen, you want to act as if you never said those things. The schools system is honestly a disgrace to the district. The staff at this school are also bad people as well! My daughter would come everyday and tell me that she would hear staff talking down on students behind their backs. For example, she heard one of the recess aids talk upon a students looks with other students. First of all, you are a grown women talking about childs face? Get a life. These kids are twice or three times younger than you and yet you are acting as childish as they are. Embarrassing honestly. As a father, I want my kids to feel safe at school and not pick up these type of bad habits. But that can't happen if horrible staff like that are still working over there. Another occurrence of unprofessional staff is a 5th grade teacher that goes by the name "Mr.Dolecki". Mr.Dolecki had made my daughters 5th grade year horrible, as well as my sons. My daughter came home from school one day crying because Mr.Dolecki embarrassed her infront all of her peers just to gain some laughs from the class. What was the reason? Mr.Dolecki should be worrying about making his fellow teacher friends laugh instead of his students if that's his type of humor. For my son, he went home having an attitude which is already annoying for me as dad but I still care for my son so when I asked what was wrong, he told me that Mr.Dolecki kept on picking on him because he didn't know the answer for a certain question on a test. The schools academic system is already a lot for students but picking on them when you should be helping them is a whole other story. Staff like that should be fired but yet Jessica Epacs does nothing. And before you go "did you talk to Jessica Epacs about this?" I did. I even spoke to Mr.Dolecki himself and they both brushed me off as if my kids were lying. I know kids can be petty and just want to get their teacher in trouble because something happened but I KNOW MY KIDS and i know that they wouldn't stoop that low because at the end of the day they're only there for education purposes. At the end of the day, Vista Del Sur needs to hire staff but until then please do not bring your kids here. I know that their high scores compared to other schools can be very persuading but your child's safety and emotions are more important than grades. read more