Great Oak High School
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10/19/2009
As a parent that has had three children all with different needs high and low end I found the school to be lacking most with the middle of the road students. Kids that are not were either not going to college were never told about vocational schools or certificated programs at community colleges. I as the parent had to find out these options by word of mouth from other parents or exploring on my own. The support staff was always friendly and helpful. However, many times I went to try and speak to a counselor and was often told they were unavailable. If they were available they would come out to the front area to talk to me and not take me into their office. The VP in charge new very little about what was going on and often refereed me back to a counselor. So it went round and round. Friends of mine have kids in programs such as IB or AVID those parents love the school and had no problems getting classes they wanted or reaching a counselor. Special needs students had case carriers that took care of them. The school is very concerned about API scores and State testing so much so that only things that meet a state standard may be taught. Teachers had to communicate what state standard was connected to each lesson. Classes and programs lacked creativity. Counseling department offered littler or no support groups. Counselors were forever changing caseloads each year and many job shared which made it difficult to stay in contact. All my children have graduated. One is very successful because he took the initiative and was very driven. The other two went to community college. One finished a certificated program in culinary arts that I found on the internet and the other one is still searching for what he is interested in. He often complains that there were not enough electives offered in high school. I think he connects college with high school and is done with the whole school thing. Great needs a lot of work. It tries to pride itself on being the closest thing to a private school. If that was true I would never pay money for this private school.
Eileen | Temecula, CA