Glen Oak Elementary School

I am so sad with how bad my child was treated due to his social economic class, by his 5th grade teach and the office staff. It was absolutly heartbreaking. Now he is doing wonderful at another school. I wish I didn't have to take him away from his friends this year and drive so far away from home to get away from the lack of social or cultural understanding. There was alot of gossiping by faculty here. This does not account for all. One class my child attended was great, but it did not challenge my child. Unfortunatly I have to give a bad review for how traumatized my child was, but the mistreatment of some.
—Submitted by a parent

Dear Parent, Thank you for reading my posting and for your honest and candid reply. I agree with you in that the 70's were so very long ago, and I have to admit that when I joined the Army in 1980 to get out of school overload. Coming back in 1983 things had changed a lot. I left Covina in 1978 to live with my father, and he was much disciplined and I was expected to be the same I was going to high school and junior college at the same time, I just wanted a break so I enlisted for three years. Coming back home when I retired from the Army in 1994 I moved to Glendora things were ever more out of kilter than I could even begin to wrap my head around, there is something to be said about culture shock.

I love this school I went to this school when I was younger and now my daughter does. She is in first grade w/ Mrs Cannings very caring teacher, very involved w/ the kids. Her kindergarden teacher Mrs DeAnda is a wonderful teacher too. I think the testing scores could be higher if some parents got more involved at home with academic projects (if time permits) with their kids. The teachers do all they can to help all 25 kids in each class. In my child's class there is always a parent there helping out!
—Submitted by a parent

The new secretary is literally driving me nuts. She is so rude. So far, almost halfway into the school year, this has been one of the most stressful experiances.So far my son has been put in the wrong classroom, paperwork has been lost, he had to miss several weeks of school, etc. I can't even speak to the principal without getting through the secretary, that always has something sassy to say. I believe this school would appear to be a better school, if I didn't have so much stress. I just want my son out due to the stress involving the secretary, because it is just too overwelming. There needs to be an area to review the staff. Funding is a definite issue at the school, but it is not the schools fault. The PTA also plays a big part in working hard to raise the needed money. But none of that she cause the secretary to be so disrespectful to the parents.
—Submitted by a parent

Benjamin you have my misspellings and the parents today interact very much with their children and the school. 1975 was a long time ago. Many of the parents were not even born around that time. Cities, communities, and schools change in all that time. I strongly feel that most of the problems are not the children, the school, or the parents. I believe that it really all comes down to over crowded classes, less material, less resources, less employee's and serious lack of state funding.
—Submitted by a parent

I still love this school. My 2 kids, aged 10 and 7 are having a great time here and have learned so much. The community is strong and the school has many community building events through-out the year. My favorite is the spaghetti dinner / Brain bowl. Students complete against each other in a Family Feud style game...great fun. The school was labeled low performing by the state board of education, but if one looks at the circumstances surrounding the sanction, you will quickly realize that label was a purely political move...(the law is being challenged)...and the Board of education removed the label once they realized that Glen Oak has been labeled a HIGH ACHIEVING SCHOOL for the last 5 years... Good job Glen Oak students....Good job Glen Oak parents !!!
—Submitted by a parent

What Happened? This school is now being sanctioned by the State of California Dept of Education for continued low test scores. Apparently once a school is sanctioned the school district is required to notify all parents so they can move their child to any school or school district they wish. Instead of fixing the problems the District is appealing the sanction! They should let the Parents make the best choice for their children.
—Submitted by a parent

My grandaughter attended Glen Oaks and is going to 2nd grade this year. She had a great school year and a wonderful teacher. The office ladies have always been polite and helpful. All children should learn to do homework and with their parents help complete their work. I don't think the homework was to much. There are plenty of other schools in Covina scoring much lower if you don't want to expect to much you should transfer to a school with lower scores.
—Submitted by a parent

CONGRATULATIONS For having a high API score, I don't have doubts in my mind in sending my granddaughter to Glen Oak school again. Continue the good work. A. Yolo

My daugter just got out of the 6th grade, and I was very happy with the teachers, most of her peers,and her education. The only thing I'd dont like about Glen Oak is it's office staff. They are very rude and pushy, they sont try there best at working at GlenOak. I will not enroll my child in kinder next year beaucse of them.
—Submitted by a parent

My son is ending the 1st grade at glen oak, and unfortunately we will be moving out of the area. I really love this school and will sadly miss the teachers and the staff that I always see outside guiding traffic after school. My son is sad that he has to leave this school, but is also excited to move onto another school. His teachers that he had for kindergarten and 1st grade were excellent and my son was fortunate to have them as teachers. They were very caring and always on top of issues. My son was always eager to go to school and did not want to miss any days.. Glen Oak will be missed!!
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter for the most part enjoys this school. There are teachers at Glen Oak that are only there because it is their job. The teachers need to show happiness with our children and with each other, instead of bickering. After all, the reason they are there, is to teach our children. I appreciate the good teachers that actually enjoy their job and want to teach our children. Unfortunately there are very few. I believe most of the teachers don't understand to teach in class, only to send home work with not much classroom instruction, basically, do it because the state said you have to, and you need to learn to be independent. Glen Oak should watch our children better during playground time, and not tell our children that crude comments are acceptable and to get used to them. Principal should be at all school functions and at school on time.
—Submitted by a parent

I am a mother of two daughters, who have and are attending Glen Oak. I have a mixed experience. Regarding the teaching staff, there are some exceptional teachers who motiviate, inspire, and expect alot from their students. These wonderful teacher, create challenge and the student thrives with energy and knowledge. I have experienced some Wonderful teachers, and those teacher have made positive impacts. But than there are those few teachers, who just go to work, as a paycheck. They don't have the heart. These teachers don't challenge the kids, and the students just fall behind and have just wasted a year with no progress forward. Not sure what can be done with those kind of teacher, because they have a contract, but sad to see, becasue it hurts the overal performance of the child as well as the school. The principal has seemed to work hard and create positive changes!
—Submitted by a parent

This is my second child at Glen Oak. My first one attended 1995-1998, I then pulled him out and home schooled him for 4 years. My experiences this time around are SIGNIFICANTLY better than the first time. The principle does seem to be gone frequently, however, in a situation I had to deal with at the end of summer, she did everything she told me she would do. One of which required her to call the district office. All of the teachers my son has had have been positive and good to work with and have aided him in his academic development. I will agree there is not a lot of parent involvement. At this point I'm the only parent that has come in to help in his class. Last year there were only 2 or 3 of us that helped. All in all a better school now than 10 yrs ago.
—Submitted by a parent

This school has done nothing but cause my family grief. They have no clue and everything is always chaos.
—Submitted by a parent

This school needs to concentrate on teaching and not sending everything home so that no one can have family time. It is rediculous.
—Submitted by a parent

I had reasonable hopes for this school based upon the districts' reputation but have been disappointed. The resolution process leads towards teacher favoratism from the principal and the scores have been considerably lower than the other schools in the area. Some of the teachers seem harsh and impatient with the students in the classroom. As a working parent outside of the home, I wanted to contribute to the school but attempts to participate in the PTA went ignored although they readily accepted payment for the PTA fees. However, the office staff are pleasant and the staff seem to care about the safety of the children which is definately a positive aspect of the school.
—Submitted by a parent

My family has been at Glen Oak for the past two years and love it. The principals goals are right on target and my family is happy to be along for the ride. The principal has offered cross-aged tutoring this year and the 6th graders have loved the opportunity to work with younger students during tutor time. At the same time the younger students are benefitting from the 6th grade examples that have been wonderful. We have a buddy reading program where the older classes buddy with a younger class and have reading time, again an opportunity for a great experience for both age groups. I take full advantage of the opportunity to volunteer both in my childrens class as well as helping out with anything the office needs. Our office manager is wonderful and is always helpful. My children love school and look forward to going to school everyday.
—Submitted by a parent

I feel that this school would better benefit from a more proactive educational individual who is not as stoic in their thinking but actually encourages a more exciting way of learning & can actually pass it on to the students. Be more creative as this school once had. If this happens, maybe the overall scores will improve.
—Submitted by a parent

The principal at Glen Oak is never there when needed. The office manager is very rude and treats parents and students as an interruption. She acts as she is better than everyone else. The school is in need of a new principal and office manager!
—Submitted by a parent