Fred E. Weibel Elementary School

We are new to Weibel & I have to say that I'm LESS than impressed with this school.The office staff is not very friendly or helpful. Being a new parent I dropped in to meet the principal and was told I'd need to make an appointment. I find it ridiculous that you need to make an appointment just to meet your principal, this is completely the OPPOSITE of our previous school where she had an open door policy. There are school rules/policies that I don't agree with, ones that limit parent involvement. One policy forbids you to walk your child to class or talk to your teacher in the mornings. Also if you volunteer you cannot bring a younger sibling (even if they are not disruptive) OR bring a younger sibling to class for any class parties. This makes it hard for me to be involved. I dont see the positives of such policies,other than to limit parent involvement. There is not a sense of community. This was a big adjustment from our previous school where you felt a strong connection to your school and was encouraged to be apart of the school community. There should be more to a school then high test scores, if I had know about these ridiculous policies I would have chosen another school.
—Submitted by a parent

As you can see from the comments parents say there are some good teachers/some bad ones as in any other school. There is nothing outstanding about this school. It's the parents who push their kids & are SUPER involved that make it work. The main secretary there is very aggressive, plays favorite w/ parents, & VERY rude. You will notice it as soon as you walk in the office. Hopefully with the new principal coming in, things will change there. She creates a very stressful office atmosphere for parents/children/staff. Do your research b4 you choose Weibel. Kids are taking open book tests even in 5th grade, so be careful about the 'academics' as you don't know how they achieve the high marks. Look for an overall positive atmosphere.
—Submitted by a parent

My son had Mr. Richwood as his 6th grade teacher. He is an passionate and humorious teacher, and he knows how to motivate the students to reach their best! All the kids love him! I am so glad that my son finished his elementary school years with Weibel, because this school has a lot of great teachers there!
—Submitted by a parent

Mr. Ontiveros is a wonderful teacher. Both my daughters are/were his students in 1st grade. He puts a lot of emphasis on discipline and balances well with academics. Overall, I am very impressed with the kind of education, discipline and the extra curricular activities of the school. A very well balanced system. Kudos to the Principal.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter started her K here with Mrs.Black's class. Mrs.Black is an excellent teacher, very easy to parents and very friendly to kids. Now mine's attend first grade in Mrs.Stafford's. Mrs.Stafford is one dynamic teacher which every parent would like to have for their kid. She does a lot of activities in class, emphasis in academics again very friendly to parents and mainly to kids and easy to deal with. Weibel PTO does far beyond expectations. Kids enjoy their wild cat run, PTO movie night, book fair etc. I mustn't forget to mention about the hard work they put on restoring library hours, computers, science and music. Weibel's after school chess program is one of the best in the state I would say (thanks Dr.K). On top of it we have wonderful parent networking that got formed from Kindergarten. My daughter has a great bonding of friendship and she and we are enjoying her school years at weibel despite of all the budget cuts happening. We are proud of you WEIBEL.
—Submitted by a parent

My two girls went to Weibel, and I am very happy with this school. All the teachers work hard to ensure the standards are met, and especially all four 6th grade teachers who well prepare the kids for the middle school. The multi-culture environment is very appreciated, and I am very lucky to meet some parents who are very involved in the school events and activities, which also help my kids to have fun throughout these years!
—Submitted by a parent

Weibel is an outstanding elementary school. My son attended from Kindergarten through 6th grade. He had an IEP for Asperger's and is also GATE. All his teachers and his classroom aide went out of their way to help my son stay focused in class and be successful. He is now doing very well as a Math and Science honors student in Junior High school. Weibel parents are all very involved in their kids' education, volunteer at school, they have a great Parent Teacher Organization (http://teacherweb.com/CA/Weibel/PTO), a big annual fundraiser called the 'Wildcat Run', and a Spring Carnival.
—Submitted by a parent

Overall, Weibel is an excellent school. The school is very focused in academic studies, student ability development even though not all the teachers match the reputation of the school. However, it only takes one good teacher to change your child s life. We had Mrs. Milano for one of my boys when he was hardly ever on a list of favorites of any teachers. Mrs. Milano saw him through his playfulness and ridicule, recommended a GATE test (we knew very little at the time). My son passed the test 98%. He thrived ever since. To top all these, he had Mr. Richwood in the sixth grade, who is also an exceptional teacher you can find. Considering there are many good teachers there, we ll keep our fingers crossed for our younger boy s miracle to happen, not to say that we are not doing our shares at home.
—Submitted by Yolanda Bai, a parent

There is a great level of focus academics. This is a good preparatory school. We have been fortunate to get some great teachers like Mrs Black, Mr Ontiverous, Ms Pappas and now Ms Silva. Our daughter has been happy with them all. We have been happy with them all. The PTO is also very involved in the school and that helps a lot as well. Strongly recommend this school to any of the private schools.
—Submitted by a parent

Weibel is an excellent school. My son was in 1st Grade in 2006-2007. He got a lot of confidence in him thanx to his teacher. The teachers go out of their way to help. Thanx a lot Mr. Ontiveros.
—Submitted by a parent

The Teachers are very good and lead us to a 975 API. Go Mr.Richwood!
—Submitted by a student

The quality of academic programs are good and parent involements are really strong. However, Weibel's teacher quality is very mixed. Although my 6th grader met excellent teachers before and has a very good teacher this year, some of the teachers he had could not compare to this school's good reputation.
—Submitted by a parent

Weibel is an excellent school. The teachers, especially ones who have been teaching longer, are dedicated and caring. The academic standards are very high. Sometimes, the amount of homework and project assigned can be very demanding from grades 3 and up, depending on the teacher you have.
—Submitted by a parent

great academic environment.
—Submitted by a parent

The best elementary school in Mission. Excellent adminstration, teachers and parent participation. Quality after school programs.
—Submitted by a parent

I am very happy with the quality of academic programs at the school. Teachers are great and parents involvement is very high
—Submitted by a parent

Great programs, quality teachers. Music classes provided. High percentage on parent involvement
—Submitted by a parent

Our daughter attends K here. The Kindergarten staff work together and plan many hands-on, engaging learning activities. In the K class they have weekly cooking time, math centers involving games and hands-on learning of math skills, art centers, and music/singing time in class. The staff is a good mixture of veteran and new energetic teachers. The school itself offers some good programs such as after school band, chess club and chess team, basketball team for upper grades and a local girl scouts troop meets on campus. Students attend computer lab and library weekly. There is a full-time librarian. The parent involvement is very high. There is a lot of support for the teachers. This is a wonderful public school with good teachers, great students and parents that support each other. We have met some wonderful familes here.
—Submitted by a parent

My child is in K and she likes the school so much. Her teacher is very nice with dicipline. Lots of paperwork she brings home each week too, which usually involves parents to help out or sign off. A big thing my child has improved since going to this school is to learn to be responsible and remember to remind us her school activities. That's great! Other things are great too in this school. We look forward to the 6 more years ahead!
—Submitted by a parent

The academic program is okay compared to James Leitch school where my older child had to go as there was no space. The office staff is not helpful and friendly. Not much into extracurricular activities.
—Submitted by a parent