Lake Elementary School

Excellent teachers with diverse teaching styles, offer students the opportunity to learn how to adapt to their environment (just like we do as adults with different bosses). We are current parents of students who have attended Lake, Kinder to 5th grade. We ve had a range of teachers from the strict to the easy going, funny loving ones. All teachers have responded to emails & phone calls when we had concerns, and addressed them to our satisfaction. Staff have been consistent with discipline and safety and open to parent envolvement, working well with the PTA. Families are involved at Lake volunteering, freeing teachers from tedious tasks, to focus on students. PTA offered/supplemented educational assemblies, classroom & playground supplies, and family activities like the annual Father/Daughter & Mother/Son events. Our kids have for the most part, scored as Advanced on the CST without any outside tutoring. Lake has offered: leveled reading groups; Universal Access, Renaissance - Accelerated Reader, online library catalog; Destiny, online math lessons for review/practice at home; Pearson Success Net, Garden Club, after school Kids College (additional cost) programs.
—Submitted by a parent

Test scores are not everything. I am disappointed only that it took us 2 years to figure that out. Transferred to BreezeHill. Lower test scores, but my child is learning more & actually finally excited to go to school. A world of difference.
—Submitted by a parent

I am loving the communication from our teacher this year. Our second grader is really excelling in class and is enjoying his experience. The administration is caring and willing to find a way to make things hapen. I'm proud to say my kid goes to Lake Elementary. I'm just sorry they have to work within the rules of VUSD.
—Submitted by a parent

I find most the teachers at this school to be very caring and dedicated. The PTA is amazing. Parent involvement is high. I would definitely recommend this school! Don't believe all the negative posts...it's just not accurate.
—Submitted by a parent

I also agree that the school academically does well but the needs improvement . They need a bulling program to help the students to stop the teasing, help their confidence and self-esteem. They also need to extend the parking structure to help decrease the car accidents that occur during the school year. It is not safe for the kids.

No breaks during after school programs such as Biz Town. They raise money for the school but where does the money really go to?? Not for Biz Town. Not to the students field trips or educational field trips. Because of the low budget cuts, teachers lack helping students academically. I hope they keep the teachers that work because teaching is their passion.
—Submitted by a parent

My child was new at Lake and had a negative experience. We moved to Oceanside and from a low income area in SD. My child was treated unfairly and feel I also been treated unfairly because of the area I moved from and because I had to speak to the district about a situation that I had no choice but to speak out. Hope the school staff approves and treat every individual fair.
—Submitted by a parent

My child has has a positive experience while at Lake and has had quality, experienced teachers. He even comments about how fair 1 teacher was to all of the kids in his class. Good Job Teachers! The main drawbacks; do not use the am/pm care. The Noon Duties are on a power trip. They have been rude to me personally. They are aggressive to both parents and children. They need more oversight. Parking is also a problem.
—Submitted by a parent

All of the teachers and staff at Lake are committed to giving all the students a quality education and it is obvious they have suceeded when you notice that Lake has the highest test scores in the district!
—Submitted by a parent

We moved to this area of town in order to attend Lake Elementary. Both of my daughters attend the school and have enjoyed excellent teachers every year. Lots of opportunities for parents to be involved and volunteer. We wouldn't go anywhere else!
—Submitted by a parent

I am currently researching High schools in this school district. I found the comments on this elementary to really vary. I only weeks ago decided to leave Lake and try homeschooling. I felt some of the same frustrations that the of the others parents feel.But the good news is that VUSD has alot of choices. I do not agree that parents should not 'prepare the path 'for their kids. My kids work hard and are very bright, I just wanted a different learning enviroment for them. If your not happy look to some of the other schools.There are some great options in VUSD. Don't feel that your hands are tied. Your unhappiness will affect your kids education. Also be willing to ask for different teachers, there are some really good ones at Lake. I agree with the others about the principal. If she were friendly, it would change the school enviroment.
—Submitted by a parent

We LOVE Lake and feel so blessed to have our children attending there. We have two kids at Lake an our son is now in 5th grade and our youngest is in 3rd. I stumbled across this website while looking for something else and found interesting to read the most recently posted review because it appears this is from one of the very few parents who is dissatisfied with Lake. I believe that is a case of the type of parent who tries to 'prepare the path for the child' instead of the other way around as it ought to be. If the kids won't do the work and don't follow playground rules, there are appropriate consequences. The kids work hard, but the teacher's our children have had have been fantastic at each level--especially Mrs. Parker in 3rd grade. Wow!
—Submitted by a parent

I have three children that have attended Lake. The experience that my eldest child had years ago is a very different experience then my children who are now attending Lake. For starters, the principal is cold and distant. The children fear her, and the Noon Nazis,'Get a life ladies!' So many families are unhappy at this school. My eldest child had some of the same teachers that my younger children presently have. These teachers are like night and day. They are short on patience and they zoom through their lesson plans. I do not feel that the teachers enjoy their jobs, or that our children are getting a solid learning experience. I know that much of this is attributed to reaching their bench marks. 'There is more to life (and school) other then test scores.' (Lake prides itself on its test scores) Lake Elementary is not a nurturing enviroment. Look elsewhere
—Submitted by a parent

Lake is an excellent school. The teachers are caring and there is a tremendous amount of parent volunteers. My 2 daughters have had great teachers. I only wish class sizes were 20 for all grades.
—Submitted by a parent

teachers are great Mr.Beers is so far the best teacher he teaches kids a great lesson and he makes learning fun but some teachers dont let the kids talk to them which my children dont like at all the pricabal can crack a smile every oncne a while like the princabal
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter's teacher is awesome!! caring & understanding!! The principle could crack a smile once in a while. she is too serous and not at all friendly. The school focuses too much on testing and not enough on teaching kids what they really need to learn.
—Submitted by a parent

The Kindergarten classes have 32 kids each. Date of this note is 3-3-08. Kids eat out in the cold, because the Rose Hall has been carpeted. :( The teachers that I know, have been there for many years, and have a good grip on how to run a class and teach effectively.
—Submitted by a parent

After moving to Vista, my daughter attended Lake Elementary for fourth and fifth grades. This school seems to be tired. The principal, though nice and somewhat caring, is ineffective. The teachers need some refreshment in their approach to teaching. They all have wonderful credentials and years of teaching, but they seem to have lost the excitement to teach. They could use a great deal more funding. They do not provide much in any of the arts or extracurricular activities. If I had had another choice for my daughter, I would have taken that route. I needed to be very involved in her schooling and this did not go over very well with her teacher.
—Submitted by a parent

My k student had a very good experience. I highly recommend mrs. Davis! I was very impressed with the science program offered once a week to the k students...Wow! Though the classroom was way too full (in my opinion) for this age group, there were parent helpers on hand daily to help with some of the smaller prep projects so the teacher was available to focus on the classroom activities. My main disappointment was with the music/sports/art cirriculum. I feel as though the teachers do the best they possibly could considering the large class size, time restrictions, and lack of staff available for these specialties...Still very alarmed at the lack. Took the responsibility to add those things in outside of class for our student. One other big plus was helpful and cooperative office staff and transportation. Really nice experience. Oh! Also liked the k area being separate from the big kids...A nice transition.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter has attended Lake for 3 years now (K-2). We love it. The teachers she has had have worked with individual children to help them progress and challenged them individually. Parental involvement is high and makes me feel we are part of a large family. Lake offers a before and after school program called Kid's College (parents must pay tuition). Kid's College offers a variety of classes academic, arts, music, physical activities, etc.
—Submitted by a parent