Paramount High School

PHS is the largest high school in the state of California. We have many challenges to face, and we face them head on. I am a teacher there, and this will be my 23rd year teaching on this campus, and I can truly say that each year shows improvement. As a teacher, i care about my students, and they KNOW it, and they want the best for themselves and their future, so they respond to that caring in positive ways. We have THREE "CTE" (career technical education) pathways: health, media design, and engineering in which students can get real-world training for certain careers. We have a thriving JROTC which involves about 300 students. Our sports teams have great facilities to work in and we've had great success in soccer (state champs), track and field, tennis, volleyball, baseball, and ...football is on the upswing. Come visit and see for yourself!
—Submitted by a teacher

after reading some of the comments, i think they are most likely high school drop outs or students that went to phs and failed and blaming others for their irresponsibilities Im from class of 2011. Phs was a great school. gave us the opportunities we needed. supportive teachers. more encouragement to move on and go to a college or university. class of 2011 had one of the largest graduating numbers. more paramount students are going to college. the new construction is going on to have more resources for students. new library new locker rooms new stadium. our soccer boys went CIF two years back to back. this is really a great school.

Horrible school the staff is rude. The teachers don't care about the students. The counselors are useless. I left half way 10th grade year to a charter school, best decision I ever made. I'm in college now chasing my dreams.

I am an alumni c/o 2005. I would definitely have to agree with the staff being rude and some counselors being useless. I personally had a conflict with Mrs. Garcia('counselor') whom completely discouraged me to attend a community college, (while still in high school) to get ahead during a summer. I asked her how I should go about it and her reply was, 'why would you want to do that.' Anyways, aside from the mediocre counselor and chola infested staff I would say we do have some excellent teachers there. Students would benefit from the honors and AP classes especially with teachers like Ms. Himel, Mr. Auria, Mrs. Barboza & Mr. Teeples. I graduated with honors at PHS in 2005 and left with a full paid scholarship. Recently I earned my BA in Psychology in 2009 so I guess it is fair to say PHS did not thwart my academic success!
—Submitted by a student

There is nothing wrong with Paramount High school. They are always trying to encourage involvement and due to outside dangers they have to be prepared. Teachers and staff are fully prepared for extreme situations. This does not make them mean they can be really cool if you get to know them. Something I enjoyed from Paramount High was the diversity and flexibility. There was no separation of groups. Dances, games, assembly meetings and elections are always made in the safest and entertaining way as possible. About parents involvement, they do not get involved either because they lack communication with their children or because they have no interest, which most like to call it 'lack of time'. A great example is Mariachi Night. this is held once a year and it is a Family Night. I enjoyed PHS and I am proud to say that once a Pirate always a Pirate!!
—Submitted by a student

If your child is 'gifted' and would excel in Honors and AP programs, this school is not so bad. The Honors teachers are amazing and they definitely prepared me for college (aka Ms. Barboza, Ms. Himel, Mr. Carlin etcetc). However, if your child is doing average, or below average, they very well might graduate unprepared for college and not motivated enough to go. The Honors/non Honors kids are ridiculously segregated in a way that I think sets a precedent between the can dos and the ones Paramount has given up on. There are a bunch extracurriculars, but the same kids take advantage of them. I would not recommend this school. I would say try your best to get out of this district, truthfully.
—Submitted by a student

My twin daughters did great last year as freshmans. They were involved in many afterschool clubs. I met everyone of their teachers and got to talk about how they are doing in their classes and what we can do to help them. The school helped us get involved in Upward bound. They spent 5 weeks during the summer taking classes and 3 of those weeks living at the dorm at U.C Irvine. Now the girls are a semester ahead in 3 classes and recieved 15 credits toward graduation. And all for free ! The program was awesome and the girls are excited about going to college. The staff is great . If you as a parent get involved and ask for help they are willing to help. But YOU have to put in the effort. The kids have to care too. School isn't a daycare and teachers aren't babysitters.
—Submitted by a parent

Well i am a student attending this school. I am in my schools Leadership.We set up the dances all the events that go on in the school and try to get the students involed. I say this school does have great teachers and a very good learning enviroment. The problem is not them nor the school it is the students. The only reason i moved up in AP classes and Honors is because i wanted to get away from the students that will interupt your education.
—Submitted by a student

I also attended the back to school night at the West Campus and was upset that the teachers informed parents, how easy it is to contact them through e-mail. Well, I've been trying ever since and I have not heard from the teachers. I agree with the rest of the parents ..
—Submitted by a parent

I recently attended the back to school night at the West Campus and I was really surprise by the low involvement of the parents.
—Submitted by a parent

I would not recommend this school. It is a very hostile enviroment. The staff in the school are very rude and the counseling office is always full with students.
—Submitted by a parent

Mr. Edwards was my favorite teacher, and so was Mr. Wolfsberger, but that's about as a good memory of Paramount as I have. I would not recommend this school.
—Submitted by a former student

I went to school there.. .Ms. Ferrer was a cool teacher. She was my favorite while I was going there.
—Submitted by a former student

I currently have a student attending Paramount High School and just recently had one graduate. While this school is improving it still lacks a solid curriculum. The parent involvement is improving although it is still fairly low. While this school does not excell in most sports it does offer plenty to participate in.
—Submitted by a parent

I have one student who graduated in 1994 and one that is about to start there next month. It will be interesting to see what changes have occurred in 10 years. A school can only do so much and needs parental involvement and interest for students to succeed and for scores to improve. My graduate did fine and went on to higher education.
—Submitted by a parent