Manuel De Vargas Elementary School

A great, healty enviroment for the kids, especially coming from private preschools. Teachers are very good, and ther is a new wonderful Principal. Go De Vargas!
—Submitted by a parent

De Vargas is a great school. The teachers, principal, and support staff are extremely dedicated. It's a fantastic learning environment for children.

De Vargas rocks. My son is in fifth grade here. It can t get any better than this with Mr. Shane Tatman teaching them. He is the best. During CUSD middle school open houses, when I say those teachers that my son is at De Vargas at Mr. Tatman s class, they give rave reviews about him. This shows the respect he commands. Mr Tatman makes teaching simple yet effective and his style is unique. His depth of knowledge is amazing. He gets the kids to present on an interesting topic once monthly, gets them to do an auto-biography and positively critiques every bit of output. He is a great motivator and gives kids performance based weekly I Can Manage Myself ICMM certificate. Beyond teaching, Mr. Tatman genuinely cares. He talks to them about ill effects of smoking, promotes discipline, offers school-life balance, takes great personal pain to conduct a 3 day offsite science camp, executes No TV week, conducts walkathon and the list is endless. He is a bundle of energy and always smiling. The positive influence of Mr.Tatman will remain with my son through his career. The best words in dictionary aren t enough to say how great a teacher he is. Thanks. Mani & Geetha.
—Submitted by a parent

Our daughter is in First grade here. A school is only as good as its teachers. Be it Harker or Challenger, if the teacher isn t good enough, the brand doesn t matter. De Vargas has great teachers. My kid is with Miss O Rourke Lauren, who is exceptional. She goes above the call of duty and works minimum 12 hours a day. She is very friendly, humane, passionate, exceptionally skilled and truly cares about each kid. She calls the group Team Super Kids and communicates frequently with parents on emails. Ms O Rourke ensures each kid has customized teaching plan based on their skills and monitors performance. She does not settle for anything less and really challenges the kids to go the extra mile. Most kids in her class have already covered second grade Maths/English for which Ms O Rourke takes lot of personal effort. She also ensures kids are disciplined, participate in group events and understand / respect people from all cultures. It s a blessing for my daughter to have a school like De Vargas and teacher like Ms O Rourke. Thanks. Mani & Geetha.
—Submitted by a parent

We have two kids who currently attend. One of them used to be advanced when entering school but started getting bored in school and came down to grade level. Some teachers are highly committed but most are stuck in their ways. Course teaching is always behind schedule defined by the California guidelines. Principal is the biggest disappointment - no wonder the teachers aren't motivated. Parent involvement is non-existent, partly because the most committed parents want to hog the limelight all the time.
—Submitted by a parent

I currently have two children who attend De Vargas, they both love their teachers and are always excited to attend school. The teachers at De Vargas really go the extra mile for your children. As a parent it is very comforting to me to know that my children feel safe and comfortable at school. I find that whenever I have a question or concern the teachers and/or office staff are always available. On an academic level I see a great improvement in their reading, rhyming, and math skills. There are always parents that help in the classroom, and not only for a special occasion.
—Submitted by Jennifer, a parent

The academics at De Vargas is at a very slow pace. My child was a fast paced student with good grasping abilities. He felt that the entire class is going slower speed. Not too many extra curricular activites were available.
—Submitted by a parent

Wow! My son and daughters were there for a month as ESL learners, and my son would always mention how fun it was, but my daughter gave the thumbs down. I bet they learned a little, but both my cildren had different views. The arts there are fabulous, although there is'nt really art. Parents are not involved too often though. According to my son, they taught him a lot there and it's very good, especially for ESL learners, but my daughter hated it for some reason; perhaps because she didn't know anybosy and didn't understand anything, or perhaps the reason is because she had a bad teacher.
—Submitted by a parent

I was very impressed with the teachers at this school. They were all very attentive, and gave my child quality time-something that I rarely see anymore here in the California school systems. Students were also able to participate in over 8 field trips due to a small $45 donation from parents (a small price to pay). My only complaint is that the playground monitors are horrible! They do not try to help the students during recess, and because of this, many students were bullied. Academically, though, my child did extremely well!
—Submitted by T N, a parent

Though the API ratings are low compared to other schools in this district, De Vargas has a good curriculum in place and the teachers are experienced. The arts section of this school could use a lot of improvement.
—Submitted by a parent

The most I like this school provides longer hour Kindergarten that is from 8am to 2:05pm. My kids are ESL (English as second language) learners. They have been learning a lots from school. I like every teachers I met and worked with as a volunteer. They are so organized and enthusiastic to teach, and also they respect us like ESL kids and parents. I guess most of the kids are bilingual or about it. Wish little bit more parents volunteers involved might help this school more significant.
—Submitted by a parent

My son went to kindergarden in this school couple of years ago. It was a good daycare with strong emphasis on reading. My son was one of the best students in his class, however, for the following year he was assigned to k/1 (instead of the 2nd) grade, which was not academically challenging for him. I feel that the school failed to meet the needs of my son. I told the principal that my son needs to be challenged in order to preserve interest in studying. I was told that the class assignments cannot be changed. The approach to my child was very 'unified' and dissatisfactory. As a result my son was bored at school and developed behavioral problems. I also felt that my son did not acquire sufficent math skills to be prepared for the 2nd grade. I would not recommend this school.
—Submitted by Natalia Litchev, a parent