Santa Teresa High School

It's an overall great school, I'm enjoying it very much, nice commuity, nice kids, but like in every other school its all up to the student when it comes to making wise decisions.
—Submitted by a parent

The students seem to become somewhat apathetic because of the lack of challenging programs. Students who were successful in Middle School are no longer high achievers because they are not challenged.
—Submitted by a former student

The Math dept. definently needs more dedicated/motivated teachers, and they need to learn how to be respectful to the students. The English and Science dept is good. They definently need to get rid of the 'bad teachers' who will prepare our children for their futures. Foreign language is okay. St need nore motivated teachers, who actually love to teach.
—Submitted by a parent

Good School For Sprecial Ed if Your willing to help your studend all four years. I was a proactive parent and called and saw the teachers. But I was a rare parent. Often the only parent at back to school night in the special ed classes. My son graduated with honors because we cared enough to be there for him. He did the work himself and encouraged him to see his teachers often. you can too!
—Submitted by Donna, a parent

This is a great school, my student has exceeded my expectations.
—Submitted by a parent

There are excellent academic and sports opportunities at this school. I would rate this as one of my favorite schools in San Jose, California.
—Submitted by a former student

Santa Teresa has an awesome Multi-media arts magnet program. The woman who runs the program at S.T. is on top of it. Great classroom, state of the art equipment.
—Submitted by a parent

Good academic programs but with limited AP selections. Great school environment.
—Submitted by a parent

Santa Teresa is a really great school one of the better ones in the ESUHSD. Their science department is really impressive with the amount of labs that they do, when other schools won't take the time to set up a lab for 30 hours when it takes an hour to actually do the lab. The performing arts is really impressive especially the Marching Band. i use to attend EVHS and didn't like the 4 small school plan. I really enjoy going to Santa Teresa and am extremely saddened by the amount of pink slips given out to my teachers.
—Submitted by Carmen Buantello, a student

Counselors unavailable to meet with students for career planning.
—Submitted by a former student

Santa Teresa High School is considered one of the better schools in the South San Jose area. While it offers a great array of extracurricular activities, clubs, and art-related activities, teacher quality varies greatly between departments. Some teachers (the AP calculus teacher in particular, as of 2004) are extremely dedicated and are willing to work every day with students on any issues they may be having. Others are extremely negligent and do not actually teach or lecture; they instead set the students up for failure. However, the principals at this school are working very diligently on providing Santa Teresa with more AP classes and are always willing to listen to the concerns of parents. Discipline at Santa Teresa is handled--not on a remarkable level, dress code violations are all that are caught. However, all in all, Santa Teresa does a reasonably good job in teaching our youth.
—Submitted by a parent

Students are not assigned guidance counselors until their senior year, even if they require guidance in selecting appropriate classes or have experienced academic difficulties. The teaching staff and counseling staff were unavailable to help us help our son to succeed. Even with parental involvement, this school is not concerned with developing children.
—Submitted by a parent

Two kids (one already graduated) in school. Prior admin awful. New Co-princ are great (so far). Math dept is awful. Not inpressed with much more - and would definelty go somewhere else if we had the choice.
—Submitted by a parent

I had one child graduate from S.T. a couple of years ago and now another one will be graduating this year and there is one more to go for the yr 2005, and I have seen many different things with teachers for each of them. I think the teachers are as good as the students are. I do think their math department is the worst and needs help, their science department is excellent, and their english classes are boring and need to be brought up to date. There are very dedicated teachers there, but I think there are more uncommitted ones. The students do not get the respect they need and in turn they do not show respect to the teachers. I personally think S.T. was a better school five years ago then it is now, but maybe the new principal can change that. There seems to be no spirit there anymore.
—Submitted by Laura Mazzella, a parent

I have two kids in school. The math dept. is terrible, and the liasons for the kids don't know a thing about talking or handling teen-agers. They are rude, and just want to get rid of kids in trouble or with problems fast, without considering what's best for the childs interest.
—Submitted by a parent

I just graduated from ST and thought it was a pretty good school. The departments definitely vary, but for the most part the teachers and staff are good. I found that the math department is absolutly horrible and the science department is wonderful. The school spirit among students, staff, and administration has dropped tremendously, which really does make a difference. Link Crew(program for incoming freshmen)has ended due to lack of effort, so it seems like the school is slowly going downhill. I think with a little more school spirit and effort among administration, and a change in the math department, ST would be great.
—Submitted by a former student

I have had one child graduate from S.T. She had a great education except in the math dept. I now have another child in S.T. We have found for both children the science department is outstanding! The math department is atrocious! We have been through 6 teachers in the math department and the teachers don't seem to want to teach. One child has gotten very negative comments consistently, and most of their friends seem to be flunking the math. The district needs to get back to teaching basic math and not this integrated math is one way I can see that it could improve. We have had great English teachers for both children, and they have an outstanding elective department. The new principal this year will probably do much better, than the previous one too! S.T. has a great dress code, except I don't agree with the sleeveless shirts and sundresses, though I do agree with the no spaghetti straps, no bare middrifts, etc. Sleeveless is too extreme though, and I feel controlling. english teachers
—Submitted by a parent

I have two students that graduated recently from ST and I feel that they were given an excellent opportunity to learn and succeed. Most of the teachers are great, some are exemplary, and some mediocre. As with most any school, you must seek out the level of education you desire personally and work to attain it. There are plenty of caring teachers and staff to help you, if you are interested. This school offered a safe, clean learning environment and many extracurricular activities. Great parent involvement, and a nice commmunity-minded neighborhood. Very few rentals. I got a definite sense of pride in their school and in themsleves from the majority of the kids I met there. Toward the end of my child's time there, there was an incident which started off to be a senior prank. This incident took a bad turn and ended up being used by some teachers, administrators, parents and students to turn it into a racial issue. This sense of distrust did change the atmosphere at the school for a couple of years following, but seems to have faded into the past with the current change of administration.
—Submitted by a parent

I attent ST and I am having a great time! I have a 4.0 and I'm involved in ASB and sports. ST is a great school. Some of the teachers are a little lazy, but there are also the fabulous hard-working teachers. Coming from a school that had a lot less to offer, ST is my dream come true.

I have a 4.0 Student who is attending this high school and he is not being challenged enough to be prepared for college. The teachers are so lazy on some days that they decide to watch a student-brought in movie all class period then to work on the class project the next day, half of the class will fail the project because of lack of in-class work. The homework does not help either because it is 5 hours worth of work that the student will not get help on till after he loses points on it for not doing it.
—Submitted by a parent