Dougherty Valley High School

My daughter graduated 2012 and now attends Saint Mary's College of California. She recieved a FULL scholorship. I am so glad all 3 of my girls attend this school. The academics is second to none in the Bay Area. At last years graduation ceremony the statistic was a 99.8% graduation rate with 92% of the graduating seniors attending a 4yr university going into fall 2012.
—Submitted by a parent

My son graduated June 2011 and is now attending UCLA. We were very pleased with the quality education that he received at Dougherty Valley HS. He was well prepared academically to handle his college coursework. I have been a home owner in SRVSD and my children have attended school with the district since 1995. Due to recent divorce and sale of family home I have been renting for 6months during transition. I am finding that there are many in same situation that are currently renting temporarily. I spend many hours voluteering at my yougest sons school, etc. People don't be so quick to judge. I did the same and am now renting one of the units temporarily that I complained about as they were being built in order to keep my youngest in this school district. Because of my older childrens great experiences in SRVSD, I am looking to purchase new home here so that he can finish school here as well.
—Submitted by a parent

We need to get more staff as the student population has doubled. As a property owner around the school and my son attended the school when it first open about 5 years ago. I love the first principal. She was superfast in responding to my email. I even received a personal a call from her within 10 minutes. Super hardworking principal who did the pioneer work in getting the school started on solid foundation. However, at that time the school has around 1,000 students or less. It is now 2,200 plus students as there are more rental units and new housing around. The property owners pay a lot of money on the property taxes and contribute to the schools with volunteer time and donation money. I know for sure the rentals are less inclined to do so in both time and money. Too bad the county is messing a good thing we got going in San Ramon as the county is the one who approved the 300 plus rental unit near the high school. Anyway, I still believe the new administration will continue to find ways to keep up the good academics. Sports are great too. The kids are well occupied with activities.
—Submitted by a parent

The academics are a big part of DV, because we were pushed to try. But that was helpful to me now. You can't just slip through the cracks and be successful in life. You need to push yourselves and the teachers did a good job at generally pushing us but not overloading us. The spirit has increased a lot in the last few years, and I loved going to the games and seeing teachers and their families supporting the wildcats along with us all. Most of the students are very proud to be Wildcats. I found that students at DV aren't as stereotypically cliquey like in other high schools. People are just genuinely friendly. There were several days when I would see someone sitting by themselves and I would or a random student would go introduce themselves and try to make a new friend. That's just how it is at Dougherty. You go out of your way to make others feel safe and welcome. As for the teachers, I was able to become very close with multiple teachers who really influenced me and made a very big difference in my life because of how much they actually cared about me. The only problem I found, was sometimes the admin is a bit dramatic over pointless things. And the tardy sweeps were dumb.
—Submitted by a student

Hi Guys my daughter is a senior and the inefficiency of the counselor continues in past 2 years we had 4 counselors changed by the school for her.The first change was when they made change to the people under R could no longer be under the said counselor apparently they could not do this for incoming freshmen they had to do so for the entire school so my daughter who was a junior finds out the counselor who promised her letter of recommendation for college will no longer be doing so.She refused saying the new counselor who does not know her will be writing the letter.In comes counselor #2 she stays for couple of month than goes on maternity leave than comes the replacement who is also expecting,so she leaves too after few months.So I have given up on getting any help from these helpers of the kids and hired outside counselor so my daughter will have some decent advise when she applies for college this year.I wish this school will hire at least one senior counselor who could be the head counselor and teach rest of them through example how things should be run ,and keep the kids interest at heart .
—Submitted by a parent

I totally agree that it is so hard to get response from the school (counselor, teacher and principal). You get frustrated after pushing for reply so many times. Part of the reason is that the size of the class your child should be lucky if the teacher still remember his/her name after the semester. Teachers and counselors lack of experience they are relatively young group as well. Still, it is a great school. High API is very encouraging. The residents overall education levels are high. They focus on their children s education that s why you see people hire tutors to help their kids to achieve under pressure.

The academics are top notch. It is great if your only goal for your child's 4 years of high school is to get to a good college. But that seems to be the entire focus. Parent involvement and spirit seems to be nil. Parents push their children hard to excel in the academics, getting tutors for A students so that they can get perfect scores whiles kids who get less than perfect feel ashamed. It is rare for families to even show up at sporting events. The only reason many even allow their kids to be involved in sports is for the college application not for joy or passion for the game. Passions outside of extremely high academic performance are not encouraged. There is no sense of balance or community at this school. The only memories many of these kids will have of high school is studying.
—Submitted by a parent

Truly a fantastic place to work or study. Dougherty Valley is an up-and-coming high school of its own, growing above API 920 in the past school year and certainly will be higher again this year. The leadership team is supportive of both students and staff, the counselors are accessible and flexible, and the teachers are true intellectuals with much more skill than their paychecks suggest, and the conversations students have in the halls are good-hearted and smart! The principal cares deeply for his staff and students, going out of his way daily to lend support any way he can. Likewise the teachers make themselves available to students basically any time of the day. I believe the vision unto which Dr. Reimann is trying to lead us. My only concern is that class sizes (which are still below state averages) interfere with the kind of differentiated instruction a seasoned veteran like me wants to provide, which means the school's potential API is probably closer to 975. If we could hire more staff and bring sizes down to 12-18 per classroom, this would be California's epic performer -- it's a real sweetheart school. Given the choice, this is where you want your kids to go.
—Submitted by a teacher

It is so hard to get any counsellors, Principal, or Vice Priincipals to respond to ANY emails or phone calls. We are very disappointed in their lack of engagement or communication (esp. when parents want information or have questions). So far, the only department we are very impressed with is the College and Career Center. Ms. Schratz does an outstanding job. Teachers seem very involved too. But the new principal, Dr. Reimann, really needs to make his office and staff more accessible to parents. So far, it seems like a 'shut gate'.
—Submitted by a parent

I am looking for an excellent ROP for my eighth-grader. I've heard that Dougherty Vally offers this kind of program. How can I find out more about ROP at Doughterty?
—Submitted by a parent

Dougherty Valley HS has tremendous opportunities for students seeking to get into a college or university. The high academic standards have drawn colleges and university recruiters from around the nation on college night and is quickly establishing itself as the top public high school in the area. The academic expectations are high and is not for suited for everyone yet it draws families and students from outside the district for an opportunity to attend this high school. Much like California High School attracts students because of their successful athletic programs, Dougherty Valley High School is drawing students who have their sites for higher education beyond high school.
—Submitted by a parent

For a new school, there are some great programs they are implementing. Overall, the leadership is outstanding. Of course, there are some missing "traditions" at this brand new school, but the staff and students appear to be working overtime to create a great program for the students. My only mentionable complaint is the favoritism toward affluent students. Although this school is diverse, it caters to wealthier students which places financial and academic pressure on the lower income earners. The expectations are high and that is beneficial for all; however, additional costs for programs from academic to extracurricular programs create hardhips on famlies with lesser means.
—Submitted by a parent

The competition is great, the student body is diverse, the teachers are excellent, the academic performance is outstanding, and there are a lot of sports and extracurriculars to choose from.
—Submitted by a parent

I love how there aren't typical cliques at this school - the student body is diverse and people of different races get together. The upperclassmen aren't as scary as they portray in movies and are usually friendly, or at least don't bother you if you don't bother them. I just wish that the admins are more observant of the few pointless fights happening here and there...
—Submitted by a student

The school is great! i love that as a body of students we all pretty much know everyone. which has its pro's and con's. we have some great teachers on staff and some that need a little more work. athletics is going well its rough not having the experience and the seniors but i think by the time the sophomore class this year are seniors this school will be unbeatable becasue of the hard wrok that this school has had to go aginst trying to make a name for its self. Go Wildcats!
—Submitted by a student

I agree with the first reviewer that the Administration puts a spin on everything, instead of being straightforward about the school's shortcomings. So far, there have been some really great teachers, and some really bad teachers - the same as with all of the schools in the district. The Athletic Director is in way over his head and to the amazement of many, was re-hired for the second year. The benefits of this school are it's small size, many opportunities for extra-curriculur activities, and highly academic environment (if your child responds well to academic competition).
—Submitted by a parent

Pretty boring school and lacks school spirit due to zero upperclassmen. The teachers need to be more experienced in their field and need to learn from their mistakes. Good for a first year school, athletics especially...Student body is very diverse. They should work on their band program and AP/honors offerings, however, and let loose on some rules.
—Submitted by a student

Overall good school in its first year. I'm optimistic and know that the kinks are being worked on.
—Submitted by a parent