Franklin Elementary School

My son loves this school. He is an enthusiastic boy but when he was not happy at his previous school, he was able to tell me exactly why. I have not had one complaint from him since he started at Franklin. Standards are high, really there is academic pressure from the very start, and parents have to put in time at home to support their children's academic progress, and clearly that does happen at this school. I don't know what the fuss is about regarding the office staff. I have never seen them be rude or dismissive towards anyone. They are professional, helpful, they know what they're doing and they work very hard. If you're going to choose a public school for your child, this is the highest ranking elementary school in the Santa Monica district, higher by at least 100 schools than the 2nd highest. I do think that matters.
—Submitted by a parent

Not sure what the last review was talking about because there is amazing parental involvement in the school. Franklin does a great job at challenging each student to work their best and has been able to differentiate to meet both of my son's need. They also put a lot of effort at finding the right teacher for each student.
—Submitted by a parent

Due to the frequent moving of my children's mother, this is the first year of my two kids. I have been unable to reach both of my kid's teachers. This is what brought me to the office where the office staff were extremely rude and not helpful in the least. The principle is somewhat a professional but still lacks the authority to make a lot of important decisions. I would do your homework when looking for a school. The lack of parental involvement is the worst thing for the success of young students and Franklin Elementary needs to work in this area also.
—Submitted by a parent

My child has been a student at Franklin for two years. We have had a wonderful experience and are looking forward to another great year at Franklin! We are truly amazed by the dedication and enthusiasm of the teachers and find that the administration is first rate. For such a large school we feel a great sense of community.
—Submitted by a parent

Franklin is a great school that fosters a sense of community among all of its students and their families. The administration if FIRST CLASS. Both the Principal and Vice Principal are dedicated educators who are far from the bureaucratic fund-raising machines we found the administration to be at our older child's private school. They are committed to the right of education for every child, not just the one's whose parents can donate the most money. The teachers at Franklin take the lead of the administration and, for the most part, are also dedicated, engaged and committing their lives to educating every child that passes through their classroom. You couldn't ask for a more positive environment. I have an older child in a Westside private school, and find that the experience my younger child is having at Franklin to be a much more well-rounded and all over happier experience than the private education offers.
—Submitted by a parent

I am blessed to be both a parent and a teacher at Franklin. My daughter has had an exceptional beginning at this wonderful school. I love being able to teach at the same school where my six year old from Hunan China receives such a wonderful balance socially and academically. I also love being able to affect change as a teacher there that will directly benefit my child. She has been blessed to have two years in kindergarten because of her background as an adoptee coming from China. Both Mr. Schwengel and Mrs. Badt have given her such a strong foundation for literacy and a love of school . She is reading at a second grade level and writing stories as a six year old. I also love the administration. They are smart, authentic, and hold us to very high standards. Both Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Sinfield put children first. It is amazing to me after 28 years of teaching that I want to keep going because of such a wonderful staff. I wish others could see what an amazing learning community we have. Thank you to all of the wonderful teachers and parents at Franklin. I am so lucky.
—Submitted by a teacher

Had not just a bad teacher, but dismissive, nasty and lacking in judgement. Many parents feel the same. Complaints land in complaint box. Anyone care? Have had positive experiences and good teachers but the bad ones sadly where so bad it has had a profound lasting effect and difficult to understand how they can just stay on. Really this site has to make API scores less relevant than the children themselves, this school didn't.
—Submitted by a parent

franklin's reputation far exceeds reality. there are MANY outstanding teachers, but just as many average teachers...many of whom show little enthusiasm. once you get to 4th grade, discipline gets very punitive and the enthusiasm in this grade is at an all time low in all but one classroom. the pta raises tons of money, but smartboards and computers can't replace instilling a love of learning. and all those smartboards are basically being used as very expensive overhead projectors, anyways. franklin is above average compared to many schools, but considering the resources we have, it's not living up to it's potential.
—Submitted by a parent

now that we're leaving franklin, i feel like i can give a fair review. my child has been there since kindergarten. out of the 6 teachers we've had, 4 were great and two were awful. when i say awful, i mean unenthusiastic, dismissive, fell short of teaching the curriculum, non-responsive, unempathetic, punitive, enacted favoritism...the list goes on and on. the complaints about franklin are a common them of parent get togethers, but most are not comfortable going to the administration. those who have haven't really been taken seriously. some have been lucky and had 6 for 6 fantastic teachers and have no complaints. others have had mostly horrible experiences and i especially feel for them.
—Submitted by a parent

A comment. It would seem that you should heed the comments about the office staff. There is nothing more off-putting as a first impression as rude, dismissive office staff. My family experienced this upon its first visit to the school, and was provided little help in working out the problems of entering a new school. As a former teacher, I know how important office staff is, yet I also know that the first impression of a school should be a positive one, and evidently, yours, because of the office people, isn't. It would be smart to address this in the future. My rating is based on other reviews, Great Schools ratings, and the fact that Franklin is a Distinguished School.

A rather mixed and sometimes uneven experience. On the plus side, many of the teachers - senior and junior - are truly outstanding, dedicated, hard-working and enthusiastic. I have been enormously impressed by many. But there are some notably weaker teachers, who seem to exhibit little enthusiasm or interest. The administration is competent, though in the face of genuine complaints seems more interested in damage control than genuinely addressing parental concerns. The front desk is staffed by some notoriously difficult individuals who play favorites - helpful to some parents, terribly rude and dismissive to others. There is a split between mothers who work and wealthier ones who volunteer, reflecting local demographics. Funding is a growing concern, and private fund-raising cannot be a long-term solution. Teacher union rules mean layoffs are based on seniority, not value added. A good school, in an affluent neighborhood, with strengths and weaknesses, facing funding problems.
—Submitted by a parent

I like Franklin because it's like one big family and also the teachers make such an outstanding effort to help our children learn.
—Submitted by a parent

The teachers are great. The kids are great. The location is beautiful. The staff is great!
—Submitted by a parent

Mediocre school. My child is in his sixth year there. I've been actively involved in the school so get to see a lot. The school operates by trying to create a facade of it being so wonderful, giving priority to the children but they teach to do well on tests which does a tremendous disservice to the kids. I find the current principal ineffective and the front office can be problematic unless you're one of the kiss-up parents. I did not find the school to be interested in addressing bullying (which we experienced) or child safety issues....they'd rather turn their backs and stay adamant that the school is so wonderful. There are some really good teachers but also some really bad ones. If you have to go there, advocate strongly for your child, get involved as much as you can and stand up for what is right.
—Submitted by a parent

the best, most caring and inspiring teachers
—Submitted by a parent

Considering other schools in the LA area, Franklin is great. However, my career requires frequent relocations as such we've experienced a number of different schools, in different states/countries. In the broader context Franklin is average. The teachers are not exceptional and the pedagogy is poor. The front office staff is dreadful rude. My interactions with most of the staff was frustrating but must do for now.
—Submitted by a parent

Franklin Elementary is a very unique school in our neighborhood greatly due to the outstanding administration. The school was awarded the California Distinguished award last year and I have to say it is because of our dedicated and impeccable qualities of our principal and her administration. Franklin excels for many reasons. It excels due to its relentless parent body who volunteer their time and money and it excels due to its unbelievable leaders.
—Submitted by a parent

Franklin Elementary School, as has been pointed out, offers students a tremendous learning enviroment through the incredible efforts of highly skilled teachers and devoted staff, along wih an involved parent body. Those who know leadership realize, however, that it takes someone with unwavering vision, dedication, fairness, and true empathy for all students to make all these elements come together in such a beautiful way. The head Administrator and her team are the ones, in my opinion, who have taken on the difficult job of running a very large (800+ student) school with a demanding parent body and ever higher academic achievement goals and continue to knock it out of the park on a daily basis. My son wakes up with a big grin on his face wanting to get to school early, and that is the best proof to me that Franklin School is run well.
—Submitted by a parent

As an involved parent at Franklin Elementary School, I have had the privilege of working alongside our principal. She actually is a dynamic and charismatic educator. Additionally, I've only known her to be proactive, optimistic, approachable, and dedicated on the part of all students and her entire staff. Our school achieved the designation of California Distinguished School because of our diligent students and our phenomenal teachers. But our students and teachers can be described this way only because of our principal's inspired leadership.
—Submitted by a parent

I feel compelled to respond to the 5/22/09 review since I am intimately involved with Franklin as Site Governance parent chair and chair of the PTA fundraising drive, Direct Investment. I, too have been at Franklin 10 years and have experienced the past and current Administrative teams which have both been excellent in their own distinctive ways. I totally disagree with the 5/22 reviewer regarding the current team which is all and more of the traits that she/he says they are not. Also, assume that the reviewer didn't realize that Franklin applied for the Distinguished School award twice under the previous regime before being awarded it on our third attempt under the current regime. This regime has been at the forefront of pushing the staff and students with out of the box thinking regarding academic and enrichment programs.
—Submitted by a parent