Rancho Pico Junior High School

Rancho Pico cares about the student success. The teachers give strict instruction, and teach the kids to be academically ambitious. They make no apologies for their high expectations. This school strives for excelence which is what I believe the school's job should be. When my child fell behind in math, they were very supportive and worked with her to get her right back on track. My child grew tremendously at this school and loved going there. I have one more on the way!
—Submitted by a parent

My son is in the 7th grade at Rancho Pico Jr. High and my husband and I couldn't be happier about his school environment. We have seen him truly blossom since going to Jr. High. His teachers are caring and excellent teachers and the communication with parents is outstanding. I can check on his progress and homework assignments in every class whenever I like online. The teachers are also very responsive via email if I ever have a question. I am so grateful to live in this community so that my son can have such a tremendous public education!
—Submitted by a parent

The staff and teachers at Rancho Pico are educated, involved and interactive! In response to the parent who submitted a remark on Aug. 8th, I don't think that parent was involved with the school. I participate in the PAC meetings and volunteer in the school and I have witnessed great integrity and awesome involvement of the staff. They educate our students, take preventive measures and intervene efficiently if need be. I am proud to have my daughter attend Rancho Pico. She is high achieving and has made alot of good friends. Because I volunteer and experience first hand the interaction of the staff and students I can proudly say that this campus is safe and an excellent environment for learning. Drugs and bullying will always exist in life but Rancho Pico is making sure it is not tolerated at this school. No school is perfect but Rancho Pico strives for the best.
—Submitted by a parent

My son is n the seventh grade this year and so far I have never been so impressed with a middle school as I am with Rancho Pico. It is a fantastic environment for learning and all the different types of development going on during these difficult years of growth. "Back to school night" was beyond impressive. The staff is simply amazing. As far as the comment on Ms. Levy Holmes back in Aug, this was clearly written by a student. She is more than an art teacher. She ties in vocabulary, history, cultures, some math, all this with the art she is teaching. It is an honor for my child to be in her class.
—Submitted by a parent

Rancho Pico is an outstanding school. I have had two students go through there, with another one in 8th grade now. I have been very impressed with the high standards of the teachers, counselors and administrators. The principal's energy alone gives that place a positive charge that is felt by all. The teachers go the extra mile to make sure students learn. Our only regret is that it only lasts 2 years.
—Submitted by a parent

I think that this school is great. The teachers are, for the most part, excellent, and the principal is fantastic. I read the post about bullying and drugs and do not know what to say. I do not know of a school (public or private) that does not have to deal with these issues. None of these are issues that are new. Even when I was that age (thousands of years ago), there was bullying and drugs. However, the school does its best to keep parents in the loop (parents can access grades, there are multiple emails, phone calls from administration on events and happenings, etc.). As a parent of a "high achieving" student, I have not seen any, nor heard of any serious bullying. It is important to remember that this is, in fact, a junior high. 12-14 year old kids do things that are stupid, they are hormonal and sensitive and although, there is definitely a bullying problem in the United States, we would do well to remember the difference between real bullying and ordinary, (often misplaced and misunderstood) junior high conflict. In any event, this school has done a great job at working on these issues and the staff and faculty have all seemed available to discuss any issues.
—Submitted by a parent

Upon reading the 08/08/201 submission, I was compelled to contest the statements made. As a parent of a former and current RP student, so I am very familiar with the school, administration, teachers, and staff. Both of my kids are extremely high achievers and in their combined 3.5 years of attending RP have always felt accepted and unified and never ostracized for their success, in fact, quite the opposite! As for school personnel, they go above and beyond to accommodate and respond to any parent and student concerns. With a zero tolerance policy on bullying and drugs, situations are immediately and appropriately dealt with. I cannot fathom any RP staff standing by and allowing any inappropriate behavior to occur and offer zero help and do nothing as the individual stated. Perhaps the parent was simply angry and lashed out at the school. Regardless, to make such generalizations and broad misstatements about Rancho Pico and the staff is irresponsible. This is an amazing school, run by dedicated, caring, and concerned staff and as one of over 1000 parents, we are privileged to send our kids there and take tremendous pride in being part of the Mustang family.
—Submitted by a parent

It has come to my attention that there was an unfavorable post about RP. In my opinion, that cannot be further from the truth. My daughter is a high achieving 8th grader and for the past two years her class has been instructed on how to deal with bullying by the staff/teachers. I ve also had friends that have been in situations where the staff/teachers were extremely helpful. As a matter of fact, there was a PAC meeting a couple weeks ago on the topic of bullying but there were only a handful of parents in attendance. My guess on the low attendance was due to the fact that the topic of how to avoid bullying is not a new subject. I m sorry for that child who was bullied and won t be able to attend their home school. I just can t believe RP offered no help. I m proud to have my daughter at RP.
—Submitted by a parent

It is shocking how awful this school is!!!! The drugs are everywhere and the bullying is even worse! The Principal and counselors offer zero help and do nothing to the students who tease and humiliate the high acheiving students. My child no longer attends this school after going there for 6 months. It is sad that many students will not be attending their home school because of the same situation. I thought my child was the only one, but that is not the case!!
—Submitted by a parent

Rancho Pico is a pretty good school academic-wise, but they are pretty bad with PE. Only a few students can actually run well, and this year's advanced band doesn't sound phenomenal. Or even great. The teachers for the most part are exceptional, with a few exclusions. The problems I have are that the traffic is insane and the students can be really crude. I like the principal, not so much the assistant principals.

This school is phenomenal! I have never saw such passion from school staff before. They do their utmost to get parents and students involved with teachers both at school and after school, even on the weekend outings and activities. You can just sense the "Best of Class" atmosphere and mentality, from the principal all the way through the ranks. This rubs off on the students also, they always seem so friendly and upbeat whenever you are at the school. I would highly recommend this school to anyone.
—Submitted by a parent

This is a phenomenal school with outstanding teachers, principal and a very diverse student body with a vast number of high achievers. I believe this is due to the outstanding teachers in the Newhall School District where most of these kids went for elem. school. My child loves it here which is the only rating that counts to me. Regarding the traffic issue - WHEN WILL POE PKWY OPEN UP to Valencia BL??? This will relieve much of the congestion and its completion ought to be a true priority!
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter graduated from Pico Canyon Elementary, which is excellent in every way, so now that my daughter attends Rancho Pico Middle School, my expectations upon the staff may have been unreasonably high. To my relief, the principal and educators equal the excellence we experienced at Pico. I have found caring, demanding teachers and an incredible Principal in charge. The only obstacle is the traffic situation (the middle school is directly across the street...a dead end street to boot) from the high school. This makes for a mad dash of parents trying to pick up their children. They do have bus service but they pack the students in like sardines, many of which are forced to stand, despite driving down a steep grade from the school. It just seems like the planning commission should have taken this into consideration before they created a traffic nightmare. Great school, poorly planned.
—Submitted by a parent

Great school!!! I go there now ( I'm in the 7th grade) and truly, I can't believe some of the comments saying that the school is to lenient on grading, and everyone is on the honor roll. I have a 4.0 grade average and that doesn't mean that the teachers are to lenient that means that obviously they are doing their job and I'm a smart student (like most of the kids at my school). I also don't understand how some parents are saying that they have a hard time with the communication with the 'leaders' of the school, almost every week (when there is an event) I get a call at my house saying that there is a dance, fundraiser, food day etc. also, my parents get an email stating the same info. Great School- Don't listen to some of the bad reviews
—Submitted by a student

I love attending this school it has the best teachers and staff also I love it due to the smooth organization.
—Submitted by a student

Rancho Pico is known as the few public middle schools in California, but I think that Rancho Pico is unhelpful. Their standards to get good grades is placed too low. There is no challenge or any type of way to increase knowledge. For example, being an honor role student means that you have worked, studied, and tried your very best at everything. What is the point when all ready 10-15% can become honor students. These so called honor students are known as the more intelligent students. But after comparing students that may be top 10 in their grade is only top 30 in other schools. As a student myself, going to rancho pico I feel that school is too easy and relaxed. I wonder if that if I can do my entire homework during school hours besides major projects, if this is really acceptable. I think that-they-should-make-some-challenge-
—Submitted by a student

I just finished my 8th grade year and off to high school. The teachers really do care about you and your education. The faculty and office staffs, however, are not so nice. I try to ask them questions and they don't seem to take students quite seriously. I have heard many complaints from other students about the staffs. I just wish they were nicer to the newcoming students at Rancho Pico. School activities are really not that special and year by year they seem to get a bit boring. Also, there are cliques in this school, which may annoy a lot of people, but I really didn't care. Overall, I was okay with attending this school, but they should make some improvements.
—Submitted by a student

Rancho Pico has a very caring and supportive faculty and staff. They encourage your children to succeed and create an atmosphere to do so.
—Submitted by a parent

great!! better than placerita!!!!
—Submitted by a student

most exellent school, i go to rancho pico, the teachers are... addiquate. the safety and dicipline of the school is great, they absolutely wont allow any violence or curcing, and the teachers and staff are really good at watching for trouble. (trust me, do you know how hard it is to get away with stuff? DANG!! the parents aren't involved very mutch in activitys and things, but the extra cirricualar activitys are AWESOME. evrything from drama, to herpetology, to creative writing, to business, to guitar, to home ec, theres so many great things to do at our school! all the extra cirricular activitys are hands-on, so you get to do things like making art or disecting frogs, instead of listening to a boring 40 yr old guy talk for a hour and a half. the cirriculum is great, it keeps students challenged and active the whole time. overall rating, 5/5. bye~!
—Submitted by a student