Dakota Junior Senior High School

My experience with the dakota school system was both a joke and a nightmare. As a parent you try your hardest to teach your child that they are perfect the way they are and that each person has a special gift to offer the world. However, unless you child has a love for sports ( mostly football), they practically don't exist. Dakota has a bullying issue that has for too long fallen upon deaf ears. My daughter was a straight A student before we moved, but she is much more of an artist than an athlete. If only we had checked sites like this before moving, could have spared her a lot of suffering. The principal is not willing to acknowledge major issues. There were a select few teachers I liked, other than that, The rest were nothing more than over-grown high school children themselves, maturity wise that is. Until I met them all, I couldn't believe some of the stories I've heard from my daughter and other parents, so I wasn't very shocked to find that they were every bit as incompetent as described. To say the least my experience with Dakota was very much unsatisfactory. I would not recommend this school to a stranger, let alone a close friend. I would give 0 stars if I could.
—Submitted by a parent

Everyone of these comments about if you do not participate in football or volleyball is absolutely correct. A new student like myself coming from Freeport is going to be a huge change because of the low academic rating, no foreign languages, and no honors classes. How will I get enough credits for a college? If your child plays football or volleyball, then the family gets a good rep but if they play music or are into the drama department then they are a nobody.
—Submitted by a student

okay yes i agree that sometimes it feels like you are treated unfairly at dakota if you dont play a sport but even if you do you can feel under treated. i am a cheerleader and people dont give us the support that they give volleyball players and when football looses the fans give up on them. also i am in band and the plays and chorus and they do so much but they dont get recognized at all. it is said you have to do 6 competitions to be considered a sport well bend does but people dont recognize them. people need to realize that the acedemics keep this schools image too.and dakota is a great school teachers are amazing but a lot of kids will say that they hate dakota because of the cliques and drama with sports and acedemics
—Submitted by a student

im a student here and the staff does not treat every student the same. if you are in sports you are looked at higher than others. i think dakota needs to focus on the students and not so much about the outcome of sporting events.
—Submitted by a student

I think dakota school is a very athletic based school. One of the parents mentioned that if you are not in sports you are a nobody at dakota. I am inclined to support that because i am not an athletic student and am always treated unfairly. The football players or volleyball players are let out of class at least 20 minutes at the end of day for practice. I beleive that dakota needs to treat all the students with the same respect.
—Submitted by a student

I am an educator whose younger brother attends Dakota High School. Over the past year it has become clear to me that athletics rate higher than academics, and if a student is not an athlete, he/she is not treated in the same manner as an athlete. Discipline is not consistent, and consequences vary from student to student. There have been instances where school code as well as state/federal law have been broken by adminstrators and students have been punished for it.

This school does not care about students. It does, however, care about the outcome of sport events. The double standards applied to disciplinary actions and biased attention to choice students make this school a very frustrating environment.
—Submitted by a student

If your child is not involved in sports they are nobody in this school. All this school is concerned about are their sports programs. Once they put a label on your family they keep it on you no matter what
—Submitted by a parent

There should be many more a/p classes available as well as foreign language. It is limited for honors students. It is not a diverse school, given that it is a rural school. Safe, yes. But I think that it narrows student's outlook on the world and they often end up staying in the midwest rather than pursuing more options and going on to college.
—Submitted by a parent

I think that they need to be less strict.
—Submitted by a student

Good school except that the administration in the high school level does not deal with students who need help academically or otherwise. Their solution is to send the kids to an alternate school somewhere in the county thus keeping order in the classroom and moving forward. Almost like the pack moving forward and leaving the old and weak behind. Only problem I see in Dakota.
—Submitted by concerned parent, a parent

The acedemic of program of Dakota Is the best in the countey. The music, art and sports are the best with the music programs doing great musicals such as Wizard of Oz and the Music Man. The sports show what great work can do. With the football team going to state and winning state. Parents are compltly involved with the extracuriicular activities.
—Submitted by a former student

This is an awesome school! most of the time the kids are treated with the same amount of respect and everyone has a place in this school. Not all schools are like dakota. It is a fun place to be! go indians.
—Submitted by Courtney Smith, a student