Lake of the Woods Secondary School

Some good teachers. Some REALLY poor teachers hired out of desperation to fill an opening. Nice physical plant. Exceptionally poor administration and athletic program. Unqualified coaches hired from pools of friends and teachers. Over all, a poor quality school with little prospect of change.
--Submitted by a parent

I used to go to Lake of the Woods, I moved 2 years ago. I would have to say, honestly, that this school was alright. Even though everyone is involved in sports at this school, the teachers still tried their best to teach us everything. Sure, they might not have been the best teachers, but you never get a 'best' teacher. The principal, in my point of view, was one of the best people ever. The teachers were alright, sometimes bad, sometimes good. Their were plenty of extracurricular activites... but our school is starting to get short on money, and their starting to cut those. Parent involvement is not bad either. Safety is iffy, discipline is really set in. But supposidly, the school is charging people to park in the parking lot. I am sure if the school had more money it would be a much better school. continued.....
--Submitted by a student

I am a current student here at LOW school, and I love it. Sure, I can't wait to graduate to get away from the drama of teenage life, but what senior doesnt't? We have an awesome school, with great and experienced teachers that support kids wishing to take on extracurricular activities-in fact they are the coaches. Within the last couple of years, our teaching staff as begun to majorly change, due to several retirements, we have a new health/gym teacher, a new biology teacher, and we are getting a new band teacher (only because the best loved teacher moved to england to teach, at the school she student taught at). Overall, LOW is a great school, small enough you know slmost everyone in the highschool, and large enough you can avoid people if you need to. Seriously, what other school is cool enough to have their own Olympics every 4 years?
--Submitted by a student

I am attending LOW, I will be a senior this upcoming fall. I would have to disagree w/what the others have said. I moved here three years ago from another school, a little more than an hour from here, and I was accepted very quickly. The students and teachers are very friendly and welcoming. Our principal is also very nice. He is not only concerned with sports, although he is a great fan. I also think that our teachers are very good. They will help anyone who needs help, all you have to do is ask for it, if you don't ask they'll never know you need help. We do rank very high in test scores, so our teachers are doing very well. So I would rate our school very high for good quality teachers, coaches, and principal.
--Submitted by a student

I am a former student of Lake of the Woods High School, and my honest opinion of it is; that it is the worst school i've ever been to out of the 6 that I have attended. The principal cares more about sports than academics and the teaching staff is obviously unbelieveably poor when the teaching staff cant keep the students under control. The only thing good about the school is its extracurricular activities. Unless your child is extremly athletic and will get a scholar ship for his/her athletic ability, then I would so not recomend this school. They are really stuck up too, they don't really accept people from different places up to about 3 hours away. So if your from a different state...good luck fitting in.
--Submitted by Ashley, a former student

As the parent of a student at Lake of the Woods, I d rate this school extremely poor. There are notable teaching staff, however, there are also amazingly poor teachers as well. The principle, the superintendent, the school board and the retention of those under-qualified teachers have created a horrendous learning environment. There is misrepresentation of financial data (failing to report the real budget projections to the public during planning meetings), many of the school programs are older than time itself (the gym teacher is like a stereo-type), and the lack of support from the administration strains the talent that is present in the teaching staff. This a gorgeous building filled with a few good teachers. Extracurricular activities are on par with most other small schools, however, I am amazed at the priority (money) spent on these programs in lieu of spending on education. Fire the principle,remove the superintendent, and elect a school board that was born in a generation with kids at home.
--Submitted by a parent