Desoto High School

challenge your child, my child had a great experience at Desoto..also he challenged himself by taking all AP classes, so he was not in a class with 41 students..His classes were small and comfortable but more challenging than what regular students attempted..you get what you put in..Teachers communicated weekly like I asked and he go a full scholarship to college, was 22 in his graduating class..4.29 gpa..I am proud he was an eagle..
—Submitted by a parent

I'm currently a sophomore at this school. With the new additions to the high school, security has tightened and students respect the building. In 2012, the Academy section was finished, adding various programs to the school. The students are overall respectful, and the staff motivated. We have a new principal at the high school who encourages school spirit and has zero tolerance for excuses. Desoto High School has really improved since the last principal was here.
—Submitted by a student

I believe this school has a strong principal with good ideas. There is always room for improvement as we strive for excellence. Parental involvement is always the key to success and accountability in any school.

It is such a shame to see this school going in the direction it has taken. It is only getting worse. My brother graduated from here in 1989. I attended up until 1994. I was having many problems w/teachers & I remember my mother going into the counselors office with basically no response. After there was pretty much nothing she could do, she decided to get out of this city & relocate to a much smaller town. Thank God she did. Because now I have children & one which will be entering high school this upcoming school year & there is no way on God's green earth that I would ever let her attend such a school. It has gone down hill since I left there in '94. In fact, I would not let either of my children attend DeSoto ISD.
—Submitted by a parent

You can't blame the teachers or the school district when there only a handful of parents showing up for PTA. You're child represents who you are. Not enough parent involvement, quick to show up for a football/basketball game, but can't find the time to talk to your childs teacher or volunteer their services for a couple hours.
—Submitted by a parent

I would rate this school at a rate of 1 for poor. The school expectations is low, especially for kids with disabilities.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is terrible. I have had little to no positive experiences with its faculty, students, and structure. It is a school comprised of failure and false hope.
—Submitted by a student

I love DeSoto High School. I give it 5 stars!!!!!
—Submitted by a parent

The problem with this school is the people that spend countless hours complaining about whats wrong and doing little to nothing to fix the problems. I graduated from DeSoto in 2006, got a full ride to college, and now I'm more prepared than most of my peers. The education is still very strong at DeSoto, the facilities are top notch, and there are still very good teachers left. SO stop talking about the way that things used to be, and start being active in making the school what it can be...Join Big Brother.Big Sister and start mentoring the students, visit the programs and ball games, go hear the award winning band in concert. Then you will have the oppurtunity to create the change that you appear to want so desperately. In the interim, I will always and forever sing, 'DeSoto, DeSoto, you're a grand ole school...' And I mean it! Soar!
—Submitted by a student

I agree totally with you. My son graduated in 2001 and that's when the school started going down. So many move into this district with their old ways and corrupt the school and area. There are fights all the time there. It is truly sad because I remember how it was.
—Submitted by a parent

First of all I believe that success of any kind starts at home, and then there must be a strong since of cummunity ie church, youth centers, parks all these play an important roll in child development. And Desoto with all its wealth and diversity, falls far short in social services. One more note, I beleive the nine million dollars that went to improve the stadium would have been best served through some of the other program I mentioned.
—Submitted by a parent

The quality of the teaching in this school district is horrible. There are too many kids and not enough control inside/outside the classroom. My feeling is they need to build another high school and stop cheating the students out of a proper education, same as is offered in most school district of this size.
—Submitted by a parent

Watching the fall of DeSoto Independent School District has been sad. Ten years ago this was an excellent school district.

I do not know where you got your stats, however, in my grandchild's English class there were a total of 41 students. I placed calls to the counselor and attendance vice principal and never received a returned call regarding the messages left. When I was registering my grandson, I did not receive the cooperation I needed from the staff, in fact they made it harder for us even though I have paid school taxes since 1997.
—Submitted by a parent

principals do not hold students accountable. Very sad. Absolutely no leadership and they leave the teachers out to defend for themselves. Such a shame that this school district has such a high turnover rate. It is because the principles do not take the time to get to know the new teachers. They would rather make comments such as 'We do not learn the names of new teachers. We wait until they have been here a couple of years, because we never know when they might leave'.
—Submitted by a former student

In my opinion, the teachers want more from their students, and if the students do not try, they are prone to fail. I think De Soto High School does an excellent job.
—Submitted by a former student

You would think the inner city schools in the Dallas area education quality would be on a lower scale then Desoto High School, but that is not the case. First, DeSoto High School does not have up-to-date textbooks, assignments are not quality, etc. Very disatisfied with this school.
—Submitted by a parent