Lancaster High School

The Lancaster ISD needs complete overhauling, staff and teachers. They teach with no direction, no vision. This is apparent in the performance of the students. The teachers don't remember the students unless they have been in trouble, what a unique way of labeling. The communication between the school and parents is almost non-existence. When something is happening usually the parents find out when it's over or past. When the teachers should be available for the parent/teacher conference they aren't. Many of the teachers don't know the average grade in their class, so they can't possibly know how effective their teaching is. Bottom line Lancaster ISD needs teachers who want to be there and want to teach, not teachers who chose this as an alternative job.
—Submitted by a parent

I think the school is coming along fine. I feel that the school could use more seasoned teachers and reduced size of class per teacher in order to create a better learning environment.
—Submitted by a parent

Lancaster isn't the most amazing school in Texas but if you are actually interested in learning then the teachers will go out of their way to make sure you learn something.
—Submitted by a student

The Teachers are very didicated to helping the students to pass tests. My brother had some obstacles prior to graduation and the staff worked with my parents to make sure he graduated on time.
—Submitted by a former student

My son attended Lancaster High school, it a pretty good school if your child is in the AP or gift and talented program.
—Submitted by a parent

My children have attended Lancaster High for two and three years and it is the best of five schools they have ever been to. the teaching is very good.
—Submitted by a parent

My son has attended Lancaster ISD for two years now. Now that he is in high school he has been subjected to demanding peer pressure. Students are rude, inconsiderate and have no respect for teachers, parents or themselves. The first two six weeks of school my son was without a World Geography teacher. We need teachers to teach and not try to be friends with the students. I am astonished to the fact that he hardly ever has homework in any of his classes. Where is the reinforcement for the students? Also, I know Dr. Lewis is trying to change Lancaster but if we do not get the parents involved and demand involvement the school environment will never change.
—Submitted by a parent

I have 4 students at Lancaster High. Im very unhappy with the teachers. No communication you send emails. The teachers act as though your bothering them when you speak with them about your student. I wish I would have done more research on the school before we purchased a home in the Lancaster area.
—Submitted by a parent

I have been disappointed in the level of education my children have received. The focus is on sports and many parents transfer their children to Lancaster just for that, but be certain they will have trouble passing the SAT. Quality education is more important to me and is the reason why I will not send any more of my children to this school.
—Submitted by a parent

I think that LancasterISD is Trash,we spend several days on the Science Project when my son/daughter turned the information in they only wanted the poster board and not the actual experiment,what's the purpose of completing the Science Projects? They will suspend students who did not turn in the information. Every break students have assignments,which I don't mind the summer break assignments but Thanksgiving,Christmas, Spring Break that's not good.
—Submitted by a parent

In Lancaster High School there are numerous extracurricular activities. They have sports that everyone can play, and they offer a great band program. When it come to academics the school can be lacking. The school board expects every student to be at least one AP class, yet they do not have the proper instructors or the material that a students needs to succeed in these classes. The school boards takes no notice of various complaints from students and paretns. There are few faculty members that have a degree required in order to insure the students understand the broader concepts of AP learning.
—Submitted by a former student

The way the school is set up with the freshman seperate than the upper-classmen is fine to me.
—Submitted by a student

Lancaster school district is in the middle of a population explosion. We have passed a $110 million dollar bond package that must be used for new construction or renovation of existing structures ONLY! We will finally have much needed room for student education. New Teacher Academy,International Baccalaureate Program, high teacher retention,highly qualified certifed teachers,as well as, administrators are just a few of the many reasons why Lancaster I.S.D. is on it's way to becoming an exemplary school district. Parental involvement needs to improve dramatically for educational success to be realized. Less complaining, more committment!
—Submitted by a parent

This school is one of the worst high schools tha t my children have been to in the dallas area. it is poorly organized and they have a bad reputation for suspending students for even the smallest infraction of rules. Teachers don't teach, and a lot of them have very bad attitudes. It is like a jail.
—Submitted by a parent

It's not much worse than other schools, but lacks money. If you want resources, be prepared to find them yourself.
—Submitted by a former student

In this age where kids cannot give change for a happy meal without a calculator, it seems about right that the teachers are continously frustrated with the lack of parental involvement at home. My kids attend there because it's the only game in town I can afford. The problem here is the lack of discipline, that is extremely apparent, on the part of the kids. The aggressive attitude that comes with the lack of respect for all involved.
—Submitted by Don Whitebread, a parent

Lancaster is the worse school in the Dallas area. The teachers don't teach at all. Children are running around the school acting crazy. Kids are fighting instead of learning. Ther's more kids in JJAP than in the school. I wouldn't recommend any parent send their child to Lancaster High School. You will have a better chance at Wilmer Hutchins High School.
—Submitted by a parent

I have 4 children that went and graduated from this school.....I can say that this last school year was my absolutely worse experience at this school......I have always been very active in the school district served on various committees but this year the new staff (mainly administrators) did not welcome the pta or volunteers in.....Even though the new superintendent asked each parent to committ to volunteering in the schools....I tried.....And done what i could.......I know for a fact that if parents are involved student achievement is increased for the better......My child got into more trouble this year than ever.......Not good....I have spoken with several veteran teachers and administrators and they don't like the current situation either.....There is a greater focus on extracurricular activites and not education as a whole.
—Submitted by a parent

When my children entered this school there were many teachers who were both uncertified and incompetent, some teaching honors and pre-AP courses. There has been substantial improvement in the last year and the quality of Teachers is greatly improved although district priorities seem to be out of whack, in that a bond was recently passed which spent millions for new athletic facilities while the current AP-Physics classes do not have enough text books to send them home with students. The TAAS/TACS issues is a crippling program with which public schools throughout the state must contend. Most public schools have learned that success is measured not in what the kids have gained in cognizant skills but in what they can recant during a two day testing period. True learning suffers at the expense of testing well.
—Submitted by a parent

Lancaster Elsie Robertson High School is adequate for school education, and lags not far behind Bishop Dunne Private School. Most parents who have major problems tend to be bigots and send their children to schools without racial diversity. As long as your student is attentive and enrolls in mainly honors courses they should do fairly well. In most of my subjects I seem to have brillant teachers, and in those that I don't it may simply be a comprehension problem on my part because physics and chemistry are not my strong suits, but I believe if the principals, teachers, parents, and students keep striving for greatness then we will one day be a school others admire.
—Submitted by Michael Sorrells, a student