Waco High School

Waco High needs to get it together,They need to learn how to talk to parents more, They need to learn to have the parents involed it seems there all there for the money and this it,Just a paycheck my child is not a paycheck he needs to learn more,He needs the adults at this school to do what there suppose to do teach them guid them in the right direction and not to push them away.We are all here to help these children to be able not to make the mistakes we did and it seems the parents are doing all the work then, They all ways want to know why we are so upset!!
--Submitted by a parent

Level of parent involvment low. Teacher communication with parents poor. Never personally met principal during problems my child had as a 9th grader. Counselors overworked and overwhelmed. Found a very uncaring unruly envirnment.
--Submitted by a parent

I am a parent of two Waco High graduates and am pleased with the end result. The fine arts program is excellent! The quality of the academic program is also excellent, IF you are enrolled in Athens classes. As in any school, you will find good teachers and bad. As in any school, students' learning is directly tied into the effort put into learning. The level of parent involvement is good. Waco High is probably comparable to many other large, diverse high schools.
--Submitted by a parent

I am a graduate of Waco High school and I loved the experience! It is smaller than when I went because of the opening of another high school. great sports great academic programs, and fun atmosphere. I think alot of people are afraid because it is prodominately African- American, but all in all I would go back to Waco High all over again instead of the suburban schools!
--Submitted by a former student

I don't have a child that goes to Waco High yet but as a graduate of Waco High I plan to send my children there. My experience with Waco High was great. I was involed in the yearbook, newspaper and the band. I really enjoyed the level of education I received. The teachers had a real respect for the students as did the students for the teachers. I never felt like I was treated like a kid. The teachers felt more like friends then superiors. I was never afraid to ask for help. True there are many different kinds of students there but I never felt threatened or in danger. Every group just kind of kept to itself. No one seemed unaproachable. I loved my highschool experence. And I hope reading this will help anybody thinking of enrolling their child in Waco High make an informed decision. Thank you. Class of '98
--Submitted by a former student

This is, without a doubt, the poorest example of public education I've ever come across. Gangs,disruptive behavior,and foul language are the norm. Teachers and principals show little interest in students. If you have a high school student don't move to Waco. The surrounding schools aren't much better.
--Submitted by a parent

We have chosen to send our children to Waco High. We have been very pleased with the quality of the teaching and activities. This is a quality school. It received a 'low performing' rating a couple of years ago because of a small discrepancy in the dropout rate for one subgroup. That issue has already been addressed. This is a well performing school that we are glad we chose. My wife and I are professionals and we are glad that we made the decision to send our children to Waco High.
--Submitted by a parent

perhaps the low performing status would tell us that we are in error in our attempt to gather more students onto one campus & should seek to develop smaller campus's to achieve better learning environment for students and put in the background extracurricular stats until after the academics have shown improvement. I do feel extra curricular activities are an important development tool for students but, also feel our greatest emphasis must be on teaching the children academics. If this means we take some time from extracurriculars to achieve this then by all means we should do so!