Francis Parker School

Our experience with Francis Parker was only the lower school (K - 5) for a few years. We came in before COVID and left after COVID. That gave us a distinct view of the 2 leadership teams (the former and the current).

As a family of average means, we were able to obtain financial aid for my daughter to attend. The teachers were excellent for the most part. A few rotten eggs, but overall great. Younger kids’ science and digital design being the least impressive of the teachers. Our only gripe was what we perceived as the teachers’ tendency to hold the more advanced students back to let the others catch up. It was like they wanted every child to be at the same level as to not make some students feel inferior. They should have been encouraging all students to reach their maximum potential, but they were not. Some of the admin staff seemed to always be angry and bitter - the opposite of what you would expect at a prestigious private elementary school. It was like these admin staff members didn’t enjoy being around children. Perhaps they were just worn out and ready to retire. The variety of classes at the school is tremendous - unparalleled - foreign languages, drama (to encourage public speaking), design classes that incorporated other special classes, entrepreneurship woven in here and there. Top notch. Where they fall down is their leadership. The former principal was outstanding. His replacement is not. I think they hoped she would grow into her position as she was the former assistant principal, but that did not happen. She has the leadership capabilities of a fence post. She leads on emotion and over-stressing every DEI talking point to the nth degree as the solution to any problem. It’s all optics and no substance. The former principal gave you confidence when he spoke that there wasn’t any situation he could not handle while being respectful and listening to students, parents, teachers, and staff. His replacement does not inspire the same confidence at all. Quite the opposite. The new principal has a cold demeanor that reflected on the school not feeling (to us) like a true community anymore after she took over. She plays favorites with students and their families. Reactions to school issues were always way over the top for what the issue was. Instead of letting kids be kids, the solution of the new leadership seemed to always be to ban the “problematic” activity. Particularly with athletic activities - banning the game of “tag” on the playground. I mean, it’s “tag”! How does this teach young children to work out their problems and find an agreeable solution? It does not. It’s lazy leadership to the detriment of the students’ development.

It didn’t seem this way at first, but our experience “evolved” into a typical expensive private school in many ways. The gossipy, inauthentic, carping women that include and exclude families into their group as they please are obnoxious. They post the most narcissistic, shallow, and self-absorbed crap on their social media and pretend they are good people. It’s actually hilarious. I refused to gossip with them and we quickly got shut out of their social circle because of it. Fine by us. There were some mature adults, but the mean girl moms ran the social aspect of the school. This translated to sometimes uncomfortable parent volunteer duties with that crew. It was evident that these women passed their opinions of other families on to their children while reinforcing their perceived superiority. My daughter saw girls that were very friendly to her in her first year become increasingly distant in the years after for no apparent reason. Just let kids be kids without teaching them to constantly judge their peers. Children will have plenty of time as adults to do that if they wish.

The typical far-left influences in the curriculum are very prevalent, but I expect that is the case for most non-religious affiliated private schools in Southern California. Traditional holiday song lyrics are edited as to not offend anyone - just silly. No day off for Veterans’ Day, but days off for every other group’s holidays - Diwali, MLK, Juneteenth etc. Not Columbus Day, but Indigenous People’s Day instead. Riiiiiight. My caucasian daughter never took note of people’s skin color until the school essentially forced her to. The school is constantly referring to race in most academic discussions. They call it “color brave” (instead of “color blind”). Sure. It’s exhausting and gives the kids who are not minorities a guilt complex and self-hating attitude - like there’s something inherently wrong with them because of their fair complexion. A current parent told me the school even goes so far as to block politically conservative satire websites on their wifi. I mean, come on. Where’s the diversity of viewpoint? Or sense of humor for that matter? There is a not small amount of right-leaning families, but they don’t dare talk about it for fear of being ostracized.