St Francis De Sales School

I am not sure why this post was moved to not recommended, but I was the first to review and stand by my review.

I personally would keep my kids away from this school and regret ever having them attend this school in the first place. For the first couple of years they were there, it was not bad, but progressively deteriorated to the point where I believe they should lose their license to teach any children.

They have gone through at least 2 principle changes in the last few years, and one of the principles they hired told the students in an assembly that if they wear a coat, and wash their hands, they won't get AIDS - this became her claim to fame for the parents. As expected she did not last long and was soon replaced.

Good teachers have come and gone, or should I say forced out by the current regime, I hope those teachers are doing better away from this awful place.

The teachers, especially in the higher grades 6, 7, 8th are the worst teachers imaginable, ignorant of basic skills is an understatement at best. Since these teachers are not kept to the same standards as those say in the CCSD system, they can pretty much do or say anything and get away with it, which includes yelling at the students, telling them that they are stupid, ridiculing them on a daily basis, instilling undue anxiety and fear over such things as missed homework assignments (more on this later), disseminating information inconsistent with facts, grading their exams inconsistently, unless your child is favored over the other kids that is. (The teachers in the higher grades have their own clubs, and students are not allowed to join unless asked by the teachers, and usually the kids that are allowed to join are the teachers favorites for one reason or another - this behavior is disturbing at best), and my personal favorite for the health conscience, being allowed to take multiple smoke breaks during the day and smelling like an ash tray most of the time. This is widely accepted amongst the faculty there, that one of the teachers smokes at least a pack or more a day around and near the children during the day, and my children complained more than once about this over the years, but fell on deaf ears around the faculty, and administration of this school - so much for protecting God's children, or for that matter setting a Christian example for the kids ( Remember this is supposed to be a Christian school per say ).

There is massive bullying amongst the kids who attend, although bullying is outlined as not appropriate, and will not be tolerated, it happens consistently, and when brought to the administration's attention, it to falls on deaf ears, and no action is ever taken.

There is also reverse discrimination as the population of the school has shifted to a higher number of Latinos ( Although this seems to be the overall scheme of the attached church as well, as Caucasians are being forced out left and right, especially in key positions within the church), and if you are Caucasian, you are ostracized and made to feel bad for being Caucasian, and once again the teachers fall in line with this, and never manage to rise above racial tensions within the student body, and just patronize those who are not Latino.
Homework is widely used as a punishment by the teachers, and if a child misses an assignment, or forgets to write down what is on the board, they get what is known as a PNF (parent notification) - most of the time these are nothing more than BS, and they are handed out like candy by the teachers, due to laziness and an attempt to instill some sort of power over the students, instead of instructing them, and nurturing them, to the point where the child is full of anxiety every day, and afraid of going to school in fear of ridicule and another PNF being sent home. Most of the time I would just rip them up, as they were over very petty, and minor issues - if my kid forgot to do an assignment, have him re-do it and move on, but it was always made into a federal case, and the child suffers emotionally.

The only positive things I can say about this school is that we were able to meet some great families who we are very close to, even to this day, even though what initially brought us together was how dissatisfying the school and its programs were. I guess there is strength in suffering.
The reason we chose to put our children in this school was due to it being based on Christian beliefs, and felt the private school atmosphere would prepare them in the future, along with what seemed to be a family atmosphere in the beginning, unfortunately as stated previously this deteriorated rapidly over the years, and moving them to another venue felt as if it would disrupt them adversely, although looking back, I would have removed them earlier and dealt with the effects later.
My advice for what it's worth would be to stay very far away from this school and its administration, and I regret not making this change sooner for o

I wait until I finish something before I review. My children went to this school, one of them k-8. The school used to be a loving environment and small student to teacher ratio nine years ago. Five years ago, there was major upset when the principal left. That started a massive turn over in teachers and principals. Classes became more crowded, some at 36-1. The Catholic message, which is important to us, quickly took back seat to ill mannered children and bullying. The no bullying policy is non existent here, my son suffered from it. This school is complete hypocrisy to the Catholic faith. Further more, nepotism runs this school. Including the daughter of one of the religious ed employees who admittedly threw away room mom requests each year so she and another daughter of the finance office could be room mom every year. The other moms caught on and notified the school. This same daughter of the religious ed employee, happily bragged that she didn't have to pay her tuition on time because her mom worked there while I found out the school had a sibling discount and the school was overcharging me and not giving me the sibling discount. Did I get reimbursed? No. I was angry that we had gone a full 6 months and the school never informed me of this discount. Another daughter, from same the religious ed employee, was able to start teaching the kindergarten class without a teaching degree.
The teacher for the third grade last year was fired for academic misconduct. She had the smarter children take AR and Math tests on line for the less smart and told the children to lie. Once again, the mom's caught on when their children would come home and naturally talk about their days with their parents. This teacher we complained about since the beginning of the year. She could not keep my daughter safe when she had an injuries. Even though we went back and forth to the school.
The computer teacher borrowed something from my daughter without my permission, which I think is inappropriate in so many ways. This teacher had several months to return it to me but did not. My daughter remembered the borrowed item a month ago. When I asked the teacher to kindly send it back, she responded I can come pick it up in the office. I guess this class is expected seeing that her mother comes in and uses the computer lab with all 40 computers and votes for her own pizza company for the Best of Las Vegas each year. Inappropriate use of private Catholic school facilities.
Some of the upper grade teachers have a habit of pushing their political agenda in the classroom.
My children are in magnet schools now and we were shocked at how much these schools do for the kids! Over 50 clubs, support systems like you wouldn't believe, absolute NO tolerance to bullying, teachers that care and get back to the parents, and administration that does not cater to the highest paying parent. And its free! I wish we started magnet sooner.
Even if you're willing to overlook some of these other issues, because you want your child in a faith based school, unfortunately you will not find that at this school. The priest preaches one thing in mass on Fridays ad the teachers do the exact opposite during the week. The other Catholic schools seem to be better.
Me and some other parents that experienced St. Francis, feel like we were jipped and our children were jipped at this sub par school with a sub par education. A lot of us parents have had enough. I would say look into your magnet programs before this school. Open enrollment is happening right now.