Luther Burbank School District

Great school. Staff treat students like family members. Teachers are caring and often focus on the stduebrs' strengths. Principal cares for the students' academic growth as well as their well being, takes the time to work with the family, is professional, down-to-earth, knowledgeable, and personable. The building is old and needs a renovation.
Apr 12th, 2022

.!...!.
Dec 12th, 2020

Apr 22nd, 2020

(Translated by Google) The school is very good my children love it (Original) La escuela es muy buena mis nios la aman
Jan 14th, 2020

I'm not sure who uses Yelp to rate schools, but anyhow, here's the dirt on why this place is great (and a few things that may put some people off).  Awesome:  * Small-school vibe with only ~500 kids for grades TK-8, meaning everyone knows everyone in each grade and the kids know almost all of the adults within a year or two.  * Big age range of TK-8 when almost all elementary schools are only TK-5...this is rad because it means younger kids can have older mentors, and it keeps the older kids acting like good brothers & sisters, not that "nasty middle school" vibe that creeps up sometimes at big gr. 6-8 schools.  * Staff really knows students individually and stresses the social-emotional stuff well, like being nice to adults, looking out for each other, taking on special jobs around the school, etc.  This is very trendy but most places don't do it as well as LB does.  Just watch the alumni try to sneak back to see their former 8th grade teachers over and over - kids really form a positive connection to the adults here, which speaks for itself.  * FREE after-school program until 6pm for gr. 1-8 and FREE meals for all kids gr. TK-8.  This is huge for working families who get busy and have a hard time making afternoon pickups and packing lunches.  It also makes a nice friendly vibe with the kids where there's no stigma to who eats the cafeteria meal or who stays after school since all of their friends do, too.  * The teachers have a lot of experience - at most schools I find teachers who've been around 2-5 years are the norm, but here it seems like most teachers have been around 5-15 years.  Here's what probably puts off other people (and maybe you too, if you're a jerk).  * It's a fairly high-poverty neighborhood, so you don't see mountains of white kids or super-high test scores.  You might want to question your prejudices if the first one is a problem for you, and you may want to read some educational research if you think the second one matters.  * Teachers are a bit old-school (see experience above)...this can be annoying if you're super keyed in to the latest practices or it can be chill if you're more comfortable dealing with teachers who remember how it was when you were a kid.  * Leadership turnover - you've probably heard about this district's old drama, and there can be some politics here which have a negative impact on the school when the principals get churned around too quickly.  But hey, that's just the principals, not the teachers, so how much this affects your student is anyone's guess.  Check this place out.  Lots of people are turned away by something superficial, but those who know have a gem here.
Jan 9th, 2020