Ripon High School

This high school is horrible. Both my kids went there and were bullied the entire time and nothing was done the the bullies.  The vice principal simply ignored the situation because the offender was Hispanic and so is he.  Most teachers were subpar with only a few that were very good.   Don't put your kids in this school, take them to Ripon Christian or Modesto.
Sep 3rd, 2020

Feb 8th, 2019

Jul 25th, 2018

Mar 13th, 2018

The English department has some remarkable caring teachers. The choir teacher who's also the drama and band teacher has a lot of heart and I can tell he loves his job. Amazing choir program and wonderful choir concerts. My 4.0 student took AP and honors classes here, but still wasn't fully prepared for the MJC beginning Calculus classes. One of my girls has a medical condition and most of the teachers did a great job communicating and accomodating her accept for one who I caught altering her grade because of my complaint. I believe however that larger districts are better equipped to accomodate students with medical conditions. The Ripon High School faculty as a whole is spirited, hard working and does an incredible job considering that the classes probably get larger every year. Some of the coaches have a lot of heart and use their time and resources to make the teams great. The school as a whole works out well for students that are highly academic, played on sports leagues growing up and are highly spirited. I don't think it works out well for the other students that don't fit into these categories. Which is why I transferred two of my kids out. It's a small high school and a very conservative small town environment. Some of these Ripon District schools seem to be more about negative reinforcement instead of positive reinforcement. For example, if a student is failing their classes for what ever reason including a medical condition they can't attend dances if they don't maintain a certain gpa. Students are punished instead of guided for not making the cut. In the elementary schools students had to sit outside in the heat or the freezing cold without a jacket if they forgot to have a parent sign a report card envelope, etc. Gregori in Modesto uses positive reinforcement. They give rewards like fairs and entry to special rallies for students that make a certain GPA. Also from what I saw at Gregori their math was more advanced. Gregori has cameras everywhere in the hallways. It's incredible. No one can get away with anything there because of hallway cameras. It's awesome. Ripon High doesn't have hallways. It's mostly outdoor. There aren't any hallway lockers so students have to carry around a heavy backpack. Which also makes it possible for troubled or retaliating students to slip things in or out of the backpacks. Backpacks should have a lock and phones should be password locked. Ripon High resides in a small town where damaging and sometimes traumatizing rumors, gossip and retaliation seem to be the norm and sometimes Ripon PD might be called in to investigate which might not always be in a victims favor.  So know your rights if they ask or take your phone and screen copy your social media and text messages. Bullying seems to be a big issue here and a lot of times the bully wins because of lack of proof or lack of policies or laws to protect you. Especially when the bully is a district teacher, faculty member or a favored student. Especially when they go on social media to bully and harass me because of my complaint. Yes some personel will and have done that.  I have seen a lot of parents take their kids out of this district into larger districts and into better environments because of the bullying. As far as drugs, Ripon PD was doing raids and according to my girls they saw kids throwing drugs into trees. Drugs were also being offered to other students and kids were coming back from break high. As far as the district as a whole, bullying and retaliation can come from students or teachers. Yes, believe it or not a few teachers will lie and can and sometimes do alter grades. If you have to make a complaint about a teacher watch for grade alterations. The high school principal was alway professional, always responded to my concerns, and was highly spirted. My regret with him is that my 4.0 athletic student that gave everything she had for this school every waking moment worrying and working to succeed and showing a tremendous loyalty to this school and this district was never congraduated by her principal during their drive though graduation. He passed up our car which made it a little disappointing and a little awkward. I'm still not sure why that happened. He was standing there and then walked away from us to the next car. However one of the board members congradulated her and he was wonderful.
Jul 4th, 2021