Doyle Elementary School

Posted: August 20, 2026

Posted: August 20, 2026

Posted: August 20, 2026

Posted: August 20, 2026

Unfortunately, our family did not have a positive experience at Doyle Elementary. The front office staff often came across as unfriendly and unwelcoming. On several occasions when I went to the office with questions, I felt that the responses were very blunt and sometimes rude rather than helpful.

I also volunteered frequently during recess and lunch, which gave me the opportunity to observe how younger students, especially TK and kindergarten students, were supervised. I was uncomfortable with the way some staff members spoke to the children. I personally witnessed adults raising their voices and speaking to young children in ways that I felt were unnecessarily harsh or intimidating.

Unfortunately, we also did not have a good experience with my child’s classroom environment. My child frequently came home reporting that the teacher yelled at students and that the classroom sometimes felt stressful. I repeatedly asked whether I could volunteer inside the classroom so I could better understand the classroom environment, but I was told that having parents present would change the children’s routine and behavior, so I was not given that opportunity.

From our experience, the classroom management approach seemed to focus heavily on consequences, such as red tickets or not receiving stickers, rather than positive reinforcement and encouragement. For young children, I personally would have preferred a warmer and more supportive approach that emphasized encouragement, emotional safety, and positive behavior.

Ultimately, we decided that this school was not the right environment for our child. We were fortunate to move our child to another school through the Choice program, and the difference in our child’s emotional comfort and overall school experience has been significant. I am very happy that we made the change.

Posted: August 20, 2026

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Posted: August 8, 2025

Great staff they are very helpful and nice. My child loves going to school.

Posted: August 8, 2025

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Posted: October 10, 2024

This school is Biased when it comes to their student and staff members. I have worked at this establishment for years now and they will always give special treatment more than other people. This is inappropriate for a school, especially since it made me feel like I was being discriminated just for who I am.

Posted: October 10, 2024

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Posted: September 27, 2023

We have been part of this school for more than 2 years, starting from K. We genuinely appreciate the rich diversity that the school fosters. The school employs a wide range of communication channels that actively involve and engage parents, keeping us informed and connected. The school offers an impressive array of after-school programs to cater to diverse interests and needs. The strong sense of safety and convenience we experience here, allows us to focus on our child's education with peace of mind. We have witnessed our children's growth both academically and socially.

Posted: September 27, 2023

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Posted: June 12, 2023

Good school for foreigners. There are many students who can't speak English and teachers knows how to treat them.There are many families who are related UCSD, and there are many transfers, so there are a lot of student changes.

Posted: June 12, 2023

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Posted: April 10, 2023

Teachers reach out and keep in contact about our two kids and their activities. Wonderful engagement and opportunities for enrichment with library time, arts, and field trips.

Posted: April 10, 2023

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Posted: October 22, 2020

Poor. Alot of children who were not fluent in English. Held other kids back.

Posted: October 22, 2020

Always had homework and projects. After Covid was more of a social hour not classes on Zoom.

Posted: October 22, 2020

Mostly pushing politics. No real interest in kids.

Posted: October 22, 2020

The staff and aides are very caring. One of the reasons I tolerated the poor leadership.

Posted: October 22, 2020

Principal never spoke to me personally 7 months so CoVid.

Posted: October 22, 2020

My son had a hard time distance learning. No one responded.

Posted: October 22, 2020

Usually addressed.. A few of the kids really had issues. Kept the same kids together year after year.

Posted: June 23, 2020

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Posted: June 23, 2020

as both my kids are in this school from past 2 year and planning to continue futher

Posted: April 9, 2019

School gives great homework packets to kids. Its great learning for kids.

Posted: April 9, 2019

teachers are very nice, soft and supportive

Posted: April 9, 2019

Posted: April 9, 2019

Posted: April 9, 2019

Posted: April 9, 2019

Posted: April 9, 2019

School is amazing. Teachers are very nice and they care for your kids. Principal is also amazing. I feel my kid is in safe hands and at a great school. Thanks Doyle

Posted: November 2, 2018

I had my son attend Doyle from kindergarten through 3rd grade. The main reasons we transferred was the lack of support for Seminar / High GATE. My son learned he could do very little and still get good grades which started to create bad habits. There is way to many kids at this school, combined with lack of state support for gifted learners, to have any differentiation in the classroom. We Choiced into Hawthorne Seminar and are extremely happy with did for fourth and fifth grade. He was able to learn alongside other kids with similar ways of thinking and share common interests. The teachers are highly experienced with this population. The active parent foundation raises funds for enrichment programs like fencing, choir, theater, STEAM projects, robotics, Latin, Math Olympiad, etc. I was very frustrated with the PTA leadership at Doyle at the time we left and even though there is nearly 1k kids at this school, participation by parents is very low. Also, a large portion of resources get tied up in the massive revolving door of international students coming and going all year long without extra help from SDUSD. For the majority of kids, this school does a good job, but if you have a gifted learner, I would consider my options.

Posted: May 20, 2018

Although we have had two excellent teachers at Doyle, I would rate our overall experience as a 1 or 2 out of 5 at best.

Posted: May 20, 2018

Posted: May 20, 2018

Posted: May 20, 2018

It focuses more on training children to be sneaky and get away with things while they are encouraged to come up with people to "tell on" to the admin....very military/police-like approach

Posted: May 20, 2018

The principle Kimberley Moore does not function well without the aid of more experienced admin staff that left the school last year, and knew how to build real rapport with students and families. She is also absent from school grounds extremely often and does not handle conflict situations well. Very little transparency on how behavioral consequences are handled as well. Negligent in communicating with parents.

Posted: May 20, 2018

Posted: May 20, 2018

Posted: May 3, 2017

Our child came from a small private school having now completed fourth and fifth grade at Doyle Elementary. I can't say enough on the wonderful teachers, office staff, VP and Principal. They all have gone out of their way to help our child feel welcome and make a smooth transition. Our family has enjoyed these past 2-years filled with plenty of opportunities to volunteer. We only wish we would have come here for the lower grades too. All in all it's been a great school!

Posted: May 3, 2017

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Posted: March 28, 2017

Posted: March 28, 2017

Posted: March 28, 2017

Posted: March 28, 2017

Posted: March 28, 2017

Posted: March 28, 2017

My child rates the school poorly. The school is not the worst one, but it seems to be lacking kindness and promoting industrial ways of teaching.

Posted: March 28, 2017

Posted: April 21, 2016

I am a parent of grade K and spending very miserable year (a few months to go). We have decided to spend some money to move out from this school district.
Doyle is an almost jokingly disorganised place. Lack of respect from the principal , especially. She did not take any responsibility yet have enormous self-esteem. So if you have the other option, I highly recommend that one over Doyle for your precious kids. Although it is rated 9/10, it is very likely that the rating will be decreased over coming years because we have received the letter from the school district explained how the elementary failed to meet their expectation in the 2014-2015 academic year. The only bright side was vice principal who has already moved.
I believe there are some decent teachers but overall the quality is not impressing at all.

Posted: October 16, 2015

This ( 2014- 2015) was our first and last year at Doyle, and we have mixed feelings about the school. Our child had an unusual experience of having three different teachers and quite a few substitute teachers throughout the year. One co-teacher took a leave of absence to get a surgery, another quit because of "moral and ethical issues" with the principal. The third teacher who was a substitute teacher became the full time teacher from March onward. There were many days when they had a substitute for the substitute teacher. Imagine how disruptive it is for a six year old to be exposed to different styles of teaching and expectations on how to behave in a classroom and how to do your classwork. On the whole, my child and most of the children in this class had a rough year.

Posted: October 11, 2015

Although the teachers are great in our experience, the principal Kimberly Moore and other members of the management are clearly lacking compassion and vision for the school. Perhaps after a change of the principal, its quality might improve. There are also no ways to have a review of the policies of the school through the 'Quality Assurance Office' since all routes lead back to the principal. A truly impartial external review board would be welcome.

Posted: October 11, 2015

Posted: October 11, 2015

Posted: October 11, 2015

There have been safety issues at school which were not addressed in a timely fashion, even after trying to converse with the principal, Kimberly Moore. It seems that politics were dictating policy.

Posted: May 15, 2015

This is our first and will be our last year at Doyle, it was a horrible experience. I do not recommend this school if you have a child with special needs. Special day class is more of a daycare, my child lost a whole academic year. Resource specialist is a rude lady who seems not to like her job. The staff in my child's classroom, are not trained or motivated. The Principal was very disappointing and non professional. However the vice principal was very sweet and understanding she is more involved with students and parents. This is my neighborhood school, very disappointed it was definitely not what I expected. Excited and relieved to switch schools with a more experienced and positive administration.

Posted: February 28, 2015

Doyle Elementary is an Excellent school! I love the diversity. The Principal and Vice Principal are very friendly and also very interactive. For being here for two years now the teachers have been really involved in the students well being and academics. My child loves Doyle. I would definetely recommend Doyle Elementary.

Posted: July 6, 2014

Our son had a great first year of kindergarten. He got along well with his teacher and classmates. It is a very multi-cultural school, which I appreciate and celebrate. The Vice Principal knew my son's name by the end of the school year, not sure if that's good or bad, but you can tell she's very active and involved. Parent involvement is relatively low as far as I can tell, and the PTA does not appear to be very active, or at least not outside of school hours (making it tough for us working parents to attend or even get involved). We'll see what happens over the years, but we'll stick around.

Posted: April 1, 2014

Doyle was a miserable experience for our child. While her Kindergarden teacher was delightful, her first grade co-teachers were terrible and have made us rethink our position on how teachers are evaluated. Of course, the principal refused to let her transfer to another class despite our efforts. She would cry almost every day of having to be in her 1st grade class. The 2 teachers with combative, and one of them would say things so inappropriate that we considered filing a complaint with the San Diego Unified School District. Instead, we decided to change school districts so we wouldn't have to ever be a Doyle again. The classes do this "wheel" program where the kids are expected to move from class to class. That's too disruptive!!!! The PTA is awful and as a family of color, we felt as if they didn't want us participating. We heard this from other families who were not in the same 2 block neighborhood as the board members of the PTA. It's more like a social club. They don't do anything to really support the teachers or students. It took our daughter a long time to learn to like school again thanks to the horrible first grade teachers. Awful school! Just awful!

Posted: March 14, 2014

Doyle Elementary has high quality teachers, students, and parents. It is a very healthy community from nutritional, cultural, and educational perspectives. Some idiosyncrasies are that there are more children at the lower grade levels and less at higher levels. I believe this is due to the transient nature of many families that are associated with the university spending a few years here for a postdoc or graduate school and then moving on with their careers. I have a 1st grader and 4th grader here and they are progressing nicely despite some serious difficulties along the way. We enjoy our walk to and from school and avoid the traffic circle. Mrs. Barham and Mr. Bailey seem to be working for us.

Posted: March 13, 2014

In the past 10 years I've had all three of my oldest kids attend Doyle Elementary. I've had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with The Principal, Ms. Moore, the Vice Principal, the majority of the Teachers and numerous PTA Parent's. They all have shown exceptional performance, attitude, education and good moral. I have one more child that will be starting Elem. in September and I am hoping I can Choice my child in to Doyle. I have had numerous communication with the Administration Staff and the Principal that have bent over backwards to help answer any and all my concerns and questions throughout the years and just recently again in regards to choicing and common core. Reading the recent negative reviews in the last year about the Principal and PTA really disturb me because as a Doyle Parent, Volunteer and Friend I've seen Parents address the Principal and PTA in a really rude manner and then turn things around as if they have been the ones attacked. In my past and present interaction with everyone in Doyle they have always tried their best to do an excellent job, even with those hard to reason parents. Keep up the Great Work Doyle!

Posted: November 12, 2013

We just moved here 1yr ago.My son is 1st grader now.After enrolling here ,I just don,t like this school.because it ,s security system is very poor,principal is not co operative.I want him to move another school from weeks after enrolled.but I stop because of his new 1st grade teacher.She is amazing teacher.Mrs Janet engebretsen is very active teacher.She encourage every kid of her class.we really like her.thats why I wants to move from here next school year.PTA is very active and the librarian lady (forgot her name) is also doing great job.Great job Mrs engebretsen.

Posted: October 6, 2013

My son moved from another school in Clairemont and wow what a difference. The school is VERY culturally diverse which I really love. The teachers really care about their students and are passionate. My son has Amber Redmerski but she has told us she is temporary until they find a new teacher. I am hoping that they keep her. She is great with my son and always keeps communication open with me especially when my son was not turning in work! Other teachers would turn the cheek and not care if he was not performing to standars but not his teacher. He also has not suffered any bullying in this school, unlike his last school. I am so grateful for Doyle. My only complaint is that the parking situation is horrible. It is a nightmare trying to pick up and drop off. they need a better system.

Posted: September 22, 2013

Although there are many great aspects of this school (ie, multicultural environment, good PTA, etc) there are many negative parts of this school. The principal, Kimberly Moore, is almost non-existant. My child is in 2nd grade, and I am at the school every morning. I can count of 1 hand how many times I have seen her with the exception of SOME assembelies . . . she doesn't even show up to those all the time. When I have tried to talk to her she has been very fake and argumentative. I think her lack of self confidence and inexperience shows with the apparent "revolt" of most teachers to even work with her. It is sad that a wonderful school, with the great parents & teachers, is brought down by the principals flaws.

Posted: September 5, 2013

Horrible horrible school. That principal, that counselor and a certain 5th grade teacher, nay adult bully, had me going all the way to the school board for their irresponsible treatment of children. Horrible. It's only tolerable if you get one of the few decent teachers. Don't let's get started on the mouthy and self aggrandizing PTA!

Posted: April 1, 2013

We pulled our son from this school within 1 month of attending. We were lied to, things were never followed thru on~ it was a terrible experience...

Posted: February 6, 2013

got 2 kids there and all teachers and people who work there are really commited to help my kids to learn , we feel so blessed to have our kids here

Posted: January 17, 2013

I think most of the teachers at this school are above average or excellent. I think the principal is too inexperienced. You can't expect parents or staff to support you if you are unable to listen to valid, constructive criticism without getting vindicative. And she can be quite vindictive despite her fake smile. Does anyone else notice that there were an awful lot of 5 star reviews posted on Feb 1, 2011? I wish this school the best.

Posted: September 1, 2012

i love this school I LOVE IT !!!!!!!!!!! MR. DEADERICK IS THE BEST 5TH GRADE TEACHER EVERRRR i had a teacher in 4 grade mrs v. she was mean and very very stricked she yelled a LOT and gave lots and lost of homework i was stressed every day in 4grade me and my parents noticed that mrs v lowerd her voice when someone comes in the door! but other then that I LOVE DOYLE ELEMENTRY!!!

Posted: February 1, 2012

I can only speak to the Kindergarten here as my daughter started in September 2011. Her teacher has been there 20 years and she has made the experience wonderful. My daughter has honed her reading, writing, and math skills far above what I would expect of a five year old. I also really like that the stay at home parents are so willing to volunteer in the classroom as both I and my husband have to work - a big thank you to them!! The class is multicultural, with Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Farsi, and Spanish being spoken by the different children. Being exposed to this many cultures without having to travel is amazing and very educational for the children. I think this is a great school.