Jerabek Elementary School

Posted: December 4, 2021

Terrible administration, basic learning, primarily outdated facilities and resources.

Posted: December 4, 2021

Posted: December 4, 2021

Posted: December 4, 2021

Posted: December 4, 2021

Posted: December 4, 2021

Posted: December 4, 2021

Posted: December 4, 2021

Posted: June 8, 2018

They have some really fantastic teachers, and some not so fantastic - just like most schools. What really makes this an outstanding school is the parent participation. Without that, I suspect this school would not be quite so wonderful. Also - the reported student/teacher ratio of 17 is a joke - last year we had 25 and this year 24. No TA's - just parent volunteers.

Posted: June 8, 2018

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Posted: August 31, 2017

Jerabek is an amazing school! Principal Joiner knows children by name and always places the needs of children first. Test scores have increased in recent years largely due to the Jerabek FFO investment in professional development for all of the teachers with Just Think Literacy and Lucy Calkins. This has led to the children benefiting from teachers who are continual learners in their profession and are able to bring the latest teaching tools to the classroom. The culture at Jerabek is one of community with parents, grandparents, teachers, and administration working together. It is a very special campus providing children with a fantastic elementary school experience and an excellent academic foundation that prepares them very well for middle school and beyond.

Posted: August 31, 2017

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Posted: May 8, 2017

Jerabek has a very strong and involved parent community. If it weren't for these parent volunteers, the school would be in absolute shambles. There is no leadership at all. The school is held together by a few great teachers and mobs of dedicated parents that contribute time, energy, and money to the school on a daily basis. Due to the lack of management, there are huge disparities between classes and virtually no cohesion between grade levels. Every year more excellent teachers and families leave the school for better places. The district needs to focus on putting competent management at this school.

Posted: May 8, 2017

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Posted: February 7, 2017

Posted: February 7, 2017

It's our first year at Jerabek and I have to say I'm impressed. The teachers are great and the kids friendly. There is strong family support and there always seem to be a parent-volunteer in class. Great school!

Posted: February 7, 2017

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Posted: October 2, 2014

We took our son out of a highly-desired charter school to attend Jerabek so that our youngest son could receive the special education services he required. We have loved the school (on our fourth year now) despite the many changes in leadershipt. Cannot say enough positive things about the special education department. The teachers are wonderful. My only complaint is that they have volunteers running the pick-up and drop-off locations out on the public street who are totally incompetent. If you are going to have a program like this you need to provide training for these volunteers. They are out of control with power and do not know what they are doing.

Posted: April 7, 2014

As a kindergarten parent and first time going through the " system" wow! Great teachers, fantastic FFO president, Huge parent involvement, great Spanish program, science, dr suess night, jog a thon, great parent only spring fling, friendly staff, principal that my 5 year old talks to often! Great class mates and parents ! Schools are not perfect bc they are run by people and people are not perfect but this 35 year old school has consistently preformed. :) to think I was considering a private christian school makes me laugh. Save your money go here you will not be disappointed.

Posted: April 3, 2014

Jerabek teachers are amazing. Their care and concern for their students, their attention to curriculum, and their integrity as professionals is profound. My children were blessed to attend this school with the exceptional teachers!

Posted: September 15, 2013

Hats off to our new principal! She has had to make some drastic changes that were long overdue. Yes, some parents were upset that they were not able to request teachers. Yes, some teachers were upset they could not hand pick students. Welcome to the real world folks. Jerabek was dysfunctional the past several years. The new principal is creating a positive learning environment for all students - not just those from A-list families. Thank you for making some difficult changes and for your focus on academics.

Posted: September 7, 2013

Jerabek is a great school. Outstanding teachers, a dedicated go-getter principle, high parent involvement and volunteerism. Jerabek offers wonderful and rich curricular opportunities including music, art core, super science, garden club, running club, chess club, reading across America program, and science and math nights for all grades. I have a 4th grader and a first grader, both love their teachers, enjoy lots of field trips, and opportunities hands on learning. There are promethian boards, computers, and tablets available to students. The school is not new, however it is well maintained and continues to be upgraded and updated. Security and safety of the children are of highest priority. I feel so lucky to be at Jerabek and am confident my kids are receiving an excellent education.

Posted: September 5, 2013

Used to be a great school till last year but the new principal is a huge disaster. Absurd decisions, changing everything into worse and with no respect for teachers, parents and children. Stay away from this school if you can.

Posted: September 1, 2013

I agree with the previous reviewer. There are a handful of strong teachers at Jerabek. While the school has great families, parental involvement, extracurricular activities etc., I feel it lacks focus on individual achievement and academic rigor. So far my experience with the new principal, Mrs. DeVicariis, is very disappointing. Her lack of interest in my child's individual needs and his educational success is very disappointing. While once a great school, I fear we are heading down a slippery slop motivated by politics not education.

Posted: July 7, 2013

There are a handful of strong teachers at Jerabek. However, there are also a handful of weak teachers that simply should not be teaching. It is next to impossible to remedy this situation (tenure). The former principal really let things slide. Many teachers feel quite entitled and resist change, training and constructive criticism. Look at the benchmark exams to get a better idea of the situation. Yes, this school has great families, parental involvement, extracurriculars and so forth... However, academic rigor is lacking!! I saw evidence of this when my GATE child moved on to Marshall and was not prepared.

Posted: July 5, 2013

My son attended kindergarten at Jerabek and had a wonderful experience--but after a move to a nearby community, I made the difficult decision to pull my son out and put him in the school near our new home--what a mistake that was! I guess I thought any school in a good district and nice community would be equal to Jerabek. Well, I was wrong! After a year--and 2 schools later (including a private school)--I put my son back at Jerabek for second grade. It was the best decision I ever made. Jerabek stands out among other schools my son has attended because of its qualified, dedicated teachers and parent involvement. Students get to experience rich curriculum that is lacking in other public schools--this is because of our active FFO and parent support that raises money for programs like Super Science and Art Corps. There is always something going on at Jerabek--whether it be family math night or Dr. Seuss Read Across America. Teachers here are NOT teaching to the test, but rather developing lessons that are engaging and kid centered--and teaching kids to think--not just regurgitate! I HIGHLY recommend this school!

Posted: July 3, 2013

Jerabek is a great neighborhood school that has supported, nurtured and loved my children over the past four years. It is an asset to the Scripps Ranch community and we are blessed that it is our neighborhood school. I am looking forward t o the district wide, common calendar for the 14-15 school year. This will allow all of our children to be on the same schedule. We are looking forward to a great school year with new leadership to take our school to new heights!

Posted: July 2, 2013

I have two children at Jerabek who are thriving. This is a great school where parents are involved and volunteer a lot of time to help at school. It is a welcoming community and the teachers are wonderful. This school has a lot of great programs such as art, music and Super Science that make it a wonderful experience for my kids. I also like the wide range of after school activities that are available on Thursdays and during school breaks. These include Lego Engineering, Whiz Kids, Flag Football, and Mad Science, to name only a few. We have a before school Spanish program that I've heard good things about and will be joining next year. After a few years of stagnation, we have a new principle who is a strong leader and I expect the 2013-2014 school year to be a great one.

Posted: July 2, 2013

Our boys have had a wonderful academic and social experience every year for the last 7 years, including a very stimulating 4/5 combo. The teachers are excellent as well as the extra programs, like Super Science, Family Math/Science Nights and Art Corps. We especially appreciate the music program, including weekly music, recorder from 3rd grade, and optional band in 4th/5th grade. I'm sorry to see these negative comments and want to assure families considering Jerabek that they will be welcomed here. Yes, there are many involved parents, but we work as a team with our teachers and administration. We are looking forward to the future with our new principal.

Posted: June 11, 2013

We have been at Jerabek 2 years and moved here from another local elementary. Our kids have had a mixed experience - primarily based on their teachers. Jerabek is in the midst of change and the new principal has made some very positive improvements. Outstanding parental involvement and lots of extracurriculars make the school shine. However, there seems to be a core group of parents who are very involved and year after year get the strongest teachers. Allowing siblings to get the same outstanding teachers - again benefits these same families. Hopefully the school can work on welcoming all students and creating a positive experience for ALL our kids.

Posted: February 25, 2013

We've been at this school for 3 years now, with 2nd and 1st graders. The schools policy is that siblings have the teachers; so far it's a blessing. Our K teacher was fantastic, though lacked some organization. Our boys finished her class ahead of others from other classes here, and other schools. Our 1st grade teacher is even better. She engages the kids making them want to learn, and is organized as anyone I've know. We get newsletters and she is approachable. The 2nd grade teacher is a jewel. She sings when doing lessons, keeping the kids focused on her message; they love it. She handles them so well . She needs no help in a classroom of 24. If we continue having the excellent instructors and education, it would be amazing. The only negative I've found is that SR seems to have a group of parents that feel entitled. They conducted what I would call a witch hunt to have an autistic boy removed from one of the other first grade classrooms. They make statements that indicate they want to keep non SR kids out of OUR schools. They should be ashamed of themselves. It is a minority, however, they are here as they are almost everywhere. Most parents are caring and positively involved.

Posted: February 12, 2013

I made the mistake of keeping my daughter at this school. She is in first grade and the whole year has been a disaster. Her teacher is emotionally stunted and displays that in her bulk emails she sends out to the parents that border aggression and hostility. my daughter's emotional and academic progress have declined. The school is also over run by under educated parents that have nothing better than time on their hands in making the school a social club for their own needs. It is highly expected that the parents that work, contribute enormous amounts of money to classroom parties or school supplies. It is stated that these donations are optional but they aren't. If you don't contribute time or money, your child will be left out of the parties and without school supplies or passwords/ usernames to the computer programs. The relationships between the teacher and FFO parents are inappropriate. They are bordering unethical school boundaries. If you have a financial or family crisis and the staff are privy to it, be sure that it will be the focus of the teachers and parents until the next scandal comes about. I'm a teacher and disgusted by this school. Best advice - don't go there.

Posted: September 21, 2012

After 8 years of living abroad the military moved us to SD. We choose to move to SR specifically for the schools. After 3 weeks of school we are desperate to pull our 4th grader daughter out! Her teacher teaches only to the test, reads from the textbook without any added teaching, fails to engage the children in any critical thinking, and has no control over a classroom of 32 children. She is obviously immune from being fired. The principal is apathetic. Our 1st grader has an inspirational teacher who obviously spends a lot of her personal time and money on the classroom, yet with 24 students she also seems stressed. We will leave her in place to finish the year but we'll try to choice into a neighboring school that seems to have a better reputation before mortgaging the house to pay for private school. San Diego, California, and America- you should be ashamed of yourself for allowing your public schools to become the laughing stock of the world. The "bunglows" where our children are "educated" are run down and I doubt anyone would have inspirational moments sitting in a trailer all day long if their working environment were half as bad as what the children are forced to endure.

Posted: August 2, 2012

This was our first year at Jerabeck. We looked at a lot of schools before Kindergarten and I wasn't sure what to expect but we were extremely impressed. Charter Schools will have you believe that if you send your child to a regular public school they will be bored and the scope of education will be very limited. To the contrary, we were amazed at all the things our daughter learned and experienced her first year at Jerabeck. The Art Corps program was top notch, they also did Super Science, Math and Science parent nights, fabulous field trips to the apple orchards, pumpkin patch, organic farm, wood working, zoo, seaworld etc. (which the teacher tied into wonderful class projects). There is also a music program which the kids get more involved in as they get older. The class size was larger than we'd hoped (25) but the parents really step up at this school and volunteer. Also the teacher handled the class beautifully, and we felt she really knew our daughter and how to encourage her. I hear from other veteran parents that the Fisrt Grade teachers are all excellent as well, so we're excited for next year.

Posted: February 3, 2012

We spent 6 years at Jerabek. We moved our daughter this year as we have seen a huge decline in the quality of education provided by Jerabek. The principal does not support his teachers and does nothing to stop the bullying. He does not appear to be a leader and the school is downing downhill fast. It is a shame because Jerabek used to be top-notch.

Posted: February 3, 2012

My son is in 1st grade at Jerabek and we love it. He has Ms. Cannon and she is the best! She is strict and provides my son with the structure and discipline he needs but at the same time is very warm and caring. She adores all the kids and it shows. My son has learned a lot this year and made many friends. We are very pleased with his progress. He enjoys going to school. We are a military family who had to "Choice" our son into this school and it was a great decision. I only wish we could stay for 2nd grade but we're leaving San Diego.

Posted: February 1, 2012

The Principal lacks complete leadership, I do not believe he has the students best interest at heart. He does not take care of his students or the parents. Both of my children have been bullied and have not heard a word from him? NOT GOOD!

Posted: November 3, 2011

I am beginning to think about private education as the state of "the best" public schools in town are not what I want for my child. Teacher morale seems low to me although they seem to be trying. This is the failing of our society in general for underfunding education for the past few years.

Posted: June 11, 2011

I have two children at Jerabek. One is a highly gifted and truly unusual learner. His needs have never been satisfactorily met. He hates school! The other is also very intelligent, but a much more typical learner. She loves school and is sorry when she doesn't get to go. I have found that if you are lucky enough to get the exceptional teachers (and so far we have been), things are pretty good. But even with a string of all the best teachers in the school, my son has been very unhappy. He has been bullied and excluded by teachers and students alike, and I have worked with teachers and the administration to try to make his experience better. They have given me nothing but lip service. They are unwilling to change their "one-size-fits-all" teaching model! This is NOT working for my son, and so for his 5th grade year, I think we will have to find a better solution for him. My daughter will continue to attend, and she will most likely be very happy. But if you have an unusual child who doesn't fit the baseball playing, out-going, athletic mold, this might not be the best place for your child.

Posted: February 13, 2010

Posted: April 19, 2007