Longfellow K-8

Posted: January 30, 2025

My kids attended from TK through 8th grade and one is still attending, very happy and excelling in Middle School. We gave them the option to attend a different Middles School and they chose to stay at Longfellow. They are bilingual even though I don't speak Spanish and the child who has taken the AP exam aced it. Not to say there haven't been issues. There have been ups and downs with the pandemic closure, principal/vice principal turnover and issues with certain teachers, but overall it has been a very positive experience and everyone is there trying to make the school better and working to support the kids.

Posted: January 30, 2025

Posted: January 30, 2025

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Posted: September 5, 2024

The staff is so unpleasant when you walk into the office every single time, it’s shocking. The nurse was extremely short when our kiddo wasn’t feeling good either. We’ve had 2 wonderful teachers out of 4. It’s also just a concrete jungle…. Fences and concrete, but I guess that’s normal for a city school.

Posted: September 5, 2024

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Posted: December 14, 2023

I have a student with ADHD and I've been very happy with his support and education. Each year is a bit different and teachers have different styles, but we've always felt supported and he's excelled even in the language immersion environment

Posted: December 14, 2023

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Posted: October 20, 2022

Overall, we have had a great experience at this school with our two kids who have attended since TK/K (last 9 years). There have been some issues with turnover of principals, but no school is perfect. Current principal seems great, she listens to parents, teachers, and students. Most the teachers are wonderful. Kids become biliterate by 8th grade (and >80% pass the Spanish AP test in 8th grade). Very involved parent community, lots of community events. It is true that the middle school is smaller (about 50-80 students per grade), but there are positive and negatives to that type of middle school. We are really glad we choose this school for both are children and feel the positives definitely outweigh any negatives.

Posted: October 20, 2022

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Posted: August 21, 2020

Great program For bilingual learning. High hopes for the new principle.

Posted: August 21, 2020

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Posted: August 21, 2020

Fantastic, our daughter speech and language development has been wonderful. From not knowing anything to being able to hold a conversation and read and write two languages is amazing. Good job Longfellow!!!

Posted: August 21, 2020

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Posted: January 27, 2019

There are some phenomenal teachers, mainly at the elementary level. However, as stated by another parent there is definitely favoritism for some students, those who have parents who are imvovlved in committees, etc.. All parents want the best for their children. Some parents don't have the ability to volunteer at the school for countless hours. They may not live near the school or may be working more than one job. It doesn't mean they don't care or their child school be assigned a less effective teacher. Being connected to these parent volunteers also benefits your child. For example, one parent told me how a volunteer parent moved her child out of a class and assigned her child to another teacher's roster before school started so that her child would not have a perceived less effective teacher. Parents should not be making classroom assignments. The principal should do that. The principal should also be making sure that the neediest children (my child does not fall into this category) have access to the strongest, most effective teachers.

Posted: January 27, 2019

Posted: January 27, 2019

The leadership at this school is extremely weak. The principal is not very responsive. Based on conversations with students, she is not visible and not regularly in classrooms. She fails to properly and timely investigate and address issues. More than one teacher is known to be ineffective, yet nothing is done. One is so ineffective that he has another teacher assigned to teach with him. He doesn't actually teach. At best, he could be described as an aide in the room. Transparent California shows that about a quarter of a million dollars of taxpayer money is being spent to have those two individuals in one classroom. If the principal would do her job and was regularly in the classroom providing feedback and documenting concerns the second teacher would no longer be there. The ineffective teacher has been there more than a decade, has been shuffled from grade to grade, has been in the news, has been on paid administrative leave and yet is still there. This is largely due to the principal's lack of efficacy and inability or unwillingness to properly document the teacher.

Posted: January 27, 2019

Posted: January 27, 2019

The principal does not timely respond. She does not adequately investigate or address issues. Some adults are the bullies. They argue with students in front of class, yell at students, berate students, and embarrass students. The adults are the role models and should behave as such. They should model the behavior they seek and address issues in a manner that attempts to guide and correct the behavior. Adult behavior should be professional and businesslike. What other profession would tolerate screaming at and embarrassing clients? Whether it is your child or not, your child is still exposed to the adult behavior.

Posted: January 27, 2019

Underwhelming. The students learn Spanish, but at the expense of everything else, especially in the middle school. That is why many families elect to leave either prior to sixth grade or after experiencing one year of the middle school. There is no higher level math offered. All the students take the same course with the same assignments. Students do not have any choice with respect to their elective. The paired teachers are teaching the elective. If you have two teachers then you could separate them and offer two electives. Some teachers provide timely feedback, others don't. Your student may be submitting asssignments but not receive feedback for months. By that time, it's too late. The class, teacher, and student have moved on to other topics. The principal is ineffective. With so many families leaving, you'd think that the District would conduct a study to determine the cause and use the results to make the necessary changes.

Posted: January 27, 2019

Homework should enhance and extend the lessons taught at school. It should not be hours of rote drills, especially for students who did not understand. Homework should be meaningful, not make a student hate a subject. Parent support is certainly necessary for student academic success; however, nightly reteachimg due to ineffective teaching should not be necessary.

Posted: June 21, 2017

My experience with Longfellow has been very mixed. My son is going into 8th grade next school year and I have witnessed many great things and many not so great things. I love how he has the opportunity to earn a bilingual certificate. The events throughout the year have been well organized and relevant to a multi-cultural education. He has also had some stellar teachers. The problems I have encountered are concerning administration and some members of the staff and their approach to students with disabilities. Every year, I have to talk to the teachers about accommodations and receiving services listed on my son's IEP. You would think that after multiple conversations, the administration would change the way students students with disabilities are treated. I am made to feel like I am asking for too much or that what is listed is optional despite the IEP being a legal document. If you are not prepared to be involved and be an advocate for your child, this is definitely not the school for you.

Posted: June 21, 2017

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Posted: January 22, 2017

The individual who commented about parents and personality flaws should take a long hard look in the mirror and realize it takes a personality flaw to insult concerned parents. Comments are the opinions of parents and even former students. Insulting their opinions only shows how ineffective of a teacher they are or must have been.

Posted: January 22, 2017

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Posted: August 5, 2016

I'm astonished at the negative comments (which IMHO seem to reflect personality flaws of the complainers). I've taught school in Israel, USA, Japan and China, including Montessori school in the US. Very very impressed with this school, an amazing example of a public school that beats so many private schools. Our girl has really learned Spanish, spoken and written, and also Math, social studies, science. Excellent relations between different ethnicities. And may I mention the events, which are SPECTACULAR!

Posted: August 5, 2016

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Posted: June 14, 2016

If you are an active parent in this school, they will bend over backwards for you. If you are depending on the teachers, staff, and administration, they are some of the most ineffective in the SDUSD school district.

Posted: June 14, 2016

Posted: June 14, 2016

All the children with parents who are active tend to get favoritism. This school gets its funding from children who bus in from other home districts, yet treats most of those children unfairly because there is a high percentage of minorities.

Posted: June 14, 2016

This school doesn't have any funding for tutors. So if you have a low performing child, be prepared for the school to place all blame on the parents. I wish this school would use funding to help the children instead of a multitude of field trips. I'm glad we are taking our children out! Not so many years ago, we received notice that Longfellow was a failing school and we had the option to transfer. We should have seen the writing on the walls.

Posted: September 8, 2015

We have a First and Third grader. We are super happy with all of our teachers thus far. The community is also fantastic. We feel that the education is amazing and that our children and very successful in their Spanish learning. They have far surpassed what my husband and I learned in H.S and college! The environment is very healthy and we have had nothing but amazing relationships with the teachers that we have had. The school is also well funded with PTO fundraising, which allows our kids to have great field trips and other opportunities. We also are amazing with the Running Club. Come on campus if you are considering Longfellow at 8:45 am any week morning and see what a great community and volunteer base we have!

Posted: September 8, 2015

Posted: October 24, 2013

My son is currently in first grade at Longfellow. So far he has had two amazing teachers and we are so impressed with how much he's learned. We frequently travel to Mexico and he now orders all of our food when we go to the local restaurant on our property. I am particularly impressed with the PTO and all the great events that they plan and for the students. We feel so lucky that our child is being educated in such an enriching environment.

Posted: October 23, 2013

I am amazed by the school atmosphere, parent involvement and open communication with the administration. I have been impressed with so many areas of Longfellow. This is our second year attending Longfellow and with more kids coming in next year, we are pleased to say that we are a proud Longfellow family. The PTO is also super active and supportive and I have been blown away with the extra enrichment and activities brought in for our children. A+ in our book! It's exceeded our expectations!

Posted: October 23, 2013

Spanish Immersion Magnet School. Both my kids are reading, writing, and speaking in both English and Spanish. Since its a k-8 school, my 5th grader will continue 6-8 at the school which is the best option for middle school - small, safe, and great teachers! My kids love the school and they are bi-lingual which is something I can't give them at home.

Posted: September 15, 2013

I attended this school from K-5th grade, and everything was fine until I got into 3rd grade. I was bullied, and because of the fear of the bullies, I couldn't keep my grades up. The teachers saw, and did nothing while the other students verbally berated me and destroyed my self-confidence. I now have a very large problem with my self-image and insecurity issues. If possible, I would give this school a negative rating. Thanks Longfellow. -Submitted by a FORMER student

Posted: September 1, 2013

We are starting our fifth year at Longfellow with my third child starting this year. My first two children are fluent in Spanish now. I've been very pleased with the dedication to Spanish learning. Being a magnet school, many parents don't get involved, but the core-group of parents has a huge impact on the school. The school has a diverse make-up which I appreciate for its ups-and-downs as that is how one learns about oneself and others in preparation for life. I would enjoy more structure/discipline for the students, but I've never felt the school to be unsafe. Any prior negative reviews about the school's academic requirements are from parents who have low/no standards for their child/ren. My children have been extremely successful because I give support to my children, the staff, and the administration every day. The parents who complain about too much work are selfish and doing their children a disservice.

Posted: January 6, 2013

worst school ever okay first of all the teachers there are very lame. they do teach good spanish but it is torture for our kids. i couldnt belive the amount of homework my kid got for break. because of that we couldnt do any thing this schools teacher are very unreasonable.

Posted: May 21, 2012

I love this school - the teachers/staff are great and parents are really involved when it comes to a lot of the extra activities such as art and exercise that have been taken away due to budget cuts. Also, there aren't many schools where your child graduates middle school with their high school and college language credits already completed. And this year the 8th graders all took the college level AP exam!! I definitely recommend the school. A far better education than most public schools provide.

Posted: March 14, 2012

I absolutely love this school. My child is in his 3rd year at Longfellow. I can t believe how much my child has learned in a second language. The school does such a wonderful when coming together for a child. The school works as a team and that is so amazing for the children.

Posted: February 28, 2012

Also, the PTA is good but I been here 5 years and its time for some new FRESH ideas and events. We do the "same" thing every year and it seems the same people are voted into positions and make the decisions. Any new, different, or a little cutting edge hasnt been accepted. We tried! Sad. One thing for sure, the Red Ribbon Week needs help!! The concept and effort put into giving these kids some REAL life tools to help them when they are encountered or offered drugs, AND THEY WILL BE, is really sad and insignificant. SAD RED RIBBON WEEK PROGRAM.