West Seattle High School

Posted: June 2, 2026

This school is a majority white school with terrible SpecialED support. The school also suffers with nonstop vaping, smoking, and drugs being done in the bathrooms with no apparent efforts to stop it from happening (I can't go to the bathroom due to how hazy it is in there and how strong the smell of vape is in the bathrooms, every one is like this). Besides that, I have been miserable due to the majority of classes using older, outdated "Chair tables" I'm unsure if that's the name or not. I would highly advise against attending this school, or having your child go here. I'd also like to say there are maybe 20 mixed race students in the school including myself.

Posted: June 2, 2026

Posted: June 2, 2026

Posted: June 2, 2026

Posted: June 2, 2026

Posted: June 2, 2026

Posted: June 2, 2026

Posted: June 2, 2026

Posted: October 30, 2025

I feel very included at this school. I am interested in most classes, and they are engaging. I've made many friends, and I like most of the teachers that have taught me. The counselors are wonderful, and I feel safe there. :)

Posted: October 30, 2025

Posted: October 30, 2025

Posted: October 30, 2025

Posted: October 30, 2025

Posted: October 30, 2025

Posted: October 30, 2025

Posted: October 30, 2025

Posted: August 7, 2023

This school was not a good experience for me. I didn’t feel welcome as a religious person, I’m a Muslim and pray 5 times a day and it was very hard praying at school .I also didn’t feel comfortable of this environment learning was very poor and stressing and there were a lot of drugs in the bathroom like I be seeing a group of people smoking in the bathroom, I’ve seen bullying and people not doing anything about it. I don’t like this school and I’m very much glad I’m not going to this school next year.

Posted: August 7, 2023

Posted: August 7, 2023

Posted: August 7, 2023

Posted: August 7, 2023

Posted: August 7, 2023

Posted: August 7, 2023

Posted: August 7, 2023

Posted: May 24, 2020

Outstanding. My closest relative graduated four years ago, to gain acceptance to Mount Holyoke then Columbia University. Her teachers were exceedingly supportive of her every endeavor, and if it were not for the stellar education at West Seattle High School, she never would have made it to the Ivy League and excelled there as well. The campus is like a small private college. Excellent sports, and activities like you would not find at other schools across the country.

Posted: May 24, 2020

Posted: May 24, 2020

Posted: May 24, 2020

Posted: May 24, 2020

Posted: May 24, 2020

Posted: May 24, 2020

Posted: September 5, 2019

Parents need to push for children to get adequate counseling and to be placed on IEPs

Posted: September 5, 2019

Posted: September 5, 2019

Complete lack of resources, communication with parents, leadership, and subpar teaching staff.

Posted: September 5, 2019

They practice no communication with parents or caregivers, even when there are concerns.

Posted: September 5, 2019

Through freshman and sophomore year it was rare for teachers to “care” about struggling children, and rare for them to communicate to parents, leading to students failure.

Posted: September 5, 2019

Culture of bullying and ostracism is tolerated.

Posted: September 5, 2019

Complete and total lack of leadership and communication. Abysmal leadership of sports programs.

Posted: June 15, 2019

Teachers give homework at this school to aid in student learning, but it is not a significant part of a student’s grade.

Posted: June 15, 2019

There are some great teachers here right now, especially the Voc-Ed (Cte) department. Great programs to teach students computer science, culinary arts, auto tech, 3D printing and design, wood shop, medicine, and more. There are great teachers in every standard department as well.

Posted: June 15, 2019

The school has improved in this, especially with the ASB staff and student clubs (such as diversity club, earth club, etc.)

Posted: June 15, 2019

To sum it up: effective positive reinforcement structures, less effective negative deterrent structures. Although it is true discipline has decreased over the years, this is likely a state-wide trend, due to litigation concerns and an effort to reduce the gap in disproportionate disciplining of certain groups. The net result over the last decade is students get away with a more. Fortunately there is a large number of positive student groups and staff members that make the majority of students choose the right direction.

Posted: June 15, 2019

Students that have strong parent support and a student willing to work despite their disability will probably find this a great school for their child. Parents expecting to get adequate support for a child that struggles with behavior or desire to learn may find significant variability here though. The school has some great special ed support staff, including some great instructional assistants. Unfortunately many staff members are stretched thin with a large caseload, or parents that make large and continuous demands for support. This makes support somewhat inconsistent for families.

Posted: June 15, 2019

Like said earlier, the carrots (or positive reinforcements) are good at the school, but the deterrent mechanisms (the stick) are somewhat lacking. Due to discipline follow up, many students that some would view as practicing bullying behavior continue to remain in school without adequate behavior management. For some of these students the positive reinforcement may work, but for others it simply will not.

Posted: June 15, 2019

Positive overall. The school is not great in every category, but I would say the school is great in many places that count, and with some effort can improve the areas that need it. It is important to say that the indicated rating the school has slightly lower than it should be based on a faulty state assessment reporting system. West Seattle High School has a program for students failing state assessments to retake them again the following year. The small fraction of students who do this do the testing at a different time of year than the general student population, and their test scores override and end up representing the overall pass rate for the entire school. As an example, the Biology Pass rate was actually closer to 80-85%, but because the students who failed the test the first time override the school’s score with their second-time test results, the report ends up indicate a 40-50% Pass rate.

Posted: May 21, 2019

Posted: May 21, 2019

Posted: May 21, 2019

Posted: May 21, 2019

Posted: May 21, 2019

Posted: May 21, 2019

Posted: May 21, 2019

My daughter was a student at WSHS and I pulled her out halfway through the year. The bullying problems at that school is out of control. I cannot recommend this school.

Posted: April 8, 2019

Posted: April 8, 2019

My daughter is a student at West Seattle High School. Teachers and staff are very attentive and keep the communication open with the parents. Great honors and AP courses offered to help my student excel. Amazing music programs! All positive experiences for us! Great high school!

Posted: April 8, 2019

Posted: April 8, 2019

Posted: April 8, 2019

Posted: April 8, 2019

Posted: April 8, 2019

Posted: August 17, 2016

My daughter has been a student at West Seattle High School since 9th grade, she will start her junior year this Fall.

The experience she has had at this school is all positive. She has taken AP classes and standard classes. It was a no-brainer to choose this school over Chief Sealth, number 1 was her safety. She skipped a grade in elementary and has never had a problem excelling. We can not say enough good about the quality of teachers at this school, yes she has plenty of homework but it is not too much.

She has had no problem finding and keeping good friends, which was an issue at Dennys Middle School.

Our daughter has joined several school clubs and is even starting a club this Fall, as well as being on link crew as a link leader.

This is a great school, great teachers who really care that your student excells.

Posted: July 4, 2016

Posted: July 4, 2016

Posted: July 4, 2016

Posted: July 4, 2016

I think the comments on here speak volumes about the school. The student comments, though not completely without error, are better in a lot of ways than the negative posts by parents. One parent said "Know wander my son has difficulties focusing in class." It should say no wonder my son.... Another said seuccess instead of success. You can't blame a school for the behavior of students because in reality it is impossible to control the actions of other human beings. Learning begins at home and if they have a true thirst for knowledge that stems from natural curiosity, that as humans we are all born with, then disruptions in class would not stop them from learning because they'd be nothing but a minor nuisance. Also, it will be the same in college because professors aren't there to force people to learn, they're there to teach those who want to learn. Looking towards college, it's good to be able to ignore nuisances and be a self learner because that will be required in college. My child excels and I've never pushed him once to do so. This is a fantastic school. If your child is a good student they will excel anywhere and they give the tools needed to do so at WSHS.

Posted: December 11, 2015

Posted: December 11, 2015

Some teachers are real homework heavy, to the point where even they forget about it.

Posted: December 11, 2015

Posted: December 11, 2015

I'm a student here. This school is so much better that some of these reviews give them credit for. The teachers have been really nice and teach really well. The school is very technologically advanced for a public school, and there are a lot of fun extracurriculars to take there. They also make it really easy to catch up if you fall behind with after school study hall and Saturday school. Given the option between Chief Sealth and West Seattle, go to WSHS! You won't regret it.

Posted: January 28, 2015

This is an awesome school and students get challenging assignments.Teachers are talented too.love this school.

Posted: May 23, 2013

The school is great and there are many courses for students to take! Sadly, I feel like there aren't as many clubs as other schools that I have seen.

Posted: November 20, 2012

West Seattle High School is a pretty good school and the teachers are great teachers too!