Sonoji Sakai Intermediate School

Posted: June 20, 2023

Posted: June 20, 2023

Posted: June 20, 2023

Great school differently recommend so great ya

Posted: June 20, 2023

Posted: June 20, 2023

Posted: June 20, 2023

Posted: June 20, 2023

Posted: June 20, 2023

Posted: June 4, 2023

Parts of this school are pretty good, like the food is high quality and the library has a good assortment of books that kept my kid interested. Academically they're all right, but as a tribal member I found their Native lessons to be offensive, especially when they ended it with a showing of Disney's Pocahontas. I didn't want my kid to watch it at school, but she begged me not to remove her from it because she didn't want to be singled out of her class. I also didn't care for the book the teacher had them read, and thought it was an odd choice with all of the better books out there. Afterwards I had to spend several months re-educating my daughter because she came away from it thinking all Natives "worshiped animals and plants" and other completely ridiculous, offensive ideas. She also learned nothing about true Native history.

The worst part of this school though is the bullying. It is completely out of control and the teachers don't know how to handle it. My daughter found several threatening and creepy notes in her locker, has been kicked by a boy multiple times, has been relentlessly teased about being a new kid, and was often told she had no friends. It got to the point where she was leaving every single day in tears. The teachers weren't interested in fixing the problem, and instead they blamed my daughter because she didn't remain in perfect composure while being constantly bullied. Because she asked her bully to stop with a frustrated voice they told her that she was instigating her bullying and wouldn't address it with him. My daughter asked me to stop complaining to the school because she felt like it was making her teacher hate her. She also stopped talking to the school counselor after a few tries and said they weren't someone she wanted to talk to again at all. Even her friends told her that she should just tolerate it, because the boys are doing it because they like her. They might have a bullying program, but it's completely useless.

In the end we had to move her out of the school district to Kingston Middle School to get her away from the bully, and the attitudes that allowed that to happen. This school has been fantastic in comparison. No bullying or violence, no unnecessary lockers for random people to leave notes in, and they work with local Native tribes to give a much better rounded education. They might have lower test scores, but my daughters self esteem and how she feels about school has drastically improved since she left Sakai.

Posted: June 4, 2023

Posted: June 4, 2023

Posted: June 4, 2023

Posted: June 4, 2023

Posted: June 4, 2023

Posted: June 4, 2023

Posted: June 4, 2023

Posted: May 6, 2014

This school is great. The teachers truly care about their students. The academic rigour is just right. My son loved the increased freedoms and responsibilities. The sixth grade science teachers are amazing. This school really prepared my son for middle school.

Posted: August 10, 2013

First impressions upon enrollement: this school is just 5th and 6th grade. It's fairly new and in a park-like setting with a rock garden, a path into the forest, a baseball field, regular field, lots of open space, tether ball courts, playground. The teachers teach in teams of three so each set of kids alternates between three teachers, one being home room and the other two for other subjects. A very strong PTA. There are two tracks for "enrichment," either a band track or if you are not in band then one semester you have music and the other semester you have art. If you are not in band you have PE all year. I will update this as I find out more details. The history is interesting and the 90 year old daughter of Sonoji Sakai stays involved and visits during events.

Posted: March 18, 2012

I am a sixth grader now and i loved Sakai. it is fun and i learned so much in band and art. in sixth grade you get to make awesome pop up books that are so fun making. some problems in Sakai were how they split you up from your friends. i knew nobody except for 1 person that i still didn't really know in my class. i met a bunch of knew friend though. i also didn't like coho time which you have to talk about bullying for a year then another year in sixth grade to. overall i loved sakai!!!!!!!!

Posted: November 18, 2010

Both of my children went to Sakai and what a wonderful school. By separating the older kids (7 & 8) from the 5 & 6 as well as the younger Elem. students (K-4) the kids at Sakai can really thrive. My son also struggled with keeping up with the fast pace and he had teachers who taught "out of the box" as were a true advocates for him. He was able to get his reading level up and it built his self confidence so he could thrive. Love this school!