Western Sierra Collegiate Academy

TWO STARS: One for the GREAT teachers at the school (esp. Mrs. Dixon, Sra. Carlson and Sra. Galvan, Mrs. Dayton, and Mr. Rice; Mrs. Stout is good too if you have her), and the other one for Mrs. Amira (counselor, teacher, friend, someone who’s there when you need advice, etc.), who really deserves a star of her own. Don’t get me wrong: this is a GREAT school as far as academics goes, and quite possibly the best around. There are just some things that made it a bad experience for me.
Why not five? Here are a few reasons:
There is a lack of communication between the faculty and students. A great example is during the 2010 – 2011 school year, when a certain unnamed teacher who was well-​loved by his students was «fired» (the real reason why is out of the question). The point is that there was a staff cover-​up where the principal at the time walked into the teacher’s classroom after the teacher had left, and told the kids that the teacher quit, and to suppress any rumors, he would «see [the person] in [his] office» if he heard anyone talking about it.
In that same year, the school principal had promised to get in touch with my parents over an issue with a teacher and had failed to do so by the time he had agreed to (basically, he never got back to them at all)
Also, in my personal experience as a student at this school this past year (in the 2012 – 13 school year), I had earned a treat from my Spanish class that I had worked hard all year long to achieve. On the day I was going to receive it, the school authorities told me that because I had left the school for a brief hour (it was the end of the year; my class wasn’t doing anything that day), I was ineligible for my reward.
My parents and I were furious at the school and this was so frustrating to me that it overshadowed all of the good memories I had of the year until that point. This also took away all of the trust I had for the school. I am still haunted by that experience today and I pity the children who go to this school and also get cheated out of what they earned by the faculty/​staff (I was not the only student that year who didn’t get their year-​long-​earned prize). If you do end up going here, watch your back!
Speaking of the school staff, there are a few amongst the school faculty who are so awful, they hardly smile, don’t say ANYTHING nice about you or to you, they don’t try to make a conversation, and when you talk to them they almost take it personally. I won’t say who these people are (I believe they were new last year), but all of the student in the school despise them and they should, for the benefit of the school, be let go.
Another person who should probably be let go is the newly-​hired P.E. teacher, who appears to have a very gruff manner and does not treat her students well.
There are also not many sports in this school (especially no golf!), as the school is focused mostly on academics. This may not bother some people, but it certainly bothered me.
In summary, thank goodness I graduated because otherwise I would probably be trying to get into Whitney HS the next year, or better yet, skip high school and go to Sierra College and obtain my HS AND college credits there.