Orchard Elementary School

Im writing this review as a warning to all parents. School system is great other than the fact that their staff/​front office personnel not issuing receipts for paid cafeteria fee (s) especially when paying cash. Clearly it states that they do accept cash but when ask for receipt they said they dont issue one. Also, parents needs to be mindful about how the cafeteria charges automatically even though kids has not used their meals. My sons eats breakfast at home before going to school and yet he gets charged of having breakfast at the Cafeteria. Ive asked my boys if theyve taken some breakfast at school again and they said NO. Every penny counts for family of 5 here. Let this be a warning to all.

Our daughter attend this school from 1^st-​3^rd grade and all her teachers had been superb! They are the ones that teach and promote positive behavior and nurture her into loving school and never wants to miss attendance. She was damage from kindergarten class teacher at another school (school score 10 in API) and had hated going to school, but this school change her perspective.
Thank you so much for giving our girl a chance to prove that even a school (score 5 in API) can make a difference on a child’s life and education. She had advance in all levels.

Very nice staff. Teachers make sure students are safe during school hours and even during after school, school dance, and sports. Education level is like private schools, so it is one of the best schools in San Jose. School has been renovated and has a big gym that most of the schools in San Jose don’t have.

Orchard goes from K-​8^th so the middle school sector is pretty small. My nephew just started kindergarten here and he loves his class and teacher Mrs. McCarthy. She seems like a great teacher; she prints out newsletters weekly for parents to read about what they’re doing for the week, she gives out progress reports, does conferences, and creates homework assignments where the students interact a lot with the parents. Orchard was struggling once financially with issues of their former superintendent embezzling their funds, but that was like a decade ago. I also love that they have a lot of school fundraisers like they were selling tickets to the giants game, they have a farmers market, bake sale, and they’re having a spaghetti dinner with a raffle this Friday!

Middle School 6 – 8 Grade:
Office Staff: Rude, unfriendly, and very difficult to work with or speak on the phone. One example: My daughter transferred out to another school and the Staff did not fax academic records to new school as promised that would identify my daughter’s current grade. Instead, they faxed ONLY the disciplinary records.
Students: Horrifying. The student populous is growing and the current ration is 1 teacher for 30 – 32 students. I am noticing a huge increase of Oakland residents moving to the new housing being built in this area. The new kids this year consistently harassed, threatened and physically harmed my daughter at school for being white.
Principal/​Superintendent: After several conferences, nothing was being done for my daughter’s safety and well-​being. Instead, my daughter was being suspended when she was stabbed (twice) and was consistently reprimanded for reporting to staff that she was being threatened and physically harmed for being white.
Overall: I highly encourage any family thinking of moving to this area, to NOT move here. The violence at the school is out of control and the District did nothing for my daughter’s safety. The District has only 1 school (Orchard) and other school districts are not accepting transfer students and it is extremely difficult to get students out.