Menlo-Atherton High School

555 Midfield Rd.

School District

Sequoia Union High
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:18
Type

public

School Map for Sequoia Union High School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on November 22, 2024

Three of my children attended this school 2018-2024. The school in general is too large and is a government indoctrination factory. A small percentage of bad apples at the school consume a disproportionate amount of resources, perpetrate crimes and generally make life miserable for administrators, faculty and students. If you want to give your children the best education possible, steer clear of this school. If you're on the fence about this school, I recommend attending a football game to soak up the culture. It's completely shocking!
Submitted by parent on April 19, 2024

We had a terrible experience with Menlo-Atherton during our child's freshman year.Stay clear of this school if your child is neurodiverse; the teachers and staff have no experience, support or compassion to help neurodiverse children. Students are just a number, they are required to self-advocate while being put down with obscure rules and bureaucracy when they do.Communication with families is non-existent; teachers and staff are slow to respond to emails and when they do they often blame the student or claim is too late to help.Freshmen are exposed to vaping/smoking right away; the school is well aware of the problem and they seem to do nothing to remediate it.Students are discriminated against based on where they come from, with of course rich white kids being "excused" for everything, while minorities are "presumed guilty until proven innocent".
Submitted by parent on May 20, 2022

M-A is an impressive place, especially given the extreme socioeconomic diversity and varying high school readiness of its student body. The curriculum provides for courses ranging from remedial to AP and beyond. There are extensive resources for academic help (ranging from office hours to after school help to peer tutoring), a huge number of clubs and extracurricular activities, highly competitive athletics, nationally-ranked debate, award-winning orchestra and jazz bands, the list goes on. Students are given opportunities to participate and excel regardless of family financial situation. And this is borne out in the college outcomes - the majority enter college, and many go to Ivies, Stanford, MIT and top UCs. Most importantly, I have found that the teachers work hard and really care about their students - not just their academic outcomes but their entire well-being. During the pandemic, many teachers went well above and beyond to ensure that their students' mental and physical health was secure. It is a hard thing to measure, but, as a parent, heartwarming to see in action.
Submitted by parent on October 12, 2018

Poor - I had two sons and one daughter attend this school. Of my 3 children, only 1 graduated from here. One son was harassed by these "Eastside kids" and was never safe at school. We had to pull him out and put him in a private school. My daughter was also assaulted in a locker room during volleyball practice. She never felt safe after the assault. We also had to remove her from the school and put her in a private school.
Submitted by parent on March 03, 2017

Great school ! Combines great academics, great college readiness, great extracurriculars (drama, debate, outreach), and great athletics (6-7 state level competing teams this year)
Submitted by parent on June 13, 2014

Terrific school for college bound students. Offers an extensive curriculum within a diverse campus. The size adds a level of complexity that will be invaluable to young adults entering both college campuses and the work force. Teacher are highly engaged and classrooms are reasonable sized. The leadership of the principal and his staff are future leaning, hands-on, and very involved. I have not regretted sending my 3 children to M-A and feel they are very prepared for what lies next.
Submitted by other on February 20, 2014

I am currently a student at MA in my sophomore year. I grew up in Oakland and Berkley so I'm used to a lot of diversity. Coming to MA was a huge shock. The huge class difference between the rich white kids from Menlo Park and Atherton, and the middle-class minority groups from EPA is really bad. I am a white girl living in Menlo Park. My family has never been rich, my dad doesn't have a job and my mom's doesn't pay her nearly enough. Because of these things, I can't fit into either group. I'm not rich or athletic (MA is very sports oriented), so I don't fit in with the other white kids, but since I'm white, I'm excluded from the minority group. Also, I have had multiple teachers in the past two years who were extremely rude and disrespectful to their students. This school does have it's strong points. Some of the teachers are really good and encouraging. They also have the Computer academy and the AVID program. They are really competitive and so they have pretty great academics and sports but if you need and special help or a less traditional teaching style, I would recommend looking into a different school.
Submitted by parent on May 21, 2013

Menlo-Atherton has diverse students, and a curriculum that is designed to address the diversity, thus allowing all students to learn at their level. The bathrooms, however, need more maintenance.
Submitted by parent on April 29, 2013

This school is unfortunately not at all like the rosy, jolly reviews from parents who don't know what really goes on at this school. The segregation at this school is AWFUL, and the M-A motto "Strength in Diversity" is known as a joke by everyone, students and teachers alike. The only equalizer between the kids from EPA and Menlo Park and Atherton is drugs. Even some of the best students, with the parents who volunteer the most, smoke often and sometimes even right in front of teachers, on the green, using those pen - smoke machines hidden in their sleeves!! Yes, there are many security guards who ride around in golf carts but it has not seemed to help. Teachers are completely out of touch, they are in their own world and often are too into "the doughnuts in the staff room!" and their problems at home to genuinely help students and maintain a positive attitude. One highlight is the choir and music teacher, who seems to actually be in touch with the problems with M-A, but is positive and brings up student morale.
Submitted by other on February 02, 2013

Menlo-Atherton has an amazing staff that will provide you will all the help your teenager needs to go through high school. All you have to do is ask for the help you need. The counselors will help guide your teen to the right direction on their way to college. Besides the fact that M-A has such a great academic course, they also provide a large variety of electives & clubs to choose from. M-A, I believe takes great care of their students. Although, the school may seem a little segregated between the minorities and the non-minorities, but that can be worked out with the school. What else does M-A have to offer? PRIDE. M-A has a system called PRIDE which will help your student overcome their fear of bullying because M-A tries their overall best to be an anti-bullying school. What does PRIDE mean? P-patience, R-respect, I-integrity, D-determination, E- empathy. These four words helped me get through my first year at M-A and I hope it will be the same for your teen as well. M-A! U KNOW! GOOOOO BEARS!
Submitted by parent on January 07, 2013

This is a good school for students that do not need any extra help. My son has ADHD and unless you completly micro manage the support your child will not get the extra help they need. The teachers and staff seem too overwhelmed with work to give the needed assistance. We ended up having to change schools.
Submitted by other on January 02, 2013

I am a freshman student in this school. Must admit, this school have both amazing academic and athletic progress. The only bad thing? If you are from EPA or EMP, you'll get secretly discriminated by some of the students who came from rich district. Almost no student from East Palo Alto dare to say they are from "the bad neighborhood", even they are on the AS/AP track of this school. Why? They are afraid no one want to be their friends. Because some of the rich students from better community are so arrogant and values themself better than the ones who are from EPA and EMP. But still, I know some classmate from rich communities want to be friend with you and doesn't care about the place you came from, and the number of people who are friendly are more than the people who think they are better 'cause they're rich.
Submitted by other on September 28, 2011

All three of my kids went through M-A. They considered all the the schools, private and public, but felt they'd have a better "dose of reality" at M-A than kids they knew at the privates were getting for the years after high school and they are glad they did as am I. One went to CAL, turning down Stanford, another Davis and another Cal Poly. The academics are great. Having volunteered for a number of years, I got to know the staff, coaches and watch the improvement of the physical plant. The camups is awesome, from the Performing Arts Center to the football stadium and even the tennis courts as well as the rest of the buildings on campus. The trend with some of the parents of our Millenials has been rather than take responsibility, blame everyone but themselves or their children. It's called parenting, people! Every year M-A sends a large number of kids to the Ivy League, Stanford, the UC's, etc. Check the stats! As for the student body, it is and always has been a racially diverse environment, like the real world. It's a good thing! Best of all, it's FREE!! It's tough to justify spending $30K+ per year in high school so my kid can go to Chico. Boulder or Loyola.
Submitted by other on August 18, 2011

I am currently a student at Menlo-Atherton and despite all rumors it is an AMAZING place. M-A takes pride in their diversity and though it is scary to many parents and students to be in an environment that has kids from unprivileged areas it really gives you a taste of the real world while still being VERY safe and welcoming. Despite rumors below there is no area called the "pot alley". There are many private schools in this area that have a MUCH larger problem with drugs than M-A. The staff does a very good job of keeping all incidents quiet thus not effecting students at all. I would encourage anyone to send their child to M-A because its free and provides and equally good education, since many of my friends who just graduated went to schools as good or better than those students who went to private school. Virtually all you are trading is nice bathrooms and good lunch, but in return you get an experience that prepares you much better to be on your own in college and beyond. It's a wonderful place and community and there is something for EVERYONE!
Submitted by parent on May 04, 2011

My child is a freshman at this school. It is not all rosy like other reviews claim. If you are a popular jock it is easy to have a great time at this school. If you are more quiet and shy it is hard to find friends. The studying environment is bad. Many students come in late, don't do their work and disturb the classes. The good thing is that if you do your home work, listen to and obey the teacher and try just a little bit it is easy to get all A's. There is no working hot food program at the school and the bathrooms are gross. There is a section called "the pot alley". Over half of the Freshman class is underprivileged from poor neighborhoods. I hoping there will be betterworking environment in upper grades when my child can take the AP classes.
Submitted by parent on February 25, 2011

MA is like two schools in one, serving a very diverse community. If you were able to separate out the kids in the advanced track, as the highest rated schools in the US on the US News survey do, MA would likely rate at the absolute top. Fortunately, MA serves both ends of the academic spectrum admirably and provides students a wonderful opportunity to experience a diverse social process along with outstanding academics and sport programs. The teachers and staff are highly dedicated and do an outstanding job with everything from basic classes to an unsurpassed variety of AP classes. There is a capacious selection of extra curricular activities including nationally ranked robotics and music programs, art, drama, and many others. MA's 6th man club is the highest rated in the bay area and serves as a demonstration of strong student spirit. Many students go on to the top universities in the US. Eight students were accepted for early admission to Stanford this year out of the approximately 740 admitted on that basis. That represents over 1% of all the students admitted early to Stanford this year from the approximately 18,000 high schools with AP classes in the US. Amazing!