Dehesa Charter School

1441 Montiel Road, Suite 143

Escondido, CA 92026

42 Reviews

School District

Dehesa Elementary
Grade

K-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:17
Type

charter

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on January 16, 2019

After 4 years with Dehesa we are ready to move on. The changes made this year, which includes new management, is severely lacking in quality and integrity. I am so disappointed that the focus has shifted away from what is in the best interest of the children to what will benefit the charter.
Submitted by parent on September 19, 2018

The EF’s are fabulous in every way.
Submitted by parent on June 20, 2018

Kids lost alot of ground academically while we were there. Not a good choice if your kids plan on going to college.
Submitted by parent on May 21, 2016

We have been at Dehesa Charter School and have been loved and supported. My son's teachers have been amazing! He has learned more than I expected in Science and History. Moreover, he has a LOVE for learning!! For that, I thank Mr. Warner and Mr. Baker. In the office, Linda Barr and Flo have been caring and helpful! Nothing negative here! My son needed resource and in every area he has been well taken care of! Give back to your child the JOY in learning!!! Happy parent KH
Submitted by parent on April 16, 2016

Classes are unstructured, confusing , and lack leadership and accountability. Students are constantly subjected to inappropriate religious comments from staff. Our Dehesa Charter School Learning Centers is operating out of a church. Really? There is no staff supervision of students. Parents are pressured into volunteering their time to watch over all the children at lunch time with no training, direction or authority. Paperwork is a constant confusing burden. They are in the habit of making changes without notifying parents and/or students. Parents have been pressured to lie about students attendance records. Curriculum always took a month to get to us - so we were always behind schedule. Class credits were missing from graduation summaries. Bullies were allowed to bully without any repercussions. If your child has behavioral issues that prevent them from attending a standard public school then Dehesa Charter School may be for you. They have no school nurse and they are ill equipped to handle any kind of emergency like a school lock down or earthquake. My children and their friends never felt safe at Dehesa. If you voice any complaints they condescendingly remind you that you have other school choices. It takes weeks to get a response from anyone about anything. When they finally do respond it is passive-aggressive and belittling. IEPs are extremely difficult and frustrating to enforce. Many families left our learning center last year and many more are planning to leave soon. What a shame.
Submitted by parent on October 28, 2015

We were in Dehesa for one year, and, both my son and I loved it. The ownership of learning is on the homeschooling parent and there is a partnership between the Educational facilitator and the parent that makes it work. We loved Donna Bright--she is absolutely fantastic, knowledgeable. I must mention the field trips--best ever--from Camel Dairy farm, to museums, all over--and class projects it was a full house. If the parents are not willing to take responsibility for their child's learning it may not work for them. They did keep on changing the schedule on us--however, I was always informed and kept in loop.
Submitted by parent on September 11, 2015

Dehesa lacks competent leadership. Learning Center classes are more like glorified daycare. Educational Facilitators have poor training. Seems like they are more interested in running a business than running a "school". Some students graduated without even knowing if they have a diploma. Some get to senior year only to realize they don't have enough credits and/or the right college prep classes required. Bullying is not dealt with in a professional manner. Students who report bullying are punished for telling on the perpetrator. The bully gets to have his own babysitter to keep an eye on him instead of being removed from the class. There is no school nurse. 504 plans are not administered properly. If you report any problems they will circle the wagons and stonewall. Its a shame that so many people are unaware of the incompetence of these people until its too late. Most students are super nice. I hated having to pull my kids away from all their friends. Dehesa needs drastic improvements. In the mean time they get to keep taking advantage of people who don't know any better. Don't let them - go somewhere else - anywhere else. Otherwise you might as well R4 and organize "social days" with other kids some other way.
Submitted by parent on October 10, 2014

We are in our 4th year of working with Dehesa. I love the *community* feel of the school - the administrators at the learning center wear many hats, but there is the definite feeling that they all know you and your kids. Starting out on our homeschool journey, our Facilitator was very helpful in assisting me in choosing what curriculum and what level to use. With the myrad of choices out there, thats a big help! Shes also encouraging of us trying new things, more creative ways of learning material. For our first three years, my son participated in the 2-day/week enrichment program (k-2 in one or two closely working together groups, less than 10 kids in each group). Our academics we did at home, these days were for group play and doing the homeschool stuff better done in groups - art, gardening, music, etc. I really appreciated that if a student was there causing delays in the activities, they werent allowed to stay. One of the reasons for not going to a neighborhood school was that I didnt want my boys school time wasted by the teacher trying to get cooperation from someone else. We have found Dehesa to be a great partner in our sons education, and recommend them to all.
Submitted by parent on July 31, 2014

My son attended this school for 2 years at the Escondido Learning Center. He was one of the first students to be admitted when the campus opened before the campus moved to a permanent building. As was mentioned in an earlier review, young students are expected to work independently as it is a Montessori structured philosophy of learning. The lead wore many hats, including school nurse, which was concerning to me. We had an ongoing issue with my son's primary teacher. I volunteered occasionally in the classroom and during school functions. The most unfortunate thing that occurred is being witness to the singling out of my son in the classroom for his behavior, especially when, comparatively, other students were much more disruptive. He thrived in Montessori method prior this school, but the ratios were also much smaller.
Submitted by parent on June 05, 2014

My daughter is at the end of 1st grade. She likes it. Now, montessori isn't for everyone. if your child is not motivated to learn they may not do well. If your child does have a love of learning they will advance quickly. I have stopped by seeing my 6yr old doing multiplication with her peers.Like I said, not for every child. It is a good fit for ours. Also French and guitar lessons are fabulous. All charter schools have high turnover rates. that is the nature of the beast since all these teachers could be making more in regular public school so. As of now we love our teacher and have seen our daughter flourish.
Submitted by parent on May 12, 2014

Enroll at this school with caution. My son attended the Escondido South Learning Center. There is a low teacher to student ratio and assistants in the kindergarten classes. Without getting into too much detail, it was decided that my son s behavior was not appropriate for their school and with no notice we were asked to either enroll him in the homeschool program or withdraw him from the school effective immediately. There were only five weeks left in the school year and my son was forced to change schools without even the opportunity to say goodbye to his teachers or all of his friends at school, some of which he had known since preschool. What you need to know is that this school is strict Montessori and kids, even in kindergarten are expected to work independently on work for at least two hours a day. The school staffs communication with me was lacking on its best day. On its worst day I got no communication from the school. I am not saying be any means that it will not work for some students, but for any student who does not fit into the Montessori model perfectly will struggle.
Submitted by parent on January 31, 2014

My child went to one of DCS' Montessori learning centers and I strongly advise that you do not send your child(ren) there. The administration are very unorganized, do not get back to parents in a timely manner or even at all, make you sign paperwork with little to no explanation of what it is and/or it's purpose, and they constantly make changes without notifying the parents or even giving the students notice! There is also an extremely high turnover rate of staff. That reveals how the school is doing. While one or two of their Montessori centers are run better than the one we were at, if you are even thinking about sending your child(ten) here I strongly suggest you research which site you want to go to first.
Submitted by parent on May 02, 2013

I can't imagine my homeschool experience without DCS. It is truly a learning experience for both parents and students. My children love attending the wide variety of classes at the learning center, and I love the nurturing, encouraging friendships with the other moms. I have received so much support from my EF, who is also the site director. She spends a lot of time with me to make sure I am on the right track, am comfortable and confident with what I'm doing, and makes sure I've always got all the curriculum I need, plus fun stuff we might want. She's given me things for my family from her own supplies as well! (And my kids happen to adore her!) In my experience, all the EFs at our Riverside location are wonderful women who seem to truly love kids and care about families and homeschooling. Along with the basic, fun courses in math, history, language arts and science, there are fun elective courses which change regularly, and parents get to suggest and vote on what classes they'd like offered the following semester. Parents and kids are highly encouraged to take responsibility for what goes on in our learning center, and that's what makes us so successful at homeschooling.
Submitted by parent on May 01, 2013

Great charter school with the freedom I love in homeschooling my children. Very family oriented.
Submitted by parent on May 01, 2013

I attend the Riverside location of the Dehesa Charter School. This is an awesome layout & they have the greatest EF's there to help you every step of the way. This is totally the way to go! I'm a first time homeschooling mom & never for a moment had an issue what to teach my child or a lack of materials. They gave me so many ideas and books & the library on campus, I had more than enough to share & teach. Plus, they do a mom's teaching hour that answers any questions & gives us mom tons of ideas for all kinds of types of learners. It's been tremendous. It's a lot of fun too, we do a lot of activities on campus during breaks & fun bonding for the kids, they get plenty of their socializing. There's a lot of enrichment at this campus, my favorite was the cooking classes, dance classes, helping hands class that taught volunteerism, manners class, & great field trips. It helps when the teachers are so approachable and fun spirited. We have a lot of fun. The EF's rock there, they're the lifeline of the success. The school leader, Kathy, is a goofball and knows her stuff, she sets the pace for a fun learning kind of place. Check it out, our kids are excelling like none other.
Submitted by parent on April 30, 2013

Dehesa Charter School is the perfect fit for my family. We have been with Dehesa for the past three years and have the best facilitator around. She knows what my son's gift areas are and is constantly encouraging him in those areas. She also challenges him to give his best in all his endeavors. She provides extra materials for him and even will purchase him things with her own money. I have been please with the curriculum I am able to use and the school has been very supportive of the materials I choose to use at home. We use the learning center in our area and have been so pleased with the classes they offer. The teachers are engaging with my son and he enjoys the opportunity to socialize with the other students there. We also find it challenging which is what we are looking for in some of his academic classes. I wanted my son to have homework from the classes that he takes but not just boring worksheets. Several of his teachers will require group projects for the students to work on and at the end of each semester they are displayed at a year end EXPO. I highly recommend Dehesa Charter school and their learning centers. We have had such a positive experience with them.
Submitted by parent on April 23, 2013

DCS was founded on great ideals yet it lacks the leadership to properly implement them. Surprisingly the staff and administrators are not equipped to find out-of-the-box solutions for gifted children. If you raise any concerns be prepared to deal with a long, tedious, unorganized, and lackluster process. DCS leadership also lacks the ability to receive constructive criticism without taking it personally. When they are questioned on their approach they do not provide well-thought out and mature responses, instead their first instinct is to circle the wagons and push the parents/ students out of the program. Bottom line? If you are looking for an innovative and creative solution to an under-performing California public school then stay away from DCS there are better options out there (i.e. other private and charter schools in the area). If your child has behavioral issues that prevents them from participating in a standard California public school and you just want a quick and easy solution then DCS may be for you.
Submitted by parent on August 13, 2012

Dehesa Charter School is one of the best options available here in the Hemet Valley. My children joined Dehesa last semester, having left a great private school that they enjoyed. I wasn't sure how they would respond to home schooling. They loved it! It was due to the great Learning Center Dehesa has with exciting classes and great teachers. They loved the field trips, hands-on method of study and all the wonderful group of students they met. We are excited about our new school year with Dehesa! We are truly blessed to be with Dehesa.
Submitted by parent on July 30, 2012

Great school except it lacks a great on-site high school math program. As long as you provide your own math, you will be alright at this school. Otherwise, keep looking.
Submitted by parent on June 12, 2012

We are so grateful to have found Dehesa Charter School. The spirit of kindness and encouragement has been amazing. We appreciate the understanding, and the support, of different learning styles. We appreciate the creativity and the nurturing we received at the Murrieta leaning center. My son is happy with learning for the first time in a long time. Thank you so much!!