Santa Rita Elementary School

700 Los Altos Avenue

School District

Los Altos Elementary
Grade

K-6
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:17
Type

public

School Map for Los Altos Elementary 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 January 11, 2025

Love the teachers and community here. The school feels small and the parents are very involved.
Submitted by parent on March 27, 2023

We moved to the area about a year ago and our child attends Santa Rita Elementary. We are extremely happy with the school. Our kid's class teacher is amazing. The principal is very approachable and vested in the school. The community is strong and PTA events are well attended.
Submitted by parent on July 15, 2021

I had 3 students go to Santa Rita. It was a great experience. We loved all of the community activities such as Witches Delight, Teddy Bear Parade, Camping under the redwood trees, and cooking stew during the school day and the 6th-grade buddies helped Kindergartners with their transition into school.All 3 went on to Los Altos High School and then to exceptional colleges and are doing fabulous. It is an amazing school and community.
Submitted by parent on January 09, 2020

Santa Rita embodies the Silicon Valley. All means all, and this means students from advantaged, higher socioeconomic families are in class and learning alongside classmates from students who did not grow up with the advantages and whose families may struggle to make ends meet. My older child spent 7 years here and my younger one is one year in. I feel so incredibly fortunate we get to call this school ours. Santa Rita staff works hard and is intentional to create community building events that celebrate its diversity. As for academics, they are known in LASD as being leaders in designing instruction and trying out programs that take all kids - gifted and struggling - into account. I do not believe the ratings from GreatSchools take Santa Rita's unique population into account. If you could see a student's progress from the time they enter to the time they leave, it would look a lot different than what we see on here. As for the ratings on here that seem to target and nitpick specific teachers and situations into account, I would caution people reading them to know there are always people at the tail end of the bell curve but my experience has always been if you approach people politely, respectfully, and rationally, you get a lot farther in solving your problems.
Submitted by parent on January 06, 2020

My family is so grateful our children can attend Santa Rita! We are 6 years in and have another 7 to go! With super strong academics, a focus on building empathy and strong character, and an amazing community of supportive educators and parents, choosing our neighborhood school Santa Rita over our local charter school was the best decision we could have made for our family. The data about advocating for those with low-income is skewed and the data about standardized test scores to further support our wonderful all our schools in LASD are, including Santa Rita. There were several teachers that retired at the end of the 2018-2019 school year, which might be the turnover comment below and the stats above sort of point to that. After school programs include drawing, chess, Mathletes in Training, tennis lessons, and a coding class. Mandarin Immersion is also available as an after school class. Santa Rita's amazing!
Submitted by parent on January 03, 2020

There is bullying. Teachers do not believe the child. They do not believe when my daughter is beaten by boys from another class.
Submitted by parent on December 31, 2019

Our experience echoes the negative reviews. Parents with older children who attended Santa Rita years ago said it used to be a good school. But that is no longer the case as they have seen a difference with their younger kid’s ‘education’. By all accounts the good teachers have left. There is a high turnover of teachers under the current Principal. Also, we experienced frequent staff absences resulting in many substitute teachers who are even worse. At our parent’s the teacher was chewing gum, was distracted by her cell phone and was reading off the grade’s curriculum without reference to our child. Her classroom looked like it had been trashed. She didn’t seem to care. Laughing it off as an activity the kids had done 4 days ago! Homework is optional up to grade 4. At the end of year open house, the higher-grade classes were full of goofy videos and photos of school trips because there is very little work that the kids have done during the year to display. A special education teacher who was from another school for a few months revealed to us that our son’s bullying was very badly handled by the Santa Rita teachers. She is not the only person to have worked at the school and complained about it. Some parents working during recess and/or volunteering have told us they went to complain to the Principal about the racial slurs and bullying, and he says he won’t do anything, as much is already being done with the ‘Project Corner Stone’ for which they have received ‘awards’. He refuses to act and respond to specific concerning events. It is always the kid’s ‘imagination’ and parents must never ‘complain’. We have met parents who have moved their kids from Santa Rita to Bullis Charter, and private schools in the area, because their kids were not doing well and importantly were not happy at this school. They are much happier now in other schools. We expected not perfection but much higher standards from a “Los Altos Great School”. The camouflage over this school with narcissistic remarks and inflated praise must be removed because children’s education, well-being and safety is at stake. Elementary school is the most important time for laying down the foundation in education and learning. All kids deserve a better start than what Santa Rita has to offer.
Submitted by parent on September 27, 2019

I have been with Santa Rita for more than 10 years, and the experience has been wonderful! My kids have had many caring and passionate teachers. I still remember her 5th grade teacher was so positive and always encouraged them to try their best. The curriculum is good, with music art PE STEM. They also have a school play each year and the kids did very well!I also like the diverse environment. My child was in the English learner class the first year and she made friends with kids from Japan, Korea, China. Now she is very fluent in English language and is above average in her reading and writing.I'm thankful for this wonderful school!
Submitted by parent on September 10, 2019

Santa Rita has been an amazing experience for us. Our kids and us parents have made lifelong friends, and been given so many chances to grow. There is no perfect school, but Santa Rita is not so far off.
Submitted by parent on September 10, 2019

I am a little surprised to see a couple of extremely negative reviews here. I have been at Santa Rita with my kids for many years now. There have been ups and downs as with every life experience, but I don’t really understand parents who expect to find a perfect school. In a nutshell the community is friendly and diverse, the teachers and staff are caring and effective. My kids are/have been happy and thriving and have learned what they need to learn in an enriching and warm environment. In general very little busy work, continual development of a modern and effective curriculum, addressing kids’ needs regardless of their learning level. I truly feel some parent have unrealistic expectations of what a school should be, and those are the parents who switch schools every couple of years. I am sure there are families who have had some bad experiences for whatever reason, but most have had great experiences. As for my family we have been extremely happy at Santa Rita and happily recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to attend,
Submitted by parent on June 17, 2019

Completely agree with the negative reviews. If you express concerns to the principle the older more, experienced teachers start to gang up & target the children whose parents reached out for help. Strong culture of retaliation & hatred towards children whose families are not happy with the lack of education, neglect & indifference towards their children. Even the office staff get involved & start yelling at the kids for no reason. In the first instance, the principle & teachers flat out disagree with you as the parent. They only expect & want to hear you praise the terrible teaching, lack of learning & you must be content for your child to not learn & complete grade level appropriate work. Second, there are no checks of class work, let alone homework. Thirdly, the curriculum is haphazard, teach as you like, if you want & with a “Who cares?” type of mentality. Fourth, there are no tests, only computer tests in Math & English so the teachers don't have to give any constructive feedback. Fifth, the kids are often placed in front of ‘You Tube’ videos with inappropriate images popping up. Finally, the school never disciplines & sets limits for misbehaving kids; the staff pretend not to hear kids use the 'N' word, say 'F' this 'F that to each other especially, if they are white & their parents are friends with the principle & older teachers. There is a ‘gang type’ of mentality amongst the kids because they have nothing else to do. One of the 4th grade teacher’s solution to my child’s bullying & being on the receiving end was, “Get better friends man! ” and “….don’t mistake getting hit for game playing”. Inevitably it becomes even worse for the English language learners; they are getting horribly bullied, particularly in the lower grades. Respected oversees professors should not subject their kids to this degrading, unhealthy environment, even it is only for one year. If you want your child to have a third-rate education, with an ineffective, disinterested, uninspiring principle, then send them to Santa Rita School.
Submitted by parent on February 27, 2019

Things weren't as rosy as it looks, but it's fine if one closes one eye. As of January, things took a sharp turn for the worse, and that's why I am writing a review to give a not so rosy side to this school that many parents simply assume is a great school.My child has a long-term substitute starting from January. Here are some indicators that things are not quite right as far as academics go:1) My child was given the same worksheet 3 times at different points in time!2) Packets of "work" are brought home with NO grading or correction attempted except a "check" at the top of every first page. We found mistakes in our child's math work but they were NOT corrected.3) Writing workshops are done online but no one seems to check it, and blatant grammatical errors and factual misunderstanding or logical flaws were not pointed out.Basically, it's a state of anarchy. At 3rd grade, mathematical and grammatical foundation should be set in place, or a child would have difficulties grappling with higher level concepts later on in his/her academic path.I spoke with a couple of parents. We are concerned but no one wants to be the bad guy to bring this matter up with the administration. We are just very disappointed that with at least 4 months to search for a substitute since knowing that the regular teacher got pregnant over the summer break, the school was not able to find a teacher who cares to try harder.
Submitted by parent on June 12, 2017

I have two kids in Santa Rita, and they have been in this school for two years. They both like going to school and come home very happy each day. The teachers are very experienced and pay attention to individual students. Their assessment of my kids were right on. My older son was given opportunity to work on more advantaged math given his skills. The retired teachers are still involved in school.Principal is very passionate and can be seen on campus all the time. Mrs. Gavin is great PE teacher who teaches kids not only about sports, but also sportsmanship and being a respectful citizen. We also have lot of parents who are very involved in school and doing lot volunteering work. We are very fortunate to be part of this community.
Submitted by parent on December 01, 2016

Principal does not seem very friendly to parents, especially those who are minorities or not involved in fund-raising. There's a lot of fund-raising events in the school. That seems to be the top priority here.
Submitted by parent on November 02, 2015

The school is great! A large group of people, including a dedicated principal, passionate teachers and staff, energetic PTA, supporting parents and friendly kids make Santa Rita a wonderful school experience for your kid.
Submitted by other on January 19, 2015

Dude, this school is the best. There aren't many douchebags and reptile people like Egan. The parent volunteers who do "yard duty" are hilarious when they catch you doing something wrong.
Submitted by parent on April 27, 2014

Santa Rita is a truly great school and a great community. Just finished the Los Altos School District Jr. Olympics (http://lasdjo.com/about-1) which is a great example of the unique combination of education, whole student development and community that this school and LASD has to offer. I have 2 kids in 6th and in 4th grade. The teachers have all been really excellent and nuturing with one or two minor exceptions. My kids are both in advanced math and reading and writing well above grade level. The school also offers great extracurriculars like music, art, chess club, flag football, STEM programs, Kahn academy with chromebooks for the students, and cutting edge leadership coaching. But as important is the small neighborhood school that has enabled my family to develop great friendships and have a really fantastic social experience. This latter feature is the one thing that API scores just don't communicate and honestly the folks who select the charter or nearby private schools in general don't really understand and unfortunately never get to experience. We moved to our neighborhood seven years ago and it has been a tremendously positive life changing event for the entire family.
Submitted by parent on April 15, 2014

Santa Rita is a great school with excellent teachers, parents and students. We moved to this area just for the school and this is the best decision we have ever made. My daughter loves the school, her teacher and has made a lot of good friends in very short period.
Submitted by parent on September 26, 2013

Santa Rita Elementary School is very nice school, my daughter make an amazing improvement in one year study. Nice teachers, management well, many resources for kids.
Submitted by parent on September 26, 2013

We just moved here from Palo Alto CA which is well known for its excellent schools, and I have to say, we strongly prefer my son's school in Los Altos (Santa Rita). The community here is MUCH more engaged. The school is very well endowed with excellent, passionate teachers and it has a dedicated STEM teacher. There are Google Chrome books for all the kids in my son's 4th grade class, and yet there is way less stress on the kids' faces than we sensed in Palo Alto. This was the best move I've ever made!