Louise Van Meter Elementary School

16445 Los Gatos Boulevard

School District

Los Gatos Union Elementary
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:16
Type

public

School Map for Los Gatos Union 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 October 27, 2024

My daughter has been at Van Meter since TK, and is now in 2nd grade. Each teacher she has had is absolutely delightful and you can tell they love what they do which is so important. The teachers and staff are all warm and welcoming. My daughter enjoys learning and when she doesn't love a subject, the teachers do their best to keep her engaged and make it interesting for her. I am so impressed with the culture. They have what's called "Bulldog Way" and the kids really abide by it: "Be Safe, Respectful, Responsible, and Kind". I love the school so much I joined the Home and School Club board to get involved. We host many community events to get to know other families. It's such a great community, we truly love it.
Submitted by parent on November 16, 2023

We joined Louise Van Meter when my daughter was 5 in TK. She has been at the school for 3 years now and we love it. She is now in first grade. The teachers help the kids develop a love for learning. My daughter can read full books, spell, write, and she is excelling in math as well. She is motivated to learn which comes directly from their teachers and staff. Beyond the traditional academics, she is learning Spanish, art, and music. They have a steam (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) lab where they have a mix of age-appropriate projects for each class to go through. The school is also expanding their coding curriculum. This is a school that nurtures your kids first, but offers a “Silicon Valley” curriculum as well. We are so happy with all of the staff and programs at Van Meter and are looking forward to bringing our preschooler here when he’s old enough. Additionally, we moved here to Los Gatos only 3 years ago and the community at Van Meter welcomed us and provided social gatherings for our children as well as adult-only events where we could connect with parents. It is truly a community and we are so thankful to all the parents for bringing us into the family fold.
Submitted by parent on April 18, 2023

Schools with high ratings do not necessarily mean they are the best school for your child. My kid has been attending this school for the 2nd year, it has it's ups and downs just like any school. Is the principal on the "cooler" side towards the students? Yes he is, and I don't see any harm in that. My daughter loves him, coach Matt, Mrs. Evans, her teachers, and all the others. Keep up the good work Bulldogs!! I wish we could stay for many more years a this school.
Submitted by parent on June 29, 2020

Things have gotten worse every year. There has been an increase of local families choosing private school instead.
Submitted by parent on May 30, 2018

Great school with small community feel The teacher and staff are very courteous and caring
Submitted by parent on January 17, 2014

I disagree with the last comment. My child was challenged in 4th grade while another child of mine with the same teacher who struggles in certain areas gained the self-confidence to do his best. Both of my children make honor roll now and I thank their 4th grade teacher often. Without the connection or being seen as two different children, I do not think they would be doing as well as they are. I am proud to be a parent at Van Meter and proud of the teachers they have had, especially their 4th grade teacher. You cannot group all teachers and students into one group, each person is different, Mrs. Adona was great at treating each child as an individual and made herself present and available at all times. I do believe the leadership and lack of parent involvement in particular classes is starting to affect our school this year.
Submitted by parent on January 12, 2014

The school is NOT as good as others at the same score level. Kids are not learning at their best. They teach kids across the whole grade the same material (teacher using the same material and the same homework). There is no individual things that they would do for the kids. If your kids are more advance in math, expect he/she will get super bored at their math class. My kids finish their math work early, and end up reading their books during math class. Express several times to the teacher (I am not the only parents complaining). They do not foster kids at their levels, which is very disappointing to me (seen this for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade)..At the end of the 5th grade, the kids might be just leveled to the middle. The exploding in housing development will just make things worse. I could not believe that people will pay the high housing price for this school now. The new principle, not impressed. We missed the old Principle very much. She is kind and caring about kids. Greeting every kids in the morning and know their names.
Submitted by parent on November 23, 2013

This school has suffered as the town council has allowed the town of Los Gatos to build sprawling subdivisions in every spare spot of land anywhere in town. A school that was originaly built for about 400 students now accommodates almost 700 students and the building isn't done and there are no new schools on the horizon. All this and we have a new principal who is no Roseanne Adona. She doesn't know the names of the students and cannot deal with any kind of crisis or conflict. Lacking leadership and guidance the weaker teachers are doing even worse than they did before. The teachers that excel and care about children always do great - hope that you get one of those great dedicated teachers and not one of those who is just phoning it in. The teachers who are just in it for the paycheck (which isn't exactly minimum wage) don't want to do any extra work and aren't afraid to throw around their attitude, take it out on the students, or gossip about you behind your back. Compare the curriculum to Saratoga next door. Our kids funnel into the same high school district shouldn't the elementary districts have similar curriculums? Numbers aren't the whole story.
Submitted by parent on October 28, 2013

The 2011 reported student body was 634, it's grown since then with new housing developments. New principal, the one who knew everyone by name retired. Not expecting anything dramatic to improve as new principal is near end of her career, probably looking to coast into retirement. With her and the upper admin, not expecting any new academic focus areas. Teachers are friendly, most are fine, but this isn't a top district. Now the schools are large and the system is strained, board and Sup focus on construction not academics or kids.
Submitted by parent on October 04, 2013

Great school. We liked our every year at LVM. Principle knows each student by name, meet and greet students when they come to school. We were really lucky. Unfortunately Fisher is not even nearly the same.
Submitted by parent on September 07, 2013

I must disagree with the last review, my daughter and son both attend Van Meter. Daughter in third grade and has attended since kinder, she has never had a class size larger than 22, my sons kinder class was the largest I'd seen to date at 24. That being said, I have never seen or known of children that are so excited about learning, I feel very lucky, and happy with my choice to buy a home here 4 years ago.
Submitted by parent on August 27, 2013

Sorry your numbers and statistics are drastically outdated. Enrollment is 770 with class sizes closer to 28.
Submitted by other on November 24, 2010

I went through this school and it was the most friendly, loving, caring environment imaginable.