Monarch High School

329 Campus Drive

School District

Boulder Valley Re 2
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:20
Type

public

School Map for Boulder Valley Re 2 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 17, 2024

If your children is a self-motivated learner who is the “popular” type of student who teachers like, they will do well. If you have a child outside the box, it will be a nightmare especially if they are needing special needs and need effective curriculum management and accommodations. This includes 504 plans. We graduated a while ago and the SSN program was an absolute nightmare. Just sitting in a classroom holding hands and being nice and good is not education.. it is a holding spot. Special Ed students, especially those that are SSN and 504 students deserve more. This school may send students to top notch trophy colleges, but they fail to properly educate a significant number of their students.
Submitted by parent on September 29, 2023

Both of my kids are bright, motivated and well behaved. My daughter HATED Monarch so we moved her 3 years ago to a school where she later thrived. She is just starting at Mines and doing well despite her near derailment at Monarch. My son wanted to go to Monarch despite our efforts to dissuade him because of his group of friends there. A year and a half in and he is also struggling. Apathetic and borderline incompetent teachers and staff, LOTS of drugs and just a general feeling of a school that has given up on it's kids combine to make this a school to avoid.
Submitted by parent on May 25, 2023

My oldest son graduated monarch in 2018 I thought they did well with him in the special needs program so i sent my second special needs son there this year.. big mistake. I've just read reviews from other IEP parents and am now so sad that I didn't do it sooner. Bottom line my oldest autistic son was an easy going guy and staff did well with his low maintenance self causing me a false sense of security for my second son who is also on the spectrum but so very different and higher maintenance and actually requires an actively evolving IEP to ensure his engagement and success.. bottom line is monarch high school is not a place to send teens with special needs, mental health concerns or low income. If your kiddo is popular, needs little to no guidance and can afford all the fees it takes to fit in anywhere then I'm sure they'll do just fine at monarch. If your kiddo however requires, guidance, support and a caring accepting environment...RUN..
Submitted by parent on May 05, 2023

We’ve had a good first year. Monarch has a broad and varied curriculum with acceleration and challenge at the top level offered in BVSD, but also levels for different complexity and pacing which I think is great. They offer AP and concurrent enrollment, no IB. We’ve experienced truly wonderful teachers who are creative and supportive and engaging and thoughtful, certainly in the majority here. The facilities are top and the security excellent. You cannot assume our experience will be yours but we have been pleased. You can expect there to be at least one teacher that doesn’t get your kid, who doesn’t understand how to accommodate different learners and is more negative than positive but so far that has been a rarity at Monarch.
Submitted by parent on January 04, 2023

I’ve had kids at many different schools locally. Monarch is the worst of the bunch. By far. And it ain’t even close. Even ignoring the rampant drug use among the kids, and the laughable efforts from the administration, it’s still a cesspool of apathy and ignorance. This is the first time I’ve felt a school not only didn’t educate (or even try to educate) my child, but actively DID HARM to my child and their passion for learning. The administration is the very definition of incompetent—uninformed, uncaring, unqualified. Putting in the time until they can collect a pension is the most generous assumption one might make. There are a few good teachers we’ve encountered—one hopes and assumes they’ll leave for greener pastures as soon as they’re able. We’ve seen a few go already, and have had our opinions confirmed when speaking to them after they left. It’s a joke…played on our children. There’s a fundamental lack of effort from most staff—who, to be fair, are following their leadership's example. It’s a shame this place survived the Marshall fires. Avoid this school—they’re an embarrassment in every conceivable way.
Submitted by student on October 05, 2022

This is a great school! With my parent's jobs, we have moved 3 different places and after moving here I could see/feel the difference. Students and more so the teachers are welcoming. They helped me get adjusted to the new environment and way of doing things. I see many reviews here that are negative but people complain about everything and you get out of High School what you put in... not what the teachers put in. Drugs, yes there are drugs but go to Legacy High or any other and guess what? There are drugs. Teachers, 90% of th3 teachers here are nice, know their subjects and will help you. The other 10% are here, if you know what I mean. Students are generally nice. There is some bullying but not like any other school I've gone to and, if you approach a teacher, they will help. Homework, yup too much. Every subject, every night get's old.
Submitted by parent on May 19, 2022

There are upwards of $100+ in fees every year. They are trying very hard to keep low income families out of this school.
Submitted by parent on February 27, 2022

My son works with his teachers and gets both the encouragement and support needed. Yes, he advocates for himself but is that not what high school should be about. Learning how to navigate conversations with teachers correlates to how to navigate conversations with future professors, employers, and supervisors. He feels engaged, challenged, and supported. He has also made new friends and feels included within the community.
Submitted by parent on December 02, 2021

Teachers are amazing, and I developed so much as a person ever since attending this school. Students are very nice, however I do think there is a bullying and drug problem at the school. Otherwise, an amazing school!
Submitted by parent on January 22, 2021

Great school if your kid learns like the majority, big box retail education. Horrible if they need a 504, IEP or small class sizes. They'd like those kids to drop out, get swept under the rug or otherwise go away, as it may hurt their coveted graduation ratio, 4-yr. college acceptance rate. And they seem to actively work toward making their denominator what they want.
Submitted by parent on October 24, 2020

My child open enrolled to Monarch from a highly regarded charter school in the District. Monarch provides students with *choices* of classes - you don't HAVE to take all AP classes (nor are you *required* to take the AP tests), and your elective choices are vast (the main reason why my child switched schools). Homework load is acceptable for the rigor of the courses my child is taking. Monarch provides students with the time to actually have FUN in their off-hours, rather than being tied to schoolwork/homework for what seems like all hours of the day, including weekends. I cannot speak to Special Ed accomodations, as they do not apply in my child's case. As far as drugs, don't fool yourselves - drug use (including alcohol) is at *every* school in the district and neighboring districts - and parents should be dealing with their students on this in conjunction with the school. Teachers - yes, some do overtly express their political viewpoints, and in some situations (not all!), it does add to the classroom discussion of the topic. High school is a time for students to learn how to deal with situations and a variety of personalities (similar to experiences with college professors, future bosses and coworkers!). Monarch gives students the opportunity to figure out how to manage homework loads, how to prepare/study for tests in class (not talking about standardized), how to deal with viewpoints different from your own in a respectful way, to name a few. The one area that would benefit from some additional staff is the Counseling Department. The 4 counselors on staff do a great job for each having a 400-500 student caseload - which is a ridiculous number of students to be managing. I don't think administration at the district level understands the amount of time it takes to provide outstanding counseling (for college and other high school issues) to individual students - it is next to impossible with their current caseload.
Submitted by student on May 14, 2019

I will be so glad when I leave this place. Both me and my family are sick and tired of them. OCR has been contacted multiple times in the past on behalf of me and my sister because they won't follow our IEP's.
Submitted by other on February 03, 2019

This was hands down, the worst school I have been in. I was so glad to have my parents move me out of "MoHi" (and the Hi part has another meaning with the students there). If you want to listen to teachers complaining about the government and see how angry they are about the president, like your kid to experience every type of drug known to man and deal with drama day after day, then this is the place for you. This was not a learning environment for me. I wasn't raised this way and found it difficult to deal with everything at this school. I transferred and haven't looked back. I'm currently holding a 3.9 GPA and an excellent college. I wouldn't have had the opportunity to go to college if I had stayed at MoHi surrounded by that toxic crowd.
Submitted by student on December 18, 2018

Horrible me going to monarch makes me want to stop going to school in general. It's a horrible place you will not feel welcome teachers are mean kids are mean they are really racist also!!! Its really just a horrible place and i would not recommend anyone to go there!!!!
Submitted by parent on May 21, 2018

This is a horrible school! BVSD employees are OVERPAID!! They're arrogant and condescending! Their philosophy is that they don't have to do anything they don't feel like doing because they're protected by their union. Their average salary is $76,000 yet they act like they have to work for free!! BVSD is run by a bunch of incompetent, spoiled, overpaid jerks!! It's not a good environment for students!
Submitted by student on June 15, 2017

Through online searches, at face value, Monarch doesn't look like that good of a high school. But, I HIGHLY encourage prospective families to realize that these ratings are based on state assessment scores, which DO NOT accurately represent Monarch. The students at this school refuse to waste time on these standardized test to focus on OTHER important academic exams such as Advanced Placement and the ACT and SAT. During my four years, I've had the pleasure of meeting other high-achieving and successful students that I know will go on to do great things. This high school will start offering the early college program, where students can receive an associates degree WHILE IN HIGH SCHOOL! The only one in the Boulder Valley School District. I'm disappointed I didn't get the chance to participate! Think of the financial benefits of something like this. The program only showcases the passion and drive the school has towards excellence and providing students with the resources they need for success.Monarch maintains a good balance between academic and social atmospheres for students. Teachers push their students to succeed with their innovative integration of technology in the classroom. Plus, there are so may extracurriculars that any new student will find their place. There is one program I'd like to highlight specifically. I participated in Monarch's High School of Business program which is a national certification introducing students to principles of business, accounting, finance, marketing, and management. It is an exceptional program with great teachers to really prepare prospective business students for college and the business world. The first high school to implement this program, Monarch's program shines with its DECA and FBLA chapters winning in international competitions. Definitely check this out as the dual enrollment classes it offers could be really beneficial.There are a few things that I believe every public high school must face such as some drug use and some instances of cyber bullying and I truly believe that there should be some more counselors for the burgeoning student population. But don't feel discouraged. Monarch is a school of top-notch caliber, outshining Fairview, Boulder, and Centaurus with its excellence. After all, they work on "Creating Bright Futures, One Student At A Time"
Submitted by parent on May 12, 2017

I think that Monarch is an exceptional school. You can't go wrong with Boulder Valley schools. I see comments to the contrary, but I believe that there is support for every student. When my student struggled, help was available. It was up to him to choose to use the resources or not, they were made available to him and sometimes he used them, sometimes not. High school is the age in which students should start doing things for themselves, so not having constant communication to parents was ok with me. When I wanted info. it was easy to find myself with a quick search of the website or email to a teacher/admin. My honors kid was challenged and my other student was supported.
Submitted by parent on January 27, 2017

My student takes a mix of regular and honors classes. They are all challenging. The homework load is moderate to heavy. The teachers are outstanding, Each has taken the time to get to know my child. I can't speak to drugs or bullying, as my child hasn't heard of anything like that going on. I'm very impressed with Dr. Anderson. She has a depth of knowledge about everything related to education and is not afraid to be bold with initiatives to improve academics. She has a quiet calm demeanor, which endears her to students and staff. The teachers, staff, and students are very pleasant.
Submitted by parent on January 04, 2017

I've had three students at this school. The school as a whole does not seem to care from the rampant drug use on campus to the lack of support if your child is struggling. Two teachers have been arrested during the time I've had students here. Dr. Anderson is not running a tight ship. Once took me 3 weeks to get a response from a councilor. Truly disappointed in Monarch. Will not let my last child attend this school when he is of age.
Submitted by parent on October 11, 2015

I was disappointed in the manner in which the lacrosse coaches at this school handled recent fall try outs for their fall league. Players showed up for six days of grueling try outs, and on the last day those who did not make the team were rewarded for their efforts with public humiliation in front of all the participants and the many spectator parents by having the names of the students who DID make the fall team announced aloud. Those who did NOT make the team had to stand up in front of everyone and walk off the field, gather their belongings, and leave as everyone watched them. You could see the uncomfortable body language of all the parents as they tried not to look at the dejected players walking off the field. Oddly, a notice was posted on the team website the week before announcing that the coaches did not believe in privately emailing or posting a list of the chosen players names which caused one to think players would be informed one to one. It turns out public humiliation was the chosen method of informing players and parents. I was shocked and disappointed that in this day and age of public awareness surrounding issues like bullying and hazing that the coaches did not demonstrate a greater level of emotional intelligence and sensitivity in regards to the players. It's 2015, and you would think they would have known better.