Oak Park High School

899 Kanan Road

School District

Oak Park Unified
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:23
Type

public

School Map for Oak Park Unified 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 March 21, 2024

As a parent of a transgender child, I couldn't be happier! We moved to this district for the education because my child is extremely smart and wasn't challenged in the previous district. I am not disappointed! This school has let my child excel in every way, and have been accommodating and supportive! My child has gone through Medea Middle School as well, and has NEVER been bullied! The teachers, counselors, staff and administrators have been amazing! I'm so happy I could give this school experience to my kid!
Submitted by parent on August 23, 2023

It saddens me to read the negative reviews. My review is not fake as I have had 2 children go through the Oak Park School system and I am nothing but thrilled. Parents now want to hand over their children and not be proactive. It takes a village to help a child grow and learn. If you don't put yourself out there and get involved, then you will write negative reviews. At Oak Park you have the opportunity to be fully involved in the school. The education was amazing, the students loving and thoughtful. The teachers and staff have been supportive and uplifting. Please don't listen to the horrible rantings and reviews and make your own decision. Of course, they are not perfect but the harsh criticism I have read below I personally have not seen or witnessed.
Submitted by parent on April 14, 2023

Wonderful school. They have a fantastic new principal and a new Superintendent, both of whom seem to have re-energized the campus. The athletic programs have gotten quite competitive, and campus always seems to be buzzing after school with some activity or sporting event. My kid loves going to school and feels part of a community. Her teachers are mostly good, although there are a few doozies. I do wish the school could take action against those notorious teachers who regularly receive complaints year after year. The amount of school work depends on what classes your child takes. There are no honors classes in the 9th grade, but the CP classes are no breeze. AP classes are extremely challenging, as they should be. Lots of student clubs and activities to choose from. It’s a diverse student body with people from all over the world. Overall it’s been an ideal experience for us.
Submitted by student on February 06, 2023

cafeteria line is not a fun thing.
Submitted by parent on January 18, 2022

I'm so impressed with OPHS. Great teachings, awesome administration, it's everything a parent wants in a school. If your kids are academically minded, this is a great place.
Submitted by parent on November 17, 2021

It's rigorous and challenging, but the staff strive to prepare the students for the future. There is plenty of support for anyone who seeks it. Regarding bullying and social problems, the staff take these issues very seriously. In my experience, the students hiding incidents from staff is the real problem. I agree with other reviews, in that if you're looking for an easy A this is not the place. I believe homework is necessary to ensure the students understand concepts, and to prepare them for college. For the most part the teachers are excellent. There are a few that are questionable, but I'm assuming that would be the case at any high school.
Submitted by student on October 09, 2020

Great experience, no school is perfect but OPHS comes very close.
Submitted by student on August 24, 2020

Oak Park High School has it challenges, but its strengths are those you'd prioritize first in the grand scheme of things. Students can choose to take a College Prep or AP/Honors path, and more importantly, either path leads to UC and State School preparedness. If the homework is difficult or the school challenges you, then it's because the teachers are pushing you to be prepared for college (and life; I can name no less than 5 teachers who positively changed my life in my time at OPHS). If you want to have a highly social high school experience then it's possible, but there may be other schools that better offer this dimension. As a parent, if de-risking your child's ability to get into college/university (or a great college/university) is a priority, then OPHS is the best option in the area. As a student that excels, you wont be held back and as a student that emphasizes academics less, you wont accidentally miss out on being college ready. Ultimately, the leadership and teachers care about the students -- they want to be there and they want students to succeed. This is what makes OPHS a great high school experience.
Submitted by student on August 05, 2020

I would give it a subpar rating. If you want to be PREPARED for college, go here. If you want to be ACCEPTED into a good college, definitely DO NOT go here. Your GPA will suffer at this school compared to neighboring schools, and unlike what any admin will tell you, the colleges are unaware of Oak Park and do not care about the rigor of the school. You could add a whole point to your GPA if you choose to go to Agoura. Say goodbye to all super competitive schools unless you are willing to put in 5x the effort of your Agoura High School counterparts.
Submitted by other on July 15, 2020

I haven’t connected to one teacher in my four years of attending. If you want to be constantly stressed about your grades and future, then this is the school for you. This is from personal experience, but I was under informed about MANY things here. For instance, they failed to tell me that I didn’t have enough grades to graduate. I had to have my diploma mailed to me. One teacher promised me that she wouldn’t fail me because I was going through some bad mental illness, and when I missed a week because I was sick (and she totally knew), she decided to fail me right out of the class and made my situation even worse. The popular rich kids are snobby and backstab you. The school teaches the kids nothing about respect. While there are the handful of amazing teachers, students, and opportunities in this school, realize that with that comes things like the horrible cliques, the blind eye to the students’ mental health, and the constant stress. Please research this school before you send your kid here!
Submitted by parent on June 17, 2020

We are very happy with OPHS, the teachers, and coaches.
Submitted by parent on February 26, 2020

awful. Do your child a favor and send them somewhere else.
Submitted by other on February 04, 2020

Do not even consider this school. Read all the negative reviews. They are true! Any positive reviews are made up stories, fake and very generic. These are only made to keep the ratings go up. Very stressful and horrible place with lots of drama.
Submitted by other on December 05, 2019

OPHS prepared me for life and my higher academic pursuits, including my current pursuit to complete Medical School
Submitted by other on May 27, 2019

It’s a great school but there are certain systemic changes that could make it better, I with they were more willing to make those changes
Submitted by parent on July 21, 2018

Excellent; best school public or private in the area. Feel sorry for some people paying 27K a year for an inferior education in nearby private schools.
Submitted by parent on April 18, 2018

Absolutely ridiculous, this school is a joke, I wasted a million dollars buying a house here and sending my kid here.
Submitted by parent on September 28, 2017

OPUSD is a dead man walking school district which appears to rely on the District of Choice program to keep its doors open. Think "emperor's new clothes" when you think of OPUSD and OPHS. The school caters to pop culture, not enduring values. My experience is that much of the staff are lazy people who took jobs in Oak Park to avoid more challenging work in other districts or occupations.OPHS and OPUSD as a whole have a "box checking" character which undermines the core educational values of hard work. Take a look at the high school robotics program as an example, it's a horrendous program and routinely misses competitions. The kids seem to think it doesn't matter. This attitude is present throughout the school district. It's not a place you want to send your child unless you have the structure outside of school to deal with the damage that will occur to your child's social perceptions on a daily basis.
Submitted by parent on August 25, 2016

As others have commented, there are not nearly enough classes at this school for all the students enrolled. The lack of space in classes is the single reason why only 48% of OPHS students are graduating with enough credits to be eligible for UC/CS colleges comparing to 68% @ Westlake High, 61% @ Agoura High, 64% @ Calabasas High, 61% @ Newbury Park High, and 71% @ Granada Hills High. The number for OPHS is so low not because Oak Park students are dumber, lazier, and less ambitious. It doesn't matter how smart, diligent, and hardworking a student is when classes that he needs to take are not available for him to enroll. Some LAUSD high schools are the same, but at least LAUSD administration acknowledges the problems and offers some alternatives, not just tells students that Moorpark College is good enough for them like OPUSD/OPHS administration does. Oh, and don't assume that your wait-listed OPHS student will be notified or automatically assigned into a class once space is available. At OPHS nothing happens 'automatically' and students on the waiting list are NEVER notified about class openings. The school doesn't allow to check class availability online either and it takes them 3-4 days to respond to emails. Registration process at OPHS is nontransparent and totally screwed up.
Submitted by other on July 24, 2016

Oak Park High has many smart students from upper middle class families who attend private tutoring sessions and other academic classes outside of the school to compensate for the lack of quality instructions and overcrowded classes. The school has too many certified classroom monitors who pass out worksheets and turn on 'inspirational videos'. The district's success is based solely on the caliber of students in attendance and parents' money spent on private classes. Our children have attended OPHS and we purposely chose this district after moving into the area, but unless you send your child to a private tutor or other outside academic program, expect them to do worse here academically than at any other public school in the vicinity. Oak Park High teachers and staff are completely spoiled by parents willing go above and beyond to provide their offspring with a decent education.