Ponderosa High School

7007 Bayou Gulch Road

School District

Douglas County Re 1
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:18
Type

public

School Map for Douglas County Re 1 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 February 17, 2024

The school is very conscious of safety coming in and out of the building which was a relief for me. There were teachers that each of my children gravitated toward, which was helpful for looking to their futures. The English and Shop departments were fantastic. Overall, I was very happy with the choices my kids had for academics.
Submitted by other on September 30, 2023

Are furries allowed here? This is unacceptable.
Submitted by parent on February 19, 2023

Don’t go. Little empathy from teachers and administrators toward students and parents. I’ve never been treated as unprofessionally and disrespectfully as I was by the drama teacher. What should be communicated in person is done through email.Teachers are resentful of the entitled kids who drive way too expensive cars.Safe2Tell is a bullying tool. My child was bullied to the point of a suicide attempt. My wife and I were berated by administrators when we pulled our child.Teachers play favorites and push agendas at the expense of kids - drama teacher particularly. Other teachers tailor assignments to personal beliefs and ignore other points of view. Teachers jump into student cliques at the expense of other kids.If your child needs emotional support, they won’t get it. Once viewed as an outsider or loaner, teachers and administrators use the SRO to harass and embarrass kids. This school is a proud player in the school to prison pipeline.
Submitted by parent on January 13, 2022

Unfortunately this school lacks a positive and respectful culture. There are some good teachers such as those in AP/Honors English. Great drama Dept and teacher. But mainly there is a bare minimum effort by many teachers or perhaps they’re overworked. The staff teachers and students don’t seem to have a strong respect for one another or sense of motivation and care. Many disrespectful acts and bullying towards students especially those in minority groups or outside of sports go ignored. The classes boo the freshmen for example when they walk in at pep rally’s and staff some nothing to change or correct this. Students blatantly talk back in class. Academics are bare minimum with a lack of fresh new material or engagement. Art history an AP class is basically an independent study of zillions of power point slides with no teaching or engagement by the teacher. Us Gov AP class is taught by a teacher with a very particular lean of opinion and not in an objective way. The lack of respect here is abhorrent. This school lacks a SAFE learning environment for all. There’s no leadership. Many of the.staff are rude and unresponsive to parents and students.
Submitted by parent on September 14, 2016

We have 3 children at Ponderosa and have had a very positive experience. All are thriving academically and have had great extracurricular and athletic experiences. Teachers have always been very responsive to parent inquiries and willing to work with their students for any extra help needed. None of our children have ever encountered any bullying or other negative social issues. We consider Ponderosa overall to be an excellent public school.
Submitted by parent on April 03, 2015

My oldest son has always had a hard time fitting in because of his intelligence. He has thrived at Ponderosa this Freshman year. He has the most amazing teachers who listen to his needs as long as he voices them. He has a 4.0 GPA and loves the choices he has in classes as well as the teachers. I am looking forward to sending my next 2 kids to this HS as well. I will deal with both the top end and SSN depts. at this HS.
Submitted by parent on June 04, 2014

What a horrible experience! So bad that we are pulling our Freshman daughter out to attend another school for the rest of her high school career! Many teachers do not input the students current grades so you never exactly know just where you student stands in their classes. Also the math department is a joke. 5 emails to a certain teacher went unanswered for 5 weeks and only when I phoned the principle did I finally get a response from "the" teacher that addressed nothing that was in my emails. The students are more interested in partying and bullying on-line (via AskFM.com....parents should know if their kids use this site, because it is eye opening!)....I found that there was little focus on college from the students and that the environment was not conducive for learning and not focused on growing healthy students who want to pursue a college education... We are selling our home in Pradera and moving on. I just hope that how ever buys our home does not have children that would be attending Ponderosa....and even though we want to sell our home I cannot in good faith not answer them honestly when they ask about the local high school in their immediate district.
Submitted by parent on February 09, 2013

I am so thankful to the staff and administration at Ponderosa for helping my children achieve their dreams! I currently have a Junior at PHS who will have her choice of any college she wishes to attend and is already receiving scholarship offers. I have a child in college who was completely prepared for the rigors of college classes and is ready to move on to medical school. I also have a child in grad school who received a full scholarship to the Air Force Academy and a full scholarship to grad school. Their academic success can be directly attributed to the outstanding teachers at PHS. I highly recommend Ponderosa to all parent and students!