Riverbend Prep

5625 S 51ST AVE

School District

West Valley Arts And Technology Academy Inc.
Grade

K-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:19
Type

charter

School Map for West Valley Arts And Technology Academy Inc.

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 17, 2023

they are always suspending my son. they don't have counselors or detention. their only solution is suspension for 1st and 2nd grader?!? He missed so much school he struggles. The more he struggles the more he acts out. The buses also are always late picking up and dropping off. The get released at 3:25 and getting dropped off at 5pm. UNACCEPTABLE! this will be their last year there.
Submitted by parent on October 31, 2019

I had 3 of my kids here at Riverbend and have never had any issues. We love Riverbend.
Submitted by principal on October 31, 2019

Riverbend Prep provides a safe school community where student learning can thrive!
Submitted by parent on September 06, 2018

This school almost made me leave the teaching profession
Submitted by parent on June 21, 2018

under no circumstance would I send my children to this school ever again. There is no leadership there is no support for the teachers that want to make a difference, and those that do get let go. Students are unsupported when it comes to bullying and conflict with other kids, and those that are supposed to be receiving special education services are also not supported . a previous comment from a few years ago on this site says that they felt their child was being "pushed" through the system and passed grade to grade even though they werent making no progress. This is still happening and makes me sad. i hope they fix the school for other children, but mine will not be coming back.
Submitted by parent on March 28, 2018

Riverbend has been a great school for me and my children. We have been attending here five years and have been very impressed with how we feel like a family and cared about at the school. There have been a few big changes this year but I'm very happy that the superintendent has committed to Riverbend even before we came and is still here to provide the leadership we need (even when changes occur). Its great that there are many familiar and safe faces year after year. The school is always available if I need to bring up an issue and quick to deal with it.
Submitted by parent on June 26, 2017

As a parent, I noticed many changes. I found out that a teacher was caught cheating on Galileo. Teachers were talking about it and parents were not notified. The administration ignored it ! How can this be ignored? Nothing was done. This tells me this school cannot be trustworthy with my kid's education. No dicipline is enforce in the middle school. Studnets get away with talking back to teachers and causing figths. The only thing that the new pricipla does is talk to them and send them to a buddy room. My child was constatantly bullied. We will not come back......
Submitted by parent on April 11, 2017

Excellent teacher feedback. The classroom sizes are good. Lots of homework; parents have to work with the kids substantially during the week.
Submitted by parent on September 29, 2016

I love this School. The teachers are great and keep my children engaged. They have so much to offer from education to fun events with the families. I would recommend this school to anyone who wants their child to learn and have fun doing it.
Submitted by parent on August 04, 2016

I love this school so much! I'm so glad it's available to our community. This is my daughter's third year here. She especially loves her teachers and the extra curriculars. I love it for the engagement the school has with it's parents, the atmosphere, and the way they approach learning. Edit: I am saddened by some of the other reviews I am seeing I feel these reviews are placing too much weight on the teachers and the parents are not stepping up as they should be to ensure their child receives a quality well rounded education. It starts at home and parent engagement is a MUST!
Submitted by parent on May 09, 2016

Overall, this school really lacks qualified certified teachers that are well organized and really care about their students and know how to be diverse in teaching styles. Unfortunately, I have had bad experiences for my child that has a IEP plan only to find out that he has not been getting the additional support that he is supposed to be getting in classroom. It is very upsetting to find out that my child hasn't been getting his IEP speech services plus learned that he has been sitting in class all day not getting assistance with assignments. He will come home with guided classroom assignments not completed. Of course the Special education coordinator and the teacher both flat out lie making it appear my child is really learning and progressing only to find out once he gets home that he hasn't learned zero all day in class. Also, I realized that they just been passing my child which is a major disservice to him. I will tell any parent to avoid this school not as it appears to be.
Submitted by parent on February 27, 2015

My kids have been going to this school for the first time, and yes the rating is very low and I can say that it certainly matches correctly. Classroom teachers seem to be lacking organization and communication between teachers, students, and parents. There is very little involvement with community, we've only done couple of times within 6 months. We do like the teachers as people they're great but really when we ask our kids what they're doing in school, they never know what's going on we can only guess by looking at the papers they bring or at Paragon nights they do once a month (which is a great idea but only one grade at a time). I would keep the kids in this school if the rating was much better, but I don't see improvement. By the way the gym walls need to be fixed, we started the year good, but now coming to the gym for meetings or picking up kids is like going through the constructions zone, it's embarrassing.
Submitted by parent on February 08, 2015

I am so disappointed in the experience that I as a parent have seen at this school. My child has been through 5 teachers since the first day of school, with this last change I did not receive a call, letter, email or any type of acknowledgement to inform me of the change. How is this beneficial to my child or the children in the class. A child should not have to adjust to 5 different styles of teaching for 1 class. Charter schools are supposed to be known for the academic structure that they offer to their students, this school has failed to do so in this situation. They offer no sports for the children to join or music for the Jr. High level students. I feel I was sold a "lemon" from a very smooth talking car salesman AKA the principal. Its sad because the majority of the staff that I have come in contact with are very caring and give their all to the students. This school could have lots of potential if they were provide with a better leader. I would give this school no stars but in order to submit this post I have to give it at least 1.
Submitted by other on July 07, 2014

My school is..... Creative, the teachers are great. Caring, I think the principle really cares about each child. Challenging, The work the kids bring home signals they are being held to a high standard. My only qualm used to be that they seemed to charge for a lot of things like dress down days... but they seemed to ease up on that this year and use them more as a reward.
Submitted by parent on June 07, 2014

worst school ever my child got bullied by children and the staff and nothing was done about it.
Submitted by parent on April 28, 2014

As a first time parent I have been very impressed with the school of my daughter. My daughter is in Kindergarten and her teacher Mrs. Dorsey has been an excellent teacher. The front staff is always very friendly and they appear they like their job. If you have questions the front staff is always very nice and willing to help you out in anything. Teachers appear to like their job, and you are able to see them volunteer in extracurricular activities which they have several of : movie night, spring festival, fall festival etc. Despite that I have not have much verbal contact with the principal I see by his participation in activities that he is friendly and cares about his students. The recent activity we went to (spring festival) the principal was getting wet by every student that threw a ball at the duking machine he was in. I t was fun to see a principal, allow his students and parents to have fun with him. The festival was a lot of fun, and my husband and I despite we were tired from work, did not regret attending the event. Because Riverbend is a small school, teachers and staff are able to recognize my daughter by her name. It is an awesome school.
Submitted by parent on March 08, 2014

I was sad to see a negative review because my experience at Riverbend has been excellent. I brought my three children here because I was unhappy with their previous school. It was a breath of fresh air walking into Riverbend. I agree that the office staff was very caring and pleasant. My experience with the teachers has been nothing but positive. You can tell they are teachers because they love what they do. They are always available to talk and all three of my kids are bringing home new things. I like that every grade seems to be doing similar things to improve their academics (Moby Max). Finally, the principal is very friendly and committed. He is always around (I have even seen him cleaning up the school when it needs it) and available but most of all, he knows my children. He takes the time to get to know everybody and is open to suggestions (even if I dont always get what I want). My experience with Riverbend has been very good and I would absolutely recommend the school. As with any big decision, I would suggest anyone looking for a school to come and check it out for yourself.
Submitted by parent on March 08, 2014

I am so glad to be at Riverbend Prep. I have had 3 of my 4 children attend Riverbend Prep and have had nothing but success out of them. We love our school! The staff are very caring and concerned about all the students and they have a family feel to them. The teachers love their students and very compassionate to their needs. I love Riverbend Prep and am soo glad that we found this awesome school. If you are in need of a school for your child/ren this is the place to be. But I would do it soon because they are such a great school that they usually have waiting list early into the summer. Now is the time to look. Thanks Riverbend Prep staff! You ROCK !!!!
Submitted by parent on March 07, 2014

This is school was a great school the office staff was very pleasant and it made me feel comfortable taking my children there. That lasted a good couple of weeks until my son started getting bullied and there was little done about it and also my daughter I believe was getting intimidated and failed to want to attend school. She often said the teacher would get mad and say he wasn't going to return to school. The class as she said had no discipline the children took over the class. The children acted barbareic like they had no sense and the teacher just overlooked it had no structure. I thought that taking my children there would be a blessing it was so close the classes were so much smaller. It was totally the opposite the classes were smaller but they were dirty cluttered and it looked like the kids just played all day. I would not recommend this school to anyone but some people don't mind and they get used to the environment but as for me I grew up in a school like that and didn't want my kids to have to grow being in a hostile environment.
Submitted by parent on October 30, 2013

This a great school, with a very nice family dynamic to it. Everyone is extremely helpful and is committed to the children's success.