Ormondale Elementary School

200 Shawnee Pass

School District

Portola Valley Elementary
Grade

K-3
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:11
Type

public

School Map for Portola Valley Elementary School District

GreatSchools Rating

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on January 20, 2025

Well where to begin? Lynette Hoveland is your typical DEI hire principal. She rarely says hi to any parents and can be found pushing off school responsibilities onto tricked parents frequently (she says hi to those ones). This school performs like a private school in that they ride you for funding. Each student is asked to pay $3,000 per year to support the "extra" school classes like music, library, pe, garden, stem, and spanish... which I thought were normal school subjects. The school is heavy into theater where they spend all year singing little mermaid songs and select students to perform a 2 hour long show at the end of the year (some say a bit or way too much)... all that music class consists of. The school doesn't support technology (Hoveland doesn't like) even though situated in the heart of silicon valley but they do have a whole month of rainbow month where they dress kids up in colors and parade them around. The winter show this year consisted of kids singing all the holiday songs except any related to christmas (the principal only allows snowmen and snowflakes, no santa or hallelujah songs and themes) all the parents watched from the standing room only doorway while the principal and superintendent sat front row in the warm gym. Let's you know their priorities. Lynette wants a blue ribbon school so badly ($$) she rides families for attendance, even putting children at risk by maintaining open door policies when extreme bad air days exist. The 4 teachers we've had at the school all seem to be good educators but how good can a school be with terrible leadership? 2 field trips a year are standard for each grade. This school has no yearbook. No clubs. No after-school sports. The school is very into DEI and will allow costumes to be worn by students who want to express themselves even if it deters from learning. The counselor will make a big deal out of 4 year olds laughing when a male child wears a pink dress to school without telling parents she's giving lessons on DEI... and pulling the child out of class repeatedly to address a simple " we don't make fun of others" lesson. Long story short, if you want to be chased around by a curly haired mother whose a member of the portola valley foundation all year, asking you when you're contributing to the fund, even though you've told her multiple times you can't afford to donate $3,000 per child per year (imagine if you had 4+ kids!) Then this schools for you. PS this is a pk-3rd grade school.
Submitted by parent on November 16, 2019

We love being apart of the Ormondale community. It’s a wonderful school and community. Our daughter is thriving and happy to go to school each morning.
Submitted by other on July 01, 2015

Fantastic school with exciting teachers and great resources. As a former student, I also met many kids who would end up becoming some of my best friends.
Submitted by parent on February 16, 2010

Amazing school! Teachers are excellent! Great parent involvement. Principal is innovative, very approachable and involved. There are many classes that enrich the child's education in addition to the standard math, reading and writing. Computer lab, art, spanish, music, P.E. are all classes included the the weekly schedule in kindergarten. A parent couldn't ask for more!