Sierra High School

33326 Lodge Road

School District

Sierra Unified
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:18
Type

public

School Map for Sierra 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 December 05, 2018

My three daughters each graduated from Sierra High School and continued on to college very successfully. It was a great experience and I would absolutely do it again! They loved being Chieftains!
Submitted by other on February 08, 2018

I didn't always love it as a student, but looking back I got a much better than average education. The music program is truly unique. There's always room for improvement overall--too many administrators, and some teachers as well, are conservative partisans of the culture war. My sister graduated without ever having a biology teacher who believed in evolution, and she knew that because the teachers never failed to say so.
Submitted by other on August 10, 2017

Absolutely and utterly horrific. When I attended, I was told that most high schools were like this, so I looked the other way and chose to ignore the problems around me. However, meeting so many international and national students from different backgrounds has showed me just how awful the district is. Corruption runs rampant through the administration, and teachers are severely underpaid. There is no disciplinary system that works. Programs are being cut, and students are having less and less access to educational help. All in all, I'm genuinely surprised the school hasn't been shut down yet.
Submitted by other on May 19, 2016

Brought my daughter who was having big struggles in Clovis. Thought the move would make it worse, but we didn't have a choice. Counselor and Principal Reese were wonderful! They check in with her all o the time and she talks about them like they are personal friends. Her grades are doing better. When there is a problem I get information right away and her teachers are good at emailing me back too. Its a small school so the complaints about choices in classes is probably from people who don't realize there are only about 600 kids here. They can't offer everything, but what they do offer is excellent. The FFA is always in the news for awards and their plays and music performances are great. If you want a school that really gets to know your child- Sierra works.
Submitted by parent on August 26, 2015

Many classes have been cut out of this school like foreign language, electives, and college prep. A large portion of the teachers are careless and throw a packet at the students and tell them to fill it out. Some teachers spend a large potion at the start of class just being on their electronics while the students talk and wait. After they lecture and just show one example on how to do a problem and not teach that much verbally, they give homework or classwork and go back to their electronics, not even concerned if any kids are struggling, which most of them are. The children cannot communicate with their teachers either. Most of them just say "I'm busy" or "were you even paying attention". And it's unspeakable about how bad the kids are with communicating with each other and presenting in front of the class. Obviously the district hasn't taught these poor kids how to do that stuff. There are also many classrooms that go unused. Not to mention that many classes are wearing down due to age and not being cared for properly. Sierra needs to be more careful on how to spend their budget instead of taxing locals. As far as I'm concerned, they are not using it wisely. They recently wanted to open up the two elementary schools that they closed down and sent something in the mail about needing money, but they were opening those schools up for a temporary time. Why? Sierra can't even pay for most things that need to be fixed at the high school. There are also a ton of bullies around. Some are into drugs. There is only one yard duty to patrol the school. Kids go into the corners of the school and do these drugs since the yard duty stays in one general area. There are also a ton of kids that get away with using foul language and getting in fights. One time when one of my kid was going to Foothill, there were a few kids drinking alcohol on the bus. Those kids only got suspended for a day, and they continued doing it. This scared my child. The district didn't want to deal with it. Why? Because they get money from every student that attends school each day; they couldn't bare losing those few kids for a week or so. Also, the only foreign language that is offered in Sierra now is Spanish. This school doesn't even have variety, the children basically have to take the classes they are instructed to because there are no other alternatives. This school receives a big 0.
Submitted by parent on May 01, 2014

First of all alot has changed since the 90's, those were the days that teachers actually cared about your child's education. If your child was failing or behind they would use their own time to help get you back on track. It seems now all they really care about is the same thing the kids care about, that bell to ring. These days your child can't even ask for help because these teachers at Sierra Unified run your child off. They don't want to be bothered. Child assessment was a joke, sat around a table with all my childs teachers and listened to them sigh and roll their eyes and watched them stare at clock waiting for the first bell to ring. Communication between teacher/parent is horrible. If your looking to move here and sending your child/children to Sierra please know it maybe be small but their are many problems. Another complaint at this school by many parents are the drugs. Maybe Sierra should pay more attention to all the drugs being brought onto campus and less time on the dress code!!!!!
Submitted by other on April 24, 2013

I went to Sierra in the 90's. The school decline is based on the closing of the logging industry and other forestry jobs in the early 90's. Total school population in 93, maybe 950. The area became a bedroom community. I'm sure gas has hurt that too. Anyways, I had good teachers. The school offered college prep as well as many trades courses. I did feel the sports programs favored the kids that went to K-8 schools in Auberry and Tollhouse. But if you play a sport besides football, basketball or baseball, you will have no problem being chosen for your skill. Students come from 30 + miles in every direction to get to school. I had a 1 hr. bus ride from North Fork. This can add a challenge to game day transportation if your a parent. My parents came to a lot of my games. But you're child might be 70 miles away in a town that has a school relative in size to Sierra's. You as a parent might be 100 miles from the event. So you can expect late returns if you're going to pick them up at school. But for whatever the reason, I have fond memories of the place(Chieftain Head, Senior Rock, School Year Rock, dances in the small gym, and etc...)
Submitted by parent on January 06, 2013

One poster said Sierra has a great drama dept .. they do, it's called "Sports". Another poster summed it up well .. "Sports at this run down school= POLITICS POLITICS POLITICS" This is what happens when you get parents that want to be heavily involved hoping to make their mediocre kid a star. I have to admit that at times it has been amusing and occasionally downright comical watching the antics of some of them.
Submitted by parent on October 15, 2012

Our family loves SUSD! this is our fourth year of our children attending SIerra Unified. We have been involved with a lot of firsts for our district. My son was in the first graduating class of Sierra Junior High. This was a necessary step to try to get our district towards healthy economics. Nervous at first glance, however it went very well and the students really enjoyed the new school. 7th and 8th graders were kept separate from high school students and activities. Foothill Elementary runs very smooth with great teachers and happy students k-6 with a caring awesome leader Mr Brad Barcus. Regardless of negative publicity you may hear, bad news travels fast and unhappy folks like to run their mouth. Sierra remains strong in academics API scores are high, SHS, SJHS and Foothill all well above the 800 state guidelines. Our High School Ag dept is second to none winning many awards. Athletics at Sierra are winning Valley Championships. Students who attend this small mountain community school district are more likely to go on and get a degree than many other districts you maybe considering. Our community has great families with hard working students. Raise your family with us!
Submitted by parent on August 28, 2012

For being such a small community you would expect it to be a friendly enviroment for you & your family to live. But if you weren't born here or your children didn't start Kindergarden here they will always be treated as if they dont belong. Sports at this run down school= POLITICS POLITICS POLITICS. The parents choose who makes the school sports team not the coaches...dont waste your time on having your child tryout for sports because players are already chosen long before tryouts even start! Sad but true. The elementary, junior high & high school are all the same here, ran by the parents. Sierra Unified is a huge disappointment, not only for me but for my children also.
Submitted by parent on August 06, 2012

I think when you give a review you need to take it very seriously. A student posting is NOT going to give a completely thought out, honest review. This school, Sierra High School was indeed rated very high based on their scores, just like all the other schools. It looks like the student had problems but you can't tell exactly what went wrong. The teachers here are teaching so well that the kids are getting very high grades in all subjects. So, it's NOT the teachers. People look to these ratings to find out where they want to move and where they want to avoid. People could very well be put off by this upset student and not ever find out that the school IS doing well. I'm one of those people looking around the area for good schools and a house we can afford. If you have complaints be more specific in what went wrong for you, don't just condem the whole school. I'm sorry you had a bad experience.
Submitted by student on June 22, 2011

One of the poorest schools in the state, in fact so poor that there will only be two schools in the district one (K-6) and the high school (7-12) The quality of the school has to bve one of the worst in the state. Most of the teachers are all the rejects from down in Fresno and they just hand you a bunch of work and say "Do it" without really teaching you. Doesn't even have a buisness class. atletics are mediocre. Majority of the kids have little to no friends, and everyone classifies you as a loser. If you for some reason have to move to the fresno area, trust me, do not move so your kid can go to school here. The declining enrollment will agree with me.
Submitted by student on November 08, 2008

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Submitted by parent on October 28, 2008

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Submitted by student on September 06, 2008

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