La Colima Elementary School

11225 Miller Road

School District

East Whittier City Elementary
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:21
Type

public

School Map for East Whittier City Elementary 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 September 28, 2023

The current Principal and staff members are doing a wonderful job. Our child loves the teachers and the school environment. The parent-school community is amazing. I'd love to see more parent volunteers' involvement in the school activities!
Submitted by other on June 16, 2023

With the administration and its staff, there are questionable actions I have seen that could be greatly improved. 1) The drop off time. At 8:10am, they will shut the gates (sometimes earlier) and won’t open the office door for “late sign in” until 8:15am. I have seen children, who have been dropped off by their parents, left outside waiting until 8:15am. And then they forced parents to wait for the office to open doors at 8:15 am. It is as if they are trying to make parents look bad on purpose. Why wait 5 minutes? Isn’t the children’s education more important? It takes less than 3 minutes to get to class. Maybe next year will be better? Since I did see there was an improvement near the end of the year by extending the gate time. 2) The need to only communicate through ClassDojo. I don’t know why a teacher would think this is the only method of communication. Email exists. This may be controversial but there’s an Aeries Portal that the school and district pay for through tax funds. What is the real appeal to ClassDojo? It just seems like a waste of money. And the teacher doesn’t really post that many photos of my child (I’ve only seen a couple) for me to say “yes this is a necessity”. It might be the greatest app. But imagine that you need to have a serious talk with a teacher about your child, and they only want to communicate with you through ClassDojo. 3) My child’s teacher was not a good fit. My child liked the teacher for the fun class activities. But academically, the teacher’s ability to assess my child’s technical skills was very poor during parent teacher conference. I say this because the teacher was unable to discern why my child’s performance will vary in different test settings. I get that the teacher has other students to care about. But pattern recognition on student’s test scores should be a basic skill that a teacher should have for student assessment. Or maybe my child’s teacher should have been a little more prepared on Parent-Teacher conference. So it is either incompetence or unprofessionalism. Which was coupled with condescending and inappropriateness, since the teacher tried to psychologically guess why my child behaves a certain way just by “knowing how many family members we have”. 4) Labels. The staff had put a “label” on my child. I can’t say what they said. Don’t worry it’s nothing damning, but when I heard them talk about my child using the “label”, it just sounds like they had pre- judged my child.
Submitted by parent on June 17, 2019

All my children have gone or are currently attending the school and they love it. Staff is very friendly and make themselves available to parents and children. Could use some technical upgrades but the teachers make it happen with what they got. PTA, staff, and board have multiple fundraising events. This helps the community get involved with the growth of this school and its students. The teachers put great effort in making sure students get the best education possiable and communicate well with parents.
Submitted by parent on October 23, 2014

I have encountered a mix of experiences here, but nothing stood out as much as the demeanor of a teacher a few weeks back. It shocked me to have witnessed a teacher approach a parent yelling, literally yelling, when the individual was simply standing with the rest of us parents waiting for our children to be released. It was so disrespectful and unprofessional, and to treat someone that way in front of children?! Simply mind blowing. If this occurs outside in front of everyone, I can only imagine what she displays in her classroom to our children.
Submitted by parent on September 30, 2014

I absolutely love La Colima. So much that I'm shocked at what some of the others have stated. I feel that there will always be the "dramatic" parent to post something negative no matter where you go. The teachers, the activities, and the involvement are beyond up to par and my children are the happiest they've ever been with their friends and teachers. Way to go La Colima Owls!!!
Submitted by parent on September 25, 2014

very disappointed with this school my son has high functioning autism and none of the teachers or staff are qualified to care for him going to change his school they never had a behavioral plan for him in his IEP i have been told by the state board that i can open up a case for failing to properly help my child so over all the drama the teachers and staff create, its as if there job is to gossip with each other and forget that they are there to help our children so sad i would not recommend this school to anybody and i live on the same street as this school i would not even give them 1 star
Submitted by parent on August 15, 2014

After reading the lasted post by a parent dated June 18, 2014, I feel sad. I feel sad that this parent and child have had such a bad experience. This is my second year at La Colima as a parent and I have to say I have had such a great experience and such great communication with my children's teachers. I commend the Principal for her hard work and I have seen her first hand put the children first. Yes, although the scoring has dropped tremendously, I know that the Principal, teachers/staff are working hard to help turn that around. Standards have been changed in the last two years so that has had an impact as well. Sometimes due to budget cuts, teaches have been replaced and other elements which are out of their control. I am willing to be patient and work WITH my children's teachers to ensure my children get the best education. It takes a team to make everything work, whether at home, school or work.
Submitted by parent on June 18, 2014

It seems as though the level of quality has down spiraled since the last reviews. I have yet to experience a high level of satisfaction from La Colima. My child has attended 3 school years here and none of the teachers have come close to providing the level of education that a child deserves. We have had everything from a student substitute becoming a permanent teacher for the remainder of the school year and not having a clue of how to manage a classroom, a 5th grade teacher newly teaching 1st grade and having constant outbursts at the 6 & 7 year olds, a teacher who picked on my child the entire school year in numerous ways making the schools year dreadful for both parent and child, and a principal who does nothing when parental concerns are expressed. My advice to parents is, if your child is expressing a teacher being untrue about a given situation; get to the bottom of it. Based on personal experience, I witnessed the teacher lying numerous times and contradicting her word. I cannot express how disillusioned I am of this school and the staff that we as parents, trust with our children.
Submitted by parent on January 13, 2014

This school is great! it has a good study envinronment with teachers, principal and staff being friendly and they're focus on the best they can do for the community.
Submitted by other on October 19, 2010

I attended La Colima 45 years ago, and it makes me smile to see the same positive attitudes that affected me years ago are still in place there. I recall caring teachers, kind yet firm staff, and overall a very positive experience. I sincerely hope that in decades to come, today's students will feel the same nostalgia I still do for the little school that left me with a love of learning and a certainty that the people there helped me find my way to college and beyond. --Paula Robinson, Cincinnati, OH
Submitted by parent on May 12, 2008

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Submitted by parent on January 07, 2008

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