Rocklin Academy Gateway - Rocklin, California

Victoria Estabrook

My husband and I are parents of 4 children who are students attending this school. One of which is on the spectrum and special needs. Though we (our son, his teachers, school staff, my husband and I) have had a lot of difficult days and many I.E.P./school meetings...overall, I think this school deserves the highest rating possible (which on here would be a 5). The teachers we have had so far are amazing (for all 4 of our kids) and you can tell they want the best for their students and genuinely care about each child's progress.

R.A.G. (Rocklin Academy Gateway) has received a lot of negative publicity in the last couple years over following the law by keeping the identity and privacy of a transgender Kindergarten student protected. When we saw the news about a transgender ceremony and book reading, we too were initially concerned, especially since we had a Kindergartner attending there. We were able to sort out, to the best of our knowledge, what actually transpired without specific details on whom or when that the ceremony was the normal Kindergarten graduation ceremony, not a transgender reveal. The book, albeit perhaps not advisable to read to 5 and 6 year olds who may or may not understand what gender is yet...was on the approved reading list and brought by the student; not specifically selected by the teacher. However, personal opinions on what 'could' have been done differently aside...even in the midst of heightened media attention, threats, controversy and adverse student body responses...the school maintained their stance and followed state law. Even if you disagree with the political or social controversy you can be certain of this fact...they will protect your child, your family's identity and provide a safe environment for the student NO MATTER WHAT. I respect that and applaud them for their composure through the entire ordeal. We NEED MORE SCHOOLS LIKE THIS ONE!

Abbigail Liberty

The yard duties here are always punishing kids for very crazy reasons. Like giving affection and hugging other students.The are also very strict about giving referrals for the smallest reasons and are always blaming kids for things they didn't do. They have a very weird way of teaching kids the things they need to learn, and don't do a great job of it. There are a few good teachers who know how to teach, but most don't do anything. Plus, they don't give teachers a long prep-period, so they are always late on returning assignments and don't have much time to get the things they need to get done to be ready for class. The classrooms are always filthy covered in paper and food wrappers and rarely get cleaned properly. They never fill the bathrooms with paper towels, soap, and toilet paper. I would not recommend this school for your kids, but there high school is one of the best high schools you could attend.

Jessie Corbett-Renfro

I went here since it opened, so far I think it's kinda meh. The teachers are mostly nice, though sometimes there are some mean ones, and the curriculum is pretty ok too. The only problems are that some of the yard duties are not very kind and some kids there don't care for the rules causing you to waste lots of time waiting for your teacher to stop yelling at them for the 20th time. Sometimes I feel bad for the teachers at the school for having to deal with that, if only people would just listen and then joke around at recess or something. The worst thing about those kids are that they think they are cool for doing that, they don't care about the rules at all and it ends with about a fourth of your entire day being your teachers trying to get everyone to be quiet. Other than that, pretty nice place. I was able to make quite a few great friends there. I guess you should send your kids there if you want to?

Krysta Dancy

Our child has been attending since this campus opened. While the school has had a normal amount of growing pains (like traffic issues) overall we are so pleased with the school. The school is quick to accommodate special needs. The administration is very responsive and takes safety and bullying issues seriously.
I volunteer in class and see first hand how well they tailor the instruction to each child's individual skill level. They arrange the grade levels around "hubs" or flexible use areas. This allows them to shift students for every lesson (math, spelling etc) and each teacher takes a class-sized group of similar skill level. Within the groups they break into three smaller skill-level groups. Each child's skill level is adjusted throughout the year as needed. I am so impressed with how well the kids learn this way!
Additionally, their curriculum is impressive. They use a curriculum that "wraps around" each year. So kids will see the same subject matter to greater depths each year (like the human body, or immigration). We feel so lucky we made it in the lottery.

Recent press attention, much of it inaccurate, and the opening of a middle school seems to have drawn some commentary here. Ha! But in terms of 1. Rigorous Academics 2. Safe school 3. Responsive Administration... I'm incredibly pleased.

Still

This school has a good education program at least for when I went there they did. Besides education, this school is not very effective with the kids. Especially they Yard Duty people. They can be pretty mean and same with some of the teachers. But most teachers that I had were pretty nice.

Chaosky

I have a friend here who got a tech violation for talking to another student on her school computer and got it taken away by the school. It's been about a month since this happened and everyday she struggles to do her work because she doesn't have the resources other students have. Typically when a student gets a tech violation, their computer is taken away for a day and they get a refferal, but in this case, they completely took it away and was left in the dark about when she can get it back. It seems completely unprofessional and this school preaches about their comunication with the students but do things like this.

SBC

this school is terrible. the teachers dont care about their students, they act like everyone is the same age. i used to attend but decided that another year in this school wasn’t worth my time. they constantly change their curriculum and never can stay with one curriculum for more than one year. DO NOT SEND YOUR KID/s HERE FOR YOU WOULD BE WASTING YOUR CHILD’s TIME

Danilo Gabriel Celeste

This school does not respect the innocence of a child and the freedom of the people. The basic function of the school is to teach reading and writing well and to do well. From this it is taught other areas of education, solidifies and forms a person capable of solving problems. When you go to work hard and leave your child in the choice you expect in the future to have an intelligent and competent person, a scientist or even an athlete, a warrior who in the future will defend the country, but today, these are not the biggest concerns in California . It is cowardly for you to pick up a child who barely knows how to read and want to teach questions to be taught by parents at home, you are invading the role of parents, who should have the freedom to approach this subject or even address. What they do is cowardly and immoral. In california there is no such beloved liberty. God save the US and God save the world from the hands of these psychopaths who want our children to grow up with a mental mess.