Lopez Middle High School

Posted: April 24, 2018

I attended Lopez school from grade 3 through graduation. I went on graduate Phi Beta Kappa in physics from Reed College, and followed by a PhD from U.C. Berkeley. I certainly wasn't a trust fund kid -- we were on food stamps and for most of my school years lived in a house with no indoor toilet. The experience at the school prepared me reasonably well for rigorous university programs. My kids now are in middle and high school on Lopez. As a small school, Lopez has some challenges in the scope of classes that can be offered, and in scheduling of classes. But small scale has advantages as well -- opportunities to participate in all sports without tryouts, participate in student government, and great international travel programs.

Posted: April 24, 2018

Posted: April 24, 2018

Posted: April 24, 2018

Posted: April 24, 2018

Posted: April 24, 2018

Posted: April 24, 2018

Posted: February 17, 2015

I have to inform future readers of the above posts that are raving about students being accepted in these Ivy League type schools is not merely based on LISD being a decent school. It also has to do with the fact that Lopez Island attracts the monied, affluent, and trust fund type of people with children.

Posted: January 26, 2014

Our child has attended Lopez Island School District grades 4-12.We have seen LISD seniors accepted to highly competitive schools, for example: Cornell University, Brown University, MIT, Barnard, Claremont Colleges, Colorado College, Middlebury College. This small, rural public school, through the support of its close-knit community, offers a variety of experiential educational opportunities: international travel and service learning (China, France, Japan, Central America); a nationally recognized farm to school program; wooden boat building; field trips including sailing, backpacking, camping; firefighting and EMT; opportunity for music, dance and theater that include the entire community; school credit is available for participation in Community Shakespeare. Every child who wants to engage in sports is able to do so. The teachers and administrators know each child individually. Attending school board meetings has provided insight that reinforces our belief in the school administration, school board, teachers and staff work -- all work tirelessly and consistently for students. This school is a gem and has been a great experience for our child.

Posted: November 24, 2012

Amazed by the graduates of this small school and how well they have placed themselves in colleges. Last year Lewis and Clark, Brandeis, Cornell Univ., Colgate, Northeastern, UW. Year's before Pitzer, Whitman, MIT, Yale, Deep Springs, CWU, Vassar, Hamilton, Stanford, WWU, Colorado College, Bowdoin. Better yet great social and interactive skills, lots of travel opportunity.

Posted: June 2, 2011

Just look at the test scores and what graduates actually do after they graduate. Numbers don't lie, but people who say they got a great education on Lopez do.

Posted: April 30, 2011

We disenrolled our 6th-grader from this school and began home-schooling him after lax academic standards and constant harassment from other students had taken a big toll. Our boy is average academically, but he was one B+ short of getting straight A's. In his 8th-grade-level math class, only 1 or 2 of the 13 kids knew the times tables. An English class spent a good hour watching a fun film on extreme sports. The harassment was even more disturbing. When our son complained of a student calling him stupid, the principal told him "that's OK - that's not bullying." When he took his problems to the counselor, she told him "it's only bullying if it happens over and over again." (If you get your spleen kicked in once, that's not bullying.) We told our son to yell loudly in class whenever he was harassed. After he'd done that a dozen times, one teacher actually dealt with a situation. And many other parents have uglier stories to tell than ours. They give up and home-school their kids, or send them to an expensive private school, which requires hours of commuting. Don''t get snowed by the website's rhetoric. "Small school" does bit mean "good school." This one is substandard.

Posted: October 2, 2006