Carlmont High School

When i turn my head all i see is nasty kids, nasty teachers, nasty food, and most of all nasty water.

My daughter just moved here and is a sophomore in this school. I am impressed by the teachers and the curriculum. I am so happy I moved her to this school. It is an amazing school with amazing programs.

I’m just reviewing the musical i saw last week. I went to schools in SF, which were in pretty bad shape… so when my friends and i began attending theater arts in SM County, we were pleasantly surprised how nice the schools down here are.
Came here to see «annie get your gun» and loved it! It was a long musical (3 hours). Very good talent! Comfortable seats. Auditorium appears to be pretty new. I’d like to continue to support the schools (but they dont have an email list to send out notices to the public abt upcoming shows – so if you don’t have kids/​relatives attending this school it’s hard to know abt their shows). Cookies & bottled water sold before and during intermission. It woudl be nice if they offered more variety, such as fruit juices and fruit.

Only caution I have for parents considering Carlmont is the Spanish program. They struggle to retain good Spanish teachers and they are teaching in a very old fashioned way. No project-​based learning and very little feedback between teacher and student. You will need to hire a tutor if you want your student to do well in Spanish at Carlmont.

This is where San Mateo County likes to do their testing for city positions. I have been here from clerk, to group supervisor to probation officer. They sometimes use the classrooms when expecting a small turn out and use the Student Union when expect larger groups.

I am a 1999 alum of Carlmont. Over my four years there, I had wonderful experiences, taking the regular classes in which I had very kind, carring, and supportive teachers who did not over or underchallenge me. I enjoyed PE, specifically weightlifting and swimming and the running around the track. All of the electives (public service, art, track & field, business communications, and mock trial were my favorites. I loved all subjects, including math eventhough it was not my strong point; thank goodness only two years of that was required. Science was cool (Principles of Technology and Applied Biology Chemistry.) English and history were wonderful. Our cafiteria had good selections of food which was a great treat on Thursdays and Fridays. The janiters (Jerome Harris and Alex,) did a great job of keeping the campus clean, as well as security getting any fights or other problems resolved. To all of the faculty there from 1995 to 1999, you guys were wonderful to have and get to know as teachers; you made high school a great experience for me that I will never forget. The only thing that I have a problem with is the fact that it is all college prep now; eventhough I never had to deal with this, my younger brother did; (a 2003 alum, he is doing well as a welder;) please bring back regular classes, as well as shop, auto, and woodworking classes for the more hands on students like him. After all, not everyone is book smart and we need plenty of welders, electricians, painters, carpenters, and so forth. I will have to visit the newer track and pool which are supposed to be very nice; the pool is named The Kovas Comkmunity Pool after Mr. Glenn Kovas, the retired economics and business math teacher and swim coach. As Laura H said, there is a lot of diversity with students from all over the world; I would not have had it any other way. I was glad to hear about the remodeling as the campus was overdue; I remember how we used to jokingly call it «the penitentery» and others «Jailmont.»

As a 2006 alumn of Carlmont, I feel it is only appropriate to give my two cents about the place. Overall opinion: one of the best public high schools around. Mrs. Jenoff, the principal who I believed just retired, is responsible for bringing a lot of great things to Carlmont and giving students the opportunity to attend great universities. That’s what I found so interesting about the place: you have students getting accepted to MIT, Harvard, and Stanford but also students dropping out and failing classes. Having said that, I think Carlmont is great for high achieving students who need advanced classes and teachers to challenge them, and great for under achieving students who need a less-​than-​average pace and teachers to slow it down for them. However, I believe that the average students in the regular classes were often forgotten. I know it can be difficult to teach to a wide range of learning abilities, which often happens in the regular-​paced classes, but I think a better job could be done in this area.
Besides academics, there are many sports teams to participate in, which was my main school-​sponsored extracurricular activity. I know there is also a choir, band, theatre, and a very good dance program available. Not so sure how well «student run» organizations go.
Regarding student body, Carlmont is extremely diverse. I remember hearing at least 4 different languages in the school hallways on any given day, yet social groups remained rather segregated. Students bused in from the surrounding areas did not often interact with students from Belmont or San Carlos nor the other way around.
All in all, I think every type of student can find friends that are like them, classes that fit their needs, and activities they enjoy at Carlmont. It may not be a good fit for a student who needs a lot of attention, as the student body is large (around 500 per class I believe) so a student can easily feel unnoticed. Fights sometimes happened, but rarely. Drugs are also there, but completely avoidable if you have friends who also avoid them.
I hope this review helps… I think Carlmont is only improving every year.