Any info on Westar Elementary? ( firm, principal, community)

[desertview]

My daughter will be starting fourth grade at Westar Elementary in Estrella in August. Can any parents give me information on the principal, teachers, PTO or the Liberty School District? I've been to Greatschools.com but most of the comments were from unhappy parents and I would love to hear something positive!

[Ponderosa]

There are two elementary schools in Estrella. One, Estrella Mountain is a top performing school and the other, Westar, is a couple notches lower in performance - not very good. The demographics of the schools are identical and so one would expect them to perform about equally. The problems at Westar have been blamed on a bad administrative staff and principal. The principal is leaving, so maybe things will get better. There is nothing inherently bad about Westar. It does have more "churn" than Estrella which serves an older and more stable part of the community. The kids and many teachers have been together for years. I think new students coming in hurts test scores. But, Westar is a very nice school, new, with all the amenities and every opportunity to excel. I wouldn't worry about it.

[desertview]

Thanks for your input Ponderosa. I realize that with all the new builds in Montecito there will be new families enrolling at Westar continually in the next few years and I am taking that into account regarding test scores. The negatives I heard were mostly regarding the administration so I am glad to hear the principal is leaving. I firmly believe that the only way to make a school better is to become involved, so I hope to be active in the PTO next year.