Milpitas High School

I don’t like their principal and I also heard that if you report the teacher to the principal the student who made the complaint ends up being bullied by the teacher for a full 2 weeks.

Hmmmm… Where to begin…
First I want to say if I could give no stars that would be great.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t in a clique, not the most popular, but I didn’t have a lot of enemies.
So the real reason why this school is terrible is solely because of the teachers.
I’m not going to name anybody because I simply don’t care about them anymore, I just feel like I want to share my experience.
First traumatic experience:
I had spent over 3 – 4 hours building a balsa wood bridge for my physics, I brought it in the next day because the class was doing an experiment to see whose bridge could hold the most weight. A classmate comes up to me and takes me bridge. «Lets see if it can hold my weight.» he says. I tell him no don’t step on my bridge because I spent hours building it. Sure enough he does and it breaks. The teacher does NOTHING. We both get sent to the office and all the vice principal does is make him say sorry to me… Come on…
Second traumatic experience:
Theres a gangster yelling at this chick in a degrading manner so I tell him to leave her alone. he tells me to shut up and that he has friends that aren’t afraid to hit girls. Then after every time I try to say something he says shut up. This is right in front of a teacher. I walk to the office before I do anything stupid and NOTHING happens to that kids. Ridiculous.
My band and I tried out for the talent show in my sophomore year, we get in. my jr. and senior year we try out and don’t get in. I’m not say we are the best band at school but I know we aren’t the worst… Drama teacher definitely without any questions favors students. I’ve also had someone tell me she was saying mean things about me. Really mature.
What’s more frustrating is the band kids making my drummer and guitarist bring all of their equipment when they have theirs set up. We only had to play for 30 seconds in order to try out. The people in charge of the talent show should have a set on the stage for everyone to use. Don’t make us waste our time especially if you aren’t going to even put us in the show.
My friend and I go get lunch, we’re 18 we should be able to leave campus. As we are walking back just as the lunch bell rings a security guard comes up to us. «ARE YOU SMOKING, DON’T LIE TO ME!!! DON’T LIE TO ME!!!». I’m am completely serious when I’m telling you that this guy was yelling at us. Just because we don’t flirt with the guy he has a problem with us. The security guards are a JOKE. Waste of money and they don’t even do their job. I always hear them flirting with tiny mexican chicks. When my boyfriend had crutches not one of the security guards stop to ask if he needed a ride to class. Yet there is always a gangster kid sitting in the front with the biggest smile on his face.
The teachers are CRAP.
Always complaining. «Oh we teachers don’t get paid enough» Wah wah wah boo hooo
DO YOUR JOB MAYBE?
One of my history teachers would hand out a packet then watch baseball.
Another teacher would let in graduated students and talk to them while we took a test. He would also eat and TEXT while teaching. He adds students on Facebook and hangs out with them!!! HOW CREEPY!
I had Government… The biggest joke of all.
The teacher was obviously Democratic so that’s all we learned about.
I turned in a whole homework packet writing things like, Bono sucks, I hate going to the dentist, just complete nonsense and he gave me full points!
The teachers don’t even go through the homework!
How I wish I could have gone to a different high school then I would be so much more happier.
If someone is reading this and deciding whether or not to put their kid in this high school… I’m telling you DON’T.
Oh also I watched at least 6 Disney movies in one English class one year what a waste of my time…
I could go on and on and on but I’m done wasting time with this school. In order to be successful I would say 95% of teachers need to be fired so the school can start with serious working teachers.

this place deserves 2 or 3 stars only because the classrooms have too many students, they don’t have money for more classrooms and teachers to paid, this school had like 3000 students when I went here, now it should have like 3300 or something like this, it should only have half of that cause a teacher is stuck with 40 or more students every period, that’s a dumb number because not only do the teachers suffer, the students suffer cause a classroom in a high school should only have no more than 20 students. they have a football, baseball and soccer field, plus a track, basketball courts outside, but that’s all that is good about this place, its not a great high school to learn.

I occasionally go here to play tennis or run on the tracks. For the tennis courts, it gets really packed during the weekends. You see all kinds of people playing from MHS kids to older adults. The courts are not the greatest but good enough to get a few games going. As for the tracks, it’s well maintained and great for running. 4 laps = 1 mile. If you plan to go running at night during the weekdays, you might see the MHS football team training. It’s still OK to get on the tracks.

I’ve never attended class here, but their softball fields are by far my favorite to play on!

Its my highschool that i grew up in. what more do you want? good times and good teachers.

Such a snobby school! I moved to Milpitas from San Jose, where nobody really cared how you dressed. Being just 10 minutes away from San Jose can still make you act different.
I definitely have my pick of favorite teachers– and they know who they are. I took my fair share of honors and AP classes. But the regular classes were the most fun. I visit every now and again. I’ve got some good memories of football games, school dances, and of course being on the swim team!
I was most definitely all about swimming. Just thinking about all those 5AM swim session in January/​February makes me miss the chlorine (yeah, I’m that obsessed with swimming. top 10 varsity baby!)
I wish the sports director cared more about the swimming department. Our pools needed renovations. People scraped their feet and we weren’t even allowed to dive in the water for our swim meets. We had to do in-​water starts. For those of you who aren’t familiar with swimming, having a great dive in the water could get you across half the pool! In-​water starts SUCK.
MHS is all about track and football. That’s why they invest so much money into the track and astro turf. I just wished they showed the swimmers some love!
Although the programs weren’t the best, I still had a decent time here, great memories with friends I am still close to, and enough chlorine in my system to last me a lifetime.

The two star ‘Meh. I’ve experienced better.’ sums it up quite nice.
I have horror stories of this place. Class of 98, by the way. I graduated early due to extra credits, I graduated in January. I had the option to either stay until June just to go to school or finish up early. So I bounced.
The line for the Pizza Hut was ridiculous. You could spend 90% of your lunchtime waiting in line.
I dont know about the amount of students going there now, but when I was attending it was around the 2,200 mark.
Something kinda cool though… I had the same teacher for classes in 7,8,9 and 10. I had her at Russell Middle school for 2 years and then she transferred to MHS so I had her again, I thought it was kool.
Now onto my horror story. It was 1^st period math. Sophmore year, I believe. I dont remember the name of the teacher, but the poor lady… I felt her pain. The students there were HORRIBLE to her. On any given day, all hell would break loose. Kids would throw coins across the room. Somebody actually threw gum and it somehow found its way into her hair which was really F’d up.
She was partly to blame, though, due to her lack of discipline. Yeargan was her name, now I remember. When she got the gum in her hair, instead of handing out a suspension or two, all she’d do is say «Well that’s real nice», or something of that nature.
The worst came on the final day of school, which I’m betting she was happy about. I know I would be if I were her. And this is not to mention the rest of the bullshit she put up with throughout the school year;wannabe gangsters getting up in her face like they’re gonna attack her on the spot, or making threats to do so after school. The last day of school, she was holding the classroom door open for some reason and a water balloon comes crashing onto her. What did she do? Nothing as usual.
I dont know how the poor lady held it together. I would have quit or whooped some ass and gone to jail. More than likely option #1.
Yeah not the best of times or students here. More like a joke while I attended. I’m all about being the class clown, but not to the extent that these fools went to. When it gets personal, count me out.

I loved high school. Best 4 years of my life, that was even better than college. When I think of MHS, it brings back some great memories of the stupid shit that I used to do and get away with. The academics were really pathetic. Senior year, I cut school almost everyday and had like a 3.8 gpa with 2 AP classes. By the time senior year rolled around, I had so many units, I only needed the basics to graduate. I think I only needed like 2 classes each semester, and I could fail all the other ones and still graduate. You can basically be half brain dead, and never show up and still pass. (No offense to the people that failed.) The school sucked a lot and didn’t do much for me in the learning department, but I still grew up to be a smart adult. No thanks to MHS, though.

I don’t care. I graduated.
The teachers were not really that great.
I remember being on «www​.find​apix​.com» rating people all day long.
Met some really good friends here
Seagulls would poop everywhere
The smell of the dump would soon be the smell of «home» when I moved away for college
I kept in touch with 2 science teachers.
I hated my soccer coach with all my heart but in reality I was a lazy teenager so hes a pretty cool guy.

I attended MHS in 1999 for three months after moving to the area from Michigan. I ended up dropping out of school and getting my GED because the atmosphere was definitely not conductive of learning and the classes were so far behind. MHS was a giant popularity contest. I was accepted into a «cool» clique but no one cared about anything beyond clothing and cars. It’s probably because I came from a smaller school but I didn’t like the fact that it was easy to get lost amongst the throngs of students. The professors only knew a few of the student’s names. I would like to hear that they have changed but numerous friend’s children come home and reiterate what I have experienced.

I came here after spending way too much money at a private school that did nothing good for me.
The campus is nice and most of the staff really care.
The supplies were pretty crappy, but I came from Valley Christian which was more of a mansion on a hill than a school. So who am I to judge?
The classes seemed to be more challenging and often had way more competent teachers. (Perhaps because they actually had teaching licenses?) I actually had to leave the AP classes I was transferred into here because I wasn’t used to working so hard!
Overall, I loved my experience here.
Of course it wasn’t perfect, but it’s high school — complete satisfaction is near impossible.
My favorite teachers were Mr. Henchky (sp?) and Mr. Hanley.
Did you hear about MHS’s record-​breaking exit exam scores this year?

Milpitas High School. I spent two years there after the closing of Samuel Ayer HS in 1980. Over the years, I’ve had several relatives go through this school and even have a former classmate who is a teacher there.
One of my old teachers from Ayer still teaches English Literature here. John Ribovich. An amazing teacher among many. My love of reading both classics, fiction and the unusual come from Mr. Ribovich and Wilma Taggert.
The school still has one of the absolute best Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) around. I spent four years in that and did not opt for military service so don’t think that they push you towards that type of career. That class can teach you your options and give you some discipline at the same time.
A long time coach there recently retired. I’m sorry to say I forgot his name. I hated sports and had little to do with it other than Cross Country and Track, but in my years I’ve come to recognize professionalism, management skills and a love of what one does. Coach Cain, Queenan, Pacioni and many others couldn’t have done it for the money. They deserved more respect than I paid them at the time.
Math, science and many other things are above average at this school. If life deals you some personal issues with grades or pregnancy, I’m perfectly happy that those kids are segregated to Cal Hills where they can receive more of the attention that will possibly do them some good as opposed to the attention they get at the big school. It’s a numbers game and not every child that goes to this school is going to make it out. After meeting the parents of so many of these children, I can say that it is not the short comings of the high school that is the problem.
Deaths in a high school? Lets get something straight. The teachers are not authorized to take the students out and shoot them. There will be accidents that claim lives and there will be bad decisions that claim lives. Both are a tragedy but are not the schools responsibility. I can’t think of one campus related death to date.

My escape from home and I met my husband here! Class of 96!

High school was some of the best four years of my life… I know I couldn’t have said it then, but I definitely can look back and laugh at the moments who made me who I was.
I came to this school not knowing anyone, and yes fell into the wrong group of girls in the beginning of my freshmen year, but those were the girls who took my sorry ass in.
Anyways high school was definitely filled with ups and downs, I joined the Digital Business Academy (Computer Academy) YES I KNOW I’m a geek!!! But it was one of the best things I did, not only were they core classes which meant you pretty much spent half the school day with the same group of people, but thats how I became good friends with the friends I have now. It definitely help me become a computer savvy hairstylist, which is hilarious!!! (My clients trip when I know about hard drives and ram and my love for APPLE)
During my senior year things around the school started to change. (’01) They were slowly building new buildings and remodeling the old making the school much more aesthetically speaking. I’m not sure how the teachers are now, but back when I was there, the teachers I had definitely cared about the students, or at least I thought they did…
I have to agree with Kate R, when she says «Bottom line, Milpitas High produces over achievers as well as under achievers, Berkeley graduates as well as high school drop outs. Its a give and take scenario for the most part.» It’s such a true statement, I know its probably the same thing you can say about most high schools, but some of my good friends who went with me to this school happen to be very successful and have grown into such great people!!!

This school SUCK! It’s full of gangs and troublemakers. Milpitas schools are no where near better than sj schools. You don’t learn much because the admin. hires any teacher. STAR testing is done just to make their district look good and every year there are atleast 1 – 2 people from mhs that die. I’m so glad I’m graduating next month and I don’t see the point in why we have to take art class, econ and american Govt. to graduate. MILPITAS SUCKS.

Overall this school has it’s potential of being a good school, but good education isn’t a positive trait in Milpitas.
The schoolwork for a single student is impossible to complete alone. The only students that pass the classes are groups with so many friends to copy work from each other or rich students with private tutors. The misguided students behind credits and pregnant girl students (not including the father) go to Cal Hills to mask Milpitas High School with all its imperfection.
The staff never guided a student in need. Especially the ones being picked on a daily basis.
For newly appointed male teachers, be warned because female students tend to hit on teachers just to get them fired.
The school lacks spirit. A Winter dance was canceled since there was not enough students attending. Rally are only fun since they skip class. The only time I really saw school spirit is when 2 girls got into a fight and right after that 2 other girls got into a fight. I remember hearing the whole campus cheer at the incident.
The principal never cared about the students except for the athletes and cheerleaders.
Perfect attendance is impossible during first period. I remember during my years there was a horrible traffic jam during road construction in the morning and ¾ of the students came to class late. Even though the roads are fixed, the road to the high school is still too small since there is an elementary school (Pomroy) and a middle school (Russell) all in the same area all starting at 8:00am. Really gets people cranky every morning.
There were still the fun times. There is a unique program for students after freshmen year were they can join an academy for tourism, engineering, or computers. Every student that participates become deeply part of fund raisers, field trips, and skills that help after high school. I was part of the Tourism academy which the seniors of the academy went to Hawaii for a field trip during the school year.
Honestly if you have the money, keep kids out of the Milpitas Public School System and take them to a private school. That way they have a better chance going to a state or university.

All these negative reviews humor me, except Corinne’s which is actually a terrible situation (sorry you and your son had to endure that).
SO… For what its worth, I graduated high school back in 2001, before the mass consumption of cell phones, myspace, digital cameras, and super flashy and pricey clothing. I know I know, it was a different time. My biggest distraction back in 2000 was my pager, A PAGER!!!
If you didn’t enjoy Milpitas High, you probably didn’t enjoy high school in general. You probably didn’t fit into one of the numerous cliques, you probably did not participate in anything, and maybe you didn’t care enough to pick and adjust your schedule to classes you found interesting and valuable.
My four years at Milpitas High was a good run, I guess I can’t vouch for it now, but I have plenty of cousins and a future brother-​in-​law who are still in the system. There were some motivating faculty members who proved to be passionate about the subjects they taught, their passion was able to spark my interest which has grown since then.
Bottom line, Milpitas High produces over achievers as well as under achievers, Berkeley graduates as well as high school drop outs. Its a give and take scenario for the most part.
***Minus one star because my future-​BIL tells me you can no longer «FREAK» at the dances. At the first warning they turn on the lights, I guess sometimes if the «FREAKING» gets too inappropriate they shut down the dance. THAT SUCKS…
Still… Four stars from an MHS alumni, yeah yeah, its mainly based on nostalgia. I made it out, moved onto higher education, and am now a fully fledged adult, take what you can!

I can’t even give this high school a star they suck that much. When my son started high school he was attending Mt. Pleasant High School in East San Jose. I too, went to MP and grew up in the neighborhood and thought that maybe this wasn’t the place for my teenage son since it is known to have gangs around even when I was younger. So when my sister and brother-​in-​law moved to Milpitas they suggested that I send my son to MHS since the neighborhood was better than the east side and the influences over there would be more positive. So the summer before he started his sophomore year I transferred him to MHS, which at first was great he was on the frosh soph football team, met a great girl, things were great until mid year. All of a sudden we started to find out that MHS was no better than MP when it came to gangs and since my son was proud of where he came from on the east side; sueno gang members targeted him and started fights with him. So here’s my son in fights, getting suspended, on probation and now considered «gang affiliated». Everything I didn’t want to have happened, happened. My son started to feel as if he did have to become a gang member just to protect himself and since then there’s one cop there that harasses him and calls me on a regular basis to accuse my son of everything under the moon. Now don’t get me wrong, my son asked for it when he affiliated himself w/​people he shouldn’t have which with cops is considered «guilty by association». He is constantly getting pulled into the office every time something on campus goes wrong and yes there are times when he probably was to blame but I know for a fact that there were times were they made mistakes. They made him sign a contract to not wear the color red which I have NEVER allowed my son to wear out of fear of this reason, being targeted but I thought that would be by gangs, not the school officials and the cops on campus. I’m done with this school, he was better off on the east side where we are going back to and be done with the worst two years I’ve experienced with a school in the 11 years my son has been going to school. Peace out MHS, U SUCK!!!

This school has an awful tendency to advocate mob mentality. If a student happens to end up in a class with a notorious teacher, and that student wants to switch classes, then that student will not succeed if he or she visits the office alone to complain about it. Try getting your class changed alone, and you’ll find yourself being rejected before you can even see a counselor. Go with a group of people (or with your parents) however, and they’re more than willing to move you wherever you want to go. Trust me; I was turned away on numerous occasions, while good friends of mine succeeded because they brought their friends or their parents along.
Senior year, they did next to nothing to prepare you for college. They really ought to start freshman year, if they haven’t yet. I was the first child in my family to attend a university after high school, so I really didn’t know about any requirements. The counselors seemed to leave altogether at the end of the year, and only one announcement was given regarding SAT testing, and it was announced mere days before the testing took place — in other words, it was too late for anyone who didn’t already know to reserve a spot.
When I attended, cheating was a pretty big problem. Students would regularly copy homework from their friends, and in some cases people cheated during major tests. I distinctly remember one case, where two crafty students got away with playing a gamecube on a portable television set while the teacher rambled on about something unrelated to the subject.
Indeed, very little learning seemed to take place in most classes. In fact, for many students every class revolved around doing work for another class entirely. Some teachers asked their students not to do work for other classes, but it still happened, and it spoke volumes about the work load. In some classes, the load was so bad that a great majority of the class cheated off each other before the class began.
Rallies were loud, and there was no escaping them. I wasn’t a very extroverted student. I would have been content to study in the library, or finish homework. Instead, I was dragged into the auditorium with everyone else, where we killed our hearing to the tune of whatever pop song kids enjoyed back then. I can’t even begin to recount the awful headaches I had to deal with afterwards. And there really was no escape. One time, I got tired of it and just left. I walked to the library, sat down at a computer, and tried to forget the horrors. Upon discovering that I had escaped the rally, the librarian ordered me to leave. I wasn’t even disturbing anyone. I was just not at the rally, which was apparently a good enough reason to kick me out.
Despite numerous criticisms, I must say that I enjoyed the campus. In fact, I spent a lot of time exploring the campus; I arrived there early, you see, and the library (which acted as a shelter from the elements at that early hour) did not open until 7:45 in the morning. I always thought this was peculiar, since the librarian generally arrived at 7 AM, and sat at her front desk for 45 minutes while dozens of students froze outside.
There are some good teachers here. As much as I hate to reference it, «Rate​myteach​ers​.com» really doesn’t lie in this case. It’s hard for me to give a two star rating to my old high school, but I’m just being honest here. If this place cracks down on the absurd amount of cheating, makes rallies optional, and at least tries to remind students about important college related dates before it’s too late to apply for them, then it will certainly improve. Until then, my rating stays at a 2.