Leonard Flynn Elementary School

After being at the school for 3 years we are pulling our son out in favor of a much healthier and safer environment, due to some serious ongoing issues with the school’s principal, Mr. Mendoza. Even though it means more drive time, it’s worth it to us to be part of a vibrant and healthy educational community again. For awhile Flynn was on a pretty good path – unfortunately things slid downhill pretty fast; we personally know 4 other families who are fleeing after having issues with the safety, responsiveness and collaborative functions of the administration. I can echo what has been said about the Principal elsewhere, who seems to have an uncanny ability to drive parents away due to his authoritarian, narrow minded agendas which seem almost always rooted in paranoia and self interest, never about what is best for the students and teachers. I sincerely hope you will think again if you are considering this school, because there are much better options for your child.

Here’s a review from the current school year 2013 – 2014. There was a change of principal from the last review. Mr. Karling was the star principal from when my child started attending this school and two years ago, he was promoted. Mr. Mendoza took over as the principal of Flynn.
The teachers remained dedicated to their students, diversity is still one of the plus of Flynn. But sad to say, the current principal is a bit ackward. It seems a little unnatural (and difficult?) for him to greet parents in the hallway. And a couple of times he did, he was looking somewhere else. A letter of request sent to his office for a brief meeting still has yet to get a response from them– its been a month.
But because their teachers are awesome, staff are mostly responsive. Flynn is still that gem of a school in the bernal heights area. Maybe the current principal just need to grow into the position, who knows?

This was mi sons old school now he’s in middle school and still loves it and loves to visit at anytime he can he he even helps out

Let’s add a new review from this century.
Flynn ROCKS.
the building is improved year after year.
the teachers are as amazing and committed as they can ever be.
the principal is a star.
the school moves forward (something not happening in so many «good» schools)
the parents are nice normal human beings — which means their children are equally normal and nice. No PTA bullying, no discrimination, and a strong community support.
True, the school is diverse (every extreme is represented) and has no choice but to deal with the diversity — however, this same diversity brings a nice flavor that we all appreciate daily.
A mid-​way-​to-​11years-​at-​Flynn mom.

My child attends Flynn Elementary in the general education classes as a Kindergarten-​er. The staff are very professional and friendly. I am very happy with the academic and social progress my child has made over the last six months.
A few great surprises from my limited experience were:
Spanish language. Even though my child isn’t in the Spanish immersion program, she is exposed to a lot of the language through songs taught to the class and classmates from Spanish speaking households and a very bilingual faculty.
Clear Communication. Parents and teachers consistently share information about what is going on in the classroom and how we can act to support our child’s learning. They work hard to make parents feel like a partner in the child’s education.
Art work/​afterschool clubs. My child was part of an after-​school club focusing on art projects that was organized by the PTA. Once a week the kids went to a local art studio to work on projects for a small fee. My child really enjoyed this.
Other than that…
the building is old, but very clean and well taken care of.
Parking is tough to come by in the mornings, and so you have to plan for extra time to walk your child to the school yard from the car.
The YMCA offers after-​school care. Not sure why they do not offer this in the mornings as well given the late start 8:35am.
We are very happy that we are part of the Flynn community and look forward to seeing our child grow and learn for many more years at this school.