River Trail Middle School

This school is absolutely amazing. The structure is the best, the teachers are fantastic, and the work level and load are perfect. Children who struggle, are not emotional, or mentally prepared for a school with a high academic level as River Trail. Students are cared for, and treated with respect.

My son attended for 3 years and he made a lot of good friends. He enjoyed his year round band class for 3 years. School staffs are very friendly and nice.

Pros: My daughter has been attending this school for 2 years. She is consistently challenged, academically. Planned trips are educational. Front desk staff are friendly and kind. The school is always clean and appears to be well-run. I feel that this school would provide excellent prep for college, particularly business or STEM-type programs. Cons: (1) Lack of supervision/safety. My daughter has suffered broken bones TWICE during activities at school (P.E. and a ropes-course type class). According to her, this happens often. (2) Too much emphasis on technology. EVERYTHING is online (at different websites with different passwords) making it difficult for parents to see what is due, the work in progress or whether it was completed (3) Too much focus on business and profit and not enough on liberal arts. They're supposed to be providing students with a well-rounded education, not turning them into tiny capitalists. (4) Un- or under-qualified staff. My daughter took French from a native Indian. The entire course was a joke and now my daughter has the worst French "accent" you could possibly imagine. Also, the school nurse examined my daughter after she had a bad fall in the gym and complained of severe wrist pain. I was told the wrist was "hurt" but "not broken". When I picked my daughter up, I could tell immediately that it was broken (it was) and I'm not a nurse. (5) Too much homework. It's not uncommon for my daughter to have 1.5 to 2 hours of homework a night. That is ridiculous. (6) They will try to put your child in accelerated classes for which your child is NOT ACADEMICALLY READY. There is a financial incentive for this (theirs, not yours). This demonstrates to me that they care more about the number of children they can report as being in "accelerated courses" and their related financial gain than what's in the individual best interests of the student. My daughter was moved to an accelerated language arts class which might has well have been Brain Surgery 101. Her grade dropped from an A to an F and I had to meet with teachers AND a school counselor to get her out of it and put back into her grade-level course. Other parents have reported the same issue. All in all, RTMS is fine for most kids. Personally however, I'm worried that my daughter is going to be "burned out" by the pressure of school by the time she goes to Northview.

Rtms is the most stressful and most boring place ever. The rules are so strict that it's not ok. Creativity seems so restricted, too. Everyday is the same as yesterday. Alot of hw, robot-like teachers (very few amount of good teachers) , and the goal to just get good test and quiz grades. That's it. The school is really grey even though it looks great on the outside. If you want THE middle school experience with a lot of this and that, then rtms is gonna let you down really badly. Middle school is only a once-in-a-lifetime chance so it should be enjoyed and full of awesome memories. Oh, and also for the academic side, if you really wanna learn the important stuff more thoroughly, like math, then get a tutor. It's better.