Trickum Middle School

Some days I am pleased, but for the most part I am frustrated. The Monday mail comes out with info for the current week. As a working parent, it hard to readjust the schedule to accommodate what is going on at the school when you find out about it on the first day of the week. The buses get their late and my kids miss the morning announcements, they don't really support any school related activity expecte for basketball, everything else the parents pay for. Every year we have orientation night and they waste thousands of paper on bus route prints. They need to invest in technology that supports the staff, students and parents. Everyone there expect for a couple teachers acts as if my phone call, face to face conversations are unimportant and a complete aggravation to them. If I had to do it over again, I would not have chosen the Parkview Cluster because of our experience at Trickum Middle School.

Bullying is being ignored by certain teachers. When the bullying is observed and reported by students, at least two teachers dismissed and ignored the reports. There is a student being bullied and it has been reported to two teachers several times. They won't do anything about it.

A family member was a student-teacher here and said this school was on the verge of being taken over by the state. (Notice the "missing" greatschools ranking). Although the education isn't the best--and the new principal is making the situation worse; who gave him an administrative license!!?--the parkview cluster excels in politics and pretending to be something their not. Lastly, I've been a substitute teacher at Trickum before and I've never seen so many miserable teachers and lazy students. This cluster has a lot of pride but they're doing their kids a disservice by not instilling respectable values and a good work ethic. I've also overheard quite a few teacher conversations and no one seems to like the new principal. That's a shame because this school used to be gem.

Trickum has been a great experience from my four children. The teachers and staff care about the kids as teachers are prepared to ensure learning. Parent involvement is strong. Like anywhere else, there are some troubled children and families, but those can be learning opportunities for my children as well. Middle school can be a tough time, but TMS does a solid job ushering children through these turbulent years.