Manteno Middle School

The principals are very understanding and listen to what you have to say

Upon reading the other reviews about manteno middle school I felt like I needed to share our experience. First off, bullying at this school is absolutely out of control. They claim to have an anti bullying policy but it's nothing more than a conversation piece and not executed at all. My daughter has been bullied along with her friends by older boys and there has been nothing don't about it, not only that, the principal David Conrad has done nothing but sweep it under the rug and never even contacted any of the boys parents. It took my wife to physically go to one of the boys houses and inform the mother of what her child was doing. I can not stress enough that if your planning on moving to this area think about driving your child elsewhere for school because I can't stress enough how worthless the principal is as a educator and a human being. When you have parents opting to home school their kids opposed to subject them to what's going on in the school, you've failed as an educator. no child should have to be followed home by a group of boys being called curse words, let alone a young girl.

I am a parent of 2 teen daughters who are presently being homeschooled and I used to teach within this school district. During my tenure there, as teacher, I worked with several very hard-working, and conscientious people and students through the years of 1998-2002. Some have retired, but many still are employed. After 9/11 attitudes seemed to change, in my opinion. This was not a better environment, as cameras, locks, job cuts, and other restrictions were imposed, with the explanation of "safety". Safety was not better, but worse, as issues continued to go unresolved. I took another teaching position in 2002 was a welcome change. They were also faced with the same pressures to lock down, budgets, etc. This helped me realize that the issues Manteno faced was not a local issue, but beyond. We now live in Manteno, we face choices: homeschool, private, or public? There is not "part-time" enrollment, including clubs, sports, PE, or art an music. It is either full time or nothing, which doesn't lend toward any collaboration. Unless there is a crisis, I am against locking down public places, so our girls do not have access to public education.

Lack of leadership. Teachers run the school. Nepotism permeates every area. Extremely difficult to get extra help from the teachers.