Renner Middle School

My child has attended all 3 years at Renner and I have no complaints, he has learned how to be responsible for his schoolwork with the help of the staff. They communicate very well through email especially when they need assistance getting your child back on track. My second son will be attending this year so I'm excited to see his growth as well.

Heading into year three of this school and couldn't be more impressed with teachers who have a genuine and vested interest in my child, a principal who sees the big picture and students who dig in for healthy challenges.

The environment at this school is extremely negative - DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD HERE! Starting at the top, the Principal screams at the kids all the time, in the hallways, on the MEAGPHONE in the lunch room and at pep rallies. All negative, no encouraging or uplifting remarks. An atmosphere of fear and intimidation are the methods of control here. Even some of the teachers have admitted that they are afraid of her as well. A great example are the ridiculous one-way hallways. The teachers and the Principal watch like hawks to make sure no one steps a centimeter over the line, stops or goes back two steps to get something from their locker. Retaliation is instant if your child breaks the traffic rules. The lunch periods have been condensed into 3 from 4. Now the kids are crammed into an overcrowded lunch room filled with yelling, chaos and the Principal or the PE coach screaming at them over the MEGAPHONE throughout the entire lunch period. All this just creates an extremely negative and anxiety filled atmosphere. The teachers with a few exceptions are lazy and unprofessional. The athletic coach for example, arrives every day with a giant bag of Whataburger and a huge 44oz drink. He then has to ride around on an ATV while the kids run. Not a first class example of fitness, health and proper diet. The band teacher is incredibly sarcastic and continually yells at the students. She gives very little praise and actually mentioned to the students that this is the way to motivate them! The students were told at one point that she did not want any email from parents. Once again the environment of intimidation and fear rather than offering praise, being encouraging and positive when it is due is the norm. The students play well, but there are much more effective ways to get there. Isn't band supposed to be fun? A science teacher decided not to teach one day and just stared at the class until there were 5 minutes left. She then yelled at them about how they were misbehaving, held them 3 minutes over so they were late to their next class. Not fair to the good students WHO ARE PUNISHED FOR THINGS THEY DIDN'T DO! It is interesting that the school displays all kinds of Renner Strong posters with behaviors listed on them, but they DO NOT INSTILL THESE VALUES on a daily basis or live it out. Just empty words.

If I could give this school zero stars, I would. The Principal is completely unprofessional. My child was bullied by another student and that student laid hands on her. Because my child stood up for herself, she was placed in in-school suspension. The school NEVER NOTIFIED ME OF THE INCIDENT. Not even to tell me they would be placed in in-school suspension. I only found out because my child told me. After repeated phone calls and voice mail messages to the principal, to this day I have not heard one word from anyone in administration about what happened.