Hopewell Middle School

HMS is not some horrific, dreadful place right out of the opening scenes of Lean on Me (movie...see it!). But I have an eighth grader and I've just never really felt true PASSION from the teachers, with the exception of band (Crawford, Walker). Now, NOTHING is harder than teaching middle school. It's horrid; or, it can be. (I've subbed, but that's nothing like TEACHING). I KNOW it can be ungratifying. If you are burned out, take care of yourself! Change professions. Take a break if you can. Take care of you so you are there for this kids. Teachers have MANY students to keep track of, and I always acknowledge this when I contact a teacher to get a feel for what is going on with my kid, if he is struggling. I'm sometimes welcomed to come see them, and I do. I feel guilty for taking more of their time but that is their job, right? I just find myself scratching my head when my kid has, like, a 30 average (which often turns to a 90 in a matter of days! But still) and I never hear a peep from a teacher . NEVER have I received an email saying, "Um, your son is failing my class. Let's do this and that." Now, maybe they are not allowed to do that. Maybe there's just TOO MANY kids to do that with. Maybe they think the parent will be mad at them (if that is the case, SHAME ON THAT PARENT. Their kid is going to wind up at San Quentin if they don't start giving a hoot. I NEVER blame teachers for my son's screw ups. NEVER. But I would like to be met maybe halfway.) Nobody TRULY cares (it feels like) so yeah, you really have to advocate, but in a respectful way. I have had two VERY, VERY bizarre experiences with one of the counselors...no names. I don't know WHAT is going on there. SUPER odd. Unless he's not telling me (and I think he would), my student has never been bullied. He just keeps a low profile in classes and has lunch with buddies. Now let's talk about the good. I HAVE had teachers encourage me to come in and see them. And they just want to go home! I get it. MOST of the time my emails are answered pretty quickly. I often have NO clue what is going on in class academically, but that is more a matter of my son not conveying information!!! And I know teachers take a lot of grief from parents, and 90% of the time I am sure it's undeserved. A teacher who is trying so, so hard and nobody seems to realize it...well that breaks my heart. I'm SURE there are some!

Horrible. I have one more child here who is dreading 8th grade and excited to be almost done here. The tech teacher made my child HATE tech. She called kids names, and was unprofessional.

The teaching staff are unprofessional and rude to parents. They refer you to read their website rather than speak about their students. When questioning a teacher they immediately jump the gun and are rude. I have never, ever been treated so badly by a teacher before. I am completely unhappy with the unprofessional behavior of the teaching staff at the school.

This school was AWESOME about 5 years ago. The teachers really cared and there was real learning happening. Now, the current administration ran off all the teachers who cared, including the Teacher of the Year. Why? Hmmm, that's the question of the day. I think they should call back all the teachers that were there 5 years ago, offer them a HUGE pay raise, have them do what they did then, the WAY they did it then, and them my student will have a good education for the next 2 years. Otherwise, I will go elsewhere, if I can.