Terra Cotta Middle School

I could understand how this parent feels regarding this school, but I think the teachers, especially the band director Boyer, is the best in the district. You can't just point the whole school is bad. The school is over loaded this year and its not perfect. Especially if majority of the kids attending here the parents can careless about their kids education and rely on the teacher to take care of them. Most of the parents drop off and rely on other parents or teachers to take care of their kids because the parents either don't care or they are working over time.

My son's experience has been absolutely wonderful. As an educator, I can say first-hand that this school has some really great people. The administration has always been very receptive to my concerns and have always helped me find solutions despite how minor they may be (they were not made aware of my profession), and the teachers always reply to my emails and always find ways to help my son should he require additional assitance. Although the school and surrounding neighborhoods are socioeconomically disadvantaged, which can be seen with the clientele who attend the school, we've been lucky in selecting a good circle to avoid facing any of the problems that sometimes accompany that type of demographic. We've had a wonderful experience and give praise to the entire staff. Two thumbs up!
--Submitted by a parent

I recently took my grandson out of Terra Cotta because of the lack of communication between the teachers and parents. He was failing in all his classes and snap grades and homework assignments on the computer in all of his classes were at least 2 weeks behind. We were told 'by middle school it was the students responsibility to know their assignments and get them turned in'...Well, first year of middle school is difficult for some of these kids, if we could have looked things up on the computer it would have solved alot of problems. Papers not turned in, he would get to spend the day sitting in the office. Thats not what I call an education. He is now in private school. 'No child left behind'. Huh????
--Submitted by a parent

I have 4 children. My oldest went to TCMS for his 6-8 grades. He is graduating this spring from Temescal Canyon High School. His first day at TCMS was a real shocker. The girls dressed like hookers and the boys looked like gang members. As I left him on campus, I went back to my car and cried. With that said, his experience there was a good one and he excelled due to the fact that he was in band which the school is a magnet for the performing arts. Son #2 and daughter are now at TCMS. TCMS has dealt with the dress code issue but the students are still an issue. Yes, there are a FEW good teachers & Yes, it is a strict school IF they are able to catch the offenders. We are moving after this summer and will not be sad to say goodbye to TCMS!
--Submitted by a parent

Great School! Very high API Score, great music program and dedicated teachers.
--Submitted by a parent

I haved moved here since the first day of school from l.a and my old school was to small for 300 students.but terra cotta has lots of space for all of the students and all my teachers are really funny and nice.so thank you terra cotta for a great new school year and for all the teachers. From, Ruiz Flores Destiny
--Submitted by a student

I find this school a great place to learn and raise a kid
--Submitted by a parent

i love this school it has great classes such as avid and way much more!!
--Submitted by a student

I just want to say Terra Cotta is a great middle school. For the parent that says it's all about what you have and where you're from- you are soooo wrong. It's not like that at all, we are in Lake Elsinore for godness sake. There is a great team of counselors, teachers and the office staff is awesome. A nice group of smiling people ready to help. The main problem is that parents do not let our children's schools do their jobs without us interfering, if you take a step back and let the team do the job, you will see it is amazing. Believe it or not, the workers at the school probably know some students better than their own families. Please be happy with what you have and just let them do their jobs and you do yours.
--Submitted by a parent

Staff does not always show a compassionate and caring attitude toward the students.
--Submitted by a parent