Foothill Middle School

My grandson goes to this school and his comment was "it is very stressful". They had an assembly on bullying today, a lot of good it did. As my daughter was waiting to pick up her son, a fight broke out when one boy jumped another. Parents and students just stood around. My daughter ran over and broke it up. The PE teacher came out and instead of hauling them to the office, he told the boy who started it to go home! No consequences is why this bullying continues to grow worse. What is wrong with your staff?

i am a former Foothill student. I attended for 8th grade. That one year was the absolute worst of my life. The teachers was discouraging, the students were very innappropiate. i had a terrible time here.

My son loved 6th and 7th grade, but hated 8th, especially his advanced math teacher. She wasn't encouraging kids at all.
—Submitted by a parent

Ever since we have moved my son here from a school in Alamo, he's been doing so great. He used to be B's and C's but now he's so interested on learning that he's been taking home straight A's and he won't accept any lower than that. He has great teacher that keeps him interested and gives him all the support for him to achieve his goal.
—Submitted by a parent

this school has a lot of after school activites a bunch of different kinds of clubs and the staff are great. if your falling behind they have extra help for you. they even have a class you can sign up for where you have a whole period to catch up on homework or do homework and ask questions if you dont understand it. foothill middle school is a great school and you should definatly go to it.
—Submitted by a student

I am currently a student at Foothill and I just love it! The parents and teachers are all great and they really help students that may struggle. Foothill has a fantastic education approach and the teachers are always cheery. The homework is very affective and it usually takes only 1-2 hours (well you do have like six classes). If I were a parent I would my son or daughter to go to this fabulous, outstanding, above average middle school!
—Submitted by a student

i attend foothill middle school in walnut creek. Foothill is by far the best school i will ever go to and ever want to go to. They have helpful teachers and parents that are happy to commit to the job of watching the teachers at lunch. Their teachers are helpful, caring, and above the average teacher. Foothill is the best place to be they have very fun after school projects and club you can join. I love going to foothill. The teachers help me when i am having trouble with my homework classwork anything. i enjoy going there, going there helps me get the grades i want so far i have had straight A's. In the end i love going to foothill.
—Submitted by a student

Foothill has managed to keep a good reputation because of it's academic scorings. Kids that enter this school that have any kind of struggles, whether it's academic or personal, are pushed aside and labeled as 'difficult', and addressed as a non-viable segment of the student population. By their own admission, the faculty and administration are not equipped to affectively educate and help the 10% of their student population.
—Submitted by a parent

I currently go to foothill. The teachers care about the kids no matter what their grades.
—Submitted by a student

Excellent academic program quality. Music (band or orchestra) is offered as a class, as well as jazz band before school. The current and past jazz bands have won several awards for their amazing quality. Art is another offered elective, as well as a HOT lab (Hands On Technology), Woodshop, Drama, Language (Spanish and French), and many others. The parent involvement can be as minimal or large as you wish.
—Submitted by a parent

Foothill has many excellent teachers, and provides high quality of education. It offers orcehstra and band classes as seclective courses.
—Submitted by a parent

The acedemic programs are wonderful. The teachers care a lot about the children and will do anything to help them. They have an orchestra, band, and jazz band. They have the typical sports, such as football, basketball, baseball, tennis, volleyball, etc. They also have some after school classes. Some of them require you to be in GATE, but others are open to everyone. Parents have a monthly meeting, where they discuss everything going on and how to improve.
—Submitted by a student

If you want your child to go to a school known for its academics, I would send them here no doubt. Most of the teachers are passionate about what they teach, and are happy to help those in need. If there are any problems with your student that they notice, they will not hesitate to talk to the student and notify you. This school has definitely improved my children's study habits immensly. The only complaint I have is the size of the school. It tends to be extremely crowded, but that is understandable because every parent wants their child to go to this school.
—Submitted by a parent

My step son attended foothill for three years. He entered the schoool as a gate student and was allowed to fail many of his classes. There is little parent/teacher intervention. Too much homework ( average 3-5 hours/night ) There were many times his mother, my husband , my stepson and myself were working on his homework at the same time! He is a severe asthmatic. P.E consisted of ballroom dancing on M,T,Th,Fr. and running 5 miles on Wed. Extremeley poor interaction with the vice principal trying to deal with some issues. I would rate this school as extremely poor. The staff does not demonstrate qualities of responsibility, accountability, leadership and scholastic achievement.
—Submitted by a parent

I feel as a parent of two students that foothill only cares about the honor students. They allow too many kids to be shuffled through without the education needed to survive in high school. Unless you are an excelerated student you are a bother to the school and their honors scores. An average student will become a below average student. The staff is extremely poor in helping with struggling students. Now if you have an A student this is a great place for them. Personally I would not recomend this school.
—Submitted by a parent

On balance, it's a very good school. Teachers & parents are involved. It's a distinguished school for a reason. I agree that teachers have off days like anyone and or may not be as consistent as you would like. Some issues that can happen anywhere: disciplining a whole class for inappropriate behavior of one or two is a bit myopic, sends the wrong message, and deprives the majority of the class of valued subject matter - better off sending the perpetrators to the office or into a corner; teacher speaking too fast, especially in math, and assuming the kids understand, and blowing off questions asking for clarification, doesn't leave a good impression in a child's eyes (bad day or not. BJ & Mr. Dial & office support provides stability, security & guidance needed for the youngsters. I'm glad my girls attend Foothill. As parents, you need to participate and be active as feasible.
—Submitted by Bob Mah, a parent

Teachers know their students well. Many great 6th and 7th grade teachers with good parent teacher communication--while some teachers maybe not as good. Most teachers are very accessible to parents and students. Students success still depends on parents, teachers and students working together.
—Submitted by Leticia Blacker, a parent

We had two children go through this school. The curriculum is poor and the teachers are unwilling to adjust. Lots of complaints from math/english teachers about the students not being prepared by grammar schools, but no additional work to fix things up. Lots of useless homework - cut & paste, without enough basics. Parents have to work hard to pick up the slack.
—Submitted by a parent

My son went to Foothill and he would compliments about it everyday when I went to pick him up. Even I know that it is a good school because the teachers are good, the school is good and the most important thing is the school is very safe. And the best... Mr. Johnson ( the principal) and Mr. Dial ( vice principal ) are both very firendly and understandable. If I would have to rate this school out of 10, I would give it a 9.5.
—Submitted by a parent