Northgate High School

I was excited about my child going to high school. He has always been an A/B student in math but he like so many other students were failed by the school. The teachers were given a new math curriculum that they were not prepared to teach this year. Numerous students are failing math and the curriculum will change again for next year. I sincerely hope the school placed a request in their budget for a math workshop to make sure the teachers are prepared for the new math curriculum for this coming school year. My child has his heart set on becoming an engineer and math and science is very important in that field. Getting low grades in math is not an option that sets well with my child or myself. I'm hoping that this issue is addressed quickly and the teachers will have the confidence to work the math problems out on the board instead of just giving the students a worksheet and having them work the problems on their own then give them the answers out of the book. That's not teaching that's just getting by.
--Submitted by a parent

Let me begin by saying the principal of this school is a excellent example of what all principals should be. She is a person that truly, truly cares about a persons well being. I gave the school four out of five stars only because there ARE a few teachers who do not deserve to be called teachers. In math and physics my daughters had to teach themselves because the teachers belittled those who tried to ask questions and the physics teacher put on an instructional video of another teacher, and sat on his duff doing nothing during class! Overall it is an excellent school with a few teachers that are collecting pay just for showing up.
--Submitted by a parent

I love Northgate. It is a great place to get your education. Most of the time the teachers are very kind and are always willing to help. If you are looking at schools in this area I would say come to Northgate. It is a school where they really are Committed to Student's Success. ;)
--Submitted by a student

I am an alumni '09 of Northgate and i loved it, some teachers are bad others are wonderful. I am proud to have graduated from northgate, they really do care about student success, if a teacher isnt doing their job then they are given consequences. wonderful school, i applaud them!

Northgate's motto is Commited to Student Success...there should be an addendum to that that says 'as long as they aren't a challenge to teach'. I do not like this school.
--Submitted by a parent

I am an alum of Northgate High School and I am currently attending the Georgia Institute of Technology. While I feel that Northgate did provide me with the tools I needed to get into this college, I do not feel that all of the teachers at Northgate were overly helpful. Many classes I didn't even need to attend. I actually earned a 109 in one class, and while thats great that I got that high of a score, how is that helping me? Tech most definitely does not give that kind of extra credit opportunity. HOWEVER, tech has probably 10x as many tutoring and extra help programs set up by the school. The monday night tutoring that Northgate offers is a joke, I know, I tutored there several times. I think they need to get more teachers involved because not all student to student tutoring is helpful.

All this principal bashing is horrible. DOCTOR Reddekopp is just that for a reason. Having had well over half a dozen principal changes in my school career, I think I can honestly say that, while yes she's redundant, she is the most caring and effective principals I've ever met. As a college student looking back in retrospect I think many high school students don't understand that they're idiots. I was. Thats why she repeats, so that you can't go home and say, 'She didn't tell us.' She's there for your education, safety, and well being. I loved her commitment and I think any student benefits from her being their principal.

I have a daughter (senior) and a son (sophomore) at Northgate and this is our second year. It has been an adjustment for them but overall they have excelled. I appreciate the professionalism and great customer service that has been shown to me and my family as we have made this transition. I really appreciate the communication via emails and phone calls that have been exemplified for the 2nd year. Thanks to the staff for caring and having high expectations for my teenagers because they have risen to the occassion.
--Submitted by a parent

I am a rising senior at Northgate High School and I have been generally impressed and pleased with my experience there. Despite the redundancy of our caring principal, Dr. Therese Reddekopp, we all appreciate the effort she puts in to allow Northgate to succeed at the level it does despite our qualms and complaints otherwise. Each year we soar above the others in both test scores and most recently sports- having two state champs this year in cheerleading and softball. Perhaps the success of this school can be summed up in the nickname that sometimes is used against us. 'Nerd'gate has become one of the best schools in the county and regularly surpasses the standards of the state and even performs above the national average on tests again and again. Perhaps my perspective as one of the top members of my class slants my perspective, but the statistics don't lie.
--Submitted by a student

I might give 5 stars if they had a different principal.
--Submitted by a parent