Grayslake Middle School

This school is amazing. The enviorment is just perfect. Your surrounded by nice friends and teachers. Some people think low of public schools, but i have been to both catholic and public and i absolutly hated catholic school. I LOVE gms. There are also awesome sports opportunities, like trying out for softball, soccer, basketball, cheerleading, track, and cross country. Don't forget about the acedemic clubs like science olympiad and the scalastic bowl.
--Submitted by a student

I will admit being somewhat apprehensive to sending my children to this school several years ago, but I have seen great strides in the past two or three years. All fine arts and music programs were reinstated in 2005 and I felt this year, more than ever, that I was free to communicate with any teacher or administrator at any time and receive a prompt, honest response, whether I liked it or not. My son recently graduated 8th grade and commented it was his best year of school, specifically mentioning an inspirational math teacher who has changed his life! He's the only male math teacher there I believe, he is wonderful! He and I had great experiences with all of the teachers and staff at the school and I am happy to see the direction it is heading.
--Submitted by a parent

This school has an exceptional fine arts progarm the school's music teacher, Mrs. Novack, really knows what she's doing. The winter musical and spring play are taken care of professinaly and seriously. Alhough, that seems to be the only perk about this school. The students are very rude to each other, but then again you would find that in any middle school in the contry. The disapline is also very poor.
--Submitted by a student

The curriculum is all about student-orientated learning. This could be bad or good, depending upon how well your child can focus and learn on his or her own. There are some great teachers but overall I'm not very impressed. I'm a substitute teacher so I have worked with many of the teachers in many of the classrooms. The school does have art, music, etc programs but they don't seem to be worth much. You do have to pay ($120+) for ALL extracurricular activities, field trips and registration. Look elsewhere if you want a good academic program for your child.
--Submitted by a parent

Academic programs seem ok, not great, just ok. I'm amazed at how much parents have to pay for things like field trips and special events. I am also disconcerted about the fact that at school sponsored events (Friday Night Out) music that is played contains 'bleeped' out words. Also in my view the choice of reading material that is promoted in my child's seventh grade class is questionable. The top 50 books for young readers in 6th to 12th grades deal with such dark issues and little or none deal with positive values development.
--Submitted by a parent

This school has no creative arts program to speak of! Art, music and foreign language are no longer a part of the core curriculum--that is unless you pay for it. These classes have been outsourced to private EDU. groups. Do I want some stranger teaching my child, who's gone after 6-8 weeks, heck no! What happened to the concept of teachers building relationships with students? The cost of these classes, try $350-$500 per class on for size! This does not include the extra material that you'll have to purchase additionally for the class! Is 'The Arts' just for the privileged!? The curriculum is okay. Scores in math, reading and science are above the states average, however these scores seem to be decreasing over the years. Could it be there's all work and no play. Oh by the way if you're African-American, no need to appy--need I say more?
--Submitted by a parent