Raytown Middle School

This school is pathetic: No leadership, no parent participation, no teacher participation, no communication. If was able to move I would have long ago,,,,,,,,,what a joke!!
--Submitted by a parent

This school is one of the most terrible middle schools in Missouri. In previous comments some had mentioned bullying, yes this school does have a lot of bullying. I was a victim of it as well. I told my problem to a teacher and she had told the principal. I sat with him one on one and he said (honest to God here), "The boys who have bullied you say they haven't done anything. Can you just pretend that this never happened?" It is rare (from my experience) to find a teacher at RM who has taught there for more than a year or two.The teachers at this school do not know how control disruptive students in their classes. For punishment they are sent in a timeout corner or are sent to ISS (In school suspension, where students sleep on desks and do their classwork separate from their class.) Another previous comment said, "The school needs to be more Ethnic." Here are the 2010 racial demographics for RM: White: 332, Black: 358, Hispanic: 81, Asian: 10. What Raytown Middle School really needs to do is to stop being lenient towards misbehaving students and start seriously punishing them for their misconduct. Many kids actually end up having 4-5 ISS sessions at school and do not change.

I have had many children go through this school. many of them have had special needs and RMS has done an amazing job of getting them to where they needed to be.
--Submitted by a parent

I had many of the same problems other parents have wrote about. The elementary school my boys attended was GREAT, however, they got to middle school and I don't even know for sure how they are passing. They have F's in 4 or more subjects every year. The powerschool option in my opinion is useless because even if you check it everyday- the teachers don't update it daily. I can't tell if they've turned in their work or not. I get the homework e-mailed to me so that I can make sure my boys are doing their work, however, 1/2 the time it's incorrect, or they've done the work "in class". I don't see how they can be failing when they are doing all their homework and none of the teachers seem concerned. They don't want to be bothered. They are failing my kids in more ways than one!! Jennifer Sawyer
--Submitted by a parent

RMS. IS THE WORST SCHOOL I HAVE TOO, THE TEACHERS AND PRINCEPAL SHOW FAVORITISM AND YOU GET BLAMED FOR THINGS YOU DIDNT DO. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS SCHOOL TO ANYONE EACUSE IT HAS BULLYING AND NO ONE DOES ANYTHING ABOUT IT.!! I WOULD GO FOR A DIFFERENT SCHOOL ON SECOND THOUGHT I WOULDN COME TO RAYTOWN PERIOD.

I dislike RMS so much. My son is in 7th grade and in one semester his grades fell hard. Out of 7 classes he got 5 F's. I did not receive not one phone call, nor a letter. My husband & I had to contact the school to find out what was going on. And they pretty much act like my concerns are not worth their time. Also the school is so big, he has already received 2 detentions for tardy s, trying to get from first floor then locker then 3rd floor. Its crazy. Do not get me wrong my son is A LOT to blame here. But SOMEONE should have been concerned enough to at least take a few minutes give me call or write a letter. No one had even told me about the 'Power School' I did not find that out til we contacted the teachers.
--Submitted by a parent

We've experienced good and bad at RMS. The regular school year and most of the teachers were good. The counselor was wonderful. I have to agree with one of the other parent reviews that teachers take the attitude 'it's not my job to like you.' My child will never attend summer school at RMS again. The teachers are burned out, rude, quick to blame and very condescending to the students. It's no wonder summer enrollment is so low; the incentive gift card isn't worth it. The concerned matters have been brought to the principal's attention, but no response.
--Submitted by a parent

My son's 3 years at RMS were excellent--due to the stellar staff. My son has a slight learning disability and the teachers, staff, & counselors were there 100%. I received calls at home just to 'check in,' meetings whenever I asked, and an ability to provide input. This school would not work only for a parent who didn't want to be bothered at home and expected school to do everything. Parents NEED to be involved. I would recommend Raytown school (and do) to everyone. both of his elementary schools (Southwood and Norfleet) were also outstanding.
--Submitted by a parent

RMS is a great school, some of the teachers are hard, but they are not mean. I enjoyed my time there and made friends of all different ethnic groups. I enjoyed their after school activites, and they have a great gifted student program. I miss being there! I would recommend this school to anyone. student - class of 2010 ***** A+++ : )
--Submitted by Alli, a former student

I am very very disappointed with this school. I do not think there is one principal, teacher or faculty member that cares at all about the child or their job. The teachers my child had were useless, did not want to help at all, put it all on my child who needs the extra help. The Counselor also did not care a bit. She was very hard to get ahold of and she was never with it very much, basically all over the place. I would not recommend this school to anyone unless there was no other option.
--Submitted by a parent