McClintock Middle School

Don't be fooled by the facade and the OLD reputation. My son is a 7th grader and doing very well academically. His teachers are committed to challenging him intellectually while encouraging him to grow. They could go elsewhere, but they are very loyal to McClintock and want to see it grow. The robotics team is outstanding, and the partnership with Christ Lutheran has exposed all of the students to wonderful experiences. We have been impressed with our new principal, Mr. Williams, and are looking forward to even better things when we move into our new facility.
—Submitted by a parent

We have been very impressed with McClintock Middle School. My child is a 6th grader, and we have found that he has dedicated teachers who are truly concerned about his academic success. He has made several good friends and is excelling both academically and socially. Our new principal has been a wonderful addition, and we are excited about moving into our new building next year.
—Submitted by a parent

Although this is our first year at McClintockk Middle School, I have nothing but good things to say about the school, the staff, the teachers and the administration. My son has transitioned to middle school with ease, and a lot of that is due to the wonderful staff and teachers at McClintock! They have gone above and beyond to make 6th graders feel welcome and at ease. During the first parent/teacher conference, I met with the teachers and they were friendly, informative, listened intently to any concerns I had, and just generally made the conference a good experience. I highly recommend McClintock Middle School to anyone in the neighborhood! The principal, Mr. Williams, and the staff are doing everything it takes to turn the school around and engage the students.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is awesome. It has the best robotics program in the state, the only real cross-country team in CMS for middle schoools, the teachers are engaging and accessible, and the principal is passionate. My son is a 6th grader who has always made straight As and scored in the 98th/99th percentile on EOGs. He continues to be challenged academically and has made a lot of friends at McClintock. We couldn't ask for a better experience for our son, and our daughter will be attending there next year. Go Scots!
—Submitted by a parent

So many great things are happening at McClintock, and we are so excited to be a part of it. Our son is a 6th grader who is participating on the cross country team and the robotics team. My wife and I have found the teachers to be very good and very aware when students need to be challenged more. The new principal has energized the school with a lot of enthusiasm, and students are respectfull. And with the new school opening next year, McClintock is becoming a game changer.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is okay, the teachers hardly teach. the bathrooms are nasty. the lunch food is nasty. the teachers worry more about clothing than the work. i mean they do discipline the students.

This school is one of the worse schools in Charlotte, NC. I moved in an area that was zone for this school and my kids could not adjust to their teaching. The teachers didn't take the time to explain the work that they were trying to do and the administration is awful. There were no return phone calls or emails that were sent to the teachers and I was not used to that. Teachers look just as bad as the kids in their attire. This is nothing but the ghetto.
—Submitted by a parent

A high risk school that is making great strides for achievement

We have moved to Charlotte this past year. We moved to a nice area and for some reason we are zoned into the McClintock school zone (its 6 miles away). At first I thought it strange that no Jr High kids in the neighborhood attend this school. They are all in Charter or Private schools-it soon became evident why. The school is dirty, the children lack discipline, and many of the teachers are not engaging-this may be due to them being tired of the poor behavior and not being able to control the students. There are certainly a few excellent teachers-Ms. Schwartz, Ms. Trent, and Ms Shell were some of the better ones. I have considered moving to get my child out of this school.
—Submitted by a parent

Unorganized, poor leadership, unhappy unempowered teachers, unable to work with students with disabilities, inconsistant. I can't wait to transfer my child from this school. I feel he would have benefited more from the Sunday paper on the couch. The IEP team was useless and had no knowledge about children with disabilites. I wouldn't recommend this school to anyone that cares about their children.
—Submitted by a parent

I really do not like this school. I came from Sedgefield Middle and by far sedgfield is so much better. here, teachers give after school detention for every little thing! if your shirt is not tucked in they will give it to you. late to class, ASD, 'smart' remarks, ASD. Most students there are very rude. Curse all the time, fight at least once a month/week . Another negative factor is that the school's way too big!the hall ways are over crowded and classes are very big. some of my classes have 30 student at one time! I would not reccomend this school to anyone! The Health classes are very bad. the instructor just says open the book to chapter 1 lesson 3 and write all the definitions of the vocabulary and use the words in sentences. absoulutely no Hands-On activities. Horrible School.
—Submitted by a student

McClintock Middle School is a great school. People get the wrond ideas about our school based on only the things that they have heard, but what they are hearing isnt true. I have been here for 3 years and have had no problems. The teachers and other staff are great, the kids here are great, and I am certain that 90% of the students here would tell you the same thing. Are there problems, yes, but all schools have problems. This is a great school and I love it!
—Submitted by a student

We have had nothing but positive experiences at McClintock. We have had two children attend here - the staff is excellent and caring, not to mention extremely knowledgable. Ms. Espinosa, the principal, has done a great job in turning this school around and her leadership is very strong. Growth in academics has been high and she has added many extracurricular clubs that help children excel and learn on areas outside the classroom. Class sizes are small and easily managable. Children are in a diverse environment and learn what it is like to work beside and team work with other children not 'just like me.' Excellent band, chorus, orchestra and foreign language opportunities as well.
—Submitted by a parent

McClintock has been very good for my son. He is in 7th grade. This is the 3rd year for the new principal, Pam Espinosa. She is doing a great job. There are a lot of clubs during school time an after such as: forensics, robotics, junior honor society, Future Business Leaders, etc. There are normal middle school discipline issues. The school is safe and the staff is better at handling discipline issues now.
—Submitted by a parent

I have had two sons at McClintock and they have had great experiences. Several teachers have showed a personal interest in their abilities and challenged them to work beyond what they thought they could do. These teachers were in band, math and english. One teacher still asks about my son who finished at McClintock seven years ago. The building is old but despite that, it is usually clean. McClintock has a very diverse group of children so its a good place for kids to get along with each other even though they are different.
—Submitted by a parent

My experience with McClintock has been very disappointing. There is an extreme lack of parental involvement and support. I estimate that only 20-30% of parents with students enrolled here actually have any real level of involvement. This was a total shock for us because we came from Elizabeth Traditional, where parental involvement exceeds 90%. There are far too many disciplinary issues. Teachers have to spend more time teaching students how to dress and behave, which makes it difficult to focus on the curriculum at hand. There is very little diversity at McClintock. This is due in part to the fact that many of the families that reside in the area have placed their children in better performing CMS schools, or have opted out of CMS altogether. CMS has done little to assist us in getting out of this school. We are seriously considering moving out of the area.
—Submitted by a parent

McClintock is a wonderful school! Both my children have attended McClintock. The staff is very resourceful and helpful! I especially give credit to the counselors. One particular counselor is the 8th grade counselor. He helped to serve as role model for both of my kids! (He will be missed, since he is moving on the high school arena.) I would recommend this school to anyone!
—Submitted by a parent

I have to say that to us McClintock was a disappointment. My son and daughter went there and both informed me right away that they did not like the school. This was the first year that I had any disciplinary problems with my children and when I would go to conferences with teachers and administration they seemed more concerned with placing blame rather than finding solutions. The administration and security officers were rude on many occasions when it was not needed. In my opinion there are just too many disciplinary problems for them to deal with and they can't seem to find the right solution. Thankfully my children are at a new school and doing much better in all areas.
—Submitted by a parent

An extremely diverse amount of students. But there does seem to be a displine problem at McClintock, there are several security guards that are often called to the classroom to deal with students.
—Submitted by a former student

This school has a very difficult time with disciplinary problems. There is no real reprecussions to the student's actions. They are allowed to do whatever to whomever. I think it is just a failure on the part of staff and the district not to do more. It is one thing to send a child home but, what is expected upon their return is another. There needs to be more hands on involvement of the Principal. She needs to visit classes, walk the halls and make her presence known to all the students. It needs to be a strong presence at all times because these students are adolescents and they are fighting to show who they think they are. It is a difficult task to say the least but the effort needs to be shown and supported by all staff. Division at this time is not what the students need.
—Submitted by Denise