Riverwood Middle School

This school is an absolute disgrace. Bullying is extreme with no action being taken to correct after countless meetings with teachers, prinicpal and superintendent. Lack of interest from the teachers on student improvement, Lack of communication by teachers. Since day one at this school we have experienced weekly issues, with students and faculty. Its not my child as I have talked with numerous other parents encountering the same problems. Everyday my child goes to school feeling defeated and counting down the days until we are done at Riverwood! The bad children run this school and adminstration seems to be scared of them or clueless on appropriate discipline. They bribe the "problem students" if you behave you can get free time and cell phone use during free time while the "behaved children" are made to stay in class. If your student needs tutoring, Good luck getting it, teachers are too "busy", but dont worry they will find one of the nice kids who bullies your kid to review the lessons with them, WHAT A JOKE!
—Submitted by a parent

This school is very unsatisfactory. The rules are too harsh on the students and the staff does not work hard enough to improve the school or the experience that the students have. The teachers and staff do not do enough to crack down on bullying, either.
—Submitted by a parent

Poor leadership, teachers who spend a lot of time showing movies and having free time. Not very rigorous education compared to where we came from. Science teacher has no idea how to teach science-admits it to kids. Very strict-kids not even allowed to bring a water bottle-in NC, where it is often hot! They have to carry around backpacks, gym uniforms & shoes, coats-cant go to lockers during the day-how safe is a mass of kids w/ stuffed bags? Oops-forgot to add: there is NO communication from the school for parents. Our old school sent home a packet in the summer with a schedule, fees, lunch program & prices, etc. NOTHING! Still don't know cost of lunch, if we'd pay cash or how it works-my kid is shy and won't ask, but why is no information sent home? The good: Kids are not as snobby as where we came from-big plus. With a new leader, this school could be much better.
—Submitted by a parent

I think this school is great. I think there are alot of kids here that have behavior issues and are very rude with no home training and this is something that the teachers need to address but dont. Overall if these select few students could be expelled or banned or sent to another school then the school would be spectacular. However this isnt the case. Also i think that some of the rules need to be explained either to the students or parents in advance so far as vacation days and abscenses especially for someone coming from out of state. But i guess you live and you learn. I think the kids also need to be better supervised at times instead of spending so much time away from the class saying they are going to the bathroom and doing other things and wandering. This should be some type of security issue i would think. But overall an A+++ school compared to wake county school district who seems to not know there left from right when it comes to teaching or school assignments. And this school has the greatest principal and very caring and works hard to stay on top of things and help when needed.
—Submitted by a parent

I am a 6th grade parent and so far Riverwood Middle has been a great school. My new 6th grader has adjusted well and I feel she has a great team of teachers that encourage and support her. She has has made wonderful new friends too.
—Submitted by a parent

It's ok, but i wish that they would tell us about things like when the eog's are instead of just the night before.
—Submitted by a parent

I love RMS and my child has had a good experience there. I do however feel that there is a serious lack of elective choices. This is not something the school has much control over though. I remember in middle school having the opportunity to take Spanish or German. The older students get the harder it is to learn a foreign language. RMS currently has no foreign language classes. The basic electives are band, chorus, creative writing, computer science and PE. I know Wake county has many problems with busing and trying to keep kids from the same families on the same year round track but I wish Johnston County would afford the same opportunities in elective choices to it's students. I don't think we should have to give up quality classes for quality of life.
—Submitted by a parent

My child is in 8th grade and has had a wonderful experience here. I have found the teachers and administrators to be excellent. The sports teams are various and represent the majority interest in sports in our area. There are also many community and private leagues and groups that offer extra opportunity to participate in other sports events and community service. For those who want to succeed and participate, the opportunities are clearly available. The academic teams are numerous and perform well on the regional and state level. We have found that all the needed components for overall success are clearly present. We have lived in the area many years and the students that graduate go on to some of the highest ranked public and private universities and colleges in the nation.
—Submitted by a parent

The school's staff and administration seem to have a wonderful working relationship. The school received so many accolades this past year, that it will be difficult to repeat them again!

Love the students and faculty... the best in the county!
—Submitted by a teacher

I have enjoyed reading reviews about Riverwood Middle School. As an educator, it makes me feel we are doing a good job with students and parents. However, I am concerned by the number of parents that feel teachers need to lighten up on students. We work students hard so they will be prepared for later middle school grades as well as high school. What many people don't realize is that this generation of children may indeed have a quality of life that is worse than their parents; and it's up to educators to make this a false statement. Do you remember when you were a child and you expected your life would be better than your mother or father's? Well, research shows that this will not be the case and one primary reason is the lack of students pursuing higher education. Please support us in holding students to high expectations. :)
—Submitted by a teacher

To the parent who moved here from out of state I am very sorry you feel like RMS is below your expectations in terms of the what they teach. Teachers teach what they teach at RMS because of state requirements. Most students have bad behavior? Not at RMS. It seems like you had a bad experience with not getting your way about something and it has soured your opinion about the school. The reason RMS only has the sports it has is because of the county. RMS has what other schools have. Why not start a petition to try to get more sports instead of complaining. I was very pleased with what RMS offered my child. Good luck with your child going to a liberal arts college!
—Submitted by a parent

We moved to Clayton from a great school in Camden County, Georgia, in the middle of the academic year. The teachers helped make this difficult transition for my boys. They love their school here....caring, supportive teachers. I was extremely pleased, and am only hoping Clayton HS can measure up to Riverwood MS this fall....
—Submitted by a parent

We moved to Clayton from out of state and found RMS curriculum to be below our expectations. Teachers were ill prepared for class, students had bad behavior, administration lacked skills to run the school, and few sports were offered. Students who go to this school and on to the high school will not be prepared for a private liberal arts college. Most kids around here go to state schools. Our family has higher expectations than that.
—Submitted by a parent

Teachers at this school are awesome they love the students. Sometimes they go way out of the way to help us pass the EOGs. The school is all about high test grades they do not Stand for bad behavior or bad eogs scores.
—Submitted by D(Girl) Grover, a student

I do agree that the middle school gives too much homework in the 6th grade. The teachers forget that the students have many new things to adjust to. However, this is my child's second year in the middle school and the workload has lightened up. If they can get through the 6th grade, the rest of middle school should be a breeze. I love this school!
—Submitted by a parent

We just moved to Clayton, and we planed the move for the Schools. Riverwood is a Great School. Yes, there may be a lot of homework, however the children then are ready for High School.They do need more extracurricar programes. Most [parents] here do help out.
—Submitted by a parent

I will agree, I think they expect to much out of the students in there first year in the middle school. I do believe it is a good school!
—Submitted by Debbie Swinson, a parent

riverwood is a great school, but the downside is they expext too much out of students. to much home work. teachers need to lighten up.
—Submitted by a parent

Riverwood is a nice school. There are many extra-curriculars. The only down side to Riverwood is A lot of teachers have not been teaching for a long time. This year I got lucky, and didn't have this problem. The English and Math teacher really try to help you improve your EOG scores.
—Submitted by a student