Rugby Middle School

Rated the teachers at 3, but honestly, most are 4s or even 5s. The 1s, however, are a toxic combination of bad and mean, and the office does nothing to address these situations. Complaints seem to be in a sharp uptick over the past 3 years. Not sure where the tone is being set, but it seems to get more negative with each passing year. Sad to watch.
—Submitted by a parent

Rugby Middle School is a horrible school to go to. They don't care about any of their students, their staff are mean and disrespectful. They don't handle bullying the way it should be. I have witnessed some teachers actually bullying some students. Yes I do love some teachers, but others I don't want to be around. They may seem like a fantastic school, but I am thrilled to be moving onto high school. I do not like Rugby Middle School!!

Rugby Middle School is overall an okay school. But, their tardy regulations that they added this year is ridiculous. And so is their take on bullying. I was called rude names, gossiped about and insulted. I directly told the principle and both assistant principles directly about five times and nothing was done about it. Then earlier this week, I accidental poked another student with a safety pi on accident. Then he directly called me "fatty". He told on me and the next day we were sent down to the office. I got two days of ISS and he got NOTHING. I was also searched for safety pins, as they were reported as "weapons". I will not be attending RMS any longer.

I am a parent of an eigth grade student at Rugby Middle School. While she makes A-B honor roll each time and has never made a "C" during her 3 years there, I am very disappointed in the school overall. I feel that some of the teachers are excellent and that the strings program is exceptional and am very grateful to those who have had such a positive influence on my child. As for many other aspects of her middle school experience, however, she has stuggled and been ridiculed by another (both publicly and privately) which has been unsatisfactorily dealt with by administration over the past two years. As a result of this and several other issues. my now 4th grader will not be attending RMS. We are a hard working, well-respected family who fully support our children and their education. We will not, however, support a school which we feel does not put children and their concerns first.
—Submitted by a parent

This school has its ups and downs. First of all this school is pretty much run by 'Populars' if you are a popular already then you will have a whole lot of friends. There are a lot of popular kids and most of them arnt that nice and are usually really full of themselves. I am not a popular but I did make friends. This school is really good academic wise. I feel that I have learned something everyday when I come home from school. The teachers are great and so is the orchestra. If you are or want to be part of the orchestra this is the right school to go to. We go and do a lot of things outside of school and we are known for our orchestra program.

I am a former 8th grader of Rugby mMiddle school. I went there all through middle school. It is a pretty good school, but they have implemented a lot of rules that I do not agree with. Such as, walking on the right side of the hall, getting ISS (in school suspension) for saying retarded. Though, on a good note, the staff is very friendly and nice. The school DOES NOT have much diversity, when I was there in 8th grade for the 2009-2010 school year, we had about 5 black kids, and a couple asians. It was mainly made up of hispanics and whites. Though, you will not find a lot of diversity in any other middle school in the area. Overall, RMS is a pretty good school, but when I was there I had a different princible every year I was there, but now they have 1 permanent principle.

I am an eighth grader at Rugby with high education values and I believe that I recieve a superb education while attending this school, although, as previous reviews have stated there ar major issues with cliques and stereotyping. If you have a child that is not strong enough to take a lot of crittial comments and teasing, I would not reccomend Rugby. If you have a clever child that can take severe criticism, this is a fantasic place to enroll them.
—Submitted by a student

Great School. A tad bit of a clique problem, but nonetheless a great learning environment. I love RMS!
—Submitted by a student

Rugby seems to bea well rounded school.
—Submitted by a parent

Rugby is an outstanding school, the best school I have been involved with in my lifetime and that includes a private school. Great Job!

Teachers love and care for you always.
—Submitted by a student

Rugby has a reputation for being an academically strong school and one of the best middle schools in WNC. Recently, new leadership has taken over and there is not the same caring and concern for the students as in the past. The focus is more on 'administrative' issues rather than the children's needs. This is still one of the best middle schools (academically) in the area but parents need to ask questions and stay informed if they want to know the actual happenings in the school.
—Submitted by a parent

My child attended Rugby for over 18 months and was tagged as trouble maker instead of different -- this school has zero tolerance for children who have any special needs. Instead their answer is to constantly place a child that needs help in suspension, rather than making an effort to truly determine what to do to help them. I feel that the school has some great young teachers who care but their hands are tied. They wouldn't even act to assist their own teachers with difficult situations with my child. My recourse rather than let my child be doomed to failure was to pull him out of this school, which sits in my tax district and place him in a private school.The leadership at the school is also non-existant.
—Submitted by Darlene Robinson, a parent