Leslie M. Stover Middle School

Out of the 12 years that Stover has been open, I have had children enrolled for 9. My son was the first class and he attended from 3rd through 8th. My oldest daughter went 6-8 and I have a current 7th grader(with 1 left to go). I have been extremely pleased with the teachers and admin. The band program is probably one of the best in the country hands down! My daughter graduated as a junior at LEHS & was accepted to USC thanks to her head start at Stover. My son is in his 3rd year college. All thanks to some excellent teachers- who are STILL there! We did have 1 teacher who was not great but she was a military wife and has been long gone. I have seen many very very bright students go through and love stover because of the teachers. They were challenged and supported by the talented teaching staff and all did very well through high school, taking honors and AP courses. I believe that most people who write reviews are dissatisfied and after reading these I felt I needed to share. I am very involved in the schools and my kids friends. Much of it is what you make of it.- I wish they would teach more etiquette and I wish parents would teach more respect and manners. Just sayin...
—Submitted by a parent

This is a wonderful school!! The principal,teachers and staff members are very very nice. Everything is organized and planned out well. The ladies in the front are as nice as they can be. The related arts are fun and exciting, Chorus and Band is wonderful!! :) The teachers teach there students everyTHING they need to know. I love stover. To me it is better than Camden and Lugoff Elgin. And dont let me forget the Enrichment program is amazing.
—Submitted by a parent

Here we go again with our second child entering Leslie M stover Middle. I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best as a my last experience with Leslie M Stover was very much frustrating for my child and our family.
—Submitted by a parent

I have been at this school with my two boys for six years. I have been heavily involved with this school in all aspects (PTO, band, sports,etc.). I have to say this school gets worse every year. Parents are apathetic, students are apathetic and worst of all, that is because their teachers and administration are apathetic. When you cancel PTO meetings because only four people show up (one parent, two PTO officers and the school principal), that says a lot. When the school district's Chief Administrator comes to the school to talk to parents and teachers and not a single teacher is there, that says a lot. When teachers are more concerned about teaching your child to stomp dance and have good etiquette than teaching them about science, that says a lot. We do have some gems here at this school, but they never last long.
—Submitted by a parent

I am very displeased with this school. My child has attended for the past two years. I had one other child to attend under a different administration when the school was new. The teachers do not respond promptly to email or phone calls. The principal has no interaction with parents other than his love for the automated voicemail system. Most of the teachers are unprofessional and seem to take more interest in the students' social lives than teaching. Find another school or don't move to this area.
—Submitted by a parent

I have seen great strides this school year. The positive discipline being handled by the new assistant principal seems to have made a marked improvement in the overall school setting. Most of the teachers are incredible. Unlike some of the other parents who have had unacceptable experiences with teachers, I have had nothing positive experiences. The teachers quickly return my phone calls/emails and are willing to work with me. I can quickly check on homework by using the eChalk site, and I am able to see grades by the progress reports provided by each teacher. In my experience with other middle schools, I have not seen the effort put forth by the teachers to keep all of the information up to date as the Stover teachers do.
—Submitted by a parent

I am incredibly dissatisfied with Stover. My child was very unhappy there as a result of the way he was treated by several teachers and even a guidance counselor. My husband and I contacted teachers multiple times to try and help without much success. The teachers we dealt with were slow to respond to us and often allowed a week or more to pass before answering (if they answered at all). We found them to be quite unprofessional, and their teaching skills seem poor as well. They pass out a lot of worksheets and assign plenty of busy-work as homework, but we saw very little evidence of anything worthwhile come from any class except band. We moved to this area so our kids could go to Doby's Mill Elementary (which was great!), and now we plan to move to escape Stover.
—Submitted by a parent

I share many of the other poster sentiments. The only time that I have been satisfied with any issues is by working with the principle or vice principle. Teachers don't return e-mails or phone calls. There is some bullying going on, but don't know if there is a middle school that doesn't have some of that. The band is excellent for middle school and the school facilities are very nice.
—Submitted by a parent

The teachers at this school are not very dedicated to their students. For instance, getting feedback from teachers is very difficult, even when you ask. If not for a bi-weekly progress report, I would have no idea what my child is doing in school. During class breaks and locker time, teachers do not watch students and stay in their classrooms or talk to each other. Thus, there are many fights and instances of bullying. The principal is top notch, though. The quality of the building is great, though the grounds could use some work. Participation in extracurricular activities and volunteerism is not stressed at all, thus the students seem to be as self-focused as the teachers are.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is not the districts best. This school has a very good band, and cheerleading squad. Though it has a poor football team.
—Submitted by a student