Brandon Middle School

SAVE YOUR CHILD. Nearly everyday for the past 2 years I have come home sobbing. This school has changed me. Taken my innocence destroyed any happy emotion left in me. The students at this school bully so much and NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING Is done about it! There was a freak out about the other review on here saying this is the worst experience of their life. People freaked out a little and then everyone ignored it and tried to pretend it didn't happen. WHY NOT CHANGE IT? Try to stop the bullying not push what's happening in a corner and hope it doesn't happen anymore. The principal at this does nothing to stop it. No teacher or administrator does. Please spare your child of the misery and hold them tight knowing they still have their innocence.

It took me till the middle of the 7th grade to adjust to this awful place. Right away there were serious problems with this school. For example, bullying. This school has said many times how important it is to stand up when you see someone being bullied. They keep telling us this and giving scenarios, yet they do nothing when the actual situation is happening. Wait, no. In a serious situation, the bully gets a "Don't do it again." and both the victim and the bully just get sent back to class. Or in some issues, the counselor finds out that the victim is suicidal and they call their parents. That's it. Now on to the teachers. I will admit, some of them are pretty great, but many of them are awful. Some criticize EVERYTHING you do, some treat you like kindergarteners, and the others just give you work and ignore you for the rest of the class. I find the ones that ignore us kind of funny though. They give us work, expect us to know it, then wonder why we're failing the class. Yeah, that's right. Here, most of the time it's not the student's fault for failing. There's a few reasons why I HIGHLY suggest you don't enroll your child in this school.

We have experienced a lot of schools as a military family. Private, DODEA, and public. Brandon Middle School has been the worst experience in our entire lives. The guidance office does not look at students performance they place them in whatever class has a seat. The Administration does nothing to control the atmosphere. Kids are bullied, harassed and there is no repercussion. Good students are lost in the shuffle NEVER challenged and treated as a low achieving criminal. My own child's scores dropped from entering the school with scores in the 1200 range to 930 last month. DO NOT send your child to Brandon Middle School if at all possible. It is the admin and the guidance office I blame. I do like the teachers my student has had.
—Submitted by a parent

This is our first year with Brandon and as of today, we've had two major bullying incidents that were handled so poorly that we had to escalate, send numerous emails, spend time tracking down persons who would not call back when they said they would and had to threaten to escalate above the school level. The school admits that they have a lot of work to do with handling emotional and verbal bullying. The only thing that works is persistant parental involvment. They won't get involved simply from the kids asking for help. I feel terrible for all the kids there who don't have parents who are willing to do anything it takes to get the matter taken care of. I hope changes will be made but right now we don't trust the adminstration to handle these incidents the correct way the first time. I will say that my child's teachers in the advanced classes are wonderful and he's very pleased with each and every one of them. When you have a child that loves school it breaks your heart when it's something like a bully that interferes with that.
—Submitted by a parent

Very happy with this school. My daughter just graduated from this school and we had a very good experience. I like how every student is given a chance to work at their own level and can achieve at this level through the core teams that they belonged to. My daughter was in the core team with advanced classes and is all done with Geometry honors at 8th grade. The core teams were arranged through the subjects a student is taking. So everybody in it, is at least similar in intellect, behaviors, aspirations and temperament. Each core team got their own hallway and locker side, so bullying is minimized. She's very happy with this school and now she is about to go to Princess Anne High, International Baccalaureate Program. I can't speak for the others here nor I claim to know your real situation of being bullied or what your experiences with the admin and teachers are. But my advice for any parent would be, listen to the teachers first and be open to what they are saying. Only you working hand in hand with them could totally help your child. Don't take it as them being hostile to your child. Believe me 100 percent of the time, teachers really want to help.
—Submitted by a parent

Again, Please let me stress to you the importance of knowing where you re going! I relied solely, on our real-estate agent. Legally, they are not allowed to inform you on much of anything regarding your environment or schools. I based my decision on our neighborhood; which by all accounts, is good! What I didn t realize, was that the school zone was clear on the other side of town. In my words, the wrong side of the tracks. I drove to the boundary and saw things that I wish I would have saw prior to my decision to purchase here. Brandon Middle School is nothing but low class! The kids are bullies! The school has done nothing, to help my child! I do mean nothing! When I asked to move to another school, the principal begged me to give this school another chance. Now, I am left with another incident, involving my child defending herself, and yet another OSS. My child is not perfect; this is known! But coming from somewhere, where she has never been in any trouble, to now having 2 OSS, 4 referrals, and now a Corrective Action Plan?? Really! My anger and hostility goes without saying, but there needs to be a better plan, a better administration, to protect the kids threatened daily!!!
—Submitted by a parent

We just moved here from Texas and I had to make a choice on a home right away. While we love our home, we have nothing but trouble from day 1 with Brandon Middle School. Today, my daughter was kicked out of school for defending herself and trying to walk away from a situation; which led to the other part of the referral , skipping class. I could go on and on. The racial line is drawn very thick there. I withdrew my daughter after todays incident. I would rather homeschool her then to have to send her back to that miserable place again. I watched a teacher get into kids faces in the hallway, while he was screaming at them to SHUT UP! I informed the main office and nothing was done. They treat these kids like common criminals. I am a strict parent and have taught my two kids to always be kind and courteous, but that is not what they are teaching there. I agree with the comment below, how the teachers and the asst principals and office staff are the bullies! Without question, this is the worst school I have ever had the misfortune of going to. I am filing written complaints and pursuing this matter all the way until I cannot do anything further. Do not enroll your kids a there!
—Submitted by a parent

Brandon has had a bad reputation for years. I feel the new administration has changed things for the better. I see her outside in the morning greeting buses as well watching the activity buses leave at 5:30. My only complaint is the constant interuption of other students during instruction. I have heard this from many students. Instead of always blaming the teachers and administration, I feel the parents need to step up and discipline their children!
—Submitted by a parent

Excellent teachers, strong security, fun extracurricular activities and sports.
—Submitted by a parent

the kids are out of control there way to much bullys
—Submitted by a student

The Principal and her assistants are uncaring and there is no communication with parents, they are the bullys in the school, there is no respect for the students there, they are treated like a number.
—Submitted by a parent

My child and I have been struggling constantly for the past 2 years. The bullying is out of control and no one seems to want to admit it. All I get is 'get your child counseling to learn to deal whith it' What kind of advise is that? The Teachers are good but the administration needs to really take a close look at the bulling policy.
—Submitted by a parent

I was so excited at the very first open house we attended all we heard was how important communication between the school and parents would be. Over the last 3 yrs. I have written e-mails, hand written notes, and e-mailed with no replies. I have scheduled 4 meetings with various teachers to discuss my issues only to have them tell me about the discipline problems they have had with my child. Why wasn't I being told when the discipline problems were happening? Why did they wait until I came to discuss their lack of communication problems and other issues?? I am not saying all the teachers I have come into contact with have been this way but the good majority of them have been. It is very disappointing when you can't get help for your children.
—Submitted by a parent

The school is fully of bullies.
—Submitted by a parent

The teachers were good but I was very disappointed with the school and the lack of discipline and respect of the students. If I knew then what I knew now, I would have opted for private or moved.
—Submitted by a parent

The academics are fine, as well as the music, art, extracurricular activities. The issues we see as a relocated family is the bullying, lack of discipline, children who are allowed to bully and seem to get away with it. This is disturbing to a child who never encountered such issues in past schools. We are looking for alternatives.
—Submitted by a parent

Academically I feel the school is fine. I think the teachers are good and have the students best interest in mind. My only concern is the bullying as other have stated. My son was constantly being pushed and hit most every day for a couple months before I became aware. How can that go unnoticed? I did bring it to one of his teacher's attention and she was very pro-active as well as the other core teachers she involved. It was handled but this is not the only incident. I hear the same things from other kids. Many kids are fearful of the other students. That is not a good learning environment to be in.
—Submitted by a parent

Well so far, Brandon has not been what I expected it to be. Its only been the third day and my son tells me that the cafeteria staff is giving him a hard time about remembering this 5 digit lunch code number. For crying out loud, he's not going to remember this number along with remembering his locker combination all in one night. This is all new to him. The teachers are kind of sassy allowing no excuses for anything. This makes me very upset because you should at least make the transition for sixth graders a little bit more 'user friendly.' So far i'm not impressed! Hopefully, it will get better. If not, I'm going to look into other options for school.
—Submitted by a parent

I personally would not have bought our home, had I known it was in Brandon School District. Everyone I tell that our children go, or will be attending there, raise their eyebrows or say, ' thats too bad'. The problems at Brandon will not be solved by the present administration, because you cannot resolve something that you refuse to acknowledge.
—Submitted by a parent

My child transferred from the West coast and we have found the school ACADEMICALLY not to be up to par with the school he was last with. The advanced classes are well below what my child is used to. The teachers are really nice, as is the staff. My child claims there is a racial barrier. One race pushes and shoves the other as they are going down the hallway, while the other uses the N word. It has never gone further, but still inappropriate. To the fairness of the school, we have not formally complained. After all this said my child overall likes the school. Overall, he feels safe. By the way, my child is white and the first people to introduce themselves to my child were the African American children. They were very kind. My child had had zero proplems making friends. Just stop the physical contact, all types.
—Submitted by a parent