Oakside Plan in The Ponds by Kolter Homes
Summerville, SC 29483

I am a teacher at this school. I have been a teacher for decades, have taught at many different schools, and with many different administrators. I am very pleased with the administration team at this school and the leadership provided by Mrs. Kelley. It all begins there to establish the culture of a school. They are impressive and involved here as administrators. They know the students, are are responsive if there is a problem in the classroom with behavior. There is not a middle school in the world that does not have students in middle school who make mistakes and do dumb things. That is part of the age of our students. I love that if a student is not behaving they will remove that student from the classroom, so everyone else can learn and the lesson can proceed. I have never worked anywhere where that has happened, and it makes a huge difference. Our principal is down to earth and supportive, and she does not micromanage. She allows teachers to teach and to do what is best for students. She has a hands-on approach to building relationships with students and personally greets every busload of students to welcome them daily and remind them to put away phones and hats etc. She is walking the halls and engaging with them. They know her and want to please her because they have a connection with her. The Josten's Renaissance Program is a huge bonus to this school and has been blooming this past year. It has created a more positive environment for all who spend their days within the walls of this school. Students, staff, & faculty (called staffulty) are all recognized for doing what they are supposed to and for improvement. They plan events for the kids and have lots of incentives for doing the right thing. This positive approach is far better than a focus on discipline and negative consequences. Everyone who comes to GMS deserves to be recognized & celebrated for good choices, improvement, and overall achievement. Effort counts & striving students who struggle are also celebrated. This matters. Some students will never be the top students in school because of their learning challenges. This system still gives those students positive recognition & celebrates their efforts to do their best in school. I can only expect the school to improve each year as this Renaissance mindset continues to grow & spread through the entire school. GMS was recognized this year at the Josten's Renaissance International Conference as a Josten's School of Distinction!

This school is extremely nasty. There are roaches everywhere. The custodians and janitors don’t even do a good job at cleaning the bathrooms. The staff locks most of the bathrooms which means you’ll have to go to another bathroom in a whole different hall. They stopped giving paper towels and brought in hand dryers that nobody asked for and it’s dirtier than using paper towels but they bought a brand new sink nobody asked for. The lunches are not even good and they made the cafeteria the only place where they have different menu items than the lines around the school. In the cafeteria they made it only one line which you’d have to wait in and it has so many students. I don’t see the point in having one line for the whole cafeteria where people cut you. You have to send a smartpass (electronic pass) to be able to go to the bathroom which is stupid because the district pays for that when they could spend zero dollars just having students make a paper pass. The teachers aren’t even looking at their computers half of the time so you’re going to have to ask them anyways. Also for the smartpass one student is allowed out at a time which is also stupid. This school also constantly stinks and it’s way too overcrowded.