11303 E Downing St
Mesa, AZ 85207

If I could have given this school 0 stars I would have. I cannot believe the lack of support that my daughter received at this school. She was bullied by multiple people and the school refused to do anything about it. She was basically told she needed to just ignore the bullies and endure their behavior toward her. No matter what she did, it wasn't enough to stop those kids from continuing to instigate. She would come home crying at least once a week and had lies about her being spread to the other students and the staff. I tried on multiple occasions to talk with her teachers and counselors and nothing seemed to improve. They refused to discipline the other kids in any way and wanted to ignore the entire situation. My daughter and one of her friends even received hate notes from one of the students and the school still refused to take any action. They simply made the girls involved write happy grams to each other and wanted to force them all to be friends even after all of the negativity. My daughter begged me to let her change schools because she was not able to get away from all of the problems that were created by others. I ended up switching her schools mid year this year because she started to dread school (which she used to love) and was always stressed and anxious about how social interactions with others would go. Moving her out of that school was byfar the best choice I could have made for her. I have attempted to talk to the principal who has still yet to return my call. I have attempted to communicate with the assistant superintendent as well but have not received any response. I am highly disappointed by the fact that the no tolerance bullying rules don't seem to actually mean anything or have any repercussions. Additionally, the staff does not communicate what is going on in class educationally or if there are problems between the children. I had to find out anything about what happened in school directly from my daughter or by going down and forcing a meeting with her teachers to try to get to the bottom of things, which never seemed to have and effect on how things were handled. It's sad that my daughter chose to start over from scratch rather than endure even 1 more day at Sousa. If you have the chance to send your child to ANY other school I would definitely advise it. My daughter is much happier and way less stressed being way from the environment that Sousa created by their unwillingness to help.

This is a huge campus that allows students to fall through the cracks.

I have gone to smith junior high my 7th grade year, and I am currently enrolled in my 8th. This is the absolute worst school I have ever been to, and I don't say that lightly. Last year we were required to take planners to go to the bathroom, and if we didn't have it or write what the learning target was we'd be pink slipped (and we couldn't go to the bathroom if we didn't have it). Not to mention that there's a 10 minute rule where students cannot go to the restroom during the first or last 10 minutes of class, which isn't so bad. But i'm a student who's in the portables (Which are currently the SOI honors classrooms). We still have the 10 minute rule being all the way on the other side of campus off of the main grounds. We have to walk all the way to the front doors just to get in, and then we have to walk out the back gate which makes you miss at least 12, if not more minutes of class. Not to mention walking all that far could cause safety concern in event of an emergency such as a shooting, or dangerous person. My attendance hasn't been the best and they haven't even said anything to my parents. All they've done is send a measly letter that basically tells you that your student needs to come more (i've missed over 40 days in one semester). Not to mention they don't contact your parents if your failing, which I understand it is on me as a student. But they never contact parents in the first place. Teachers are nice, and lenient but do not know how to handle a classroom full of rowdy students. We've ha a recent safety concern with a small fire to one of the ac units and a potential shooter on campus who had a gun, that wasn't a student. They were on the same day and it caused us to have to stay 30 minutes after the final bell to dismiss us rang. There's tons of fights, which are inevitable to students of course, but they should be better prepared in the event of one. Last time all the security guard did was run to the fight and attempt to break it up, he wasn't super successful. And lastly the staff does not care about your child, they will not see it through if there is an issue with your child involving another student or teacher. Please do not send your student here. I believe it could make a comeback under a better staff and principal. But for right now, I wouldn't even give it a single star if that was possible.