32 McIlwee
Staunton, VA 24401

Our experience with this school as a whole has been very negative, my children do not want to attend school because of how they are treated while they are there. Teachers will use humiliation tactics to get students to do work they need them to finish so they can meet their own goals for the classroom and school for the scores only for the accreditations, they do not care if the student actually learns or knows the information as long as they can continue to memorize information well enough to pass the test, children are bullied in this school by other students as well as faculty, intimidation tactics are used as well as berating during disciplinary proceedings and they will lie and say it’s a teachable moment, when in reality they are scaring the children and will lead the children while questioning and force the student to answer their questions to get the answer they want verses the truth of a situation. The front staff is more often rude and condescending towards parents, the school is more closed off to the families than allowing families to be involved, you can’t have much with your student, they do not have a grandparents day, field day is completely closed off to parents and families to join or be involved, when they do allow families to come to the school your made to wait outdoors regardless of the weather conditions till the exact time they decide to open the doors. This school will change your children’s character and harden them and turn a good school loving child into a child who hates and dreads attending school. The reason for all the absences this school experiences of their students, not only due to illness, but because the students and parents both overall have a bad experience with this school, and if you address the issues as you should with the principals, your lied to and if your child is the victim their resolution is to punish and or segregate the victims while the bullies are allowed to continue as normal with their routines. Administration will protect their own, even when their own are the ones causing the problems in the school. It has to say something when the principal herself just in 2021 before becoming the principal asked what’s going on with this school? She took the position for a pay raise, but little to nothing has been done to resolve the many issues here, not to mention they haven’t upgraded much of anything for the students, play grounds are very outdated and gym is constantly a mess. School isn’t very clean.

I was a student at this school. It is now called Staunton High and it has been completely remodeled. The school had a lot of issues in the past and continues to have lots of issues but it has gotten better in the last couple of years. It has a problem with losing teachers but continues to hire every year.

This school has ungrateful students—it's horrible. My daughter has shared many terrible experiences that have happened here. Based on what she’s told me, the rules are unfair, especially the phone policy. It’s one of the most useless policies I’ve ever seen, making it difficult for me to stay in contact with my daughter and the 8th-grade principal She hands out lunch detention, ISS, and even Saturday school for no reason—just because something annoys her so no reason. It seems like any little thing that bothers her results in a punishment which in this case is not that deep. This school needs to be evaluated, and honestly, students should be allowed to use their phones. It would be much better that way.