3420 E Payton Ave
Des Moines, IA 50320

Graduated from Carlisle in 2010. Awesome school. Very helpful staff and teachers. I recommend this school for anyone.

This school is a very good school educationally. My kid has amazing grades, she learns a lot, and has fun in extracurricular activities such as band. The teachers here are very kind and have a lot of fun events such as concerts, growth mindset assembles, etc.However, with other kids, this school can be problematic. Sure, every kid faces challenges in school such as mean kids, and eventually it gets evened out. But, however, my child was in a very severe case of not fitting in from one girl in her class that bullies her, takes her friends, is selfish, etc. And then, without my permission, the school counselor gathered my kid, her best friend, the mean girl, and her best friend. On her BIRTHDAY. She came home crying while me and my husband were preparing the party for her and her friends, and I was so mad. How could they take my child on her birthday, without my permission, and made herself so scared of the mean girl and the counselor. Before that, in fourth grade, because of that mean girl, the behavior interventionist called my kid and her friend during lunch in front of everyone. My kid and her friend were so scared and almost everyone laughed at her and her friend. My kid is a very good kid and has never done anything wrong so severe that she had to go to him. That made her and her best friend start crying when they came home and were so scared of what might've happened next. The staff did not handle any of this properly at all. They just made everything a whole lot worse. I do not recommend this school due to the high risk of kids facing a bunch of mean kids and staff not properly caring for their kids. The staff don't even make my kid feel included and important. They always focus on the kids with special needs and to "make them feel special and included." My kid was in Math Olympiads (it ended a few months ago), and she never got any prize for being good and smart. However, for the behind kids, they all got candy, a birthday gift, and an award and even got to skip parts of classes. This is ridiculous that they always reward the behind kids for being, well, them, and put the smart kids under pressure by either giving them too much work, no time to study, or to just ignore them. I highly do not recommend this school.

Carlisle Middle School has great teachers and programs! Love the school and it's district! I would beware of the para educators (Teaching Assistants) that they employ as they've been said via statement to harass students individually and deny it if asked.