4R Benton Pl
Saint Louis, MO 63104

School has been gutted of funding and community support by loss of attendance due to large presence of charter schools in area. School is not supported by district effectively to address behavioral issue, safety or special education. Teachers and staff fight hard for students here, get burnt out and then leave. If your kid has an IEP, I suggest changing zip codes, as SLPS does not have Special School District and does all their IEPs in house and support isolation of students with disabilities instead of integration. Lack of resources increases disparities among marginalized youth, students are actively going through trauma while in the building itself and there is only one counselor and one part-time Social Worker who have way too much on their plate. Probably one of the most violent places I have ever worked, and its an elementary school. School has been unable to get a PTO to form over the years, hindering their ability to involve parents and community.

It’s a pretty good school and compared to other schools from our district it has a high rating. I’m currently a 7th grader at the school so about two years in and nothing terrible has happened. Assignments are based on which teacher you have and it is a gifted school so you should expect more than normal. Lunch is decent not the best but it’s not the worst. School is pretty big so it can be a chore trying to learn your way around it but after a week or month you’ll get used to it. :) I’ve made a bunch of friends at this school and found some old ones that went to others school or transferred. Most kids don’t hate each other and I’ve never seen any fights before so that’s pretty good compared to when I went to elementary and there were fights oh every week or so. To rate the school 9/10 it’s good and of course there are some things you can improve with it but for what’s it worth it’s alright. Also be prepared that when you enter your supposed to be scanned by a police officer at the front door or in the morning by Door 12. You’ll need to pass a metal detector so take off any electronics you have on you and put them in your book bag so it won’t beep so they won’t have to pat you down like it happened to me on my first day haha. There are 4 floors Basement, Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. Basement is just cafeteria, health, dance, comp. science, and the normal bathrooms. The first floor or level 1 in my opinion is mostly 6th grade math, ela, social studies or ancient civilizations if you want to get fancy, science, art, computer lab, another health/science, and gym. Level 2 or 2nd floor is mostly 7th graders ela, choir, math, social studies, another social studies, a room idk, science, Spanish and more rooms idk since I haven’t been to that far of the hallway. Level 3 or 3rd Floor is just 8th and high schoolers so idk what’s up there since I’m not in any of those classes. Well, I hope this was enough information for you to know if this is the school you want your child to go to. Also if you’ve been to Kennard CJA or Mallimckrodt you might have a better possibility of getting into this school but I’m not 100% sure. But since those are both gifted elementary schools and this is a gifted middle school so you get the connection. If you haven’t your going to need for your child or kid or whomever to take the gifted enrichment test to see if they at least qualify for maybe taking up the spot which can be done downtown office. Well that is all folks. See ya. :)