706 Cherrybark Ln
Houston, TX 77079

I was a student enrolled in this school 4 years ago. Bullying got so bad my parents had to call faculty multiple times a week. Not only would students push me and call me horrible names but teachers refused to do anything about it. Due to the environment and harassment I received, I became severely depressed. During this time I went to my guidance counselor multiple times and was not listened to. I was told that my problems would be solved if I could get my grades up, which was incredibly hard without accommodations for my autism which were ignored by teachers. During one of these times in her office I had looked up and saw her on her phone ignoring me. Not only are staff and students terrible, but the campus is quite literally falling apart. Classrooms have brown and molding water stains on the ceilings, with insect and rodent issues including bats, which the school has been on lockdown multiple times for bats in hallways. The auditorium is rotting with chunks of debris constantly falling from the ceiling. Drainage issues, bathrooms with no stall locks, broken awnings at the bus stop, and tons of gross critters everywhere. I am glad I left this school. Anyone I talk to about personal experiences says that the school was really bad.

We wanted to provide a review for any new family ( not from Houston/ outside Memorial) considering this school for their children, specially for people of colour, or hailing from a different country. Our review is personal to our experience at the school and we appreciate may provide a different viewpoint than held by the majority of white families. We joined the school last year arriving as expats from another English speaking country, our child is brown of Asian heritage, was in third grade and was sadly bullied at the school. We raised a complaint but were told that meanness did not equate to bullying and the school assistant principal offered our son counseling at the school. We then learnt from other families of instances of bullying, specially from those of color, different religion. Some were too afraid to raise this publicly, but spoke of it in private. Many had no option to leave the school. We also had comments which we feel were racist made by a class teacher regarding black students our child was seen playing with being a “bad influence”on our child. This was a tipping point for us. We did not get invited to birthday parties, many families at the neighborhood pool would treat us as “invisible” and look past us. We were told by the school this was “normal”. My son was also bullied to give a gift to two boys “from a respectable” doctor family, who refused to invite him to their birthday thereafter. My younger daughter made only one friend, was questioned about her hair colour, was told to go away from a group of girls playing together and her only friend would never come over for play dates to our home. The school is very focused on testing results and lessons are raced through ending in a test. The GT classes are great but at Bendwood and many children we hear want to drop out of the GT program because of bullying/ rough playing at recess there. The school does little to educate its children to be inclusive, open minded or sympathetic. Foul language and hitting, video gaming, showing off about branded shoes seems to be the ethos here. We tried hard, knocked many doors and spoke to teachers. A few families in the neighborhood cared ( mind you also not native to Memorial) and we are thankful for their kindness. After a year we finally left the school for a private school this academic year. We hope this review sheds a light for anyone similarly placed as us, a professional, educated, brown immigrant family.

My experince at this highschool was horrible, the principals and teachers dont care about you they argue with you and are not understanding , the principals dont help with bullying and mental health the only people who care are the counsolrs .